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Easton's Bible Dictionary
The church at Ephesus ( Revelation
2:6 ) is commended for hating the "deeds" of the Nicolaitanes, and the church
of Pergamos is blamed for having them who hold their "doctrines" (Revelation
2:15). They were seemingly a class of professing Christians, who sought to
introduce into the church a false freedom or licentiousness, thus abusing Paul's
doctrine of grace (Compare 2
Peter 2:15 , 2:16
, 2:19
), and were probably identical with those who held the doctrine of Baalam (q.v.),
Revelation
2:14 .
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
followers of Nicolas
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(followers of Nicolas) A sect mentioned in ( Revelation
2:6 , 2:15
) whose deeds were strongly condemned. They may have been identical with those
who held the doctrine of Balaam. They seem to have held that it was lawful to
eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication, in opposition to the
decree of the Church rendered in ( Acts
15:20 , 15:29
). The teachers of the Church branded them with a name which expressed their true
character. The men who did and taught such things were followers of Balaam. (
2
Peter 2:15 ; Jude
1:11 ) They, like the false prophet of Pethor, united brave words with evil
deeds. In a time of persecution, when the eating or not eating of things sacrificed
to idols was more than ever a crucial test of faithfulness, they persuaded men
more than ever that was a thing indifferent. ( Revelation
2:13 , 2:14
) This was bad enough, but there was a yet worse evil. Mingling themselves in
the orgies of idolatrous feasts, they brought the impurities of those feasts into
the meetings of the Christian Church. And all this was done, it must be remembered
not simply as an indulgence of appetite: but as a part of a system, supported
by a "doctrine," accompanied by the boast of a prophetic illumination, ( 2
Peter 2:1 ) It confirms the view which has been taken of their character to
find that stress is laid in the first instance on the "deeds" of the Nicolaitans.
To hate those deeds is a sign of life in a Church that otherwise is weak and faithless.
( Revelation
2:6 ) To tolerate them is well nigh to forfeit the glory of having been faithful
under persecution. ( Revelation
2:14 , 2:15
)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
nik-o-la'-i-tanz Nikolaitai):
1. The Sect:
A sect or party of evil influence in early Christianity, especially in the 7 churches
of Asia. Their doctrine was similar to that of Balaam, "who taught Balak to cast
a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols,
and to commit fornication" (Revelation 2:14 , 15). Their practices were strongly
condemned by John, who praised the church in Ephesus for "hating their works"
(Revelation 2:6), and blamed the church in Pergamum for accepting in some measure
their teaching (Revelation 2:15). Except that reference is probably made to their
influence in the church at Thyatira also, where their leader was "the woman Jezebel,
who calleth herself a prophetess" (Revelation 2:20; compare Revelation 2:14),
no further direct information regarding them is given in Scripture.
2. References:
Reference to them is frequent in post-apostolic literature. According to Irenaeus
(Adv. Haer., i.26,3; iii.10,7), followed by Hippolytus (Philos., vii.36), they
were founded by Nicolaus, the proselyte of Antioch, who was one of the seven chosen
to serve at the tables (Acts 6:5). Irenaeus, as also Clement of Alexandria (Strom.,
ii.20), Tertullian and others, unite in condemning their practices in terms similar
to those of John; and reference is also made to their Gnostic tendencies. In explanation
of the apparent incongruity of such an immoral sect being founded by one of "good
report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (compare Acts 6:3), Simcox argues that
their lapse may have been due to reaction from original principles of a too rigid
asceticism. A theory, started in comparatively modern times, and based in part
on the similarity of meaning of the Greek "Nikolaus," and the Hebrew "Balaam,"
puts forward the view that the two sects referred to under these names were in
reality identical. Yet if this were so, it would not have been necessary for John
to designate them separately.
3. Nicolaitan Controversy:
The problem underlying the Nicolaitan controversy, though so little direct mention
is made of it in Scripture, was in reality most important, and concerned the whole
relation of Christianity to paganism and its usages. The Nicolaitans disobeyed
the command issued to the Gentilechurches, by the apostolic council held at Jerusalem
in 49-50 AD, that they should refrain from the eating of "things sacrificed to
idols" (Acts 15:29). Such a restriction, though seemingly hard, in that it prevented
the Christian communities from joining in public festivals, and so brought upon
them suspicion and dislike, was yet necessary to prevent a return to a pagan laxity
of morals. To this danger the Nicolaitans were themselves a glaring witness, and
therefore John was justified in condemning them. In writing to the Corinthians,
Paul gives warning against the same evil practices, basing his arguments on consideration
for the weaker brethren (compare 1 Corinthians 8).
LITERATURE.
Simcox, "Revelation" in the Cambridge Bible; H. Cowan in Hastings, Dictionary
of the Bible (five volumes), article "Nicolaitans"; H.B. Swete, The Apocalypse
of John, lxx, 27, 28, 37.
C. M. Kerr
Tags:
ate things sacrificed to idols, balaam, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, fornication, nicolaitans
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