So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate (Rev 2:15).

One of the few things that Jesus had against the church in Pergamos was that they held the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, The word doctrine in Greek is, “Didache” (did-akh-ay'), which means instruction or teaching. Before Christ ascended to heaven, He commanded that the church go and make disciples of all nations, to baptize the people in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey everything that He has commanded them. (Mathew28:19-20). Simon Peter stated that they were commanded to preach and teach Christ…

And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead (Act 10:42).

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them (Act8:5)

The teaching of the early apostles was the revelation of Jesus Christ. The church leaders in those days were very much aware that informing people about Christ and His kingdom will help them to seek for total conformity to the image of Christ which is our destiny in Christ(Romans8:29). Paul the apostle warned the Church to be very careful of those ministers whose mind is set on earthly things (the financial breakthrough preachers)….

Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philipians3:17-20)

The earthly minded preachers are the type that causes Christians to deviate from the path of life, since their message is focusing only on how to live comfortable in this present world with no regard to that which is to come, their followers will not see the need to strive hard in order to enter into that life which is to come by pursuing after holiness and righteousness.  The early Apostles made sure that they delivered to the people the total counsel of God “justification, sanctification, purification, perfection and glorification of the outward man”. The original church does not teach anything about “Virgin Mary” neither was their message focused on financial prosperity or material blessings like in the Pentecostal religion(1Timothy6:3-10).Jude warns the church concerning the secret introduction of the Nicolaitanes heresies…

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ(Jude1:3-4).

To understand the doctrines the Nicolaitanes very well, Simon Peter spoke of it as destructive heresies (Peter2:1-3). Meaning that it is the kind of teaching which perverted the grace of God; turning the divine grace into a license to sin instead. You should know also that the doctrine the Nicolaitanes is still very much alive today, I have heard preachers saying that all your sins has been paid for even the ones will commit tomorrow, that the grace has taken care of them all. Others believe that they are saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, meaning that God does not take records of the evils that they are committing because Jesus has paid the penalty for all their sins on the cross. Even Martin Luther in his a day held a similar view; In Luther’s translation of the bible, he translated thus in Romans1:17…, “The just shall live by faith alone!” in the original manuscript, it is “The just shall live by faith”. And that is the reason why Martin Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the New Testament canon; because James teach that faith without work is dead (James2:17, 20, 26). What we must know is that the righteousness of Christ do not set aside the necessity for our personal holiness, for it is written “be you Holy for I am Holy” (1Peter1:15-16). As we have freely received God’s divine nature called righteousness, we are mandate to manifest God’s character on earth, for the light cannot produce darkness (1John1:5-7). If there is no righteousness by works Jesus couldn’t have said:

For I say unto you. That unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20)."

Paul the apostle teaches that….

For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2Corinhians5:21).

This scripture simply means that God’s standard becomes us that we might becomes God’s standard, in other words, Jesus Christ who was sinless became died for us sinner so that we sinners by nature can become sinless. Oh! Theologians have tried to define grace as unmerited favor, but it is not as simple as that. The grace of God is God’s Divine Ability or Heavenly Enablement to accomplish God’s will on earth, for more clarification, “Grace is power of the eternal Spirit of God.” Jesus Christ offered himself unspotted to God through the power of the eternal spirit (Hebrews9:14), which means that a person who is living under grace can reach sinless perfection…

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Roman6:14).

Under the law came the atonement of sin, which means to cover sin, but grace came with the Remission of sin, which means to take away sin. The power of Christ, which is in grace, has destroyed the sin nature which made us sinners when we were in the world. Now, sin is not supposed to rule us because we have received grace to overcome it….
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Romans6:6)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace(Romans6:12-14)

Every Christian must know that grace is not a license to sin but power to live a sinless life in Christ Jesus. Since the grace was not present in the Old Testament, the people practiced atonement to cover their sin while waiting for the Messiah. Now, anyone who claims to be saved by grace and continues to live in sin is a liar, for it is impossible to abide in grace and continue to walk in darkness. I don’t mean that a Christian cannot fall into sin, there is a difference in falling into sin and living in sin, a believer can unintentionally fall into sin then repent from it, which is why the scripture says,

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1John1:8-10

However, it is impossible for a true Christian to live in sin, because we have shared with the divine nature of God:
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.  Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. Those who are born of God will not continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God (1John3:6-9).
May the Lord grant us more understanding Live the life that we are created for in Jesus Name Amen!