III. Anti-doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitans

According to Revelation 2:14-15, the Lord Jesus reproves the church in Pergamos because some of the believers in that local church hold the teaching, the doctrine, of Balaam—an Old Testament prophet—and the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Witness Lee expounds on the phrases the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans in order to help the local churches to understand and avoid these doctrines and their consequent errant practices.

The third epistle was written to Pergamos, and the Lord mainly deals with two things: the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate" (Rev. 2:14-15). (68)

Witness Lee first addresses the doctrine of Balaam, a “hired” prophet.

We all know who Balaam was. He was a prophet, but not in a good sense. He was a prophet who for money was hired to speak the Word of God. He was hired to say something for God! At first, this was a deed, but eventually a doctrine was produced of it. Thus, there is the doctrine of Balaam…. Balaam was a prophet who was hired to speak something for God. We should never have this in the local churches.

In past years on the mainland of China, many so-called gifted Christian brothers came to contact Brother Watchman Nee. More or less, they tried to make a deal to see what position they could obtain among us. Sometimes they asked frankly, "Brother Nee, if I leave the denomination and turn this way, what kind of position will I receive?" But Brother Nee answered, "I do not even know what my position is! I would even ask you what position would you give me?" This happened not only once, but several times. You could not say that they did not see the way. They saw something, but they wanted a position.

In the local churches, we all must hate the doctrine of hired prophets….If money becomes an influence in the local church, the church is gone!

By His mercy, the church here in Los Angeles can boast to the whole universe that we never talk about money. To talk about money is simply to hold the doctrine of Balaam. (68-69)

Witness Lee goes on to interpret the second false teaching, that of the clergy-laity system, which annuls the functioning of the members of the Lord’s Body.

But Pergamos also had the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. This word, according to the Greek, is a compound word. "Nico" is the first word, and "laitans" is the second. "Laitans" is of the same root as that of "laity," which means the ordinary, common people. "Nico" means to subdue, to conquer, or to rule over. Therefore, "Nicolaitans" means to conquer the common people….In the local churches we do not have any clergy, and we do not have any laity. We must hate both! We are all priests in the local church. We must not bring this satanic system into the local churches.

Six years ago I was told that it would be rather difficult for every Christian to function in the church, because it must be something professional….Many people say, "We must work five days a week, but the weekend is the time for rest. That is the time for the preachers to do their job."…This paralyzes the Body of Christ and kills the functions of the members of the Body.

Could my two hands say to my body, "Because we work five days a week, we need a time to relax during the weekends. The weekend is the time for the mouth to do his work." When I am speaking with my mouth, I still need my two hands. The whole Body is meeting in the local church, not just the mouth. The church is not an organization of any society, or of any kind of religion. The church is the organic Body of Christ! Everyone must function in a living way. If we are in the local church and for the local church, we must function. There is no excuse. We must chase away the…system of the clergy and the laity by functioning as members of the Body of Christ.

When a group of us went to the Far East in 1968, nearly all the functioning ones left the church for this trip. Many wondered what would happen to the church in Los Angeles…So we went, and, praise the Lord, we received some letters in Taiwan saying that the meetings in Los Angeles were even more living. Everyone was functioning. This then is the local church.

All the brothers and sisters are priests of God and members of Christ. So in the local church, everyone serves and functions. The local church has no laity and no clergy. We all function and serve together as members of Christ and priests of God. We must hate these two kinds of doctrines: the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. What we must have in the local church is the life of Christ ministered by the priesthood.

I am so grateful and thankful to the Lord for the situation here in the local church in Los Angeles. There are so many serving ones….We all must be the practical serving and functioning ones. Praise the Lord! We do have a good coordination among us in the church. Everybody functions and serves. We not only function in the meetings, but we all serve in many different aspects. This is the local church. (69-71)

Based on this epistle to the local church in Pergamos, Witness Lee presents the revelation that in the local churches all the believers should be functioning members of the Body of Christ. The third requirement of the Lord to the local churches is that we all must hate and reject the doctrine of Balaam, the hired prophet, as well as the false teaching of the Nicolaitans, the clergy-laity system, which annuls the functioning of the members of the Lord's Body.