If I say we have a personal responsibility for our behaviours and for atoning to God for our sins, it does not mean Christ’s sacrifice was not enough. It does not mean we can do it alone, without Christ. That is not what I said.
The door to Heaven had been closed to all souls prior to His sacrifice. He opened the door through His death and resurrection. It is our job, as revealed countless times in the Gospels, to choose the right path to walk through that door. We still have free will, even after we have the conversion moment and are “saved.”
We have free will to continue to choose to follow Christ every day of the rest of our lives. We are responsible for those choices for the rest of our lives. Christ’s words make it very clear that how people behave is still critical. We see this in Matt 5 when He speaks of casting off anything that leads you to sin or be thrown into Hell. Why even mention this if they were “saved?”
In Matt 5:19-20 we see that keeping the commandments is critical and we learn that if our justice is not greater than the Pharisees, we shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Clearly there are some who believe who will receive harsh judgement.
Finally, in Matt 5:22 He tells us that if we are angry with our brother we are in danger of judgement. Christ says whoever calls someone else a fool shall be in danger of the fires of Hell. He is talking to His disciples here; people who are believe in Him already. Again, clearly, our actions matter even when we believe in Christ as our Savior.
This concept is stated over and over in the New Testament. We are redeemed but we must choose to be worthy of that redemption every day. We must fight for our redemption and “work it out” in fear and trembling. Christ’s many parables highlight this also.
Why did He even tell us all these stories about how to be righteous if sin did not matter after He “saved” us? Why bother to tell us how to behave at all? Because our actions still matter after the moment we believe. Indeed, they matter EVEN MORE.
If we sin after hearing God’s Word, we are like the soil that got the good seed and took root but was plucked away by crows. The good seed, the Word, must be absorbed, nurtured, tended, and carefully grown within us. THAT’s what we are accountable for. If we believe the Word, certain actions MUST follow.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph. 2:9: No one deserves salvation. It cannot be earned by what the Bible calls “dead works” (Heb. 6:1; 9:14). Dead works include all religious activities, good deeds, or charity that one may do as a means of being justified before God. Faith towards God and what He has done through Christ Jesus is the only means of receiving His free gift of salvation.
To trust in any human work or effort as a means of salvation is to fall from grace and to sever one’s self from the Savior (Gal. 5:4). No one can be saved by the combination of grace and works, for they exclude each other (Rom. 11:6). You must be saved by grace through faith alone or your works must meet the standard of God’s perfection set down by His holy law (Rom. 2:13). “Therefore a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16).
Eph. 2:9: God has designed salvation in such a way as to eliminate any boasting from man. If salvation was by works either partially or wholly, then man could boast. But grace and faith eliminate man’s boasting altogether (Rom. 3:27;). Salvation by grace brings praise and glory to God. If we could save ourselves, either partially or wholly, we would take the credit for it. But that is not the case. All the glory goes to God.
Isaiah 64:6 (KJV) But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
If all our righteousness are as filthy rags, how could it be possible to atone for our sins