There are those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans

 

There are those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans

 

Revelation 2:14-16 “But I have a few things against you: You have those there who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, so that they should eat food sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. Even so you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

Some of the things that are reprehensible are the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans, both of which were doctrines that spiritually corrupted God's people within the church.

Regarding Balaam's teaching, among the prophets of the Old Testament, the New Testament condemns Balaam as a false prophet. Jude 1:11 "Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, for they have run wild in the error of Balaam for profit, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah." Balaam's teaching was to ensnare God's people, causing them to depart from the faith and perish. It is still a warning word against false prophets today.

The story of Balaam appears in Numbers 22-25. He was well known as a capable prophet (magician). So Balak, the king of Moab, invited him to curse Israel and used a strategy to make the Israelites believe that God had abandoned them. Balaam was bribed with Balak's money to do this, but God appeared and warned him through the mouth of a donkey not to do such a thing.

However, Balak, the king of Moab, was persistent. He made the Israelites commit the sin of worshiping idols and committing fornication through Moabite women before God. In 2 Peter 2:15, it says, "They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness." Despite God's three times prohibition not to curse the Israelites, Balaam was blinded by the huge bribe, so he told Balak how to corrupt them and compromised by accepting unrighteous money.

False prophets do not tell people the truth, but distort it and lead those who hear it to destruction. In today's church community, legalism, humanism, and gnosticism are representative examples.

Legalism leads believers to believe in the gospel, but to believe that keeping the law is helpful for their religious life. The law only makes people realize their sins, and the works of the law do not lead to salvation. Nevertheless, false pastors foolishly mix the law with the truth of the gospel of Christ.

Humanism focuses on how Christians should live in the world. It is characteristic that it does not talk about the kingdom of God at all. So it makes the gospel action-oriented from a humanistic perspective. They emphasize church service, doing good in the world, etc.

Gnosticism focuses on the spirit. A person's spirit is imprisoned in the body and is in a dead state. Therefore, when the physical body dies on the cross with Jesus, the dead spirit receives resurrection life and is seated in heaven. Therefore, even though the body is not dead, the saint has the mission to spread the gospel. Therefore, spiritual growth is very important. If the saint does not grow spiritually in order to spread the gospel, people will turn away from hearing the gospel.

However, during the early church, a sect of Gnosticism emerged, which was the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The spirit is good, and the flesh is evil. So, false prophets taught the wrong teaching that the spirit should be good no matter how the flesh is used.

The doctrine of the Nicolaitans was that only the soul is saved before God, and the body is buried in the ground and will decay, so the flesh can be enjoyed as it pleases. Therefore, the flesh can enjoy worldly pleasures, there is no need to suppress fleshly desires, and it is okay to eat and drink as much as you want as long as the spirit is pure. In other words, they tried to make the church compromise the absolute holy truth with the customs and morals of this world, and they tried to eliminate the distinction between the secular world and the church community. As a result, various forms of filthy sin and worldly things entered the church community in compromise.

Even today, false pastors think of the image of God as the nature of God and say that we must work hard to restore it. The logic is that the first man was born in the image of God, but when Adam and Eve sinned, the image of God was lost. The image of God is the image of the first and last man who were born into the world in the form of sinners. However, they distort the image of God as if humans originally had the nature of God, but it was lost and must be restored. This is no different from other religions. Gnosticism becomes a syncretism of religions.

In Revelation 2:16, it says, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Those who practice the teachings of the Nicolaitans do not easily turn back. That is why the expression “fight” appears. The sword of Christ’s mouth is the word of Christ. It is to become one who overcomes and wins through fighting.

The word of Christ is not to restore the image of God through effort, but to die on the cross, obtain resurrection life, and return to the kingdom of God. When the saints obtain resurrection life, they become one with God in Christ. Thus, they are seated at the right hand of God.

Ephesians 2:3-6 『Among them we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.』

Those who are in Christ have already received the resurrection life and are seated in heaven as spirits. Although there are people who do not believe this because they still have flesh, since the Bible says this, we must believe in the promise of God.

Those who are in Christ have already received the resurrection life and are seated in heaven as spirits. Although there are people who do not believe this because they still have flesh, since the Bible says this, we must believe in the promise of God.

The resurrected and ascended Christ spoke to the church in Pergamum, saying that Pergamum was a place where Satan’s throne was, where Satan’s influence was strong, and where pagan life was, but the saints did not leave there and held on to Christ, the Word. Christians are witnesses of the resurrection. Antipas was killed in this place where Satan’s throne was, but despite this, the saints did not betray the resurrected Lord and kept their faith. Jesus gave Antipas the title of faithful witness and praised the faith of the saints. In the early church, a witness meant a martyr. Nevertheless, he warned that there were those who followed the teachings of the Nicolaitans.

Revelation 2:17 says that he who overcomes will be given a piece of bread and a white stone. The piece of bread symbolizes resurrection life, the white stone is the book of life, and the name written in the book of life is Yahweh (Christ).