I've read in the book of Revelation, chapter 2 verse 6, "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate." My question is, what were those "deeds?"
Usage: a Nicolaitan, possibly a follower of Nicolaus (a heretic at Ephesus)
Nicolaitan: plural, Revelation 2:6, 15 - a name which, it can scarcely be doubted, refers symbolically to the same persons who in Revelation 2:14 are charged with holding , i. e. after the example of Balaam, casting a stumblingblock before the church of God.
This books chapter is speaking on the STRUCTURE OF THE SEVEN EPISTLES TO THE CHURCHES, AS A WHOLE chapters 2&3 whereby God was pleased with only two, beginning with the church of EPHESUS who are biblically illiterate, they don't teach God's charge.
The Nicolaitans are hateful to God,,, We wont go there lol,,, their "Deeds" in the verse are their "Works" .
You will know them by their Works, which God hates. They will appear "in that day, That Great and Terrible Day of the LORD.
The exact origin of the Nicolaitans is unclear. Some Bible commentators believe they were a heretical sect who followed the teachings of Nicolas-whose name means "one who conquers the people"-who was possibly one of the deacons of the early church mentioned in Acts 6:5. It is possible that Nicolas became an apostate, denying the true faith and became part of a group holding "the doctrine of Balaam," who taught Israel "to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality." Clement of Alexandria says, "They abandoned themselves to pleasure like goats, leading a life of self-indulgence." Their teaching perverted grace and replaced liberty with license.
Other commentators believe that these Nicolaitans were not so called from any man, but from the Greek word Nicolah, meaning "let us eat," as they often encouraged each other to eat things offered to idols. Whichever theory is true, it is certain that the deeds of the Nicolaitans were an abomination to Christ. They, like the Gnostics and other false teachers, abused the doctrine of grace and tried to introduce licentiousness in its place ( 2 Peter 2:15, 19; Jude 1:4).
Jesus commends the church of Ephesus for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans as He does ( Revelation 2:6). No doubt the leaders of the Ephesian church protected their flock from these destructive heresies and kept their people from committing the same evil deeds. All sin is hateful to Christ, as it should be to His followers, as we hate men's evil deeds, not the men themselves. For the church at Pergamos, Jesus had not commendation, but censure. Unlike the Ephesians, they actually embraced the teachings of the Nicolaitans ( Revelation 2:15). Jesus warns them that unless they repent, they are in danger of the judgment that is sure to fall on those who teach false doctrine, attack His church, and destroy His people. The sword of judgment is poised over their heads, and His patience is not limitless ( Revelation 2:16; 19:15).
Thanks Giannis for sharing that. I wanted to post something similar that I had learned from a Greek professor about the Nicolaitans. I'm not sure how much of a difference there is between koine Greek and modern Greek, but what he had taught was that the word Nicolaitan is made up of two Greek words, _IKE, pronounced nee-kay, (please see my note below) which is the word for overcome. It's the word for victory like you say. _IKE means to overcome, and LAOS means the people.
It represented the democratic control of the people in the church, where the leaders ruled. They lorded it over the flock. And the Lord says I hate that!
Note: I tried sharing this a while back but it kept rejecting my post. Come to find out, me spelling it out the way I was taught was the same spelling of the athletic shoe (Just add the letter N where I placed the underscore. It kept rejecting it because it took it as advertising.
Anyways, what are your thoughts on the differences between modern Greek and Koine. I know Greek is your native language so I trust in what you might have to share on this, and thank you ahead of time!
N-I-K-E means victory, LAOS as you said means people. So NIKOLAOS may either mean "victory of people" or "victory over people", but it is generally accepted that it most possibly means the former, it is a bit strange to mean victory over people, who wants such a name unless he is a tyrant or a dictator and since ancient Greece was sort of obsessed with democracy it is almost impossible I think to mean that.
I haven't seriously searched about Nicolaitans so I don't know if they got their name from their leader named Nikolaos, or they chose a name to fit their teachings.
Koine Greek is old greek but it is not Classical Greek which is extremely hard to understand, if one understands it, probably a slight idea of what is written and that not always. Koine Greek is a lot simpler, it is very close to modern greek in vocabularly, syntax and grammar. It may be harder to understand Koine Greek than English people understand the KJV archaic English, but it is OK, one probably doesn't know some words but can figure out what they mean from the text. Thats why I use a version of the Bible that the majority of the text remains as it was originally written and the rest is in modern greek. And still sometimes I use other modern greek Bibles if something is not clear enough.
