Peter, if one has faith to believe they are a sinner, and can do nothing to save himself, and instead places his trust in the finished work of Christ as payment for their sins, there is nothing more that needs to be done. At that moment, that person is saved, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and eternally secure.
We are saved by what He has done, not what we do. The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. To say there are still sins yet to atone for, in any way, after salvation, is to require Jesus to come and shed more blood for those sins. Something He will not do.
I went to a church that believed this. They spent all their time expecting to enjoy heaven, but it never came, they were just at the gate. We are given entry into the Kingdom of heaven to walk. In justification we become part of the kingdom, in sanctification we start to walk in it and are transformed by our actions, communion and fellowship.
The church has always been easy on the starting point, but not the journey of faith.
It is why hyper-grace worries so many because this journey of faith is not the journey of the gospel but another faith and another type of relationship. It is why this groups teachers are a problem and their ideas about what a christian is, the value of transformation, of good works, of morality, of the law, of dispensational theology that creates different religions within the label christian.
Where I am is simple. We are saved through faith, but why be transformed.
One question is because without transformation you cannot be saved, ie the goal of faith is to become like Christ in all aspects.
The counter argument is the thief on the cross was never sanctified to be like Christ, yet he was with Him.
So the key change of salvation is the first step of faith.
The next point is sin blocks the path, but to loose salvation and regain it by repentance is clumsy.
Now if faith is the marker then being defeated by sin will destroy the faith in the end.
So walking in righteousness, supports faith, reinforces the fellowship and walking with Jesus.
Now if one says the more you want to retain of who you are, the more you need to learn to walk as Jesus walked, that is a good incentive. You are not earning salvation you are making it more real to more of you.
This would make sense to Pauls notion of handing someone over to satan for a rebuke, and being saved as if through fire.
Do I know? No. But I know what makes sense in righteousness and love terms, and can fill in a lot of gaps.
I will always be saved through faith in Jesus and what he has done, but how much of me? Maybe that is down to us.
