Nicolaitanes
From Greek, "nikao", "to conquer," and Greek, "laos", "the people," or "laity." There is no ancient authority for a sect of the Nicolaitanes. If the word is symbolic, it refers to the earliest form of the notion of a priestly order, or "clergy," which later divided an equal brotherhood (Matthew 23:8) into "priests" and "laity." What in Ephesus was "deeds" (Revelation 2:6) had become in Pergamos a "doctrine (Revelation 2:15).
Nicolaitanes
Contrast (1 Peter 5:2); (1 Peter 5:3); (Matthew 24:49).