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The Nicolaitanes

I wrote:

Nicolaitanes [nick-ko-lay-i-tans] – this name is only mentioned twice in the Bible, here and in the message to the church at Pergamos. 

There are a few explanations floating around for this group, ranging from a heretical group of Gnostics (they believed in special knowledge [gnosis] given to them by secret teachings), to a group who taught that the deeds of the flesh have no relation to sanctification, the daily living of the Christian, meaning "once saved always saved".  

Christ here refers to the "deeds" of the Nicolaitanes, which He abhors, and this should point us in the right direction.  I believe that the name is made up from the roots of two words, "nicos" and "laos", meaning "to conquer" and "the people", which can give the meaning of a group who control the laity – a group which men today call "the clergy". 

No such distinction should have existed in the early church, for it is written, "But be not you called `Rabbi': for One is your Master, even Christ; and all you are brothers [and sisters]", that is, equals.  Matthew 23:8.  See Matthew 28:25-28.  The idea that there should be bosses in the church is very distasteful to the Son of God, for power corrupts and separates.  The only titles used are "elder" (who is sometimes called "bishop", 1 Timothy 3:1-7), "deacon", 1 Timothy 3:8-13, and "pastor", Ephesians 4:11, but these are indicative of helpers, as job descriptions, not positions of authority.

David Breedlove replies;

Not to detract from Ron's lesson here, but I looked this up on the Internet to further explain who the Nicolaitanes are; The name, Nicolaitanes, is a compound word which is composed of three Greek words, and which, because of being a proper noun, is transferred instead of being translated into English.  As thus transferred, it is subject to the laws of Greek construction in regard to ellipsis, contraction and phonetics.

The Greek words used in its construction are first: "Nikos," of which we use the English equivalents instead of the Greek letters, as we shall also of the other two.  Nikos is defined as "a conquest; victory; triumph; the conquered; and by implication, dominancy over the defeated." Another transferred name in which this term is used is "Nicopolis," i.e., Niko - conquest; polis city.  Hence, the city of conquest, or city of victory.  Also "Andro" -- "nikos;" a man of conquest, of victory.

The second term used in the name under consideration is "laos," -- people, another use of which is Nicolas, which is transferred and is composed of Nikoslaos and means one who is "victorious over the people," the letter "s" being, in both words, the nominative case ending, which is retained only at the end of the word to denote the case, while "a" short and "o" short are contracted into "a" long.  Laodiceans.

Also, a still further transferred use of "laos" is found in the name Lao(s)diceans, compounded with dike or dice as the Greek "k" is the equivalent English "c." Thus, in the name Laodiceans, we have laos -- "people" and dice judgment, or vengeance, i.e., the people of my judgment, or of my vengeance.  Also the Greek word la(ic)os means "laymen," of which laos is the root and stem, which selfsame word, with the "o" short contracted to "i", to which root and stem the plural definite article ton is joined to form laiton -- is a Greek phrase meaning "the laity."

The third and last word entering into the construction of the proper name Nicolaitanes is ton, in which omega, the long "o", is contracted into long "a", thus making the word "tan" which is the genitive case plural in all the genders of the definite article the.  Therefore, we have, without the legal Greek construction, the English hyphenated word Nickos-laoston, but which, with its lawful elisions and contractions, becomes the English name: Nicolaitanes, the full meaning of which, in its native tongue and in its ecclesiastical setting, is that the bishops and prelates of the Church have gained a triumphal victory or conquest over the laiton -- the laity -- until they have been compelled to submmit to the arbitrary dominion of men who have become that thing which God hates: "Lords over God's heritage."

oooOooo

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: