A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XY Z

Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

NICOLAITANS

Heretical sect in the early church that is mentioned by name twice in the book of Revelation. The church at Ephesus was commended for hating the works of the Nicolaitans (Rv 2:6), and the church at Pergamum was criticized for having some members who held their doctrine (v 15).

Since the specific sins condemned at Pergamum—the eating of food sacrificed to idols and the practice of immorality—were also present at Thyatira (Rv 2:20), it is commonly thought that the woman Jezebel was a leader of the Nicolaitans in that church. In the letter to Pergamum, their sins are equated with the teaching of Balaam (Rv 2:14; cf. Nm 25:1-2; 31:16; 2 Pt 2:15; Jude 1:11), who advised Balak, the king of the Moabites, to bring about Israel’s downfall by inviting them to worship the Moabite gods and engage in intermarriage and the sexual immoralities connected with Moabite religious practices. Thus, the Jews would have been separated from God and his protection. In Jewish thought, Balaam was the symbol of all that led men to obscene conduct and the forsaking of God. The ungodly practices at Thyatira are called the “deep things of Satan” (Rv 2:24).

The early church was also threatened by the combination of idolatry and immorality so prevalent in the world. The necessity for frequent warning in the NT reveals the gravity of the problem. The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:20) called upon the Gentiles to abstain from eating food that had been offered to idols and sexual immorality. Paul called for a voluntary avoidance of this kind of fare for the sake of those who were weak or immature in the faith (1 Cor 8). He strongly condemned actual participation in idol feasts (1 Cor 10:14-22) as well as fornication in general and temple prostitution in particular (6:12-20).

Who the Nicolaitans were is more difficult to determine. The tendency among the church fathers was to identify them as followers of Nicolaus of Antioch, a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had become a Christian and was chosen to be one of the original seven deacons (Acts 6:5). Both Irenaeus and Hippolytus believed that he had fallen from the faith. Clement claimed that the heretical and immoral Nicolaitans were not actual followers of Nicolaus but falsely claimed him as their teacher. In any event, there is no direct evidence available.

Since the 19th century it has been common to view the name as a translation into Greek of the Hebrew name Balaam. This is in accord with the allegorical, symbolical nature of Revelation and the apparent linking of the two names in the letter to Pergamum (Rv 2:14-15).