It was explained pretty well by
@DJT_47 ..... you can NOT take one scripture (or two) and say "here is the final answer"..... otherwise the scriptures would contradict themselves. Clear-thinking logic would tell you that you must look at ALL the scriptures that tell you what saves you.... harmonize them together without throwing any of them out, and you will see a picture of what God expects....
Otherwise, we could take the scripture that says "baptism now saves us".... and say that's all we need. Or, the scripture that says "whoever calls on the name of the Lord is saved".... all you have to do is call on the name of Jesus. .. or, "your faith has saved you".... so all we need is faith.
ALL of those are required for the event of salvation. It's a free gift, in that we cannot earn it, we don't deserve it.... but there are responses God expects from us.... just like he expected the Jews to be circumcised to accept the gift of the old covenant.
It's not a "work" .... it's obedience. as Jesus said 19 Go [
a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..."