317:: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea represent the seven continents of the world, and the letters to the churches provide God's unified message to mankind through the testimony of Jesus Christ. If you distill the meaning of each letter and connect them, the following message emerges: "It is not enough to merely recognize and hate evil: fear not the tribulation of Satan; fight evil wherever you find it, and do not allow it to flourish; contain evil and overcome it with perseverance and commitment to good." If you add up the seven continents of the world from a spiritual standpoint (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea) in English gematria simplex (A=1 to Z=26) and subtract out "the seven continents of the world" from a physical standpoint, you are left with the spiritual essence of "Robert Merlin Evenson". RME
345:"fornication"). It is apparent from the threat section of the letter (D) that John considers these teachings to be a significant danger to the faithful. As opposed to the rather mild warning delivered in the Ephesian letter, here the Son of Man threatens violence. The blatant hostility of the threat might suggest that "those who hold the teachings of the Nicolaitan" comprise a significant number of Christians in Pergamum. Regardless, it certainly indicates that the controversy between the "faithful" and "those holding the teachings of the Nicolaitans" is particularly bitter in this community.
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at a church where T. Austin Sparks ministered, etc. on a trip to
English.) This movement also taught this idea that the clergy-laity separation was Nicolaitan. They had 'open' style meetings apparently with a more prominent role for women. Saints took turn speaking, certain brethren would be expected to minister as prophets.
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Some of the
Plymouth Brethren taught this as well. I can see how they would be tempted to ascribe to this view since they were plural eldership people in the midst of churches with episcopalian church government systems. Plus, they acknowledged the role of the brethren to speak and minister in the
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Watchman Nee was influenced by Darby's writings. The churches he helped found and establish in the faith in China were actually for a time associated with some exclusives brethren churches in
Australia, until the exclusives cut them off for Watchman Nee not being exclusive enough (taking communion
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Hello 85, I'm a lay-person but I thought this myself, and as a result I've been attentive to whenever it's used and what I have found is it seems to me, personally, that the term "Nicolatian Heresy" is used all over the place, and when you say it people know specifially what you're talking about. I
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It appears from the
Biblical text that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was well understood to the audience of the day, but that understanding has simply been lost to us today. From samplings of web and paper literature, two main lines of reasoning are pursued to try to rediscover what that doctrine
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John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by
Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that “knowledge” falsely so called, that he might
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Does this really belong under the category of
Gnosticism? The church fathers sure liked that interpretation, but aside from the Nicolaitans having antinomianism (a feature of SOME Gnosticism) it doesn't have much to do with the later doctrines of the 2nd century, and there may not have even been a
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I've done my best to clarify the article as you suggest, adding text from the
Catholic Encyclopedia, Barnes' Notes, and Scofield, while keeping any of the original editor's text that seemed to be in line with other authorities. Hopefully the text can be expanded further with more details from the
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The article should give the most credence to the historical examination of
Nicolaitanism. Currently, the article rightly appeals to the church fathers. But it could do a better job of citing and explaining. The Catholic Encyclopedia reference is very illuminating and should be better incorporated
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What do these people believe? Given what the text says about the crimes of Balaam, there can be little doubt that the teachings of the
Nicolaitans are those that the seer connects with Balaam, specifically "eating ειδωλóθυτα" (meat sacrificed to idols) and committing πορνειο (usually translated
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And, yes, Balaam (Bil'am) is easily confused in spelling with Baal (Ba'al). There is a triple pun (Balaam-Nicolaos-Baal) going on somewhere here. A pun, of course, is two words that seem the same but have different meanings, and the difference/similarity is funny, or in this case, ironic.
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is. It looks like the most common approach is to appeal to the etymology of the word, almost without regard to historical writings on the subject. The other approach is to appeal to the early church fathers. The article as it currently stands (2006-11-28) has an unclear mish-mash of both.
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Not relevant to this article, though. The anagram doesn't tell us about the
Nicolaitanes at all. And an anagram written in Greek over a thousand years ago to a word in its modern English spelling (what happens when English continues to change?), please, use your reason.
