There are many zionwisdom posts from the past that support the quotation below. Just a couple are Doctrine and covenants 121:33-46 and Affirmations. (For reason(s) I don’t understand, I’m unable to put them at the end where they belong.)
Stephen E. Robinson taught from his book “Believing Christ:”
For centuries theologians have argued pointlessly over whether individuals are saved by faith or saved by works. A pox on both their houses, for neither by faith alone (defining faith as mere passive belief)4 nor by works alone are we saved. Salvation comes through a covenant relationship in which both faith and works play their parts. To insist that salvation comes by works alone, that we can earn it ourselves without needing the grace of God, insults the mercy of God and mocks the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our behalf. On the other hand, to insist that salvation comes by belief alone and that God places no other obligations on the believer insults the justice of God and makes Christ the minister of sin.
The scriptural concept of the covenant, an agreement between mortals and God that lays obligations on both parties and that satisfies both justice and mercy, eliminates the false either/or of faith verses works. In simple terms, this is the arrangement—we do what we are able to do and Jesus Christ, the object of our faith, out of his love and mercy and grace, does what we are not able to do. And we must believe he can do it—we must believe Christ.
In the parable of the talents, it did not matter that he with five talents earned five more while he with two talents earned only two. The efforts of both where accepted, though one had more talents and produced more results than the other. Indeed, even he with only one talent would have been accepted if only he had done what he could—but he chose not to try.
It is true that we cannot save ourselves by our works, but we can contribute something to the joint efforts of the partnership. To be in partnership, to be in a covenant relationship, we must do something. Even though our best efforts may be insufficient to save ourselves, they are sufficient as a token of good faith to establish a covenant relationship with our Savior. Though the covenant relationship is “sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify,” God still requires our participation. Without our assent and our participation, salvation would amount to nothing more than predestination, a happy accident that arbitrarily happens to some people and not to others.
No, we must participate in our own salvation to the extent that we are able. It is a partnership after all, and the junior partners must contribute what we can. To refuse such participation is to refuse the very idea of partnership. Two persons riding a tandem bicycle may not do the same amount of work, but if the weaker one uses that as an excuse to pull up his feet and stop pedaling altogether, then by definition the arrangement ceases to be a partnership and becomes exploitation. In the language of the gospel, it violates the covenant.
Trying our hardest to keep the commandments and be like Christ is part of our covenant obligation, not because we can succeed at them in this life, but because the attempt, the commitment to try, demonstrates our sincerity and our commitment to the covenant; it is a statement of our goals and desires. Our valiant attempts really do show that we hunger and thirst after righteousness—even if we don’t always succeed at it. Faith is always willing to try—and to try and try again. While success is not a requirement of the covenant of faith, my best attempts are. The gospel covenant requires this good faith effort.
So the old debate about faith versus works is a false dichotomy, a phony either/or. No matter which side we choose, faith alone or works alone, we destroy the concept of a covenant, of the partnership between the individual and God. ~Stephen E. Robinson Believing Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 125-30 Dwarsligger® edition.
