Revelations 2:6 says to the Messianic Assembly in Ephesus., “But you do have this going for you: You hate what the Nicolaitans practice – practices I also hate.”  So it obviously very important to understand who are Nicolaitans and what are these practices that “he who holds the seven stars (angels) in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands (the seven types of Messianic Assemblies past and present) says he hates!  

Firstly, in order to understand what those deeds may have been we must see what John was asked to write also to the Messianic Assembly in the City of Pergamum saying,

“I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is… I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” (Rev 2:13-15)

In these verses we see the evil deeds of Balaam in teaching Balak to entice Israel to sin in two main ways 1) eating foods sacrificed to idols and 2) engaging in acts that are sexually immoral (which is not only against the Torah found in parashah Balak in Numbers 22-24 but also against the Noahide laws for all Goyim in the Nations). These are a few of the evil teachings of the Nicolaitans and incidentally, the decision of the Jerusalem council as expressed in their letter to the Gentile followers of Yeshua, while exempting the non-Jews from all kinds of burdens of observance obligatory to Jews, set forth a concrete set of food-related prohibitions for Gentiles according to the Noahide law as we read in Acts 15:28-29,

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well.”

Interestingly, in Hebrew נאכל (nokhal) is the verb “we will eat” and this Hebrew word when transferred into Greek can be used as a term describing the “we will eat” people as in “people who will eat what they want no matter what God’s law says”. In a sense that this was their motto, their sentiment – “we will eat” the food that others think is forbidden (in this case food offered to pagan deities). Furthermore, one of the Greek pagan deities is the goddess Nike, from which the name Nicholas comes from, and Nico-laitans in English goes back to Nico-laity meaning “followers of Nicolas” who was one of the seven first ordained to as a deacon by the apostles and who it is said went astray, leading a sect of converts given over to false doctrines or immoral behavior, thus the “Nicolaitans” were known for lives of unrestrained indulgence.   In short, this refers to a lack of self-control, and we might ask ourselves today how we may be exhibiting any lack of self-control or disregard for God’s law.  We must sincerely search our hearts and lifestyles and if there be any area of our lives found even slightly immoral or over indulgent we should immediately repent and return to a simple life of holy observance to God’s instruction, for this is not only a matter of wisdom and blessing but also a prerequisite of the Bride of Messiah, so it is our prayer that all who claim to love God live sanctified lives and not be found falling pray to the practices of the Nicolaitans!

To learn more about being a Bride without spot or blemish, please check out our article here.

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