Nicolaitanes

Easton, 1897

The church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:6) is commended for hating the "deeds" of the Nicolaitanes, and the church of Pergamos is blamed for having them who hold their "doctrines" (15). They were seemingly a class of professing Christians, who sought to introduce into the church a false freedom or licentiousness, thus abusing Paul's doctrine of grace (comp. 2 Peter 2:15, 2 Peter 2:16, 2 Peter 2:19), and were probably identical with those who held the doctrine of Baalam (q.v.), Revelation 2:14.