Salvation

The New Apostolic Church teaches a distinctive soteriology that centers on three essential elements: faith in Jesus Christ, the sacrament of Holy Baptism (water baptism), and the sacrament of Holy Sealing, administered by a living Apostle. These three elements work together to effect salvation and to place a person in full spiritual standing within the church.

Faith in Christ is the foundation, but it must be expressed and completed through the sacraments. Baptism removes sin and initiates a person into the church. However, the crowning grace of salvation is the Holy Sealing—the laying on of hands by an ordained Apostle, through which the person receives the full gift of the Holy Spirit. This Sealing is understood as essential to salvation; without it, a person does not receive the complete working of the Holy Spirit.

What makes NAC soteriology unusual is its doctrine that salvation and the gift of the Spirit can be received by the deceased through sacraments administered vicariously by the living. Believers living in the church can be sealed on behalf of departed loved ones, extending the possibility of spiritual perfection to those who have passed away. This universalist-adjacent doctrine reflects the NAC's unique understanding of God's redemptive work continuing beyond death.