Good works, like repentance and obedience and understanding and all good fruits of faith, are from God.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." -- Philippians 2:13
And we "already have salvation" because Christ "already" paid for our sins, every one of them, by His death and resurrection.
We have been redeemed. We now stand acquitted before God, blameless, because Christ has taken on the punishment due us.
Life is a lot more certain than some churches want us to believe.
Dr.E Good works, like repentance and obedience and understanding and all good fruits of faith, are from God.
Of course, that doesn't answer the question. Just because good works are "from God" does not explain why, if we already have salvation, we need anything else.
And we "already have salvation" because Christ "already" paid for our sins, every one of them, by His death and resurrection.
Again, this does not explain why, given that we have salvation, we nevertheless need something else in addition to salvation, i.e. sanctification. Apparently, salvation is insufficient.
I think the disagreement here is that you are using the term 'salvation' in a narrow sense to refer only to the forgiveness of our sins, and I am using the term 'salvation' in a broader sense to refer to all that is necessary for us to have eternal life. That includes the forgiveness of our sins, but it also includes our sanctification as well.
-A8