Onward Christian Soldier!

Revelation 2:6 "Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

Jesus addresses this to the Church of Ephesus.  He had just finished reproving them and complimenting them.  Then He gives this positive affirmation.  What is their good deed?  They hated the works of the Nicolaitans.  This is a really big deal.  The God of love says that He hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans.  While Jesus is always extending His love toward the sinner, He hates their sin.  We human followers of Jesus have a hard time perfecting this.  It is hard for us to love the sinner while hating his sin, but Jesus has no problem with loving the sinner. In this case the sinners are the Nicolaitans.  So who are the Nicolaitans and why does Jesus hate their practices?

One ancient historian said the Nicolaitans were followers of Nicholas who was one of the original deacons from Acts 6.  Nicholas had at some point become a teacher of false doctrine leading the church astray from the Truth. The historian Irenaus said in the second century of the Nicolaitans that "they lead lives of unrestrained indulgence, they practice adultery and eat things offered to idols." Others point to the Greek meaning of the name Nicolaitans as Nikao-laos means literally "to conquer the people." There were claims of falsely claiming apostolic authority and separating the clergy from the laity, the church members, and setting up a system of hierarchy to rule over the people.  "The Nicolaitans, like all deceivers that come from the body of Christ, claimed “not that they were destroying Christianity, but that they were presenting an improved and modernized version of it.” (Barclay) If we are not advancing forward in greater truth and obedience then we are falling backward.  When we fall backward, as with the Nicolaitans, we can think we are moving forward into a new more enlightened form of Christianity.  We can begin to believe that an all inclusive Church sounds more like a loving church.  Yet, Jesus hates sin and sin has no place in His Church, The Bride.

Then the Word of God says, "to him who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." There is a message here for ministers and all followers of Christ.  Know your Bible and the Holy Spirit and follow only truth on the page and in the illuminated Word in your heart.