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I would argue that being justified and made righteous happens only because of our faith in Christ. Our works become good - in God's eyes - only because of our faith in Him. His righteousness is imputed to us. How else could we be "new creations"? The Holy Spirit therefore gets the credit for my good works.
The works are good or evil. In Christ's teaching, He doesn't say - well, you gave water to one of these who was thirsty, but you didn't have the right faith, so it was not a good work. It is good to love others... when we love others, we are also showing love to God because they are images of God. That's why the idea of loving God and loving others are fundamentally linked.
Given that we don't have a direct English equivalent for "pistis" (faith, belief, proof) it is useful to read "faithfulness" as a translation. It is also important that righteous and justified are the same word (dikaioo). It means set right, properly ordered.
So, your first sentence is true. If you can accept my minor rewording, we are justified and made righteous -- fixed -- because of and through our faithfulness to Christ. Everywhere in St Paul we see faith as a journey, a life lived. And it is in living this life that we are healed, corrected, set right, made righteous. Not merely credited with righteousness, but actually made righteous. This is exactly how we are new creations - not old creations with a coat of paint (wouldn't we be whitewashed tombs?) and not the same old garbage but God plays pretend and says we are what we aren't. But through the grace of God, working with Him as fellow-workers, we do the works He prepared for us to do which are good and make us righteous. These properly order, justify, set aright, our relationships with other humans, with God, with material goods even, and that makes a man righteous and just. That is what justice is, properly - being set in order.
That's why over and over again St Paul tells us to walk a certain way. He testifies from the Lord, commands, that we walk differently as Christians. It is precisely
because we are new creations that we must live differently, we were buried with Him into death for the purpose that we should walk in newness of life. And in another place, therefore just as we received Christ Jesus as Lord, we must continue to walk in Him, because in another place he says this walk is the calling to which we were called.
The idea of credit here is secondary. All good comes from God, the Father of lights, and apart from Him we can do nothing. I think we can agree, and leave that aside. Nevertheless, St Paul says we are to work. Not be passive and let God, but work. So what is my credit? I can't will myself to exist, and Christ Jesus unilaterally acted to save the world. From the beginning He called Abraham to make a new nation, through the Exodus and birth of Israel expanded it from one family to a mixed multitude, redeemed a place for Him to dwell, scattered the unfaithful like seeds into the nations, became Man to share in our nature and join it with the divine nature, died and rose again to free our nature from death, and then called Israel back from out of the nations into which they were scattered. All of this had nothing to do with my work, my will, my action - as St Paul says, "you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which once you walked according to the age of this world...among whom we all also once lived in the desires of our flesh...by nature children of wrath even as the rest....But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses -- by grace you are saved -- and He raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus...For by grace you are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." So God did all this, this great arc of the greatest story ever told, precisely to make us to do good things.
All good, yeah? The credit is to God. And then, St Paul continuous - THEREFORE - because of all that - because we were aliens from Christ, Israel, without hope, but have been brought near and are at peace, and have this mystery proclaimed to us..."Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthily of the calling to which you were called." We are no longer to walk the way the gentiles, foreigners, aliens do - if we have indeed learned Christ at all, and taught the Truth, we are to put on the new man and walk differently. In short, we are to "walk in love".
And! This is exactly what the NT unanimously says will be our judgment at the Day of the Lord. Did we do the things we were created to do, were we faithful to the call, did we achieve our end?
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But let's talk empirically - our personal experience with sin and blessing. When you've overcome a particularly pernicious sin in your life, or experienced an amazing blessing - how much do you really think you had to do with it? In my experience, those things happen almost in spite of me. I'm surprised that I find myself being more generous, or not screaming at the guy who cut me off, or wanting to spend more time in prayer. In short, my sanctification happens if not against my will - certainly by dragging it kicking and screaming.
I see these things as evidence (I hope) of the Holy Spirit working in my life. That just makes more sense to me empirically. Way more than the idea of righteousness being actually imparted to me. I am more - totally really - a drag than thrust in the equation I guess.
When you overcome a sin, or whatever - how does this happen? You just sit around and then a beam of light comes down from heaven and, BAM, you never do x again? This doesn't happen to me - if it does to you, I'm jealous. Empirically for me, when things go well for me, it is because I am doing my part which is pretty much to stop fighting. What are we supposed to do? Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, live the life of the Church. Participate in the Liturgy, confess our sins to each other, love one another, do the things He wants to do in our lives. Isn't this exactly what the Lord says? "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love".
The Spirit is written on our hearts so that we
can do these things. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit in our lives - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. (Note there it's just pistis, faith, belief).
We can't be passive and aren't commanded to do that. We are commanded to work, to love with all our heart, soul, mind, strength. Not apart from God, but with Him, and He works in us to bring about justification, it is what He wants for us.
