But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold
the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block
before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to
idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the
teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to
you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.—Rev. 2:14-16Justific
Although grace is surely amazing, it is also subject to
distortion, especially by those who use it to excuse loose and
licentious behavior (see Gal. 5:13; Jude 4).
The justification comes in a variety of forms [but] perhaps the most
egregious expression of such justification was stated rhetorically by
Paul himself in Romans 6:1: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” God forbid!
The church at Pergamum was infested with people who thought in precisely such terms. They were called Nicolaitans.
They were evidently licentious and antinomian and advocated an
unhealthy compromise with pagan society. . . . The Pergamemes had
welcomed them into the fellowship of the church and given them freedom
to propagate their destructive ways.
There’s no indication these false teachers had openly denied the
“name” to which the others at Pergamum held fast. . . . Rather, they
were guilty of turning the grace of God into licentiousness. [They] had
dared to insinuate that freedom in Christ granted them a blank check to
sin. The fault of the Pergamemes was not so much that they had followed
this pernicious teaching but that they had allowed it be vocalized in
the congregation. This matter of indifference to the licentiousness of
the Nicolaitans was of grave concern to the risen Lord. Keep Reading...
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