We are going into Revelation in our Bible Study group and what we are finding out on the “Nicolaitans” is very interestion. What are your understanding on the “Nicolaitans” as literal and in Reverlations prophecy?

Here is what Uriah Smith in his book D&R has to say about them:
The above is based on Rev. 2:6,15.

This is what Adam Clarke in his Bible Commentary has to say about them:

That is the connection I was looking for, now it makes sense as the Gnostics permeated the church and were brought in by Hellenistci Jews who held to Greek Philosophies and Myths and even their pagan worship.

Here is what my friend sent me and it basically outlines the Gnostic heresy.....

A mysterious group of wicked religious imposters
were the “Nicolaitans.” Who were they? What did

they teach? Do they still exist today? Why should

they even concern you? In the warnings to the seven

churches of Revelation, we are told to beware of them.

Why are they dangerous and how would you recognize

them, today?



William F. Dankenbring



In Revelation, chapter 2, we read of an enigmatic sect or group called the Nicolaitans who post a great threat to the churches of God. The Messiah, Yeshua, says to the Ephesus church: “But this you have, that you hate the DEEDS of the Nicoaitans, which I also HATE” (Rev.2:6). Notice that they hated and rejected the doctrines, works, and doctrines of the “Nicolaitans.”



The Ephesus church was historically a type or antitype of the first and second century churches of God – essentially, the first generation of the church and their early descendents. But Christ said, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to [all] the churches” (v.7).



Then, to the Pergamos church, who existed in a succeeding period of the church, Yeshua declares again: “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus [i.e. therefore] you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Niicolaitans, which thing I hate. REPENT, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (vs.14-16).



Doctrine of Balaam


Notice that their teachings are comparable or the same as the doctrine of Balaam, the arch apostate deceiver and prophet who tried to divine magic against Israel when they came out of Egypt. When God would not allow him to place a curse on Israel, he later taught the Midianites and their allies to “seduce” Israel from their faithfulness to God, by sending their daughters and wives to use their sexual charms on them, and to entice them to commit immorality and the partake of pagan festivities and idolatrous worship, combining paganism with the worship of God – something which God abominates and thoroughly detests! The blending of the truth of God with paganism and wicked pagan festivals and practices is an abhorrence to God. It is called religious “syncretism.”



The word “Nicolaitans,” in Greek, means “followers of Nicolas.” The name “Nicolas” means “victor of the people.”



Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary says of them, “They seem to have held that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit the immoral excesses of the heathen, in opposition to the decree of the Church rendered in Acts 15:20, 29. 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 boasts of a prophetic illumination” (p.449).



Early Church Syncretism


The Nicolaitans, therefore, were the early Christian-pagan syncretists, the false teachers that crept into the church, who disguised themselves as followers of Christ – who professed to be His ministers and servants – but who led the people astray.



Peter wrote of them, saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people [such as Balaam], even as there will be FALSE TEACHERS among you, who will secretly bring in DESTRUCTIVE HERESIES, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” – by the world around, which will paint all true Christians with the same brush-stroke, as being corrupt, immoral, and evil, because of the shenanigans and wicked works of these “Nicolaitans” or false Christians, false teachers who claim to represent Messiah and His truth (II Pet.2:1-2).



Peter goes on, “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words” (v.2). He says of them, that they “despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed,” and like brutish beasts “speak evil of the things they do not understand” (verse10, 12). “They are spots and blemishes [in the churches], carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you . . . They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, FOLLOWING THE WAY OF BALAAM the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (verses 13-15).



These are the ‘Nicolaitans.” Halley’s Bible Handbook tells us of them, “Sexual vice was actually a part of heathen worship, and recognized as a proper thing in heathen festivals. Priestesses of Diana and kindred deities were public prostitutes. The thing had been a troublesome question for Gentile churches from the start. . . Meantime great multitudes of heathen had become Christians, and had carried some of their old ideas into their new religion. . . Naturally there were all sorts of attempts to harmonize these heathen practices with the Christian religion. Many professing Christian teachers, claiming inspiration from God, were advocating the right to free participation in heathen immoralities. In Ephesus, the Christian pastors, as a body, excluded such teachers. But in Pergamum and Thyatira, while we are not to think that the main body of pastors held such teachings, yet they tolerated within their ranks those who did” (p.694).