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Trying to match this with some sect in Jerusalem, Ephesus or Pergamum in the times of John writing the Book is only a strait solution, since the seven churches of the Revelation heading are actually seven ages of Christianity until today... ~ S.Psi. 2006-09-19
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The idea that 'Nicolaitan' refers to clergy dominating the laity is the same or similar to a Christodelphian concept found in Eureka written a few hundred years ago. The line of argument in these is a bit better than in some of the later groups that espoused
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Added connection to Nicolas of Antioch, the seventh (named) deacon of the Apostolic Church. I have found no records other than those of critics widely reported - Irenaeus, Tertullian, etc. However, no information yet as to the reason for its decline.
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The Nicolaitanes are merely an anagrammatical symbol for the struggle between good and evil as represented by the Ouzo Cross in "The Ouzo Prophecy". The "e" in the word "Nicolaitanes" has flashed on and off in the historical KJV editing of the book of
476:"The alternative explanation is that Nicolaitans refers to those teachers in the Body of Christ who began to elevate the clergy above the laity, a distinction that did not exist in the Christian Church until the end of the second century."
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Also, the correct spelling is Balaam, not Baalam. The latter is not found in Neither (NEITHER NOT EITHER) the original language or in any English Bible. Tell me, what is the original language for the believers in Baal. YOU ARENT RIGHT:
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This idea that Nicolaitanism is the clergy dominating the laity is also popular in some house church circles. This may come from from the influence of Nee's writings most likely, or other sources that drew from Darby or earlier
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The seven churches of the Revelation heading are actually seven ages of Christianity until today... ~ S.Psi. 2006-09-19 This is not correct teaching, as what is not correct written below. It's root is the root of Docetism.
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is discouraged. If the number of Nicolaites amounts to zero members, the issue is almost ignorable, but of course: if you feel like doing it, improving the neutral tone of the article will be welcome – please be
760:
This article used to be very clear and concise. Now it seems to be weighted down with long and redundant citations that serve only to obscure. Judicious editing seems needed to bring this back to order.
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I think it would be fair to acknowledge both approaches in the article, but make the two lines much clearer in the text. The article should discuss current thinking about the etymological route, as in:
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You cannot use a translation of the original langto prove this point. I gurantee examples of Balaam, Balaam, Baal Bilaam, etc. WHY? 1) Many of these old languages don't have VOWELS. RTRD.
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does not say they were Gnostics - I think references to Gnosticism should be removed from the article except for a mention that they have sometimes been associated with Gnostics -
540:, it seems mean to call Albert 'Fat Albert' but if you DO call him 'Fat Albert' everyone knows who you're talking about. Even Albert. If you don't use it, you're the odd man out.
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Should there really be so much talk of "Heresy" in this article? It does not sound neutral. It is sufficient to point out that the Church considered this belief to be heretic. --
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705:- I agree, there is no evidence that the Nicolaites were Gnostics - they were accused of licentiousness, but had no other Gnostic beliefs or practices - even the
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This entire "Other Interpretations in History" section reads like a blog post, not a Knowledge article. If someone wants to rewrite it, here it is:
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was written for all peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, and since English is becoming a universal language, I believe the book of
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Since the original document was written in Greek, I don't see the relevance of anagrams of the English translations (Nicolaitanes, Armageddon).
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What about this anagram: - That is not an anagram. That is cherry picking whatever suits you. Nor would anyone have reason to suspect such.
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Continuing some research to see if anything can be fleshed out as to the actual nature of Nicolaitanes. Found this in Paul B Duff's
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The text states that they were influenced by Cerinthus. I think Irenaeus is saying it was the other way around:
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Of course, it was a John who wrote the Revelation, but he wasn't John the Apostle. 3 John is pseudonymous, see
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I found plenty of texts that offer an alternative explanations to the word Nicolaitan. Here are some of them:
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My dear anonymous poster (internet rule- web is for data. Mess with the mojo, post nonsense, get trolled)--
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Someone left this sarcastic message at the bottom of the article: " If you're going to copy and paste from
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invention of clergy-laity division 2. Nicolas-followers = people who follow the doctrines of Nicolas
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Who Rides the Beast? : Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse
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Etymologically, there are two possibilities: 1. Nico + laos = conquer the people -: -->
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Irenaeus clearly states that they were gnostic in Against Heresies III xi.
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112:-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us
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Is it Possible that The Catholic church still practices this even today?
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I believe these wild allegations shouldn't be used in the article.
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into this article. Another good article in this vein is at
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chain of transmission from Nicolaitans to gnostics.
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