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I think you are misreading me and looking for arguments where none need exist. I am not sure we are in disagreement so much as we are looking at the same thing in different ways.

The martyr indeed has no such concerns. If any action points to the faith that Christ demands of us, that faith that saves and whereby we are adopted by the Father as sons and daughters, it is martyrdom.

But it is the faith that led to martyrdom that saves a man, not the martyrdom itself. I would go a step further and to say that to refuse martyrdom when presented it is to reject all claims one might make that one has the faith that saves.

A verse from Scripture comes to mind:

“And behold one came and said to him: Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting? Who said to him: Why asketh thou me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Which one of these Commandments of the Law did Jesus say would save the man? We were created to do these things. We don’t get extra credit for doing what we were created for, any more than an employee gets a bonus for doing the bare minimum of his duties.

Every good work we perform is the bare minimum of our duties as Christians. Every sin is where we fall short of our duties. The greatest saints who performed the most wonderful acts of charity and mercy, rather than going above and beyond, were barely doing the minimum of what God’s righteousness and holiness expects of us. Wherein we sin we fall short of what God expects. Even the greatest of saints were substandard workers in God’s eyes by their own merits... what hope is there for us?

God gives us only one way to go above and beyond.

“The young man saith to him: All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me? Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.”

In following Christ alone do we go above and beyond. That is the only point we can make before God in our favor. Everything else is simply telling our employer, “Well, yes, I was screwing around and neglected most of my duties pretty much all the time, but hey, look at all the times I swept and tidied up the shelves!”

Our good works add up to sweeping and tidying up the shelves when compared to God’s righteousness and what He expects from us.