John 6:
[28] Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
[29] Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Already heard your point of view, and you calling that “initial Salvation”.
First, even still after I made an illustration you still are not getting what I said.
The work of God = The work of God upon the heart of man
(which in turn is to get them to believe).
Therefore...
The credit goes to God for believing (or having faith) ultimately and not man (even though man has free will involved in the decision).
The work of God in John 6:29 is God's work upon a person's heart (convicting them of sin) and to illuminate them to the truth of God's Word to be able to believe. They then have a free will choice to decide to accept God's word (under the illumination and drawing of God), or they can reject that truth. The truth is exposed to them by God.
In context, speaking of the Holy Spirit:
John 16:8-11 says,
“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”
Second, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). This means hearing or believing everything in your Bible is a part of the faith. So if you believe in the name of Jesus for salvation according to John 1:12, you are hearing the faith. If God tells you to love the brethren and help the poor in His Word (in the pages of the New Testament) (1 John 4:7) (Matthew 25:31-46), then that is also a part of your faith in God. For how can it not be a part of the faith? We have to believe all of the Bible by faith. So if you later obey God after believing in Jesus for salvation, you are still having faith. By faith, Noah built the ark.
Hebrews 11:7
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
If Noah did not build the ark, he would have perished with everyone else. Perpetual belief alone type thinking with God would not have saved Noah. Sure, Noah might have been accounted righteous without works before doing anything... but then faith matures and grows to doing the work of faith. For faith without works is dead (James 2:17).
But while John 6:29 is referring to God's work upon the heart (Because this crowd needs to be saved to begin with), John 6:26-27 is talking about the eventual work of faith (that follows by our faith - the results from God's work upon our heart to believe).
In John 6:26-27, we read:
“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” (John 6:26-27).
Jesus is talking about laboring (physical work) that the Jewish crowd did as a part of gaining food. He is not talking in context to a belief alone here. Laboring therefore must be in context to the work of faith that they must do
(believing, following Jesus, and obeying Him) that endures to everlasting life. This is consistent with the words of Jesus elsewhere (See: Matthew 19:17-19, Luke 10:25-28, Matthew 16:25). Even after the cross, we are told by John that if we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). By the indirect wording: To walk in the light = loving your brother (1 John 2:9-11). For he that does not righteousness and does not love their brother is not of God (1 John 3:10). For John says that hating one's brother means one is like a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life abiding in them (1 John 3:15). So again, one's right behavior or conduct is tied to having eternal life. Even your Bible ends in the last chapter as saying, “Blessed
are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without
are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” (Revelation 22:14-15).
Anyways, getting back to John 6:26-29:
The order is:
1. God's work upon the heart (of which we cannot believe without this) (John 6:29).
2. Faith in Jesus as our Savior, and a belief in the gospel message that Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was risen the third day for our salvation (is what must happen when we first get saved). This is a process of salvation without works.
3. Faith in God's instructions (in the New Testament) which means one does the work of faith (John 6:27). This is the eventual labor that they are to do that endures to everlasting life. This is the eventual result of God's work upon the heart to believe. God gets the credit for us believing (even though we have free will choice involved because God is the initiator and illuminator of our being able to believe).
So John 6:26-29 is describing things in reverse order.
Jesus desires them to ultimately do the work of faith, but that can only start or begin when God does the work upon their heart to illuminate them to the truth of God's Word, and to convict them of their sin whereby they are able to make the choice to first believe in the Savior and the gospel message by faith initially (Which is received as a gift). But salvation is not continually received over and over and over as a gift. Gifts come with responsibilities otherwise you can lose them if you don't take care of them.
Side Note:
In John 6:28, the Jewish crowd is asking what must they do in order to do the works of God. Jesus desires them to do the eventual work of faith, but it takes time to get there and certain things first need to happen. The first thing that needs to happen is GOD (i.e. the work of God - John 6:29). GOD needs to work upon their heart and convict them of their sin at the right moment in their life and show them the truth of His Word. Once the truth is illuminated to them under God's drawing and call, they are able to believe. But God gets the credit for a person initially believing in God for salvation. Then after a believer has first trusted in Jesus and the gospel for salvation, they then move on to laboring for the food (work of faith) that endures to everlasting life (John 6:27). Obeying God's instructions in the Bible is simply continuing in the faith.