https://thegodabovegod.com/thunder-perfect-mind-translation-by-robert-m-price/?fbclid=IwAR1oxv95iOHDYW1ScgVlkHpMh-D-yg-1VAB5TjcfcQgGx2L62jWPkdlQ9jI
The fourth-century cataloguer of heresies, Epiphanius of Salamis, is not
always either clear or reliable, but he supplies many hints for us to
take up and use as best we can in reconstructing early Christian history
and belief. He tells us at least a bit more about the intriguing sect
of the Nicolaitans which so upset the writer of the Revelation of John,
who called their doctrines hateful. They encouraged a faithful defiance
of cultic superstition, claiming the right to eat meat previously
dedicated to idols. Since pagan gods are zeroes, they reasoned, why
consider their left-over sacrifices any more than a treat? The same
reasoning is examined in 1 Corinthians 8:1-6ff. It smacks of Gnosticism,
and Epiphanius treats Nicolaitanism as such. There was also some type
of unchasity involved (Revelation 3:20), which Epiphanius chalked up to
Gnostic libertinism. But since the writer of Revelation guarantees
salvation only to the celibate, and males at that (14:4), it need not
have taken much in the way of sexual activity for him to have started
fulminating about fornication. It never took much to get the Dead Sea
Scroll ascetics going! It is interesting that the Revelator says he had
for some time tolerated Jezebel (3:21), apparently as a colleague,
though he finally decided she had no intention of coming around to his
point of view. This fact mitigates the impression of some absolute gulf
between the two positions. This may prove to be a fact of some
importance.
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