Ephesians 4:14

Eph_4:14

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

The mature Christian

The apostle here describes the perfect man, or mature Christian, both negatively and positively.

I. The negative description.

1. Christians must not remain children. In understanding, constancy, and fortitude, they should be men.

2. Christians must not be tossed to and fro, like a ship rolling on the waves. He who embarks for the heavenly world must consider, that the ocean on which he sails is subject to changing winds and perilous storms. He must not promise himself smooth waters, soft gales, and clear skies; but go provided for all kinds of weather. The word of truth must be his compass, and faith his pilot; hope must be his anchor, and knowledge and good works his ballast; prudence must keep the watch, and sober reason hold the helm. Thus he may sail with safety in all seasons.

3. Christians must not be carried about with every wind of doctrine. False doctrines, like winds, are blustering and unsteady. They blow from no certain point, but in all directions; and they frequently, and sometimes suddenly, shift their course. They make great noise and bustle, disturb the atmosphere, and, by their violent motions, they spread confusion and ruin. Light bodies are easily taken up and driven about by every wind that blows. The gale which cleanses the wheat, disperses the chaff. The deep-rooted oak stands firm in its place, while the dry leaves beneath it are caught up, wafted around, and made the sport of every gust. So the sincere Christian, rooted and grounded in the truth, and grown up to maturity in faith and knowledge, is steadfast in his religion, whatever storms may assault him.

4. The apostle warns us that we are in danger from the sleight of men, and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

II. The positive description.

1. We must speak the truth in love; or be sincere in love.

(1) We should acquire a good doctrinal knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

(2) We should be well established in the truth.

(3) We should see that our hearts are conformed to the truth.

(4) We must walk in the truth.

2. As we must adhere to the truth, so we must grow up in all things into Christ, who is the Head.

(1) Christ is the Head of believers.

(2) They must grow up into Him.

(3) They must grow in all things. A partial religion is worthless. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Christian education

In Christian character, it may be, relatively speaking, that the moral functions--faith, hope, conscience, and love--stand higher on the scale than social affection, taste, and the lower forms of human reason; but if Christian character is to be complete, it must include them all. Suppose a painter, in painting a mans face, should omit the hair and the eyebrows, saying, A man can live without hair, and I paint only the important features, and should represent simply the mouth, the eyes, and the nose; what sort of a picture would he make? Absurd as such a thing would be in art, how much more glaring would be the absurdity, in drawing the portrait of the soul, of leaving out any part of it! Religious culture carries with it everything. All the parts are required to make the whole on this ideal--Christ Jesus. I have around my little cabin in the country a dozen or so of rhododendrons. Broad-leaved fellows they are. I love them in blossom, and I love them out of blossom. They make me think of many Christians. They are like some that are in this Church. Usually they come up in the spring and blossom the first thing, just as many persons come into Christian life. The whole growth of the plants is crowded into two or three weeks, and they develop with wonderful rapidity; but after that they will not grow another inch during the whole summer. What do they do? I do not know, exactly; they never told me; but I suspect that they are organizing inwardly, and rendering permanent that which they have gained. What they have added to growth in the spring they take the rest of the season to solidify, to consolidate, to perfect, by chemical evolutions; and when autumn comes, the years increase is so tough that, when the tender plants that laughed at these, and chided them, and accused them of being lazy, are laid low by the frost, there stand my rhododendrons, holding out their green leaves, and saying to November and December, I am here as well as you. And they are as green today as they were before the winter set in. Now, I like Christians that grow fast this spring, and hold on through the summer, and next spring grow again. I like Christians that, having grown for a time, stop and organize what they have gained, and then start again. I like periodicity in Christian growth. (H. W. Beecher.)

A young mans responsibility

Into the life of every youth there comes an hour when an irresistible instinct awakens in him the consciousness that he is no longer a child. When he realizes his own separate personality, when he begins to think, to judge, to act for himself, and when, because he has the ability, he has also the right to be self-controlled, in that hour he becomes a young man. In that hour you might liken him to that young prince of whom we read in English history, who was caught in the act of putting on his fathers crown: only with this difference, that the young man is lifting to his brow the crown that belongs to none other, but is the God-given crown of his own manhood.

I. The fact that you are no longer children involves your personal responsibility.

1. You are responsible for your body.

(1) To take such physical exercises and recreative amusements as will develop it and keep it in health and strength.

(2) Not to injure your body by carelessness or dissipation.

2. You are responsible for your mental and moral culture; for the development of your faculties; for the wise use and the strong growth of all your powers.

3. You are responsible for your influence.

4. You are responsible, in view of the future that is before you. As yet you are but spreading your canvas and sailing out of harbour. Out yonder is that great and wide sea of life that is full of perils for them that navigate therein. There are sunken rocks, there are shifting shoals, there are treacherous coasts, there are wreckers with false lights, there are sirens with deceptive songs, there are straits narrow and perilous with unimagined and tremendous difficulties; and you are responsible now as you begin the voyage of your life to prepare yourself for the difficulties that are ahead, to take chart and compass with you.

5. Remember, too, that you are responsible for your soul. You cannot ignore the fact that you come to a world where men have fallen, but where men have been redeemed.

II. The fact that you are no longer children demands a manly steadfastness of will. The inconsistency, the fickleness, the shiftiness, natural in a child, because a sign of immaturity, is out of place in those who are no longer children. The glory of young men is their strength--strength of will--the energy that turns itself to that which is good--the power to say No with decision, and Yes with concentration.

III. Because you are no longer children you are expected to be men. What is a man? What is manliness? Manliness is virtue--vir, a man; virtue, the quality of a man. Truthfulness is a virtue, therefore it is manly. Justice is a virtue; therefore it is manly. Good temper is a virtue; therefore it is manly. Whatever is virtuous is manly. Whatever is manly is virtuous; and, vice versa, whatever is not virtuous is unmanly. Talk that is not virtuous is unmanly talk; love that is not virtuous is unmanly love; life that is not virtuous is unmanly life. Be men. Be virtuous. What is manliness? It is godliness. God created man in His own image. In His own image created He him. God is true, God is just, God is pure, God is gracious, God is swift to forgive, God is tender to the fallen, God is the helper of the helpless. Be godly, and being godly you will be manly. But how to become manly? How to be like God? Young men, once in the history of the world God sent a man to teach us how to be men, and to be men indeed! Jesus of Nazareth was His name: Son of God and Son of man. If you would be manly, let Jesus teach you. (W. J. Woods, B. A.)

The case of deceivers and deceived considered

Here are two sorts of persons marked out by the apostle in the text, the deceivers and the deceived; the one, subtle and crafty, and full of intrigue; the other, easy and credulous, and unsuspecting; the one, supposed to have all the wiliness of the serpent, without the innocency of the dove; the other, all the tameness and simplicity of the dove, without the serpents wisdom. Both are blamable, though in different respects, and not in the same degree; one for abusing and misemploying their talents, and the other, for not employing them at all to discern between true and false, between good and evil. Both are accountable to God as delinquents; one for high contempt, and the other for great supineness and neglect.

I. I propose to consider the case of deceivers, or seducers, such as, by their flight and cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive. And here it will be proper to inquire, upon what motives, or with what views, men are led thus to beguile and misguide others. The particular motives in such cases may be many; but they are all reducible to these three heads, pride, avarice, voluptuousness; that is to say, love of honour, or profit, or pleasure.

II. To consider the case of the deceived, who suffer themselves to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. They are supposed to be ignorantly, and in a manner blindly, led on by others; otherwise, they would be rather confederates and confidents in managing the deceit, and so would be more deceivers than deceived. There are, I think, three cases which will take in all sorts of men who suffer themselves to be deceived in things of this kind.

1. Those who have no opportunity, no moral possibility of informing themselves better.

2. Those who might inform themselves better, but do not.

3. Those who might also be better informed, but will not.

III. To subjoin some advices proper to prevent our falling in with either. The best preservative, in this case, is an honest and good heart, well disposed towards truth and godliness, having no by-ends to serve, no favourite lust or passion to indulge. The evidences of the true religion, and of its main doctrines, are so bright and strong, when carefully attended to, that common sense and reason are sufficient to lead us, when there is no bias to mislead us. (D. Waterland, D. D.)

