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THE NICOLAITANS
by J. H. Allen
(author of Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright)
When our Lord Jesus Christ walked among men, He taught His
disciples to
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, whom He denounced as
hypocrites.
With them He classed the chief priests and officials of the
temple,
together with the recognized teachers, (scribes, or
"professors" Ferrar
Fenton Translation) in the Synagogues. He declared they had
so corrupted
the truth of God, which they were supposed to preach, with
the doctrines
and ordinances of men, that the truth, as originally given,
was no longer
with them. That which these blind leaders of the blind were
giving forth as
truth of God was making their converts twofold more the
children of hell
than they were before accepting the [schi]ism by these
corrupt teachers.
Therefore, as a warning to those who were joining
themselves to Him, the
Lord said that these non-spiritual men made long prayers
for a "pretense,"
a public "show" which, while having a form of humility, was
for the purpose
only of being seen of men. What these men really loved were
the highest
seats in the Synagogues; the uppermost rooms at the public
feasts; the
greetings they received in the market places from truly
humble and sincere
men, whom they hoped would esteem them as superiors, and
who addressed them
as Rabbi, Rabbi, my master, my master. But our Lord
commanded: "Be not ye
called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all
ye are brethren
.... Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master,
even Christ. But
he that is greatest among you shall be your servant,"
(Matthew 23:8-11).
This was a double command for a double purpose:
1) Do not allow men who are your brethren in Christ, and
who compose the
assembly of God, to call you Master, for One alone is your
Master.
2) Do not allow yourself to become possessed with such a
carnal spirit that
you want men who belong to the body of Christ to call you
"Master." Also,
added to the carnal desire to be "uppermost" in the eyes of
the Lord's
people, these leaders were charged with extortion and
accused of devouring
the homes of widows, and of excess. Jesus accused them of
being hypocrites
who aspired to be regarded as dignitaries of the
congregations of the Most
High God. Such conditions as described exist only in the
assemblies across
whose ethical portals, before the God of Holiness, has been
written the
name, "Ichabod" -- the glory of the Lord has departed. The
word "excess,"
as used above, means the carnal abuse of lawful things;
things lawful and
right carried to extremes. For it is true that there is a
legal and God
approved honor given to certain selected ones: "We beseech
you, brethren,
to know them which labour among you, and are over you in
the Lord, and
admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake.
And be at peace among yourselves," (I Thessalonians
5:12-13). "Let the
elders that rule well [guide; lead; preside well] be
counted worthy of
double honor, especially they who labour in the word and
doctrine," (I
Timothy 5:17). Why guide and lead, instead of rule? Because
those who are
over us in the Lord are shepherds who must lead and guide,
but not
dominate. Rule is arbitrary government, and the Church may
be "subject to
Christ" only. "One is your Master, even Christ." The
following Divine
instruction is from one of the inspired Spirit-filled
elders: "The elders
which are among you exhort, who am also an elder, and a
witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that
shall be
revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking
the oversight
[not rulership] thereof, not by constraint, but willingly;
not for filthy
lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over
God's heritage, but
being ensamples to the flock," (I Peter 5:1-3).
The "blind guides" would say, but not do. The Divinely
anointed elder will
both say and do, and thus be an example to the flock, whom
the people will
love and esteem very highly for his work's sake, and who in
his heart will
never desire to be lord over the heritage of his Master. It
is this
aspiration on the part of men to become lords over God's
heritage that God
hates. "The doctrine of the Nicolaitanes" is just what the
word
Nicolaitanes itself declares.
Proof:
1) In the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, it is
both "the deeds"
and "the doctrine" of those in the two "churches" specified
(Revelation
2:6, 15). The Lord demands repentance on the part of those
who hold and
practice these things and He threatens drastic punishment
if they do not
obey Him: "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly,
and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth," (Revelation 2:16).
2) 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.
3) 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. 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 submit to the arbitrary
dominion of men
who have become that thing which God hates: "Lords over
God's heritage."
The evidence of this is found in all our common school
dictionaries, among
which we find the following definition of the term
"hierarchy: the power of
dominion, government by ecclesiastical rulers," to which
the following is
introduced in evidence:
"If anyone shall say that there is not in the Catholic
Church a hierarchy
established by the divine ordination, consisting of
bishops, presbyters and
ministers, let him be anathema, Council of Trent (trans)
XXIII 6." (Century
Dictionary.) In other words, let anyone who will have the
temerity to say
there is not a hierarchy, not a collection of human beings,
who have been
given the power, by other men of dominion, as
ecclesiastical rulers over
churchmen, who are declaredly God's heritage, let that man
be accursed;
i.e., let death and hell and the devil get him. Surely, the
thing in which
that ecclesiastical company is glorying is their shame!
