Nicolaitanes

The Nicolaitans appear only in two of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2 — once as a group whose works the Ephesian church hates with Christ, and once as a faction whose teaching is tolerated at Pergamum.

Hated at Ephesus

The Ephesian church is commended for matching the risen Christ in repudiating this group's works: "But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" (Re 2:6). The verse names the works rather than describing them; the commendation is the shared hatred between the church and Christ.

Tolerated at Pergamum

In the letter to Pergamum the same name returns, but as a teaching held within the congregation: "So you have also some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner" (Re 2:15). The phrasing — "in like manner" — places it alongside the preceding rebuke about those who hold the teaching of Balaam, and the Pergamene church is faulted for harboring those who hold it.