Ancient Pergamos was a city where the worship of Zeus and Asclepios were endemic, whose symbol was a serpent entwined around a rod or staff. It was a city where paganism and politics were closely entwined and allied. Nicolaitan pressures were very strong in this city where pressures to “compromise” would have been very heavy.



“Sacrificed to Idols”


The Nicolaitans seduced God’s people to “eat things sacrificed to idols” – that is, participate in heathen, pagan festivals, including sexual immorality – in other words, to commit spiritual fornication and adultery – which is IDOLATRY! This convergence of Christianity with pagan beliefs and practices was sheer APOSTASY in the eyes of God!



The Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary tells us, “Since the same practice and teaching of immorality and of idolatry appear in the church of Thyatira, the Nicolaitans, though not named, were probably present also in this church (Rev.2:20-25)” (p.547). By the time of the Thyatira church age, the problem had grown into a much greater state or condition, for at that time a woman, “Jezebel,” represented the group of apostate heretics and their heresy – a powerful church in conflict with the true Church, masquerading as the true Church. John wrote, to Thyatira, “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because YOU ALLOW THAT WOMAN JEZEBEL, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols” (Rev.2:20). God says of that heathen “church,” which inculcated massive pagan practices and festivals into its church calendar, “Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit ADULTERY [idolatry!] with her into GREAT TRIBULATION, unless they repent of their deeds” (v.22).



It is clear from the evidence that this Gnostic heresy, which began small, in the first century, mushroomed and became very strong, and dominant in the church by the third and fourth centuries, and especially in Rome where its influence grew. Alexandria also became a center for its teachings and these false teachers were the source of the corrupt Alexandrian codices which know many use in the Bible versions unknowingly.....

Nicolaitans = Mystery of Iniquity

When did the Mystery of Iniquity begin and where did it come from?
Paul warned:
"Of your own selves shall men arise. . not sparing the flock. (Acts 20:30,29)
"The mystery of iniquity is already at work" Paul said in 1 Thess. 4

The greatest enemies of the church have always been those who apostatize and then press their apostate doctrines on the church. Thus it was Balaam (considered a prophet of God) apostasied and used his influence to deceive and divert from truth practically the whole nation of Israel. So it was when the Christian church was in it's infancy, thus it is in the Adventist church today.

There were many deviations from truth in the years following the death of the apostles, but the worst of all was Gnosticism, which infiltrated the church in a big way. No one knows how many thousands of early Christians were drawn into it.

Gnostic teachers sprang up everywhere. Saturnius flourished in Antioch. Bailides in Egypt, Cerinthus in Asia Minor. Valentinus and Marcion in Rome. Each teacher had his own theories but all agreed on this, the "Gnosis" (Greek for knowledge) is salvation and what was the particular knowledge on which the Gnostic based their hopes? The belief that the God of the Old Testament was evil!

Christian Gnosticism came from Greek thought — not Biblical, it was mixed with mysticism and then coated with Christian terminology. It accepted the notion that matter is evil, that this earth and all the bodies that inhabit it are inherently bad, and that it follows from this that the God who created matter and men must Himself be bad. This is blasphemy, of course; but we will never understand where the modern doctrines came from unless we recognize how the early "fathers" thought.

Gnostic Christians did not worship the Old Testament God. How could they? The Creator-God of the Old Testament they saw as evil.

Yet they did not throw the Bible out completely. They still quoted it to prove their points! As for the New Testament — it was not yet canonized so everyone chose what he liked.

Marcion of Rome had no use at all for the Old Testament since it was the book of the Creator God, in particular of the law giving God. Out with the law, cried Marcion, and in with grace alone. Out with Matthew and James, and in with Paul and Luke. (Sound familiar?)

Marcion was very popular — Justin (the one often quoted for his attack on the Sabbath) was highly influenced by him.

However not all Christianity appreciated this gnostic heresy. Tertullian wrote of the city where Marcion was born as being a fierce place: "Nothing, however, in Pontus is so barbarous and sad as the fact that Marcion was born there."

