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NICOLAITANS

(Gk. Nikolaïtēs)

A sect of the early Church associated with the cities of Ephesus and Pergamum (Rev. 2:6, 15). The group was apparently accused of the sins of eating meat offered to idols and (probably ritual) sexual immorality (Rev. 2:14). The association of these same antinomian practices (proscribed by the Apostolic Council at Jerusalem; Acts 15:20, 28-29; cf. 21:25) with the prophetess Jezebel at Thyatira (Rev. 2:20) may indicate activity by the sect in that city as well.

Two explanations have been offered for the name of this group. Irenaeus (Adv. haer. 7.24) reported that this sect traced its origins to Nicolaus of Antioch, one of the seven Hellenists chosen to assist the apostles (Acts 6:1-5). Clement of Alexandria (Misc. 2.20) concurred with Irenaeus but argued that the group’s 2nd-century adherents had corrupted Nicolaus’s teachings. Most modern scholars are dubious of any connection between the sect and Nicolaus of Antioch, and many even doubt that the libertine gnostic sects known to the apologists by this name are the same as those mentioned in Revelation.

Most scholars now tend to interpret the name symbolically as a wordplay on the name Balaam (Rev. 2:14-15). That name can be construed as a contracted form of Heb. bālaʿ ʿam, “he destroyed the people,” and so parallels the name Nicolaus from Gk. níkē laoú, “conqueror of the people.” Balaam was traditionally associated with antinomian practices during this period (2 Pet. 2:15; cf. Jude 11).

Timothy B. Cargal

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NICOLAITANS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)