The National Association of Free Will Baptists teaches an Arminian view of salvation, rejecting Calvinist determinism while affirming the necessity of God's grace. Salvation begins with prevenient grace — God's grace that precedes faith and enables the human will to respond to the gospel. This grace is universal, offered to all people, restoring to all humans a measure of free will to choose or reject Christ.

Justification is by faith in Christ, not by works. The believer is declared righteous through faith in Christ's atoning death and resurrection. However, Free Will Baptists uniquely emphasize the possibility of entire sanctification — the work of the Holy Spirit that purifies the believer from sin and enables perfection in love. This Wesley-influenced doctrine (inherited from the Free Will Baptist tradition's connection to Methodist thought) teaches that believers may experience a second definite blessing in which they are cleansed from inbred sin and empowered for holy living.

Unlike Calvinists, Free Will Baptists affirm that salvation can be lost through apostasy. Those who are truly saved may fall away from grace and be eternally lost. This possibility motivates spiritual vigilance, persistence in faith, and the need for ongoing pastoring and accountability. The doctrine of perseverance is denied in favor of a doctrine of conditional security: believers are secure so long as they remain faithful to Christ.