What is the protestant apologetic for James' explicit statement that we are justified by works?

> **James 2:24, RSVC2E:** You see that *a man is justified by works* and not by faith alone. Many times I've heard Protestants claim that James isn't really saying what he appears to be saying here. They will say something along the lines of "James isn't saying that we are justified by works, he is saying that works are the sign and fruit of faith. If you have faith, you will naturally do works" I have no problem with saying that works are the fruit of faith and that if you have faith you will naturally do works, however *that is not what this verse is saying*. This verse very explicitly says that we are justified by works. That is, our works affect our justification in some way. My understanding of Catholic teaching is that we are supposed to just take the verse at face value and say that we can increase and decrease our justification via our good and bad works. In this view "Justification" is not a binary attribute which you either have or don't have, but instead a quantitative property which everyone has and which can increase or decrease as time goes by, such that someone can have more justification than someone else (and be rewarded in heaven appropriately). What is the protestant explanation for this verse, without ignoring it or handwaving it away? Obviously *works do justify us* according to James 2:24, so in what sense?