Doctrinal preaching

But there were some rising up who objected to doctrinal preaching. It was not necessary, they said, in these days; practice, and perhaps a little experience, but no doctrine. But really if you take away the doctrine you have taken away the backbone of the manhood of Christianity--its sinew, muscle, strength, and glory. Those men reminded him of Philip when he wished to enslave the men of Athens, and would have them to give up their orators. Demosthenes replied, So said the wolves--they desired to have peace with the shepherds, but the dogs must be first given up--those pugnacious dogs that provoked quarrels. The wolves would lie down peaceably with the lambs, and delight themselves with the sheep, if only those bad-tempered dogs were hanged. So perfect peace was promised among the sects if doctrine were given up; but depend upon it, these were, after all, the preservation of the Church, which without them, would soon cease to be … Burn the charts; what is the use of charts? What we want is a powerful engine, a good A-1 copper-bottomed ship, an experienced captain, and strong, able-bodied mariners. Charts! ridiculous nonsense--antiquated things--we want no charts, destroy every one of them. Our fathers used to navigate the sea by them, but we are wiser than they were. We have pilots who know every sand and sunken rock, who can smell them beneath the water--or by some means find them out. Men know whats oclock now-a-days, we dont want chronometers. So they put out to sea without charts; and, looking across the waters, we may expect to witness the shipwreck of those who thought themselves so wise, and fear sometimes lest we should hear their last gasp as they sink and perish. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Shallow Christians

I was informed by the engineer who had charge of the survey of that great treasure which Mr. Seward secured for us in Alaska, the eternal ice house of the globe, that even where summer brings vegetation, if you take a staff and drive it down in many parts two or three feet, you strike solid ice, because summer never goes lower than that. And as it is there, so it is in men--only different men are very different in this respect. In some men, if you go down six inches you strike ice; in some men you strike ice if you go down a foot; and in some men you do not strike ice until you go down two feet; but somewhere or other, in everyman, if you go down far enough you will come to a solid foundation, where summer does not reach. What we want, therefore, is tropical heat, that pierces to the very centre; and there are many in whom only heat of a very searching nature is sufficient. (H. W. Beecher.)

Growth in knowledge

As when men stand and look into the heavens with the naked eye they see some three thousand stars; as with a glass of a certain power they may see some ten or twenty thousand, and as with a larger glass they may see still more, penetrating to the infinite depths of space, so the human mind has been such that at first it could see a little of the nature of God, then a little more, then a little more, and so on, with a power of vision that has increased clear down to the present time. (H. W. Beecher.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 4:14. That we henceforth be no more children — Mere babes in Christian knowledge, experience, and practice; weak and unstable; tossed — Κλυδωνιζομενοι, fluctuating from within, through various restless lusts and passions working in our hearts, even when there is nothing external to agitate or excite them; and carried about with every wind of doctrine — And temptation from without, when we are assaulted by others who are themselves unstable as the wind; by the sleight, or subtlety, of men — Greek, εν τη κυβεια των ανθρωπων, which words Chandler proposes rendering, by the dicing of men; the expression referring to the artifice of those infamous gamesters, who know how to cog the dice. So that the deceitful arts of false teachers and others, who endeavour to draw men from the belief and practice of the truth as it is in Jesus, by their insinuations and wiles, are here compared to the tricks of gamesters, who, by using false dice, and by various arts, cheat those with whom they play. And cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive — Greek, εν πανουργια προς την μεθοδειαν της πλανης, a clause which Beza renders, “veteratoria ad insidiose fallendum versutia,” by the tricking of those long exercised in craftily deceiving others; Doddridge’s translation is, by their subtlety in every method of deceit; and Macknight’s, by craftiness formed into a subtle scheme of deceit. The former noun, πανουργια, signifies the doing of things by trick and sleight of hand, and the latter, μεθοδεια, (which, Eph 6:11, is applied to the wiles and subtle contrivances of the devil, in order to deceive and ruin men,) properly signifies a regular plan of proceeding in any affair, and is here used for a regular plan of deceit, formed either for upholding people in their ignorance of, and opposition to the gospel, or for drawing them from their faith in, or obedience to, some article of it. “The men,” Macknight thinks, “whose base arts the apostle describes in this passage, were the unbelieving Jews and the heathen philosophers, who opposed the gospel by sophistry and calumny; also such false teachers as arose in the church itself, and corrupted the doctrines of the gospel for worldly purposes, while at the same time they assumed the appearance of great disinterestedness and piety.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:14 We won’t be tossed and blown about: Mature Christians, with a well-grounded knowledge of the Good News and of Christ himself, will be able to discern and resist false teaching (see Gal 1:6-7; 3:1; Col 2:8-23; 1 Tim 1:3-7; 4:1-3; 6:3-5, 20; 2 Tim 4:3-4; Titus 1:11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eph 4:14. Μηκέτι) that we may be not, as formerly and as yet.—νήπιοι, children) Νήπιοι, children, are opposed to a man in the second degree, and to a young man in the first: à perfect man, who can no longer increase in stature, but yet in other respects becomes more perfect; a child, who scarcely begins to grow.—κλυδωνιζόμενοι, tossing to and fro [as billows]) inwardly, upward and downward, even without wind.—περιφερόμενοι πάντι ἀνέμῳ, carried about with every wind) outwardly [with every wind that comes from without], hither and thither, others assaulting us.—κυβείᾳ, by the sleight) A metaphor taken from the player at dice, who frames his cast of the dice, so that the numbers may always turn up which may suit his purpose.—μεθοδείαν) The Methodists of the Church of Rome are much disposed to use this word: see ch. Eph 6:11 [where τὰς μεθοδείας is expressly joined to τοῦ διαβόλου], note. Add D. Michaelis’ Inaugural Dissertation on the exertions and methods (tricks) of the Church of Rome.—τῆς πλάνης,[60] of error) i.e. of Satan. The Metonymy of the abstract [for the concrete: error, for the Parent of error, Satan] expresses the concealed mode of acting which the enemy uses.

[60] Ἐν πανουργιᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης, “by craftiness, with a view to a methodized plan of deception.” Beng., however, because of the antithesis ἀνθρώπων takes πλάνης = Satan, and perhaps takes the sense thus “By the methodized craftiness of the (parent of) error.”—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_4:14. Ἵνα] cannot, at all events, introduce the design of the attained goal in Eph_4:13, in opposition to which αὐξήσωμεν, Eph_4:15, clearly testifies; since, in the case of him who has already become the ἀνὴρ τέλειος, the αὐξάνειν no longer has place. But it is also arbitrary to refer the affirmation of aim to Eph_4:11-12 (Koppe, Flatt; comp. Michaelis and Zanchius), as Harless would do (comp. Bleek), who holds Eph_4:13 and Eph_4:14 ff. as co-ordinate, so that Eph_4:13 describes the final goal up to which the arrangement endures, and Eph_4:14 ff. the design of this same. That Eph_4:14 stands in a subordinate relation to Eph_4:13, is shown by the retaining of the same figure, as by ἵνα itself, which is not preceded by another ἵνα, or something similar, to which it would be parallel. If Paul had referred ἵνα to Eph_4:11-12, it would have been logically the most natural course to arrange the verses thus: Eph_4:11-12; Eph_4:14-15; Eph_4:13; Eph_4:16. The relation of our sentence expressive of aim to the preceding is rather as follows: while in Eph_4:13 there was expressed the terminus ad quem, which is appointed to the labour-task, contained in Eph_4:12, of the teachers given according to Eph_4:11 by Christ, there is now adduced that which is aimed at in the case with a view to the ultimate attainment of that terminus ad quem, namely, the change, which meanwhile, in accordance with that final aim, is to take place in thetill then still currentcondition of the church. This change, divinely aimed at, is characterized Eph_4:14 in its negative nature (μηκέτι κ.τ.λ.), and Eph_4:15 in its positive nature (ἀληθεύοντες δὲ κ.τ.λ.).