Jesse I am not a scholar, so don't take my opinion as always 100% right, I may be wrong sometimes (few times I believe). But I usually say on this site not only how I percieve the greek in the Bible but what I am tought or read in greek Bibles or in commentaries in these Bibles. And a lot of information is available now on the internet. But anybody can also do such a search. There is a lot of information out there now.
I did some reading some time ago about the Nicolaitans and this man, Nicolas was a proselyte from Antioch. Many believe, and from the history of this man, that he eventually left God's work somewhere down the line and he gathered his own following.
Nicolas is mentioned in Acts 6:5. He's one of the men that were chosen to distribute bread to the Greek speaking Jewish community.
Some historical documents say that Nicolas left the church and became a Gnostic, and began spreading false teaching.
And because his name is Nicolas, they were called the Nicolaitans. They were followers of Nicolas, and the trail leads back, at least to the historians and the archaeologists, to this Nicolas of Antioch. Just a side note!
I do thank you for your thoughts on both Koine and modern Greek. Some of the Greek you have shared has helped me out.
Please don't mind if I interject here. My married last name is Nichols. I looked up the meaning when we were engaged to see what my new name would mean. I found it meant "People of victory" which made me happy to know that. My first name means "mighty with the sword".
I don't know much about the Nicolatians either, and the root meaning of the name may very well mean both ideas mentioned by you and Jesse. But I guess we just need to understand that the Nicolatians were false teachers, leading people astray from what the apostles in those early decades of the Church. It would be good to know what heretical ideas these people taught or what wrong practices they promoted in the church. so, I hope to find out more from others here. I will study up more and share if I find out anything more.
Thanks GiGi. My name Giannis is sort for Ioannes, in Hebrew Yohannan or Johanan, in English John. In Hebrew it means God's present. Nice name, probably the most common name in Greece for males.
About Nicolaitans one can find s lot of information on the internet. Many christian historians write about them but it seems they don't always agree with one another. It seems it was a mixture of a mystic philosophy and christianity probably the same as gnosticism. It probably had to do with allowing fornication in the church or something like that. It must have been something really terrible so Jesus said He hates their works. Like today's many so called christian cults that use Jesus name to propagate evil practices. That shows that if we do not guard our faith many weird things may come in.
Nikolaits
Definition: a Nicolaitan, a follower of Nicolaus
Usage: a Nicolaitan, possibly a follower of Nicolaus (a heretic at Ephesus)
Nicolaitan: plural, Revelation 2:6, 15 - a name which, it can scarcely be doubted, refers symbolically to the same persons who in Revelation 2:14 are charged with holding , i. e. after the example of Balaam, casting a stumblingblock before the church of God.
This books chapter is speaking on the STRUCTURE OF THE SEVEN EPISTLES TO THE CHURCHES, AS A WHOLE chapters 2&3 whereby God was pleased with only two, beginning with the church of EPHESUS who are biblically illiterate, they don't teach God's charge.
The Nicolaitans are hateful to God,,, We wont go there lol,,, their "Deeds" in the verse are their "Works" .
You will know them by their Works, which God hates. They will appear "in that day, That Great and Terrible Day of the LORD.
Other commentators believe that these Nicolaitans were not so called from any man, but from the Greek word Nicolah, meaning "let us eat," as they often encouraged each other to eat things offered to idols. Whichever theory is true, it is certain that the deeds of the Nicolaitans were an abomination to Christ. They, like the Gnostics and other false teachers, abused the doctrine of grace and tried to introduce licentiousness in its place ( 2 Peter 2:15, 19; Jude 1:4).
Jesus commends the church of Ephesus for hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans as He does ( Revelation 2:6). No doubt the leaders of the Ephesian church protected their flock from these destructive heresies and kept their people from committing the same evil deeds. All sin is hateful to Christ, as it should be to His followers, as we hate men's evil deeds, not the men themselves. For the church at Pergamos, Jesus had not commendation, but censure. Unlike the Ephesians, they actually embraced the teachings of the Nicolaitans ( Revelation 2:15). Jesus warns them that unless they repent, they are in danger of the judgment that is sure to fall on those who teach false doctrine, attack His church, and destroy His people. The sword of judgment is poised over their heads, and His patience is not limitless ( Revelation 2:16; 19:15).
