What is life like after death? Is redemption still possible at all? Answers from the perspective of the New Apostolic faith are provided in a recently published essay. We have summarised the most important points in five statements.
A doctrine according to which God also saves human beings who do not believe in Christ is incompatible with Jesus’ commission to His Apostles.
The Holy Spirit has been active in the church to bear witness to Jesus Christ since the first Pentecost. It was thanks to His authority that the first Apostles were able to accomplish the mission entrusted to them by Jesus (John 14: 26). Apostle Peter recalled before the High Council that Jesus had said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14: 6). After Jesus’ victory over death, the message of salvation is addressed to both the living and dead (1 Peter 4: 6).
If the destiny of a human being were finally sealed at the time of death, a large part of humanity would not have access to salvation in Christ.
New Apostolic Christians believe, and this is a peculiarity of our faith, that the departed retain their freedom of decision: at the time of death, the soul and spirit leave the body to enter the beyond. The body dies, but the personhood of the deceased continues to exist. In this way, the departed can freely decide for or against Jesus Christ.
God does not classify humans into categories; He considers each individual as a unique person!
The Bible uses different images to convey the situation of humans in the beyond. In 1 Peter 3: 19–20 it speaks of “the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient”. Jesus said that there were many mansions in the Father’s house (John 14: 2).
The term “prison” should not be taken literally. This image simply refers to the fact that these departed remain prisoners of sin and are therefore unable to come close to God.
Likewise, the notions of mansions or realms do not mean that God groups or confines all the departed with the same profile, as it were, in the same place: liars with liars, murderers with murderers, and so on. God does not classify humans into categories; He considers each individual as a unique person!
All we can say is that the situation of the departed depends on their relationship with Jesus Christ and their degree of guilt.
Just because the departed may have suffered long enough in a “prison” does not mean that they will automatically be saved.
The amount of time spent in a realm has no bearing on the salvation of the departed. There is only one way to come to God, and that is faith in Jesus Christ. In order to be saved, the departed must also accept the gospel, believe in Jesus Christ, and receive the sacraments dispensed by the Apostles.
When receiving the sacraments, Christ liberates the departed as He liberates the living: those baptised with water are liberated from original sin and can come closer to God. Those who have been baptised with the Spirit receive the promise of eternal life and the possibility to enter the kingdom of God as firstfruits. The worthy partaking of Holy Communion allows them to have fellowship with Christ and to develop in the image of Christ.
The doctrine of the thousand-year kingdom of peace is based on the conviction that God wants to give all of mankind the possibility to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
When Christ returns, He will take to Himself the elect who have allowed themselves to be prepared by the Holy Spirit both here on earth and in the beyond. Their soul and spirit will receive a new body, the resurrection body, with which they will enter into God’s glory. Because God desires the salvation of all human beings, and this salvation can only be obtained through Christ, He will make it possible for everyone to have the opportunity to freely decide for Christ. During the kingdom of peace, salvation will be proclaimed to all people, both the dead and the living. Everyone will get the chance to follow Christ.
This article is based on the doctrinal essay “Thoughts on our concept of the departed”. The article was originally published in a special edition of the Divine Service Guide 2/2020 and has just been published in edition 4/2024 of community.
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