Who were the Nicolaitans and why did Jesus hate their deeds?

Question

A popular view of Jesus is that His being all love means that He cannot hate anyone or anything. In light of this, Revelation 2:6 has a very curious statement from Jesus:

But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. [KJV]

They are mentioned again in Revelation 2:15. This time, Jesus specifies that He hates their doctrine.

So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Who were the Nicolaitans, and what are their beliefs and actions that bring forth Jesus' hatred?

Answer 1

There are several lines of speculation as to who the Nicolaitans were, but no real evidence. It does seem that they were an early Christian sect, of whom John of Patmos says the Lord disapproved.

H. A. Ironside (http://www.a-voice.org/library/nicolait.htm) says a commonly held view is that they were followers of Nicolaos, mentioned along with Stephen as others as being one of the first deacons appointed to the Church. According to this hypothesis, Nicolaos went his own way, leading a Christian sect given over to false doctrines or immoral behaviour.

G. R. S. Mead, in Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.?, points out that Nicolaos is etymologically equivalent in Greek to Balaam in Hebrew. Revelation 2:14 refers to the doctrine of Balaam just before once again mentioning the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in verse 2:15. The author may see the Nicolaitans as similar to the followers of Balaam, who supposedly allowed their followers to eat food sacrificed to idols. Irenaeus

The second-century Church Father, Irenaeus combines these views in Against Heresies:

The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

If the issue is the eating of food sacrificed to pagan idols, it would seem that Christian doctrine had moved on since the time of the apostle Paul, who expressed indifference to eating food the Corinthians thought might have been sacrificed to pagan idols. In 1 Corinthians 10:27-28, Paul tells them that when offered food they should eat it without enquiring whether it had been sacrificed to idols. Only if their host actually volunteers that the food had been sacrificed to idols should they decline to eat it. The inference Paul makes is that if Christians knowingly eat food sacrificed to idols, they are assenting to the sacrifices, rather than any spiritual concern.

Others have read this as an untranslated Greek word meaning 'rulers over the people,' so that the Nicolaitans were Christian leaders who imposed a hierarchical order in the church and sought to lord it over those below them in the pecking order. If this is the meaning, it foreshadows the actions of the hierarchical Church of later centuries.

Answer 2

The International Standard Bible Encylopedia

A sect or party of evil influence in early Christianity, especially in the 7 churches of Asia.

As you mentioned well in your question, this is a group that appears twice in Revelation (2:6, 14-15) ...

... where it is equated with a group holding "the doctrine of Balaam," who taught Israel "to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality." (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

Also, the New Unger's Bible Dictionary, quoting Imperial Bible Dictionary

The general voice of antiquity accuses them of holding the lawfulness of eating things offered to idols, and of mixing in and encouraging idolatrous worship; and as they are charged with denying God to be the creator of the world, and attributing its existence to other powers, they could unquestionably, on such grounds, permit themselves so to act, and thus far it is probable that the accusation is not ill-founded. The community of women was another doctrine which they are said to have adopted, and their conduct seems to have been in the highest degree licentious

Even though we might never know the origin of the Nicolaitans, it's believed, without bulletproof evidence, that they were founded by Nicolas from Antioch referred in Acts 6:5 (NASB)

The announcement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.

Answer 3

What Jesus "hates" about the Nicolaitans is their claim that they follow Him, but lived contrary to His teachings. They followed false doctrines - perversions of His truth: while believing they had been "saved" in His name and by His blood and were eternally secure by His grace. Jesus mentions similar people in Matthew 7:21-23 - who don't understand why they have been denied entering the Kingdom of heaven - claiming they have prophesied, cast out devils, and have done many wonderful works in His name. But Jesus rejects them, says He never knew them, and demands they "depart from me, ye that work iniquity."