The Protestant reformation concerned itself with reforming the existing Catholic Church. The more the reformation grew the lines being drawn were varied depending on which group you are speaking about. One thing most of them shared in common was the idea that salvation as taught by the Catholic was a“works based system”. Some reformers ran into trouble between the writings of Paul and James regarding works. Rather than seeing the Scriptures as a unified product from God, they began to rationalize and develop their system of faith (II Timothy 3:16). Rather than seeing the works system of the Catholic Faith, if they had taken the time to go back to Scriptures the outcome would have been very different.
Paul wrote about no law being able to save man. For the most part those Scriptures dealt with the law of Moses. If animal sacrifices could not take away sin, the worshippers would have forever a conscience of sin (Hebrews 10:1-4). How, then, could a law save which could not take away sin? The answer is the law of Moses could not. Some in the church began to parrot the same kind of language by saying there is nothing we can do to bring about our salvation. My advice to them would be the same, they need to get back to the Bible and quit studying from denominational writers who believe in “once saved, always saved”.
The Bible shows belief as being a work (John 6:29). If Godly sorrow leads to repentance, what does that show? Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in action. Such change would be a work, would it not (II Corinthians 7:10). If confession is made with the mouth unto salvation, would not the words coming out of one’s mouth be a work of some kind(Romans 10:10). Baptism saves us (I Peter 3:21). It is not the words of the Bible that create the problem. It is the doctrines of men ignoring the will of God and preachers wearing the name of Christian who spend most of their time reading after such false teachers. If one uses the word “works” to mean obedience to God, it is a correct understanding.