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Friday, February 7, 2014

Nicolaism

Revelation 2 (KJV)
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick (light) out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

( The information below is Sick!!! Makes you understand why some are moved from one church to another... If you hate this and you have fallen away and want to get righteous with God, keep the above scripture in mind)




Nicolaism
Nicolaism (also Nicholaism, Nicolationism, or Nicolaitanism) is a Christian heresy, first mentioned (twice) in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, whose adherents were called Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanes, or Nicolaites. 

According to Revelation 2, vv. 6 and 15, they were known in the cities of Ephesus and Pergamum. In this chapter, the church at Ephesus is commended for "hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" and the church in Pergamum is blamed for "having them who hold their [the Nicolaitans'] doctrines".

Several of the early church fathers, including Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, and Theodoret mentioned this group, and stated that the deacon Nicolas was the author of the heresy (a belief or opinion that does not agree with the official belief or opinion of a particular religion) and the sect. (a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger religious group.)

Interpretations

The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate (In the Catholic Church, the diaconate is the first of three ranks in ordained ministry. Deacons preparing for the priesthood are transitional deacons.) by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.


The common statement, that the Nicolaitans held the antinomian ( heresy of 1 Corinthians 6, has not been proved. 1 Corinthians 6

Antinomian: 
In Christianity, an antinomian is "one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation". Many antinomians, however, believe that Christians will obey the moral law despite their freedom from it. The distinction between antinomian and other Christian views on the moral law is that antinomians believe that obedience to the law is motivated by an internal principle flowing from belief rather than any external compulsion.

Victorinus of Pettau states that they ate things offered to idols.   Bede states that Nicolas allowed other men to marry his wife. Thomas Aquinas believed that Nicholas supported either polygamy or the holding of wives in common. Eusebius claimed that the sect was short-lived.

Another opinion, favoured by a number of authors, is that, because of the allegorical (a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.) character of the Apocalypse, the reference to the Nicolaitans is merely a symbolic manner of reference. As a symbolic reference, the "teaching of the Nicolaitans" refers to dominating the people, compared to the "teaching of Balaam" which refers to seducing the people.

John, the author of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, discusses domination within the church in 3 John 9-11. Dominating the people goes against the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 20:25-28.
3 John 9-11  Matthew 20:25-28

Etymology
Nico-, combinatory form of nīko, "victory" in Greek, and laos means people, or more specifically, the laity; hence, the word may be taken to mean "lay conquerors" or "conquerors of the lay people". However, "Nicolaitan" (Greek: Νικολαϊτῶν; Νικολαΐτης) is the name ostensibly given to followers of the heretic Nicolas (Greek: Νικόλαος)—the name itself meaning "victorious over people," or "victory of the people," which he would have been given at birth.

The name Balac is perhaps capable of being interpreted as a Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Nicolas. Some commentators think that this is alluded to by John in Revelation 2:14 - But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Also,  the word could be derived from νικος, victory, and λαος, people, and that thus it corresponds with the name Balaam, as meaning either lord of the people, or he destroyed the people; and that, as the same effect was produced by their doctrines as by those of Balaam, that the people were led to commit fornication and to join in idolatrous worship, they might be called Balaamites or Nicolaitanes--that is, corrupters of the people.


Nicolas
The Nicolas of Acts 6:5 was a native of Antioch and a proselyte (convert to Judaism) and then a follower of the way of Christ. When the Church was still confined to Jerusalem, he was chosen by the whole multitude of the disciples to be one of the first seven deacons, and he was ordained by the apostles, c. AD 33. It has been questioned whether this Nicolas was connected with the Nicolaitans mentioned in Revelation, and if so, how closely. The Nicolaitans themselves, at least as early as the time of Irenaeus, claimed him as their founder. Acts 6:5

Epiphanius relates some details of the life of Nicolas the deacon, and describes him as gradually sinking into the grossest impurity, and becoming the originator of the Nicolaitans and other libertine Gnostic sects:
[Nicolas] had an attractive wife, and had refrained from intercourse as though in imitation of those whom he saw to be devoted to God. He endured this for a while but in the end could not bear to control his incontinence (uncontrollable).... But because he was ashamed of his defeat and suspected that he had been found out, he ventured to say, "Unless one copulates (has sexual intercourse) every day, he cannot have eternal life."  Hippolytus agreed with Epiphanius in his unfavourable view of Nicolas.

The same account is believed, at least to some extent, by Jerome and other writers in the 4th century; but it is irreconcilable with the traditional account of the character of Nicolas given by Clement of Alexandria, an earlier writer than Epiphanius. He states that Nicolas led a chaste (abstaining from extramarital, or from all, sexual intercourse.) life, and brought up his children in purity; that on a certain occasion, having been sharply reproved by the apostles as a jealous husband, he repelled the charge by offering to allow his wife to become the wife of any other person; and that he was in the habit of repeating a saying which is ascribed to the apostle Matthias also,—that it is our duty to fight against the flesh and to abuse (παραχρῆσθαι) it. His words were perversely interpreted by the Nicolaitans as authority for their immoral practices. Theodoret, in his account of the sect, repeats the foregoing statement of Clement, and charges the Nicolaitans with false dealing in borrowing the name of the deacon.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Please I seriously need spiritual guidance I don't understand the ways of God

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