“Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.” (Rev. 2:15, NKJV)
The last facet of the de-mythologising of a myth that has been firmly established in the church throughout the ages, and is still very powerful today, is the myth that the clergy are God’s special ambassadors.
Spiritual leadership (excluding functional positions such as elders and deacons) are restricted in the contemporary church to include only those who have some form of theological training. Formal qualifications from seminaries, theological faculties at universities, or accredited Bible schools are for the most part a prerequisite for a position in the formal church system. “But from the beginning it was not so.” (Matt 19:8c). The system of theology has never been a Biblical prerequisite. To the contrary.
The rabbis read sections of the Old Covenant as open-ended texts, in other words a text with various possible interpretations. They saw their role in the community as one of interpretative regulator, someone who could explain to the illiterate nation the muti-faceted nature of God’s words, and conclude the meaning thereof. In his book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell points out that each rabbi thus presented his own rules and guidelines concerning the following of the Word. Different rabbis thus presented different guidelines, and his followers (or spiritual sons) “would spend hours discussing … what it meant to live out a certain text”. With the passing of time there thus originated various schools of thought, and with the influence of Philosophy, which radically infiltrated the way man looked at himself, the world and God (see for instance Acts 17), theology as a discipline finally developed. At its core Theology is a science about the ways people look at God. Thus prospective theologians do not necessarily study the Bible, but rather studies the perspectives of other theologians on the Bible. It is inevitable that in these types of philosophies demonic wisdom also becomes part of the packages (Jam. 3:15).
The theology of the Rabbi was almost a type of yoke of perceptions about God and the world that he had to carry. Rabbi Jesus thus shocked his followers when He declared in Matt. 11:30 that “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
In the teaching of Day 170 we extensively wrote about the Scripture that opens today’s teaching. We pointed out that the word ‘Nicolaitans’ derives from two Greek words – nikao which means “conquer”, and lao which means “laity”, thus conquer the laity. Other versions also make it possible to read it as for instance victors over the people or rulers over the world, even: destruction of the people. The laity, the ordinary people, stand oppose to the clergy, who have some form of theological training. If spiritual positions were obtained through theological training, the nation could be controlled in this manner. God’s statement here is clear – he hates the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. With this I conclude the unpacking of this myth, and I hope that we have presented enough proof from the Word to clearly eradicate this myth of the clergy as God’s special ambassadors. Please selah on Jer. 8:9 (MSTC): “therefore shall the wise be confounded. They shall be afraid and taken, for lo, they have cast out the word of the LORD: what wisdom can then be among them?”
- Selah: Ponder the last Scripture.
- Read: 16-18
- Memorise: 16:30 and ponder this Scripture in the light of Heb. 11:32.
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read Rob Bell’s book.
