“So hast thou also them that hold the
doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.” (Rev 2:15)
Doctrines
abound in the Body of Christ today.
Some are only slightly different than others, but some are extreme and
potentially dangerous. Because of the
beautiful diversity of the Body of Christ, some variation in doctrine is to be
expected and even appreciated. Let us
be reminded that unity is not based upon doctrinal exactness, but is in the
realm of the Spirit (Eph 4:3) and of faith (Eph 4:13). Many times God has put a specific message on
the heart of a man. As he fulfills his
unique call, he may seem too focused to others who desire more balance, or who
simply have a different mandate from the Lord.
But we must allow the unique emphasis of others. Modern Christian groups are similar to the
seven Churches of Asia Minor mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3. Even as they had diverse strengths and
weaknesses, so we can see the diverse variety of Churches reflected today.
There are
some doctrines, however which must be rejected and even attacked. These are “doctrines of devils”; intended by
Satan to destroy the people and the work of Christ (I Tim 4:1). The apostle John recorded one such menace
as THE DOCTRINE OF THE NICOLAITANES.
Jesus Christ, in His appearance to John, warned of this teaching and
declared His own hatred for it.
That is powerful stuff! As His
disciples, we are to love what He loves, and hate what He hates. The Nicolaitian doctrine is more widespread
in the Church today than you may think.
It may be more easily identified in the Catholic Church, which has a
clear clergy/laity system. But it is
just as prevalent in the protestant Church.
It is a hidden thing which skillfully avoids the light. But if the truth is revealed to you, then
you must follow Christ’s example and be against it.
To
understand this doctrine, one must simply break down and define the word Jesus
used to describe it. I would encourage
you to do a word study on this, but let
me just get the ball rolling.
“Nicolaitanes” means “Victorious over the people; a follower of
Nicolaus, a heretic”. It comes from
the familiar word “nike”, which is popular in our day. The meaning can be better seen in the
phrase: “to conquer the laity” (from “nikos - to conquer”; and “laos” -
where our word “laity” comes from).
Laity means “the people, or the public”. A practical example of this can be seen in the story of ‘good old
St Nicolaus’ of Christmas fame. By
contrast, the Gospel of Christ is a doctrine of salvation by grace through
faith. But the doctrine of St. Nick is
salvation by works (“If you’ll be good, then you’ll get a Christmas
gift”.) One depends on what Christ
did. The other depends on what you
do. The doctrine of Dead Works (see Heb
6:1) is used by some to control the laity just as parents use the doctrine of
Santa to try and manipulate their children into good behavior. Jesus hates this doctrine because it
tramples upon the very cross of Calvary itself. The whole purpose behind the doctrine of salvation by works is to
get people to the point that they can be conquered and controlled. Jesus never set up nor endorsed a clergy -
laity system. We are all one Body. There is no ‘high-archy’ nor ‘low-archy’. Christ alone is the Head.
So how does
the Nicolaitian doctrine live and breath among us today? Anyone who uses their leadership position to
manipulate others is bumping up against the thing Jesus hates. You see, if I can get you to feel as if you
must please me in order to be accepted by me, then I can use my acceptance or
my rejection to control your life. The
Lord wants us to be under His control, no one else’s. But even He doesn’t use such tactics of manipulation. He wants willing obedience, not
contrived. Our acceptance was paid for
on the cross, therefore we need not be man- pleasers (see 1 Thess 2:4). We can act out the Nicolatian doctrine at
home, on sports teams, in the Church, or anywhere we find positions of
authority. Jesus rules by example and
through serving. A Nicolatian rules
through manipulation and control.
Anytime we meet someone who rules this way, red flags should go up in
our spirit. In order to submit myself
under that so called “authority”, I
would have to renounce the authority of Christ, forget grace, and enter into
dead works. Nicolatian authority is
false authority. Therefore a believer
is not required to submit to it. In
fact he should take dominion over it.
Nicolatian authorities may try to label you as a rebel, but Christ must
reign supreme, regardless of what others say.
In the
Church, there are some folks who operate by the spirit of the Nicolatians. They will try to get you to become obligated
to them by doing some niceties for you.
Don’t fall for the obligation thing.
Jesus doesn’t operate through obligation. A box of cookies can be a bribe.
A large donation to the Church can cost you way more than it’s
worth. Paul told us to give with
“simplicity”. No strings attached. If someone ‘gives’ you something, don’t get
tangled up in all their strings. Others
may try to pull “rank” on you. Yes,
there are true authorities to submit to.
But real authority doesn’t have to pull rank. The Word of God is final authority, not a position or title of
some kind. Sometimes an older person
will try to pull their age on you. Yes,
we must respect our elders, but that does not give them license to take over. If we learn to live by the principles of
grace - not works, then we can avoid most Nicolatian problems. This requires us to remain spiritually
sharp.
One of the
most obvious Nicolaitian maneuvers is often related directly to the preacher
and his pulpit. As men of God, we
cannot allow ourselves to misuse our authority by brow beating the people from
the platform. Some sermons are simply
personal vendettas disguised as “the Word”.
I have both heard and delivered this kind of thing. If there is a problem with someone, go to
that person and confront it. Have the
guts to do it right. (Matthew 18:15-17
is our pattern). I have also seen
preachers verbally condemn the flock for a lack of service, commitment,
evangelism, etc. Our mandate is to
EQUIP the Body to do the work. Could it
be that preachers are too busy with their programs, agendas, etc. to actually
disciple and train up the sons and daughters of God? Is it possible that many preachers have never been equipped
themselves? That would account for
their inability to equip others. Will
our legacy be programs or people? If
we aren’t equipping them, then our condemning attitude is probably the result
of our own inner frustration. When we
start doing all the work of the ministry ourselves, we enter into error. We will also begin to slip in our
relationship to Christ. He wants us to
disciple others into their calling. Let
them do the work of the ministry! Let
them preach and minister in all the things of God. Sadly, the typical minister is too wrapped up in his own thing to
do so. If we repent and call upon the
Lord, He will show us how to equip His people.
There is an answer.
Another
tell tale sign of a Nicolatian spirit is the inability of a leader to allow
those under him to initiate ministry.
Some pastors are able to use the creativity of others, as long as it is
channeled in the direction which best serves the pastor’s interests. Autocracy is akin to the doctrine Jesus
hates. True leadership is secure enough
in Christ to allow and encourage others to initiate their life with God. It is OK to encourage people to follow
through with their dreams, even if you are reasonably sure they are going to
fail. You should equip them, then let
them experience life’s ups and downs.
It is better for them to fail than for you to squash their
initiative. A mature man of God will
simply be there to help pick the person up and encourage him to seek God and go
again. Check your own heart. Are you able to get behind someone else’s
ministry? Can you support a brother
when his vision does not directly relate to yours? We must see the value in the process of a believer initiating
their ministry - not just our opinion of whether that ministry is valid or not.
Jesus
actually HATES the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. John wrote: ”For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8b) We must destroy such works and doctrines in
our own lives before we can be effective in the Body of Christ. Revelation 2:16 reveals the tactic of Christ
to deal with such demonic doctrine: “Repent; or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” We must speak up against the Nicolaitanes.