Confession

“For other foundation canno man lay than that is laid, whichisJesusChrist.”(ICor.3:11).The Bible, the Word of God,whichrevealsineternaltruth the guidance and des-tiny of nations and mankind,is the foundation of all trueliving in faith. The New Tes-tament especially, i.e., theGospel of Jesus Christ, Hisexample, and the teachingsand instructions given byHim and His Apostles areour rule and our ground of faith.We acknowledge God, the Almighty, as Creator andPreserver of the universe inthe visible and invisible crea-tion.We confess Jesus Christ asthe Son of God and Son of man, who testified anew of the love of God toward man-kindlostin errorand sin,and who Himself put this loveinto effect to the giving of Himself on the accursed treeof the cross for the salvationofmen.Hispreciousbloodof reconciliationmakesuscleanfrom all sin (I John 1:7). Theblood of Christ we under-stand to be His work of re-demption which He finishedon the cross of Calvary.WeconfesstheHolyGhost

The Newsletter of theApostolic Christian Publishing Company

xhortations

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

— II Timothy 4:2

Volume 1 Number 1 February, 1996

Fundamentals ofFaith andFellowship

This article is a reprint from a publication of the same name, available from the Ap- ostolic Christian Publishing Company. The publication it- self is an excerpt from

Apos-tolic Christian Church His-tory,

also available as a complete publication. It represents an excellent synopsis of the faith from the vantage point in time immedi- ately following the firm estab- lishmentofthefaith,andatthe beginning of the spread of the faith to America.

Continued on page 2

In This Issue

Fundamentals of Faith and Fellowship —Page 1

The Headcovering — Page 1

The Life of Samuel Heinrich Fröhlich —Page 5

Adornment — Page 14

The church practice of the headcovering has been one of controversy ever since I can remember, and for many yearsbefore that, I am sure. One reason for that, of course, is a lackof understanding of that teaching as laid out in I Corinthians11.WhatbringsaboutsomeoftheconfusionisthewaytheKingJames Version translates the Apostle Paul’s letter from theGreeklanguageinwhichitwasoriginallywritten.Whatfurthercomplicates matters is that some take this chapter to be di-rected only to the Corinthian church. Let us analyze thatchapterincontextofthewholeScripturetoeradicateanydoubtas to what it really means.

Does this teaching apply to us today?

Firstly, the Apostle starts the chapter by praising the churchfor keeping the ordinances that he had given them either

Doug Savin

Brother Doug Savin is a minister in the Toronto, Ontario,Canada, congregation. In all cases, the emphasis applied to thetext and quotations in this article is his.

The Headcovering

Continued on page 3

February, 1996 Exhortations • 1

of truth and love, of obedi-ence and discipline, who ac-cordingtoJohn14:16and26,also Acts 2:1-4, was pouredout on the first day of Pente-cost,andwhotothisdaygivesHimself into the hearts of men who through an uprightconversion, through repen-tance, faith, grace, and bap-tism,havecometorenewalof life and peace with God.Christ taught Nicodemus:“Verily, verily, I say untothee, Except a man be bornof water and of the Spirit, hecannot enter into the king-dom of God.” (John 3:5).We believe thatevery man is a sinnerby birth: “There isnone that doethgood, no, not one”(Romans 3:12), and“The wages of sin isdeath” (Romans 6:23).We believethat God in HisWord offers every man thepossibility to be deliveredfrom his sinful and lost con-dition. “Have I any pleasureat all that the wicked shoulddie? saith the Lord God: andnot that he should returnfromhisways,andlive?”(Ez.18:23).Thispossibilityiscon-firmed by the word of Jesuson the cross: “It is finished.”The faith in Christ’s sacri-ficial death is the foundationof the redemption; and thefollowing scriptural baptism,bound with the gift of theHoly Spirit,isthesealofholykinship and divine adoptionas sons of God.Infant baptism is not scrip-tural, because it has no foun-dationintheNewTestament;it is an error and leads meninto a false security. It is forhim the only testimony,though not grounded in theScriptures, that he is a Chris-tian, even though he knowsnothing of his baptism.Fröhlichwrote:“Manmustfirst have heard the Word of salvation with his ears, un-derstood it with his mind, be-lieved it with his heart, andconfessed it with his lips be-fore he may be baptized onthis, his faith, and embodiedinto the church of Christ.”The Church is the body of Christ.The Head of the Church isChrist.We confess ourselves to benon-combatant, according tothe Sermon on the Mount,andwerejectthetakingofanoathaccordingtothewordof Christ: “Swear not at all...But let your communicationbe, yea, yea: Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more thanthese cometh of evil.” (Matt.5:34,37).We believe in the comingof the Kingdom of God, whichhasitsbeginningintheheart of man and its gloriousconsummationintheappear-ance of the Lord, when He will come in the glory of HisFather with the holy angels(Mark 8:38).

Conversion

The appearance of JesusChrist on earth is a call to allmen: “The time is fulfilled,The Apostolic Christian Publishing Company was foundedby the late Elder Brother Philip N. Braun in the 1920’s, withthe purpose of disseminating writings of spiritual valuethroughout the brotherhood and to the world at large. BrotherPhilip was well aware of the power of Satan unleashed andrampant in a sin-darkened world, and often could be heard tosay of the evil one, “He is the master of a thousand arts.”Consequently, to battle this evil, especially as it found itsmanifestation in the deceitfulness of nominal Christianity,Brother Philip devoted his life to the task of bringing forth thetruths of the Word of God by publishing many discourses thatexpounded upon it. I had the privilege to work directly underhis tutelage for a number of years before his untimely death in1978.Thoughmanyofthematerialsheoversawthepublicationof lacked what we may call “polish”, Brother Philip felt acontinualsenseofurgencyaboutthiscalling,andtoldmeoften,“We need to get this into the hands of people.”It is always the smug conceit of each generation to believethat those who preceded them were somehow less sophisti-cated, less knowledgeable and enlightened, less wise. A thor-ough and critical review, however, of the written legacy left tous by the founding brothers of our faith reveals how preposter-ous such an opinion is. To re-echo the words of Brother HenryMichel, we have to marvel at how much lighthad been given toour brothers in faith who preceded us.Though there are some who may consider the reaffirmationof the “faith of our fathers” to be nothing better than a re-hashof history, it is the purpose of this newsletter to further illumi-nate the continuing relevancy of their God-given wisdom byplacing it within the context of contemporary living, with all itsissues and challenges. May Godbless His truth, and may we withearnestness contend for it.

Exhortations

isthenewsletteroftheApostolicChristianPub- lishingCompany,Syracuse,NewYork.Itspurposeistodeclare andpromotetheoriginaldoctrinalstandpointsandpracticesof theApostolicChristianChurchthroughthepublicationofrele- vantarticles,bothhistoricalandcontemporary. Correspondenceregardingthisnewsletterandotherpublica- tionsidentifiedhereinmaybeaddressedto:ApostolicChristian PublishingCompany,P.O.Box416,Syracuse,NewYork13215- 0416. GregoryD.KufchakEditor GaiusW.LaubliAssociateEditor DavidM.FreundBusinessManager

Fundamentals of Faith andFellowship

Continued on page 3

“The Church is the body of Christ.”

Continued from Page 1

The Newsletter of theApostolic Christian Publishing Company

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2 • Exhortations February, 1996