μηκιέτι] no longer, as this is still at present the case. It points to the influence, which had at that time not yet ceased, of false teachers in the Christian church at large (see Eph_4:13). Of false teachers in Ephesus itself there is in our Epistle still no trace, although in Act_20:29 f. Paul had already expressed their future emergence.

νήπιοι] for, in order to attain to full maturity, one must first emerge out of the state of childhood. What Paul here represents as νηπιότης, namely, the dependence on false teachers, in connection with which the ἑνότης described in Eph_4:13 cannot set in, he himself expresses by κλυδωνιζόμενοι, becoming tossed by waves (Isa_57:20) and driven to and fro (as a ship abandoned to the breakers), on which figurative representation of restless passive subjection to influences, comp. Heb_13:9; Jam_1:6; Jud_1:12 f.; Josephus, Antt. ix. 11. 3; Aristaenet. i. 27; Dio Chrys. Orat. 32.

παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλ.] τῇ τροπῇ δὲ ἐμμένων καὶ ἀνέμους ἐκάλεσε τὰς διαφόρους διδασκαλίας, Theophylact. Comp. Plut. de aud. poet. p. 28 D: μὴ παντὶ λόγῳ πλάγιον, ὥσπερ πνεύματι, παραδιδοὺς ἑαυτόν. The use of the article with διδασκαλ. denotes the doctrine in abstracto. In the fact that now this, now that, is taught according to varying tendencies, there blows now this, now that, wind of doctrine. That Paul false teachers before his mind, is evident from the context.

ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπ.] instrumental: becoming tossed and driven to and fro by every wind of doctrine in virtue of the deceit of men. After διδασκ. no comma is to be placed (comp. Lachmann and Tischendorf). κυβεία, from κύβος (cubus), a die, means properly dice-play (Plato, Phaedr. p. 274 D; Xen. Mem. i. 3. 2; Athen. x. p. 445 A); then in a derived signification fraudulentia (Arrian. Epict. ii. 19, iii. 21, and see Oecumenius). Comp. the German Spiel. In this signification the word has also passed over to the language of the Rabbins קוּבְיָא. See Schoettgen, Horae, p. 775; Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 1984. Others have explained it as: levitas, temeritas (Beza, Salmasius, Morus, Flatt, and others),which notion (like the German aufs Spiel setzen: to put at stake) κυβεύειν really expresses in Plat. Prot. p. 314 A; Meleag. 73 (see Jacobs, ad Anthol. VI. p. 89),but this is opposed to the context, which represents the false teachers as deceivers.

τῶν ἀνθρώπων] Instead of being under the gracious influence of Christ (Eph_4:13), and thereby becoming strong and firm (comp. Eph_3:16 ff.), one is given up to the deceptive play of men!

ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης] more precisely defining parallel to the preceding: by means of cunning, which is effectual for the machination of error. On πανουργία, comp. 1Co_3:19; 2Co_4:2; 2Co_11:3; Plat. Menex. p. 247 A. μεθοδεία is preserved only here and Eph_6:11, but from the use of μέθοδος (2Ma_13:18; Esth. 16:13; Plut. Mor. p. 176 A; Artem. iii. 25; Aristaen. i. 17) and μεθοδεύω (2Sa_19:27; Aquila, Exo_21:13; Diod. Sic. vii. 16; Charit. vii. 6) is not doubtful as to its signification. πλάνη means error, also at Mat_27:64; Rom_1:27; 2Pe_3:17; 2Pe_2:18; Jam_5:20. Whether this has been brought about through the fault of lying and immorality (Harless) must be decided by the context, as this must in reality be assumed to be the thought of the apostle in the present case, both from the connection and from the view which Paul had formed on the basis of experience (not, as Rückert pronounces, from a certain dogmatical defiance, which had remained with him as his weak side; comp. on the other hand, on 2Co_11:12) with regard to the false teachers of his time (2Co_2:17; 2Co_11:13 f.; Gal_2:4; Gal_6:12; Php_2:21), although it is not involved in the word in itself. To take πλάνη as seduction (Luther, Beza, and others, including Rückert, Matthies, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette) is not to be justified by linguistic usage, since it always (also 2Th_2:11) means error, delusion, going astray; as with the Greek writers also it never has that active meaning.

πλάνης is genitivus subjecti; the πλάνη, which μεθοδεύει, is personified, in which, case, however, it would be quite arbitrary to say, with Bengel: erroris, i.e. Satanae. Compare rather the frequent personifications of ἁμαρτία, δικαιοσύνη, (Rom_6:16 ff., al.), and the like. The article is not necessary before πρὸς τ. μεθοδ. (in opposition to Rückert), since πανουργ. has no article; hence no reason whatever exists for attaching πρὸς τ. μεθοδ. κ.τ.λ., with Rückert, to the participle (driven about … according to the several arts of seduction), by which ἐν πανουργ. is singularly isolated.