Nikolaos, which is the proper name in greek means "people's victory".
Nicolah does not mean anything in greek. Maybe it is something else?
It represented the democratic control of the people in the church, where the leaders ruled. They lorded it over the flock. And the Lord says I hate that!
Note: I tried sharing this a while back but it kept rejecting my post. Come to find out, me spelling it out the way I was taught was the same spelling of the athletic shoe (Just add the letter N where I placed the underscore. It kept rejecting it because it took it as advertising.
Anyways, what are your thoughts on the differences between modern Greek and Koine. I know Greek is your native language so I trust in what you might have to share on this, and thank you ahead of time!
N-I-K-E means victory, LAOS as you said means people. So NIKOLAOS may either mean "victory of people" or "victory over people", but it is generally accepted that it most possibly means the former, it is a bit strange to mean victory over people, who wants such a name unless he is a tyrant or a dictator and since ancient Greece was sort of obsessed with democracy it is almost impossible I think to mean that.
I haven't seriously searched about Nicolaitans so I don't know if they got their name from their leader named Nikolaos, or they chose a name to fit their teachings.
Koine Greek is old greek but it is not Classical Greek which is extremely hard to understand, if one understands it, probably a slight idea of what is written and that not always. Koine Greek is a lot simpler, it is very close to modern greek in vocabularly, syntax and grammar. It may be harder to understand Koine Greek than English people understand the KJV archaic English, but it is OK, one probably doesn't know some words but can figure out what they mean from the text. Thats why I use a version of the Bible that the majority of the text remains as it was originally written and the rest is in modern greek. And still sometimes I use other modern greek Bibles if something is not clear enough.
Jesse I am not a scholar, so don't take my opinion as always 100% right, I may be wrong sometimes (few times I believe). But I usually say on this site not only how I percieve the greek in the Bible but what I am tought or read in greek Bibles or in commentaries in these Bibles. And a lot of information is available now on the internet. But anybody can also do such a search. There is a lot of information out there now.
GBU
I did some reading some time ago about the Nicolaitans and this man, Nicolas was a proselyte from Antioch. Many believe, and from the history of this man, that he eventually left God's work somewhere down the line and he gathered his own following.
Nicolas is mentioned in Acts 6:5. He's one of the men that were chosen to distribute bread to the Greek speaking Jewish community.
Some historical documents say that Nicolas left the church and became a Gnostic, and began spreading false teaching.
And because his name is Nicolas, they were called the Nicolaitans. They were followers of Nicolas, and the trail leads back, at least to the historians and the archaeologists, to this Nicolas of Antioch. Just a side note!
I do thank you for your thoughts on both Koine and modern Greek. Some of the Greek you have shared has helped me out.
Please don't mind if I interject here. My married last name is Nichols. I looked up the meaning when we were engaged to see what my new name would mean. I found it meant "People of victory" which made me happy to know that. My first name means "mighty with the sword".
I don't know much about the Nicolatians either, and the root meaning of the name may very well mean both ideas mentioned by you and Jesse. But I guess we just need to understand that the Nicolatians were false teachers, leading people astray from what the apostles in those early decades of the Church. It would be good to know what heretical ideas these people taught or what wrong practices they promoted in the church. so, I hope to find out more from others here. I will study up more and share if I find out anything more.
About Nicolaitans one can find s lot of information on the internet. Many christian historians write about them but it seems they don't always agree with one another. It seems it was a mixture of a mystic philosophy and christianity probably the same as gnosticism. It probably had to do with allowing fornication in the church or something like that. It must have been something really terrible so Jesus said He hates their works. Like today's many so called christian cults that use Jesus name to propagate evil practices. That shows that if we do not guard our faith many weird things may come in.
Lording or ruling over God's flock, making themselves the head of the church in which Christ is the head. Those are the deeds God says He hates.
Jesus Christ is the head of the church and no man or men can ever take His place. That's what they were doing, and the Lord says He hates that!
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