Verse 15:[1] So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine (Rev. 2:6) of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
[So hast thou also, etc.] Namely, thou holdest them as members of thy Church, although thou wert obliged to eject them (Durham). Thou wert obliged to use the sword of Christ against them, just as that Angel, having a sword, had resisted Balaam, Numbers 22:22, 23 (Grotius). The overseers of the Churches that tolerate heretics in the Church, sin: their subordinates do not sin less, when they familiarly converse with them without necessity, for from them a great and manifest danger to faith and manners is at hand, which danger they are required by divine and natural Law to flee (Estius).
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans; so, saith he, thou sufferest in thy communion filthy persons, who maintain fornication lawful, and the lawfulness of eating meat offered to idols, which exactly corresponds with Balaam’s doctrine or counsel given to Balak, in order to his weakening the Israelites by separating them from God. His counsel took place, to the destruction of twenty-four thousand Israelites.
[ὃ μισῶ] Which (that is, thy deed [Camerarius]: or, which men [Vatablus] [as if he had read οὕς/whom]) I hate. As in Revelation 2:6 (Brightman). Here thou hast the doctrine of the Nicolaitans; in Revelation 2:6, the works of the Nicolaitans. Thus they were both most corrupt in manners, and were turning manners into doctrine (Cotterius). That ὁμοίως [similarly, which the Vulgate places at the beginning of the following verse] in a manuscript[2] pertains to verse 15, so that there might be a Pleonasm in οὕτως, in this manner,[3] and ὁμοίως/similarly. Thus ὁμοίως καὶ ὡς, likewise and as, in Luke 17:28.[4] And because that Pleonasm was offending some, it happened that in certain Codices ὁμοίως/similarly was changed into ὃ μισῶ, which thing I hate (Grotius).
Which thing I hate; I am the same God still, and hate such doctrines, as much as ever I did in the time of Balak.
[1] Greek: οὕτως ἔχεις καὶ σὺ κρατοῦντας τὴν διδαχὴν τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν· ὃ μισῶ.
[2] This reading is found in Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Rescriptus Ephræmi; and in the majority of Byzantine manuscripts, but not in the Textus Receptus.
[3] Revelation 2:15: “So (οὕτως) hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans similarly (ὁμοίως).”
[4] Luke 17:28a: “Similarly and as (ὁμοίως καὶ ὡς) it was in the days of Lot…”
Dr. Dilday's Sermon: "Failure to Discipline"
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=611102316163
1) Introduction
2) Analysis
a) Context
b) Verse 14
i) “But I have a few things against thee”
ii) “Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication”
c) Verse 15: “So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate”
3) Meditation upon Church discipline
a) The character of most Church discipline
b) Avoiding failure in discipline
c) The wholesome ends of Church discipline
Westminster Confession of Faith 30:3: Church censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren; for…
Alexander McLeod's Messiah, the Governor: 'If Messiah be the ruler of nations, civil society, in its constitution and administration of government, should bow to him and honour him.
For this very purpose he was exalted, that every knee should bow to him, whether of things in heaven, or of things on earth. [Philippian 2:10] Man is a moral agent: he is, therefore, under a moral law. His entering into society does not free him from its obligation; but in that relation he is also bound to an obedience that is intelligent, active, and voluntary. It is not a negative submission, so as not directly to declare war against the Redeemer, but a direct, explicit, and voluntary profession of submission to…
William Tong (for Matthew Henry): 'He reproves them for their sinful failures (Revelation 2:14): But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, etc., and those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. There were some who taught that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols, and that simple fornication was no sin; they, by an impure worship, drew men into impure practices, as Balaam did the Israelites. Observe, (1.) The filthiness of the spirit and the filthiness of the flesh often go together. Corrupt doctrines and a corrupt worship often lead to a corrupt conversation. (2.) It is very lawful to fix th…
Editor's Note from Eusebius' Church History: ' Salmon, in his article Nicolaitans, in the Dict. of Christ. Biog., states, as I think, quite correctly, that "there really is no trustworthy evidence of the continuance of a sect so called after the death of the apostle John"; and in this he is in agreement with many modern scholars. An examination of extant accounts of this sect seems to show that nothing more was known of the Nicolaitans by any of the Fathers than what is told in the Apocalypse. Justin, whose lost work against heretics Irenaeus follows in his description of heresies, seems to have made no mention of the Nicolaitans, for they are dragged in by Irenaeus at …