We may add that, when it is said that the fluctuation between different doctrinal opinions, here presupposed as a matter of fact, is not suitable to the apostolic age (Baur, p. 448), too much is asserted. Paul had experienced enough of this sort of wavering: all his Epistles testify of it.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 4:14 . ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι : that we may be no longer children . Statement of aim following on the previous statement of goal or limit . The verse is regarded by some (Harl., etc.) as connected immediately with Eph 4:11-12 , and coordinate with Eph 4:13 . Others understand it as an explanation of what the attainment of the goal spoken of in Eph 4:13 means. But it is best to take it as subordinate to the immediately preceding statement. That is to say, as Eph 4:13 has set forth the goal to be reached and the limit put upon the bestowal of the gifts referred to as given by Christ, this verse now gives the purpose which was in view in setting such a goal before us and in giving the gifts of Apostles, prophets, etc. (Mey., Ell., etc.). That purpose looks to a change which has to take place in us from the condition of νήπιοι and κλυδωνιζόμενοι to that of ἀληθεύοντες , αὐξάνοντες , etc. The μηκέτι implies something different from the existing condition, and that existing condition, we see, is one of immaturity, assailed, wavering faith, and subjection to the distracting influence of false teachers. In his address to the elders at Miletus (Act 20:29 ) Paul had spoken of “grievous wolves” that would enter the Ephesian Church after his departure. But the statement here is wide enough to apply to the Church generally and not merely to the Ephesians. νήπιοι , literally infants (Mat 21:16 ; 1Co 13:11 ), and then minors (Gal 4:1 ), the immature or untaught (Mat 11:25 ; Rom 2:20 ; Heb 5:13 , etc.). κλυδωνιζόμενοι : tossed to and fro. κλύδων means a dashing or surging wave (Luk 8:24 ; Jas 1:6 ; cf. Thayer-Grimm’s Lex., sub voce ); and κλυδωνιζόμενοι means tossed about by waves ( cf. LXX of Isa 57:20 ). In the changefulness and agitation which were the results of their unthinking submission to false teaching their νηπιότης or lack of Christian manhood was seen. καὶ περιφερόμενοι πάντι ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας : and carried about by every wind of doctrine . The ἀνέμῳ is the instrum. dat.; the article τῆς denotes that doctrine in the abstract is meant “every kind and degree of it” (Ell.). διδασκαλία means teaching , either in the sense of instructing (Rom 12:7 ; Rom 15:4 ; 1Ti 4:13 ; 1Ti 4:16 ; 1Ti 5:17 ; 2Ti 3:10 ; 2Ti 3:16 ; Tit 2:7 ), or in that of doctrine , the thing taught ( 1Ti 1:10 ; 1Ti 4:6 ; 1Ti 6:1 ; 1Ti 6:3 ; 2Ti 4:3 ; Tit 1:9 ; Tit 2:1 ; Tit 2:10 ). Here AV, RV, Ell., etc., take the second sense. “In the fact that now this, now that, is taught according to varying tendencies, there blows, now this, now that, wind of doctrine ” (Mey.). ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων : in the sleight of men . For κυβείᾳ TWH give the form κυβείᾳ . The prep. may be the instrumental ἐν (so Mey., Haupt, etc.). But the contrast with the following ἐν ἀγάπῃ (Eph 4:15 ) points rather to the usual force of ἐν as = in (so Vulg., Copt., etc.), the κυβεία being the “ element , the evil atmosphere , as it were, in which the varying currents of doctrine exist and exert their force” (Ell.). κυβεία means dice-playing ( e.g. , in Plato, Phaedr. , p. 274 D), and then deception, fraud . Some ( e.g. , Beza, Von Soden, etc.) give it the sense of levity , or putting at stake a shade of meaning occasionally expressed by the verb κυβεύειν ( e.g. , Plato, Prot. , p. 314 A). The idea expressed here by the κυβεία itself might be simply that of hazard, unsettlement , with reference to the uncertainties into which the νήπιοι were cast by the diverse forms of false teaching under which they fell ( cf. Haupt). But it is in the character, not of gamesters , but deceivers that the false teachers are immediately presented ( cf. Mey.). This “sleight of men” is in contrast with “the faith and the knowledge of Christ ,” or it may be with the pure, sure word of God by which the faith and knowledge of the Son of God came. ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης : in craftiness with a view to the machination of error . The renderings of the great Versions show how difficult it is to do justice to this sentence in English. The AV takes refuge in a paraphrase, “and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive”. Wicl. gives “to the deceiving of error”; Cov., “to the deceitfulness of error”; Bish., “in craftiness to the laying in wait of error”; Rhem., “to the circumvention of error”; RV, “in craftiness, after the wiles of error”. The Vulg. has in astutia ad circumventionem erroris . πανουργία , used in 1Co 3:19 , of a false wisdom , means here, as in classical and also in later Greek, cunning, knavishness, treacherous deceitfulness . The ἐν πανουργίᾳ is taken by some as a definition of the ἐν κυβείᾳ , adding to the idea of hazard and destruction contained in the latter, the idea of fraud . But it is rather a distinct clause, emphasising the dishonesty and trickery of the false teaching. Its authors used all the arts of deception to persuade the νήπιοι that their self-made doctrine was the Divine truth. The prep. πρός is not to be identified with κατά (= after, according to ), but has its sense of with a view to, furthering, tending to . The noun μεθοδεία (or μεθοδία according to TWH) is nowhere found in the NT except here and once again in this same Epistle (Eph 6:11 ), and seems not to occur in non-Biblical Greek, whether that of the LXX or that of the Classics. Its meaning here, however, may be safely taken to be trickery, cunning arts, treacherous wiles ; as its verb μεθοδεύω , which means primarily to pursue a plan , whether honest (Diod. Sic., i., 81), or dishonest (Polyb., xxxiv., 4, 10), came to have the sense of following craftily , practising deceitful devices (Diod., vii., 16; 2Sa 19:27 ). The gen. πλάνης is usually taken as the gen. subj. , = the πλάνη which practises craft. But it may rather be the gen. obj. , expressing the object or result of the μεθοδεία , = “the cunning art that works to error”. The article gives the noun the abstract sense or the force of a personification, = Error. Here, as elsewhere, πλάνη has the passive sense of error , not the active sense of seduction , or misleading (Luth., de Wette, etc.). But the question remains as to the precise idea here. The term means properly speaking error in the sense of straying from the way, wandering hither and thither . That sense is frequent in classical Greek Aeschyl., Eurip., Plato, etc. In the NT the word is usually said to be used of mental error, wrong opinion, as e.g. , in 1Th 2:3 ; 2Th 2:11 ; 2Pe 2:18 ; 2Pe 3:17 ; Jud 1:11 ; 1Jn 4:6 . But it is doubtful whether that sense fully meets the case in some of the passages thus cited, e.g. , 1Jn 4:6 . In such passages as Rom 1:27 ; Jas 1:20 , it denotes error in practice, a wrong way of life or action. This seems to be its force here. Consequently the idea of the clause is more definite than “in craftiness tending to the settled system of error” (Ell.). It means “in craftiness, furthering the scheming, deceitful art which has for its result the false way of life that strays fatally from truth.”

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_4:14

What has been said may be sufficient to indicate the connection between this and the preceding verses, as indicated by ἵνα (in order that). This and the following verses are not subordinate to the 13th, as though the sense were, we are to reach perfection in order to grow, but they are coordinate all relating to the design of the ministry mentioned in Eph_4:12. Between the full maturity aimed at, and our present state is the period of growth and Christ appointed the ministry to bring the church to that end, in order that we should be no longer children but make constant progress. This intermediate design is expressed negatively in this verse and affirmatively in the 15th and 16th. We are not to continue children, Eph_4:13, but constantly to advance toward maturity, Eph_4:15, Eph_4:16. The characteristic of children here presented is their instability and their liability to be deceived and led astray. The former is expressed by comparing them to a ship without a rudder, tossed to and fro by the waves, and driven about by every wind κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ or to two unstable things, a restless wave, and something driven by the wind. In the use of much the same figure the apostle in Heb_13:9 exhorts believers not to be carried away with diverse and strange doctrines. And the apostle James compares the unstable to a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, Jam_1:6. One of the principal elements of the perfection spoken of in Eph_4:13, is stability in the truth; and, therefore. the state of imperfection as contrasted with it is described as one of instability and liability to be driven about by every wind of doctrine.

Children are not only unstable but easily deceived. They are an easy prey to the artful and designing. The apostle therefore adds: ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, through (ἐν being instrumental) the artifice of men. Κυβείᾳ is from κυβός (cube, die) means dice-playing; in which there are many arts of deception, and therefore the word is used for craft or deceit. It is explained by the following phrase, ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης, which, according to Luthers version, means Tauscherei damit sie uns erschleichen zu verfuhren, the cunning with which they track us to mislead. The artifice (κυβείᾳ) is that craft which is used by seducers or errorists. The preposition πρὸς may mean according to. Cunning according to the craft which error uses; or which is characteristic of error. Or it may agreeably to its common force indicate direction or tendency. The cunning which is directed to the craft of error, i.e. that craft which is designed to seduce. The sense is the same. The word μεθοδεία occurs only here and in Eph_6:11 where in the plural form it is rendered wiles; the wiles of the devil. It is derived from μεθοδεύω (μετὰ ὁδός), to follow anyone, to track him, as a wild animal its prey. Hence the substantive means the cunning or craft used by those who wish to entrap or capture.

There are two things in this connection which can hardly escape notice. The one is the high estimate the apostle places on truth; and the other is the evil of error. Holiness without the knowledge and belief of the truth, is impossible; perfect holiness implies, as Eph_4:13 teaches, perfect knowledge. Error, therefore, is evil. Religious error springs from moral evil and produces it. False teachers are in Scripture always spoken of as bad, as selfish, malignant, or deceitful. This principle furnishes incidentally one of the surest of the criteria of truth. Those doctrines which the good hold, which are dear to the spiritual, to the humble and the holy, are true. This is the only real authority which belongs to tradition. In this passage the apostle attributes departure from the truth to the cunning and deceit which are characteristic of error, or of false teachers. In Rom_16:17, Rom_16:18; 2Co_2:17; 2Co_11:13; Gal_2:4; Col_2:8, Col_2:18, the same character is given of those who seduce men from the faith. Error, therefore, can never be harmless, nor false teachers innocent. Two considerations however should secure moderation and meekness in applying these principles. The one is, that though error implies sin, orthodoxy does not always imply holiness. It is possible to hold the truth in unrighteousness; to have speculative faith without love. The character most offensive to God and man is that of a malignant zealot for the truth. The other consideration is, that men are often much better than their creed. That is, the doctrines on which they live are much nearer the truth, than those which they profess. They deceive themselves by attaching wrong meaning to words, and seem to reject truth when in fact they only reject their own misconceptions. It is a common remark that mens prayers are more orthodox than their creeds.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By the deceit of those men which are very well practised in deceiving of others.

