[bearbear]

To clarify I don't mean works out of self effort which result in self righteousness (think of the Pharisees who sounded a horn when they donated to the temple) but when I say works I mean works done out of faith. And faith only works through God living in us.

Let's revisit Galatians 2:20 because it's such a great verse that I believe sums up the Christian faith in many ways:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul says in Romans 6 to consider ourselves dead to sin but alive in Christ. First we must die to sin as Christ died on the cross, which we do when we repent. Afterwards God comes to live in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Phil 1:21 that for me to live is Christ but to die is gain. So when we live by faith we're not doing it by ourselves! We're doing it through Christ living in us! It's not us who is working but Christ who is working through us so we have nothing to boast about.

This is why only faith working through love counts. Because Christ can only operate through us through love:

Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

When we love and obey God (by taking the cross/repenting), God comes to live in us:

John 14:26
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

This is why Galatians 5:14 says love fulfills the law! And why Jesus says he didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Unlike what free grace teachers insist on, the moral law of the OT still applies- it hasn't been abolished! It's fulfilled by God living in us and by us living according to the Spirit. This was made possible by Christ's death on the cross and ascension which allowed the Holy Spirit to come down (John 16:7). We are no longer under the law but we live it! by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (1 Cor 6:19).

Jeremiah 31:33
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

In the OT, the animals that were sacrificed had to die first before the fire of God could come down to consume it. The Israelites provided the sacrifice but God provided the fire. Where is this fulfilled in the New Testament?

Matthew 3:11
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

In the NT there are two baptisms, one by water unto repentance and another by the Holy Spirit. Before God can come live and operate in us first we must die through repentance (present our bodies as a living sacrifice Rom 12:1), and then be baptized by the Holy Spirit who is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29).

The NT teaches that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a deposit to guarantee our inheritance, in the same way that a engagement ring seals a bride until her wedding day (2 Tim 2:14). I believe after you truly belong to Jesus, he won't lose you!

John 6:39
"And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day."

But we have to go through the right steps in obedience-- first die to our old man by crucifying the desires of our flesh on the cross, and be made alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit.