I have a friend that have asked me shed some light on who the Nicolaitans are. He was told that the Charismatic churches and the Nicolaitans are one and the same but I cannot confirm or deny this yet. I am doing research on the subject but would appreciate your comments as well.
Since all the first century churches were what we would call Charismatic Churches I don’t believe your friend is correct.
Not much is known about who the Nicolaitans really were. They’re only mentioned twice in the New Testament (Revelation 2:6, 2:15).
Opinions about their identity fall into 2 major categories. The first one claims they were an early cult that perverted the teachings of Nicolas, one of the seven men chosen by the first believers to be deacons (Acts 6:5).
The second one interprets the Greek word Nicolaitan to mean “over the people” and claims it describes the practice of installing a professional clergy with authority over the congregation. If this is true then the Lord would hate the structure in nearly all the churches of today.