Betwixt our childhood (that is to say, a very weak state, while as we do yet altogether waiver) and our perfect age, which we shall have at length in another world, there is a mean, to wit, our youth, and steady going forward to perfection.

He compareth them which rest not themselves upon the word of God, to little boats which are tossed hither and thither with the doctrines of men, as it were with contrary winds, and therewithall forewarneth them that it cometh to pass not only by the lightness of man’s brain, but also by the craftiness of certain, which make as it were an art of it.

With those uncertain chances which toss men to and fro.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Translate, "To the end that"; the aim of the bestowal of gifts stated negatively, as in Eph 4:13 it is stated positively.

tossed to and fro--inwardly, even without wind; like billows of the sea. So the Greek. Compare Jam 1:6.

carried about--with every wind from without.

doctrine--"teaching." The various teachings are the "winds" which keep them tossed on a sea of doubts (Heb 13:9; compare Mat 11:7).

by--Greek, "in"; expressing "the evil atmosphere in which the varying currents of doctrine exert their force" [ELLICOTT].

sleight--literally, "dice playing." The player frames his throws of the dice so that the numbers may turn up which best suit his purpose.

of men--contrasted with Christ (Eph 4:13).

and--Greek, "in."

cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive--Translate as Greek, "craftiness tending to the methodized system of deceit" ("the schemes of error") [ALFORD]. BENGEL takes "deceit," or "error," to stand for "the parent of error," Satan (compare Eph 6:11); referring to his concealed mode of acting.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Be no more children] Children, here, are opposed to the perfect man in the preceding verse; and the state of both is well explained by the apostle's allusions. The man is grown up strong and healthy, and has attained such a measure or height as qualifies him for the most respectable place in the ranks of his country.

The child is ignorant, weak, and unsteady, tossed about in the nurse's arms, or whirled round in the giddy sports or mazes of youth; this seems to be the apostle's allusion. Being tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, refers to some kind of ancient play, but what I cannot absolutely determine; probably to something similar to a top, or to our paper kite.

By the sleight of men] The words εν τη κυβεια refer to the arts used by gamesters, who employ false dice that will always throw up one kind of number, which is that by which those who play with them cannot win.

Cunning craftiness] It is difficult to give a literal translation of the original words: εν πανουργια προς τηνμεθοδειαν της πλανης. "By cunning, for the purpose of using the various means of deception." πανουργια signifies craft and subtlety in general, cheating and imposition: μεθοδεια, from which we have our term method, signifies a wile, a particular sleight, mode of tricking and deceiving; it is applied to the arts which the devil uses to deceive and destroy souls; see Eph 6:11, called there the WILES of the devil. From this it seems that various arts were used, both by the Greek sophists and the Judaizing teachers, to render the Gospel of none effect, or to adulterate and corrupt it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. That we may be no more children. Having spoken of that perfect manhood, towards which we are proceeding throughout the whole course of our life, he reminds us that, during such a progress, we ought not to resemble children. An intervening period is thus pointed out between childhood and man’s estate. Those are “children” who have not yet advanced a step in the way of the Lord, but who still hesitate, — who have not yet determined what road they ought to choose, but move sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, always doubtful, always wavering. Those, again, who are thoroughly founded in the doctrine of Christ, though not yet perfect, have so much wisdom and vigor as to choose properly, and proceed steadily, in the right course. Thus we find that the life of believers, marked by a constant desire and progress towards those attainments which they shall ultimately reach, bears a resemblance to youth. At no period of this life are we men. But let not such a statement be carried to the other extreme, as if there were no progress beyond childhood. After being born to Christ, we ought to grow, so as “not to be children in understanding.” (1 Corinthians 14:20.) Hence it appears what kind of Christianity the Popish system must be, when the pastors labor, to the utmost of their power, to keep the people in absolute infancy.

Tossed to and fro, and carried about. The distressing hesitation of those who do not place absolute reliance on the word of the Lord, is illustrated by two striking metaphors. The first is taken from small ships, exposed to the fury of the billows in the open sea, holding no fixed course, guided neither by skill nor design, but hurried along by the violence of the tempest. The next is taken from straws, or other light substances, which are carried hither and thither as the wind drives them, and often in opposite directions. Such must be the changeable and unsteady character of all who do not rest on the foundation of God’s eternal truth. It is their just punishment for looking, not to God, but to men. Paul declares, on the other hand, that faith, which rests on the word of God, stands unshaken against all the attacks of Satan.

By every wind of doctrine. By a beautiful metaphor, all the doctrines of men, by which we are drawn away from the simplicity of the gospel, are called winds God gave us his word, by which we might have placed ourselves beyond the possibility of being moved; but, giving way to the contrivances of men, we are carried about in all directions.

By the cunning of men. There will always be impostors, who make insidious attacks upon our faith; but, if we are fortified by the truth of God, their efforts will be unavailing. Both parts of this statement deserve our careful attention. When new sects, or wicked tenets, spring up, many persons become alarmed. But the attempts of Satan to darken, by his falsehoods, the pure doctrine of Christ, are at no time interrupted; and it is the will of God that these struggles should be the trial of our faith. When we are informed, on the other hand, that the best and readiest defense against every kind of error is to bring forward that doctrine which we have learned from Christ and his apostles, this surely is no ordinary consolation.

With what awful wickedness, then, are Papists chargeable, who take away from the word of God everything like certainty, and maintain that there is no steadiness of faith, but what depends on the authority of men! If a man entertain any doubt, it is in vain to bid him consult the word of God: he must abide by their decrees. But we have embraced the law, the prophets, and the gospel. Let us therefore confidently expect that we shall reap the advantage which is here promised, — that all the impostures of men will do us no harm. They will attack us, indeed, but they will not prevail. We are entitled, I acknowledge, to look for the dispensation of sound doctrine from the church, for God has committed it to her charge; but when Papists avail themselves of the disguise of the church for burying doctrine, they give sufficient proof that they have a diabolical synagogue.

The Greek word κυβεία, which I have translated cunning, is taken from players at dice, who are accustomed to practice many arts of deception. The words, ἐν πανουργίᾳ, by craftiness, intimate that the ministers of Satan are deeply skilled in imposture; and it is added, that they keep watch, in order to insnare, (πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τὢς πλάνης.) All this should rouse and sharpen our minds to profit by the word of God. If we neglect to do so, we may fall into the snares of our enemies, and endure the severe punishment of our sloth.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) That we be no more children.—Here the process of growth is described negatively; in the next verse positively. We are to be no more children. The word used here and in 1Co_3:1; 1Co_13:11; Gal_4:1; Gal_4:3; Heb_5:13 (often rendered “babes”), is a word almost always applied in a bad sense, like our word “childish”—not to the guilelessness, the trustfulness, or the humility of children, which our Lord emphatically blessed (Mat_18:2-4), but to their unforeseeing and unthinking impulsiveness. The distinction is marked in 1Co_14:20, “Be not children in understanding: howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” Thus, in 1Co_3:1; 1Co_13:11, Heb_5:13, it describes crudeness and shallowness of conception; in Gal_4:1; Gal_4:3, incapability of free self-direction; here, liability to disturbance and change by every external impression from without, so as to be “everything by turns and nothing long.”

Tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.—The metaphor is of a ship drifting at the mercy of a storm, tossed by the waves, and carried round from time to time by every blast. The word “tossed” is more properly used of the waves (compare Jas_1:6) themselves, but the following words seem to show that here it is applied to the ship rising and falling with them. The word “doctrine,” as usual, is a general word for all deliberate “teaching,” whether acting on the understanding or the heart. It includes, in fact, all influence consciously exercised to a definite end.

The metaphor is then dropped, and the evil influences to which childish instability is a prey are described—first, as the “sleight,” i.e., the sleight of hand of the dice-thrower, describing quick, sudden deceit of detail; next (to substitute an accurate translation for the unusually paraphrastic rendering of our version), as a “craftiness devoted to the systematic plan of deceit,” thus referring to deeper and subtler forms of delusion. This reference is so definite in the original, that we are tempted to believe St. Paul to have had in view some particular scheme of erroneous teaching, which had already struck root in the soil of Asia Minor. The Epistle to the Colossians shows that such false teaching had appeared itself at Colossæ; it was, perhaps, the germ of the more full-grown Gnosticism noted in the Pastoral Epistles.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. that we henceforth, &c.] This verse takes up the thought of Eph_4:12. The mutual activity and influence of Christians, guided aright, is to result in, at once, fixity of principle and richness of power; both characteristic of spiritual maturity.

children] The same Gr. word as e.g. 1Co_3:1 (A.V., “babes”), 1Co_13:11; Heb_5:13 (A.V., “babe”). By usage, it denotes the young child in the aspect specially of ignorance or mental weakness, “childishness.” From another side the same word sometimes conveys ideas commended by the Gospel, the little child’s simplicity of purpose and willingness to be taught, “childlikeness” (e.g. Mat_11:25; Mat_21:16; 1Co_14:20, where the kindred verb is used).

tossed to and fro] Lit., “billowed”; carried up and down as on waves. Another explanation of the (rare) Gr. word is “worked into waves,” as the sea by the wind. But the next phrase is against this, and so is the analogy of a verb of similar form, Jas_1:6 (A.V., “driven with the wind”).

carried about] Like St Paul’s own ship in Adria (Act_27:27, where the Gr. verb is closely akin to this).

of doctrine] Lit., of the teaching, the teaching in question, that described just below.

by the sleight] Lit., in the dicing.—“In:”—more than “by.” The thought is of “the evil atmosphere, as it were, in which the varying currents of false doctrine … exert their force” (Ellicott).—“Dicing”:—the word was familiar in later Greek, in the sense of deceit, sharp practice, in general. It was thence borrowed, and similarly used, by the Rabbis.

of men] Not of Christ, nor for Christ. Cp. Gal_1:1.

and cunning craftiness, &c.] More lit., in cunning, with a view to the scheming of [their] deceit. R.V., “after the wiles of error.” But the Gr. preposition far more often means “with a view to” than “according to.” The practical difference, however, is minute.

The Apostle here recognizes and exposes the sad fact of intentional misguidance on the part of these preachers of “another Gospel” (Gal_1:6-7). See the parallel cautions, Rom_16:17-18; Col_2:4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That we henceforth be no more children,.... Meaning not children of men, for grace does not destroy natural relations; nor children of God, which is a privilege, and always continues; nor indeed children of disobedience, though the saints cease to be such upon conversion; but in such sense children, as they were when first converted, newborn babes, little children: there are some things in which they should be children still, namely, with respect to an ardent and flaming love to God and Christ, and to the saints; and with regard to their eager desire after the sincere milk of the word; and as to pride, malice, envy, evil speakings, guile and hypocrisy; in these things it becomes them to be children: but not in understanding; they should not always remain ignorant, imprudent, or be always fed with milk, and not able to digest meat; nor be unable to go unless led, and be tender and incapable of bearing hardships for Christ and his Gospel, and of defending it, and his cause and interest; but should play the man, and quit themselves as such and be strong, which the Gospel ministry is a means of, and encourages to:

tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine; false doctrine, which may be compared to wind for its lightness and emptiness, and for its swelling and puffing nature, and for the noise and bluster it makes, and for its rapidity and force, with which it sometimes comes and bears all before it, and for its infectiousness, which is the nature of some winds; and to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with it, is expressive of much ignorance and want of a discerning spirit, and implies hesitation, and doubts and scruples, and shows credulity, fickleness, and inconstancy: and which is brought on

by the sleight of men; either through the uncertain and changeable state of things in life; the mind of man is fickle, the life of man is uncertain, and all the affairs of human nature are subject to change, by reason of which men are easily imposed upon; or rather through the tricking arts of false teachers; the word here used is adopted by the Jews into their language, and with them signifies the game at dice (a); and is a gamester at that play, and is interpreted by them, one that steals souls (b), and deceives and corrupts them; and may be filly applied to false teachers, who make use of such like artifices and juggling tricks, to deceive the hearts of the simple, as the others do to cheat men of their money: hence it follows,

and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; or "unto the deceitful methods or wiles of the devil", as the Alexandrian copy reads; which not only suggests that their principal end in view is to deceive, but their insidious, private, and secret way of deceiving, and their expertness in it, which they have from the devil; and now the ministration of the Gospel is the best and surest guard and antidote against such fluctuations and deceptions.

(a) T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 82. 1. Misna Roshhashana, c. 1. sect. 8. & Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect 3. (b) T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 91. 2. & Jarchi & Tosephot in ib. & Juchasin, fol. 88. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Ver. 14. Be no more children] But young men, 1Jn 2:14, strong men. Many men’s heads today are so big (like children that have the rickets) that all the body fareth the worse for it.

Tossed to and fro] As a feather or froth upon the waves, whirred about with every wind of doctrine; unstable souls, as St Peter calls them; simple, that believe everything, as Solomon hath it; giddy hearers, that have no mould but what the next teacher casteth them into, being blown like glasses into this or that shape at the pleasure of his breath.

By the sleight of men] Gr. εν τη κυβεια, by men’s cogging of a die, the usual trade of cheaters and false gamesters.

Whereby they lie in wait to deceive] Gr. Unto a method of deceiving. The devil and his disciples are notable method mongers, so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect; but that they cannot do fundamentally, finally, Mat 24:24. {See Trapp on "Mat 24:24"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That we henceforth be no more children - In some respects Christians “are” to be like children. They are to be docile, gentle, mild, and free from ambition, pride, and haughtiness; see the notes on Mat 18:2-3. But children have other characteristics besides simplicity and docility. They are often changeable Mat 11:17; they are credulous, and are influenced easily by others, and led astray, In these respects, Paul exhorts the Ephesians to be no longer children but urges them to put on the characteristics Of manhood; and especially to put on the firmness in religious opinion which became maturity of life.

Tossed to and fro - κλυδωνιζόμενοι kludōnizomenoi. This word is taken from waves or billows that are constantly tossed about - in all ages art image of instability of character and purpose.

And carried about with every wind of doctrine - With no firmness; no settled course; no helm. The idea is that of a vessel on the restless ocean, that is tossed about with every varying wind, and that has no settled line of sailing. So many persons are in regard to religious doctrines. They have no fixed views and principles. They hold no doctrines that are settled in their minds by careful and patient examination, and the consequence is, that they yield to every new opinion, and submit to the guidance of every new teacher. The “doctrine” taught here is, that we should have settled religious opinions. We should carefully examine what is truth, and having found it, should adhere to it, and not yield on the coming of every new teacher. We should not, indeed, close our minds against conviction. We should be open to argument, and be willing to follow “the truth” wherever it will lead us. But this state of mind is not inconsistent with having settled opinions, and with being firm in holding them until we are convinced that we are wrong. No man can be useful who has not settled principles. No one who has not such principles can inspire confidence or be happy, and the first aim of every young convert should be to acquire settled views of the truth, and to become firmly grounded in the doctrines of the gospel.

By the sleight of men - The cunning skill “trickery” of people. The word used here - κυβεία kubeia - is from a word (κύβος kubos) meaning a cube or die, and properly means a game at dice. Hence, it means game, gambling; and then anything that turns out by mere chance or hap-hazard - as a game at dice does. It “may” possibly also denote the trick or fraud that is sometimes used in such games; but it seems rather to denote a man’s forming his religious opinions by “the throw of a die;” or, in other words, it describes a man whose opinions seem to be the result of mere chance. Anything like casting a die, or like opening the Bible at random to determine a point of duty or doctrine, may come under the description of the apostle here, and would all be opposed to the true mode, that by calm examination of the Bible, and by prayer A man who forms his religious principles by chance, can un” form” them in the same way; and he who has determined his faith by one cast of the die, will be likely to throw them into another form by another. The phrase “the sleight of men” therefore I would render “by the mere chance of people, or as you may happen to find people, one holding this opinion, and the next that, and allowing yourself to be influenced by them without any settled principles.”

