Expert: Brenda Martin - 3/24/2009

Question
what does the term mean in Rev. 2:15?

Answer
The congregation in Pergamum was in great peril because it allowed in its midst “those holding fast the teaching of the sect of Nicolaus.” Christ told the congregation: “Repent. If you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will war with them with the long sword of my mouth.” Sectarians want to do Christians spiritual harm, and those bent on promoting divisions and sects will not inherit God’s Kingdom. (Romans 16:17, 18; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Galatians 5:19-21)

“The sect of Nicolaus” (or Nicolaitans) is condemned in two of the seven letters to the congregations in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation. For hating “the deeds of the sect of Nicolaus,” which Christ Jesus himself also hates, “the angel” of the Ephesus congregation was commended. (Re 2:1, 6) In the congregation at Pergamum, however, there were some “holding fast the teaching of the sect of Nicolaus,” from which they were urged to turn away and repent.—Re 2:12, 15, 16.

Aside from what is here written in Revelation about the sect of Nicolaus, nothing else is known of it, either of its practices and teachings, which are condemned, or of its origin and development. The connective “so” immediately following the reference to the immoral and idolatrous course the Israelites pursued due to “the teaching of Balaam” (Re 2:14, 15) might indicate some similarity, but Revelation makes a distinction between the two. Nor is it warranted to say that some apostatized sect took his name to give weight to their wrongdoing. Nicolaus was more probably a Biblically unidentified individual after whom the ungodly movement was named.

all the best
Brenda