Trying to understand just exactly who the Nicolaitans are and their deeds and doctrine have been topics for discussion in just about every study of the two portions of Scriptures mentioning these people. Because there is so little mentioned of them in the Scriptures, many have decided that we cannot arrive at a biblical conclusion as to who the Nicolaitans were and what they were all about. This article is Part One: In Ephesus. It is written to challenge that perspective. A follow up article entitled Part Two: In Pergamos, continues this challenge.
The two portions of Scripture that mention the Nicolaitans are:
Revelation 2:6 “But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”
Revelation 2:15 “Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.”
We will address Revelation 2:6 in this article where we are told that the Ephesians and YESHUA both HATE “the deeds of the Nicolaitans.” This is very important for us to note! Anything that YESHUA hates is something worth identifying!
So, first lets look further into the concept of “deeds” to see what we might find.
As previously stated, in Revelation 2:6, the Ephesians are described as folks who “hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans.” What are we told that the Ephesians are commended for?
In Revelation 2:2-5 we read “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.”
MESSIAH blesses the Ephesians for their:
- works (Strong’s #G2041)
- labor (toil / weariness)
- patience (endurance / waiting)
- disapproval of evil (worthlessness)
- tested apostles (scrutinize / prove)
- perseverance (sustained) in laboring (become weary for) The Name without becoming weary (faint hearted)
It is fascinating to me that the Greek word translated “works” in verse 2, for which the Ephesians are commended, is also the same Greek word translated “deeds” in verse 6, for which the Nicolaitans are hated!
It’s the Strong’s word #G2041 ergon er’-gon From ergo (a primary but obsolete word; to work); toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication an act:—deed, doing, labour, work.
Evidently both groups were doing things. One group of Ephesians were accomplishing things in harmony with the standard set by YHWH, for which HE commends them. Another group of Ephesians were doing things that must have been in opposition to HIS standard. For us to have more understanding of the two groups, we must know what that standard would be! Wouldn’t it have been the standard that MESSIAH both lived and taught to HIS apostles during HIS earthly ministry? Lets see how HE describes it:
John 7:16-19 says “Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”
Notice that YESHUA states HE had not come to bring a new teaching or doctrine. Notice that HE says that it is possible for anyone to know whether a doctrine is of human origin or whether it originated with GOD. Notice that HE states that there are those who walk in Truth and those who walk in unrighteousness. Notice that HE asks them if Moses gave them The Law (of GOD). Notice that HE states that, even though GOD did give them HIS Law, none of them were keeping IT! Notice that HE asks them if they knew why they wanted to kill HIM. It only stands to reason that if they had rejected The Law that GOD gave through Moses, then they also would reject “the WORD (of GOD) that became flesh” (John 1:14). WHO actually is The Law of GOD personified!
So, wouldn’t the standard that would be used to measure true apostles, true works, etc. by those who are truly following GOD, be the Scriptures containing HIS Law? And wouldn’t it stand to reason that the same doctrine that YESHUA personified and passed onto HIS apostles be the same doctrine that HIS apostles walked in and taught as well?
Most likely since it is written that the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine” as stated in Acts 2:42.
The reason that I may be belaboring this a bit is because it is imperative for us to know if we are to stay within the confines of the Scriptures to gain a biblical understanding of the Nicolaitans.
Now, by using the standard that YESHUA used in pronouncing blessing upon the Ephesians, we can also make sense as to why the deeds of the Nicolaitans are hated.
The Nicolaitans in Ephesus:
- Had deeds (works) that were in opposition to those works that are in harmony with The Law of GOD…
- Consequently, they did not endure in what was passed on to / through the apostles of MESSIAH…
- They no longer utilized GOD’S standard to be able to determine evil (in GOD’S eyes)…
- They totally rejected GOD’S standard that would enable them to make a distinction between TRUE and false teachings / teachers…
- And finally, they did not endure in nor labor to accurately represent the Name of the LORD, but in fact profaned IT much like the children of Israel did as spoken of in Ezekiel 36:20-23…
The remainder of the text in Revelation 2 that follows what we have already looked at is:
4Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
Based on what we have considered, and what Paul writes to Timothy, we might even be able to figure out what the Ephesians were rebuked for and told to repent of by MESSIAH later!
1 Timothy 3:1-7 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”
It appears that their “first love” may have been in reference to the time when they were more interested in obeying HIS Commandments from a pure heart, a good conscience and from sincere faith (believing what GOD has said), instead of getting caught up in fables,(unbiblical practices) and endless genealogies and following those who have strayed, and have turned aside(from what GOD has said) to idle talk, falling into the trap of following those without understanding… Especially of the law… A trap I describe as Nicolaitanism.