Cunning craftiness - Deceit, trick, art; see 2Co 12:16; Luk 20:23; 1Co 3:19; notes, 2Co 4:2; 2Co 11:3, note.

Whereby they lie in wait to deceive - Literally, “Unto the method of deceit;” that is, in the usual way of deceit. Doddridge, “In every method of deceit.” This is the true idea. The meaning is, that people would use plausible pretences, and would, if possible, deceive the professed friends of Christ. Against such we should be on our guard; and not by their arts should our opinion be formed, but by the word of God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

In nequitia hominum, Greek: en te kubeia, in fallacia: Greek: kubeia, est lusus aleæ. See St. John Chrysostom, p. 821. Ed. Sav.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That we henceforth be no more children; i.e. weak in the faith, unstable in judgment, children in understanding, 1Co 14:20; such as need teaching, and strengthening: see Rom 2:20; 1Co 3:1; Heb 5:13.

Tossed to and fro; light and unconstant, like ships without ballast, tossed with every wave.

And carried about with every wind of doctrine; not only shaken and staggering as to our faith, (as in the former clause), but carried about to errors for want of judgment, by false doctrines, here compared to violent winds.

By the sleight of men; their sophistry, whereby they easily seduce those that are unskilful, as men easily cheat children in playing at dice, from whence this metaphor is taken.

Cunning craftiness; their skilfulness in finding out ways of deceiving, whereby they can make any thing of any thing.

Whereby they lie in wait to deceive, viz. as in ambush; the word here used, is translated wiles, Eph 6:11, against which the apostle would have them fenced with the whole armour of God, and seems to signify a laying in ambush, or assaulting a man behind his back; a secret and unseen way of circumventing, a laying wait to draw them that are weak from the truth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Tossed to and fro—A metaphor from waves tossed about by the winds; billowed to and fro.

Every wind of doctrine—When we have, by a perfect knowing of Christ, attained the firmness of spiritual manhood instead of the fickleness of childhood, we possess an assurance in our position not to be disturbed by the gusts of popular scepticism or novel dogmas. Sleight, means dice; of men, who are playing a game; spiritual gamblers. Whereby they lie in wait to deceive is a very diffuse rendering. We translate the whole clause, cunning craftiness, exerted in the systemization of deception. All these full formed isms are deceptions fabricated by the craftiness of deep doctrinal gamblers, whom, if we are men (see Eph_4:13) and not children, we will promptly reject. For in deep religious experience, in a thorough experimental knowledge of Christ, do we attain that full assurance of faith which is proof against all scepticism.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That we he no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of teaching. The apostle goes back to illustrate in another way the purpose of the ministry; it is designed to remedy childish fickleness and the causes that lead to it. The ignorant and inexperienced lie at the mercy of abler persons, and, when there is no regular ministry provided by Christ, are liable to be swept along by any plausible person that professes to be a Christian teacher, and such persons are often very dangerous, working by the sleight of men, i.e. the cunning legerdemain by which the teachings of men teachings devised by the hearts of men are made to appear to the uninitiated the same as Christ"s teaching. In craftiness, tending to the scheme of error. Such teachers employ crafty methods, apparently harmless, but tending to further the method or scheme of error. The strong language here used corresponds with that in which, at Miletus, the apostle warned the elders of Ephesus of the "grievous wolves" that were to come in among them, and of the men "speaking perverse things" that were to arise among themselves, not sparing the flock. (Act_20:29, Act_20:30)

Warnings against instability and deception.

The ministry has been appointed to bring the Church forward to maturity, and therefore it is concerned to carry it safely through the intermediate stages. We are consequently warned not to continue children, but to advance steadfastly towards manhood. There are two faults hinted at by the apostle.

I CHILDREN ARE APT TO BE UNSTABLE. "Tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine." They have not become so firmly rooted in the truth as to be proof against unsettling influences either within or without them. Consequently, they are like a wave of the sea driven of the wind and tossed.

1. The warning implies that truth is a matter of supreme moment. Holiness of character is impossible without it. Believers ought to be well founded in the truth; not mere babes, but such as "are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil". (Heb_5:14)

2. They are warned against the tendency to be blown about by the winds of doctrine that blow from-every quarter. The counsel is much needed in this age of startling suggestion, radical denial, and deep unsettlement. There are men who go the rounds of all the sects, swinging from side to side with a movement which indicates that they are true to nothing but the love of change. It is hard for unstable natures to hold the poise of their judgment in the midst of such terrible cross-fires of theological and philosophical speculation.

II CHILDREN ARE APT TO BE DECEIVED. Their want of knowledge leaves them open to imposition and deception. The apparatus of theological seduction is always at hand. The language of the apostle implies:

1. That there were errorists either at Ephesus or elsewhere, identified with the Christian communion, marked by "the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive." It is a mere dream to suppose that the primitive Church was perfectly pure either in doctrine or practice. The apostle"s farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus anticipated the rise of serious error. (Act_20:29)

2. That such "false teachers" were marked by selfishness, deceit, and malignity. This is the character which the apostle usually ascribes to such (Rom_16:17, Rom_16:18; Col_2:18; Gal_2:4; 2Co_2:17) Error is, therefore, not harmless, though it may appear to be the mere sword-play of a speculative temperament. False teachers are not innocent. Yet our judgment in all cases of this sort must be exercised with charity and meekness, because men may be better than their creed, and may be influenced by the sounder parts of it.

3. That Satan often succeeds in seducing the unwary by the dexterous tricks of such teachers, who cunningly mingle the truth with such error as robs it of its healing virtues. T.C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fluctuating to and fro - From within, even when there is no wind. And carried about with every wind - From without; when we are assaulted by others, who are unstable as the wind. By the sleight of men - By their "cogging the dice;" so the original word implies.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

St. Paul, in these words, declares one special end for which the ministry of the word was instituted and appointed, namely, to preserve from error and seduction, to prevent instability of mind, and unsettledness of judgment, and to confirm persons in fundamental truths, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, & c.

Observe here, 1. The name which St. Paul gives to unstable persons and unsettled professors: he calls them children, not in regard of age, but in respect of knowledge and understanding: children, is a word that denotes imperfection and weakness, instability and ungroundedness in knowledge.

Observe, 2. How the unsteadiness of these professors is expressed by a double metaphor; the former is drawn from a wave of the sea, they are tossed to and fro; the latter is drawn from a light cloud hovering in the air, carried about from place to place: neither wave nor cloud have any constancy, but are both moving if the least wind be stirring.

Observe, 3. The cause of this instability; every wind of doctrine; professors that have no solid principles every wind of doctrine has power over them to drive them to and fro, every teacher can cast them into what mould he pleases, and blow them, like glasses, into this or that shape, at the pleasure of his breath. But why wind of doctrine? Because there is no solidity in it, but being wind in the preacher, it breeds but wind in the hearer, because of its variety and novelty, and because of its prevalency over unstaid men. How suddenly sometimes is a family, a town, yea, a whole country, leavened with a particular error!

Observe, 4. The characters of those imposters and seducers that do thus unsettle and unhinge men, they use sleight; a metaphor taken from gamesters, who with art and sleight of hand can cog the dice, and win the game. Seducers cheat with false doctrines, as gamesters do with false dice. Cunning craftiness; the word signifies the subtility and deep policy of the old serpent; implying that seducers are old and cunning gamesters, skillful to deceive: they lie in wait to deceive; the word signifies an ambushment, or stratagem of war, implying that all seducers’ sleight and craftiness is to this very end and purpose, that they may entrap and catch men within the ambush of their impostures.

From the whole learn, That seducers and false teachers are craftsmasters of sleight and subtilty, and stratagems of deceit; they have artifices, ways and methods, to take men unawares, and to make merchandise of the people: they wrest and rack the scriptures to make them speak what they please, not what the Holy Ghost intended.