Furthermore, Webster defines the word "episcopal" as "the
power of
government, belonging to, or invested in, bishops or
prelates. Government
of the church by bishops." Also "In episcopacy, the order
of bishops is
superior to the other clergy, and has exclusive power to
confer orders." In
this definition it is affirmed that a certain portion of
presbyters
(elders) were even "in apostolic times superior in
authority to ordinary
presbyters," and also mentions the fact that episcopacy
recognizes
"episcopal rank" which is created by the institution thus
governed; all of
which affirms that any church in which episcopal government
obtains is
practicing the very carnal and fleshly iniquity of creating
"Superiors" in
what should be a holy brotherhood. The use of this
appellation makes
"inferiors" out of "brethren" who are in the selfsame
clergy. 1The
approbation of "ordinary elders" demands a "set" of elders
who are
superordinary, thus creating "rank" (caste) in the
otherwise Divine
brotherhood, all of which destroys holy fellowship, creates
division and
strife, and fosters envy. No marvel that our Lord should
hate a thing like
that, condemn it, and demand that those who are guilty
shall repent.
But will they? Yes, some will when the tribulation is on.
Others, however,
will stick to their ecclesiastical crowd, vainly imagining
that their
boasted "superiority" will carry them through that time of
the greatest
trouble the world has ever known, or will know. They must
go down with the
rest of the hosts of anti-Christ.
And yet, one of the most unfortunate features of all this
is that there are
those in the Christian Church who do not hold the doctrine
of the
Nicolaitanes, but who practice "their deeds" of dominating
the laity by
lording it over the Church of Jesus Christ, which should be
subject only to
one Divine Master. It is often true that these have assumed
this lordship
because they are esteemed very highly in love for their
work's sake, but
have become vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind.
Beloved, "Beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees."
Christ's attitude toward service is to be our attitudes
everyone in His
fellowship: Mat 20:25-28 But Jesus called them unto him,
and said, Ye know
that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over
them, and they that
are great exercise authority upon them. 20:26 But it shall
not be so among
you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your
minister; 20:27
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your
servant: 20:28 Even
as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many.
Notice how the Father exalted this greatest of all
Servants: Phil 2:4-11
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of
others. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus: 2:6
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God:
2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 2:8 And being
found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even
the death of the cross. 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name: 2:10 That at
the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things
under the earth; 2:11 And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
By contrast, who was the first despot? Satan the Devil. He
was created to
serve as the prodigy of Yehovah 2 -- to serve like the
pre-incarnate Christ
will, see Isa 11:1+, etc. Isa 14:12-19 How art thou fallen
from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which
didst weaken the nations! 14:13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: I will
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides
of the north:
14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will
be like the
most High. 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to
the sides of
the pit. 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon
thee, and
consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth
to tremble, that
did shake kingdoms; 14:17 That made the world as a
wilderness, and
destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of
his prisoners?
14:18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie
in glory, every
one in his own house. 14:19 But thou art cast out of thy
grave like an
abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are
slain, thrust
through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the
pit; as a carcass
trodden under feet.
Note how the process took place -- the motive that
developed and the "MO"
Satan used:
Ezek 28:14-19 Thou art the anointed cherub that COVERETH2;
and I have set
thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God
[government] ; thou hast
walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire
[morning stars].
28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou
wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee. 28:16 By the multitude of
thy merchandise
they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned:
therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain
of God: and I
will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire.
28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou
hast corrupted
thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to
the ground, I
will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
28:18 Thou HAST
DEFILED THY SANCTUARIES BY THE MULTITUDE OF THINE
INIQUITIES, by the
iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a
fire from the midst
of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to
ashes upon the
earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 28:19 All
they that know
thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou
shalt be a terror,
and never shalt thou be any more.
1. The Father and Christ are God, and thus our Superiors,
we are ALL
brethren, see Mt 23:8-11, again. Also, each saint is a
Spirit filled
"priest" of God, see 1 Pet 2:9-10 But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should show forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvelous
light: 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of
God....
2. Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were
created by him,
and for him.... + Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
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