Revelation 2:15 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes — i.e., thou, as well as those of old, hast such teachers. There is little doubt that this is the connection between the verses, but opinions are divided whether we are on this account to identify the Balaamites with the Nicolaitanes, and to suppose that both names point to the same sect. The simplest meaning of the passage seems to be that the temptation to which the Israelites were exposed, is used to illustrate the temptations of the Pergamene Church, through the teaching of the Nicolaitanes. Both temptations lead in the same Antinomian direction. Such a tendency was early seen (comp. Romans 6:4; Galatians 5:13; Jude 1:4), and is not extinct now. “Is there not,” writes Dr. Vaughan, “a vague, unavowed, unrealised idea that the Atonement has made sin less fatal, that even sin indulged and persisted in, may yet not work death?” To such and all who countenance them the warning is, “Repent; but if not, I am coming for thee, and will war with thee (note the change of person and number) with (literally, in — i.e., armed with) the sword of My mouth.”