Yes. Yes to all.

There are simply too many verses in the Bible that teach it. See, for example, Matthew 6:14-15, Matthew 7:21-23, and Matthew 18: 31-35; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 9:57-62 and Luke 14:25-35; John 5:29; Acts 3:19 and Acts 17:30; Romans 2:6-11 and Romans 8:12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21 and Galatians 6:7-9; and Hebrews 12:14 to name a few. These verses clearly teach that repentance, obedience, and holiness are required for salvation. 

Does this conflict with the Bible’s teaching on justification by faith?

No. The Bible is likewise clear that nothing anyone can do can gain any forgiveness from God. We are forgiven of our sins and justified before God simply by receiving the righteousness of Him–namely, the person and work of Jesus Christ–by faith. It is God’s righteousness in Christ that justifies us, and praise be to God that this justification will most certainly lead to salvation from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9). Note, however, that the final, future sense of the term “salvation” is in view in this verse.

Holiness, therefore, cannot help us “get right” with God, no matter how holy we are. Nor, as some in the New Perspective camp would have us believe, does it help us “stay in” a state of grace. And yet, we cannot enter heaven–and be finally and fully saved–without it.

Sound contradictory? It’s not. God is perfectly holy. We are sinful. Nothing we can do can atone for our sin. Only Jesus could do that. But God’s plan is not only to justify us in the court of heaven; His plan is to make us holy before entering. No one enters the presence of the Holy God of the universe without obtaining real holiness. Not perfection, of course; but actual holiness, real growth in grace. This is simply what God requires.

For some, this causes confusion or worry. But those who truly understand grace can rest in Christ. What’s more, those who truly understand grace will have the attitude of Paul in Romans 6:1 and following. They will understand that true faith in Christ involves dying to sin and living to God; otherwise that faith is either misinformed, misguided, or insincere. They will recognize that coming to Jesus in faith requires us to obey Him, as Paul goes on to say in that passage. And they will say with Paul in Philippians 3: let me “press on to lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ.” They will indeed press forward to win the prize–the prize of eternal life.

Thank God that in all of His true children, He Himself is at work by His Spirit, to accomplish His purpose, which cannot fail. He who justifies us will glorify us. But our job is to recognize that God’s work in us does not end with our justification; it only begins. Eternal life and final salvation are yet before us. We must indeed strive to enter by the narrow way.