Orthodox Christians were alarmed at the spread of Gnosticism and rightly so. Gnostics denied the God of the Old Testament, Gnostics denied the Ten Commandments and with them the New Testament concepts of sin and grace and the atonements.

By calling all matter evil they degraded Christian marriage and sex and either tried to enforce unnecessary chastity, or went to the other extreme of total sexual licentiousness.

They denied the human nature of Christ, saying that Christ could not possibly have taken on a body since all flesh is evil.

As for the Sabbath, what Gnostic would want to memorialize the "evil" Creator-God"? Much better to celebrate the life giving light of the "Son". On the first day light was made — the eighth day light celebrates the resurrection of Christ, and etc.

Theo-Evolution would, MUCH LATER, fit in well with this concept. No one would question a god of that description creating on the “survival of the fittest” “millions of decades of trial and error, type of creation.

Directly in opposition of the call in Rev. 14 that the gospel calls people to worship the Creator God who made the heavens and the earth. And as Genesis 1 confirms, He created it VERY GOOD in six days.

To argue with a Gnostic was a ordeal in frustration, since they always spiritualized the scriptures. If an orthodox Christian quoted a scripture, the Gnostic would say either that it meant something different or that it didn't belong in the Bible. Every error of Gnosticism could, of course, be refuted through Bible study, but this took time and patience and often resulted in frustration when Bible texts were spiritualized away or discredited all together.

We see that Satan was very busy breaking down the Christian church and converting it into an organization whereby he could divert worship away from the true Creator God.

Through these strange teachings many of the doctrines that are now in opposition to the truths that were slowly uncovered since the reformation and by Adventists, were established.

The Greek concept that the spirit inhabits the body but is not really part of the body lead to the belief of the immortality of the soul. The whole "all matter is evil" it is only the spirit that counts, idea, added great fuel to the immortality doctrine --- it was to the point where people considered it good to engage in bad habits to kill off the body more quickly so the spirit could be freed.

This Gnostic concept is in direct contradiction that the dead know not anything (Eccl, 9:5,10, Ps. 6:5; 115:17) and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and are to be presented to God as living sacrifice, holy and undefiled.

Of course, the church did refute the more outlandish ideas of gnosticm yet the concept of spirit leaving the body at death stayed with the church and by the 4th century almost universally the Christians came to believe that the souls of the dead continue to live. This of course lead to praying to saints etc.

Interestingly, Tertullian complained about marriage saying if a man married once, he certainly had better not marry again if his first wife died, for the good woman would still be alive in heaven.

When we hear that Catholic doctrines go back to the days of the apostles, in a sense they are right. But it was not the apostles that started these doctrines, it was the "mystery of lawlessness" that was already at work before the apostles had even all died. False teachers like wolves arose to tear down the church before it barely had a chance to start. Then these false teachers were quoted for hundreds of years afterward as the authority, rather than searching the scriptures.

In our day it's happening again. God lifted the dark cloud covering truth. Through the reformers and then through the Adventist Pioneers, the precious gems of truth were uncovered. The chaff of Gnostic thought was blown away. But now the modernized, Gnostic based, doctrines are once again rising. The people of all the world are finding their pews in the cathedral of apostasy, there to wonder after the beast and worship him. The warnings of prophecy uttered long before our day are being fulfilled before our eyes.

In such a time as this, modern Adventists must keep alert.

In what manner are the Gnostic based doctrines once again rising?

The Sin of the Nicolaitans.--Is it [our sin] the sin of the Nicolaitans, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness
(RH June 7, 1887)? {7BC 957.5}
Doctrine of the Nicolaitans.--The doctrine is now largely taught that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by "believing" we are released from the necessity of being doers of the Word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned (ST Jan. 2, 1912). {7BC 957.6}

Revelation 2:6, 15 KJV
(6) But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
(15) So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Proverbs 6:16 KJV
(16) These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:


The doctrine of the Nicolaitans is a teaching that leads people to sin since God hates this doctrine and God hates sin.

Peter, thank you for the awesome quotes and insights. Do you know of other forms it is manifesting nowadays? What about the idea that everything we think, say, and do (while abiding in Jesus and partaking of the divine nature) is stained with sin and selfishness? Have you heard of this idea?

He must have heard of it, as the Reformers taught it.