Are you a Nicolaitan?

‘Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate’ (Rev 2:15).

The Nicolaitans are mentioned in connection with two of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation. According to the NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible, ‘the Nicolaitans were a group of persons whose works both the church of Ephesus and our Lord hated (Rev 2:6) and whose doctrine was held by some in the Pergamum Church (Rev 2:15). Their Doctrine was similar to that of Balaam, through whose influence the Israelites ate things sacrificed to idols and committed fornication. God told the Pergamum Church, ‘Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality’(Rev 2:14). A sect of Nicolaitans existed among the Gnostics in the third century. The word Gnostics is sometimes used of false teaching within the period when the New Testament was written, it more accurately describes the systems of knowledge in opposition to the Orthodox Christianity in the second and third Centuries. It linked aspects of traditional Christianity with attractive ideas taken from Greek philosophy and Eastern religion, magic and astrology’.

The Church in every century has its own challenges but one of the challenges of the 21st Century Church is the temptation to be ‘politically correct’ - accepting the philosophies of our time that are not in line with the infallible Word of God. Today, Internationally respected leaders of the church are sometimes afraid to declare in public circles the message of the Gospel, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Like the Pergamum Church there are people in our churches today who are holding unto and propagating the message of the Nicolaitans. I pray that the Church in the 21st century will be encouraged by the example of the first century Church, who defended the gospel at the expense of their lives. Peter and John were imprisoned for preaching and healing in the name of Jesus. After they were released they were forbidden to preach in the name of Jesus, but full of the Holy Spirit, ‘Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard’ (Acts 4:19-20).

Another group of Nicolaitans in the church today are those that teach false doctrines in the Church and do not uphold purity or righteous living, but hide behind the phrase ‘once saved forever saved’. The fact that an individual is personally struggling with his flesh does not give him the right to teach others that it is alright to live in sin. Jesus said ‘blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Mat 5:6). Paul the Apostle told the church in Corinth that, ‘do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God’ (1 Cor 6:9).

Can God say of you like He said of the church in Ephesus, ‘…you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate’?