Nicolaitan Deeds

Naming is an essential and effective part of every culture. Onomastics—the study of names—is a broad science that examines the reasons behind naming people, monuments, and even ideologies.

Acts 6:5 lists the names of the first deacons ever chosen by the apostles. Of the seven listed, the most well-known to us are Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and Philip, who baptized the Ethiopian.

But to our knowledge, the only deacon on the list who had an entire sect named after him was “Nicolas, a proselyte [convert] from Antioch.” The Bible makes no other mention of this deacon, but some historical records support the notion that this same Nicolas may very well have been the pioneer of a Gnostic sect named after him.

The defining ideology of these Nicolaitans was their deliberate disregard for God’s law in all they did “of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16)—that is, what they did with their physical bodies. With this mindset, the Nicolaitans were rife in practices of sexual and other hedonistic immorality.

Ultimately, the Nicolaitans taught that it did not matter what a person did but only what a person thought. The early church defined their ideology as heresy. Christ Himself made clear His hatred of the Nicolaitans’ disobedience. Notice that Christ did not hate the people but their deeds. We too are to hate the sin, not the sinner.

Was this sect not just acting in the opposite manner of the Pharisees? While the Pharisees looked pious in all that they did, their hearts were in rebellion against God (Matthew 23:27). While the Nicolaitans imagined they believed in God, they did nothing in obedience to Him. Taking either path will lead to our ruin.

There is no segmentation in God. When a person’s heart is surrendered to Christ, he obeys Him in action and deed. There is nothing else to it. A person’s beliefs direct his actions. Paul asked, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). His answer: “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (v. 2).

Father God, guide me to have righteous thoughts that will yield righteous actions. Form in me a righteous character that I may ultimately have an eye single to Your glory.

For Further Study: Matthew 7:24–27; Romans 3:31; James 1:22, 23

Key Bible Texts

But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. (Revelation 2:6 KJV)