and the kingdom of God is athand: repent ye, and believethe gospel.” (Mark 1:15).The true Christian life be-gins with repentance, faith,knowledge, grace, baptism,laying on of hands; then fol-low the life of faith, the sanc-tification, the resurrection(Hebrews 6:1-2).True knowledge of self,turning from sin, contrition,turningtoGod:thatisrepen-tance. Boundupwithuprightrepentance is a confession of sins, according to Mark 1:5.Wrongthathasbeencommit-ted, lying, stealing, moral in-fractions, offenses, slander,etc., must be confessed, andas much as possible restitu-tion must be made. The con-triteconfessionand theresti-tutionworkforreconciliationbetween men, but they arenot sufficient to make menrighteous in God’s sight. Thelastconditionofmanconsistsnot alone in the individualsins which he has committed,but in his unbelief and in theevil state of the human heart(Romans7:24),whichcannotbe restored by restitution orconfession before men, butonly by the complete re-demption, in Christ, of thesinful nature (I John 1:7).OnlythesacrificeonCalvary,the death of the innocentLamb of God on the cross,presents the all-sufficientsacrifice,andonlythefaithinthis offering, which becomesaninnerconvictionandexpe-rience, enables man, lost insin, to be reconciled to Godand redeemed from thebondageand servitudeofsin.“If the Son therefore shallmake you free, ye shall befree indeed.” (John 8:36). SoPaul could testify: “I ob-tained mercy.” (I Tim. 1:16).For the person, who byfaith in Christ’s redemptiveact on Calvary, through re-pentanceandconversion,hasreceived forgiveness of sinsand has come to be at peace with God, the way is open toall the promises of God’sWord,accordingtothemeas-ure of his faith. From now onthe rest of his way no longerlies in his own choice: thechild of God must be subjectto his heavenly Father andtheleadingoftheHolySpirit, whotestifiesinhim.Thedoc-trines of the Gospel areauthoritative for his futurelife. No man has ever beentruly converted without vow-ingfaithfulnesstoGod,inthefollowing of Jesus to the end.This vow of faithfulness God would confirm in the re-deemed person through thecovenant of grace in the bap-tism of faith.By the redemption,through the blood of Christ,man comesto truepeaceandrest of the soul, according tothe word of the Lord:“Comeunto me, all ye that labourand are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt.11:28). This refreshing, aftercontrition and repentance,becomesforthesoulaninnerexperience and a testimonyof faith in redemption. Theheart for the first time feelstrue peace and that joy of soul of which the Savior says:“... Your heart shall rejoice,and your joy no man takethfrom you.” (John 16:22),“... But rather rejoice, be-cause your names are writtenin heaven.” (Luke 10:20).Thisjoytheeunuchfeltwhenhe went on his way rejoicing(Acts 8:39). verballywhilehe waspresentwiththem,orperhapsbyanotherepistle that we are not aware of.“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now Ipraise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, andkeep the ordinances,

as I delivered them to you

.” (vv 1-2).Paul then continues by stating in global terms the hierarchyofGod’sauthorityasascribedtoHimself,giventoHisSon,andfinally to the man and the woman.“

But

I would have you know, that the head of

every

man isChrist; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (v 3).The fact that he speaks in such universal terms of God being

the

head of Christ, Christ being the head of

every

man (also see vv 4-5) and man being the head of

the

woman, rejects the ideathat this is speaking to

only

the men and women of the Corin-thian church, and for that era in history only. Secondly, Paul’suse of the word “every” and the definite article “the” indicatethat he was not speaking to

their

(Corinthian) believers only.Once again it is a global concept. God has never ceased to bethe Godhead; Christ has never ceased to be the head of theman; and, unless told otherwise, the man has never ceased tobe the head ofthe woman. Based on the above facts, it must beconcluded that chapter 11 of I Corinthians applies to thechurch even today.

What does it mean for the head to becovered?

Having established that this Scripture applies toustoday, letus move on to the teaching on the headcovering.“Everymanprayingorprophesying,havinghisheadcovered,dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth orprophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head:for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the womanbe not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.” (vv 4-6).The Greek word used in verse 5 for

uncovered

ακατακαλυπτοσ

(akatakaluptos), which simply means “un- veiledoruncovered”.ThiswordisderivedfromtheGreekword

κατακαλυπτο

(katakalupto), which means (according toStrong’sConcordance)“tocoverwholly,veil,cover,hide”.Theimplicationhereisthatthewoman’sheadistobefullycovered.This may go totally against the grain of today’s practice, butthat is what the Scripture says. The only other alternative is toshavethehead,asstatedinverse6.

Thiswouldbeafoolishthing, because that would be a rejection of God’s gift to the woman to makeherlookbeautiful

(seev15).Itisclearthatverses4,5,and6 state that if a man prays or prophesies with his head covered,he dishonors his head, which is Christ. It isalso clear that if the woman does the same with her head uncovered, she dishonors

The Headcovering

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Fundamentals of Faith andFellowship