Fear and trembling: But that doesn’t mean a person isn’t saved by faith at some point in their lives. We don’t have to work out until death and then wonder even at that point if we’ll make it to heaven. No. IMHO, dear Annalex, we work out the besetting sins in our lives, confessing them when necessary, work out the bad attitudes, the junk/baggage brought into our faith from childhood on, become more and more righteous and holy as we do these things; more like Christ. But we still know we’re saved.
I agree, except as a Catholic I would not say “we know” if by that you mean presumption that a future sin will not condemn you.
Hope is the theological virtue. Both presumption of being already somehow “saved” for the rest of your life, and despair of never having your sins forgiven are in themselves sins.
This doesn’t mean that a Catholic lives in a state of paranoia. So long as your prayer life is striong and you see growth in virtues in you, there is your “joyful hope”.