Acts 6:5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And they chose Stephen,— Some have thought that Stephen was one of the seventy; but it seems a precarious conjecture. The, termination of most of these names makes it probable that they were Hellenists;—a supposition which agrees very well with the occasion of their election. Nicolas was not a Jew born, but a proselyte of Antioch, whom they were the more willing to fix in this office, as his peculiar relation to the Grecians would make him especially careful to remedy any neglect of them which might have insensibly prevailed. Some ancient writers tell us, that he fell into great errors in the decline of life, and became the founder of the sect of the Nicolaitans, mentioned Revelation 6:15. But it seems much more probable, that the founder of this sect, considering how common the name was, might be some other person so called.