Results 1 - 2 of 2
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Who are the nicholitan | Rev 2:6 | DocTrinsograce | 239535 | ||
Hi, Ed... I was also operating from memory. I had to go dig the particulars up from my library to provide the basis of that memory. Here is what I came up with: "...a sect mentioned in (Revelation 2:6, 15) whose deeds were strongly condemned. They may have been identical with those who held the doctrine of Balaam. They seem to have held that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication, in opposition to the decree of the Church rendered in Acts 15:20, 29. The teachers of the Church branded them with a name which expressed their true character. The men who did and taught such things were followers of Balaam (2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11). They, like the false prophet of Pethor [Numbers 22:5], united brave words with evil deeds. In a time of persecution, when the eating or not eating of things sacrificed to idols was more than ever a crucial test of faithfulness, they persuaded men more than ever that was a thing indifferent (Revelation 2:13, 14). This was bad enough, but there was a yet worse evil. Mingling themselves in the orgies of idolatrous feasts, they brought the impurities of those feasts into the meetings of the Christian Church. And all this was done, it must be remembered not simply as an indulgence of appetite: but as a part of a system, supported by a 'doctrine,' accompanied by the boast of a prophetic illumination (2 Peter 2:1). It confirms the view which has been taken of their character to find that stress is laid in the first instance on the 'deeds' of the Nicolaitans. To hate those deeds is a sign of life in a Church that otherwise is weak and faithless (Revelation 2:6). To tolerate them is well nigh to forfeit the glory of having been faithful under persecution (Revelation 2:14, 15)." --William Smith, from Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863) After reading that again, it sounds like the libertinism had some syncretism mixed in, too. I must confess, though, that I do not find support for my assertion that the founder of this heresy was a deacon from Jerusalem. I do not know where that memory might have originated. Possibly some paper that I read sometime or another. Yet the memory seems to be linked with something said by a patriarch or apologist in the primitive church. Regardless, I cannot vouch for something that lacks a referenceable basis. Thank you for asking. Going back and checking has been helpful. In Him, Doc |
||||||
2 | Who are the nicholitan | Rev 2:6 | Ed O. | 239538 | ||
Hi Doc, I didn't ask this question that you are addressing to me. My note was in reference to number 239528. In Christ, Ed O. | ||||||