If all this art fails, their last advice is, to recommend their doctrines upon some private pretended revelation and uncommon impulse of the Holy Spirit: by all which methods they lie in wait to deceive.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 18

NEEPIOS AND TELEIOS

14. “In order that we may be no longer infants, tossed by the waves and carried away by every wind of teaching in the stratagem of men, in their craft for the purpose of delusion;

15. “But speaking the truth in Divine love, let us grow up into him in all things who is the head, Christ.” Neepios means an infant; Teleios means perfect. These two words, correlatively and contrastively, represent the two great works of grace in the plan of salvation. We have in this wonderful exegesis of Paul no allusion whatever to any other classes. Regeneration makes you a babe in Christ, and sanctification, winding up your minority, brings in your spiritual majority, constituting you an adult. Of course, following the analogy of the natural kingdom, we recognize a progressive development before the birth, and afterward culminating in full-grown manhood. He gives a reason here why we should get out of babyhood, because during our spiritual infancy, as in natural childhood, we need nurses and guardians; meanwhile, we are perilously subordinated to our environments, and liable to influence and capture by all sorts of intrigue, human and diabolical, ultimating in ruin, temporal and eternal. The only remedy for the spiritual feebleness, foibles, and caprices peculiar to the spiritual infancy following regeneration, is entire sanctification, which makes you a “perfect man.” Perfect is from facio, to make, and per, complete. Hence, it simply means made complete. Man was complete, man was perfect, when he emanated from the Creative fiat. Satan destroyed his equilibrium, put him out of kilter, thus rendering him imperfect. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. (1Jn 3:8.)

Nothing is the work of the devil but sin. When Christ destroys sin in you, he makes you complete in him, and what the Bible calls a perfect Christian. It is not maturity, but purity, as you will grow on through this life, and doubtless through all eternity. Carnal preachers in all ages, the pope at their head, have violently opposed entire sanctification, from the simple fact that it takes the people out of their hands, and puts them where none but God can rule them. A Roman Catholic commentator, Liguori, thus delivers on that subject: “That abominable doctrine of purity has given the Catholic Church more trouble than anything else.” Ahab said to Elijah, “Thou art he that troubleth Israel.” O how the holiness people are now troubling the carnal preachers and fallen Churches, because they recognize no authority hut God, revealed in his Word, Spirit, and providence! Spiritual babes are tossed about by every wind of teaching at the caprice of ecclesiastical demagogues.

15. “Speaking the truth in Divine love.”...

Sanctified people are no longer tossed about by human creeds and cunningly manipulated by priestcraft; but, free as angels, they take the Bible for their only authority, and Jesus for their only companion, and, O how they “grow up in him, their living Head!”

16. We see from this verse the glorious unity of God’s people, regardless of sect, race, or color; the whole body joined and knitted together, and united to Christ by the Holy Spirit; the life-blood Circulating into every part, and vitalizing every fiber and tissue throughout the entire body. When the blood no longer circulates into any part of the body, it becomes paralyzed and dead. So with the Church of God and the Churches forsaken by the Holy Ghost, and now ghastly spiritual corpses.

17-19. These three verses give us an appalling description of the debauched heathen world, sunk deep, not only into brutality, but into diabolism.

20. “But you have not so learned Christ, if, indeed, you have heard him and been taught in him, as is true in Jesus;

22. “That you are to lay aside as to your former life the old man, who is corrupt as to the lusts of delusion.” You see from these verses

the positive and unequivocal fact that every regenerated person is taught by the Holy Ghost the reality and their need of entire sanctification, so that all of the true children of God actually hunger and thirst after it. This Scripture positively unchristianizes all anti-holiness people. If a man is a Christian, his soul longs to be perfectly whole.

23. “And to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and

24. “To put on the new man, who is created in harmony with God, in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Here we have an exegesis of our creation in the image and likeness of God.

What is that image and likeness? Here Paul answers the question. “The image of God is righteousness in harmony with God’s revealed truth.” Hence, it is not human righteousness arising from our good works, as a corrupt clergy would vainly tell you, but the righteousness of God in Christ imputed unto the truly penitent sinner, who, in utter desperation and profound realization of his utter meekness for hellfire, casts himself on the mercy of God in Christ. Then God freely forgives him for Christ’s sake alone, imputing to him his own righteousness, procured by the perfect obedience of Christ, both active (ever keeping the law), and passive (paying its penalty for us). This is the image of God; i.e., harmonization with the Divine character. Our conformity to the Divine law does not suffice; we must be in harmony with the character of God; i.e., like God, if we spend eternity with him in heaven. It takes entire sanctification, not imputing, as in case of righteousness, but imparting the Divine nature to our hearts, thus investing us with the likeness of God. The true reading is, “righteousness and holiness of truth;” i.e., as expounded by the truth in contradistinction to all sorts of clerical and diabolical counterfeits, by which millions are deluded and cast into hell. The Bible is the only expositor of the “righteousness and holiness” pertinent to the restoration of the Divine image and likeness which we lost in the fall. The inspired Book is full of warnings against the counterfeits of men and devils, flooding us with the testimony of the Holy Ghost, assuring us that we must have the righteousness wrought in the expiation of Christ and the holiness of the cleansing blood applied by the Holy Spirit through faith alone.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14–16. That we henceforth be no more children. This should be the aim; to reach a stature such that we are no more froward children. Children are feeble, inexperienced, and easily deceived. Tossed. Tossed about like a wave by every wind of doctrine. It is “doctrines,” in great part, which have broken up unity. By the sleight of men. Their tricks. And cunning craftiness. Craft and cunning, employed by teachers of false doctrine in order to deceive. There can be little doubt that Paul refers to the false teachers against whom he warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:30.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

be children

Paul refers to believers who have not grown spiritually as if they were children who have had very little experience in life. AT: "be like children" (See: Metaphor)

tossed back and forth ... carried away by every wind of teaching

This speaks of a believer who has not become mature and follows wrong teaching as if that believer were a boat that the wind is blowing in different directions on the water. (See: Metaphor)

by the trickery of people in their deceitful schemes

"by crafty people who trick believers with clever lies"

into him who is the head ... makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love

Paul uses the human body to describe how Christ causes believers to work together in harmony as the head of a body causes the body parts to work together to grow healthy. (See: Metaphor)

by every supporting ligament

A "ligament" is a strong band that connects bones or organs in place in the body.

in love

"as the members love one another"

translationWords

true

love

Christ

body

believe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

14. ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι. The ‘infant’ is still dependent on others for instruction (Rom 2:20; Gal 4:2). The Christian ideal is not satisfied until every member is capable of exercising his own judgement on the problems of life and thought by which he is confronted; cf. Col 1:28; Heb 5:13. And as this passage shows, the authority of Teachers in the Church is given them to this end. No individual Christian, however, can hope to attain to a right judgement in isolation from his fellows; cf. on Eph 3:18. This clause is to be regarded (Westcott and Robinson) as co-ordinate with Eph 4:13, i.e. the putting away childish things has not to wait until we have attained our ultimate perfection, it marks out the way which we have to go.

κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ. St Paul is describing under an entirely fresh metaphor the disadvantages of lingering in a condition of spiritual childishness. The figure is that of a boat tossed on a rough sea (see Hort’s note on Jas 1:6) and swung round by every wind (cf. Ecc 7:7 ἡ συκοφαντία περιφέρει σοφόν). It is the opposite condition to that indicated in Eph 3:17 ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι, and Col 1:23.

τῆς διδασκαλίας. It is strange that the chief danger against which the members of the body have to be guarded by the ministry of pastors and teachers comes from teaching. But the conflict of truth and error in regard to the spiritual realities is clearly an inevitable part of the conflict to which we are called even ‘in the heavenlies.’ Nor is there any simple mechanical test by which the false teacher can be distinguished from the true. The wolves, of whom we are to beware (Mat 7:15; Act 20:29), come in sheep’s clothing. Satan transforms himself into an Angel of Light and his ministers follow his example (2Co 11:13-15). Nothing therefore can relieve us of the responsibility of direct and personal communion with the Truth, each for himself, if we are to discriminate the guiding of the Spirit from the shifting gales of human invention. The warning against (all) teaching, without qualification, is parallel to the warning in 1Jn 4:1 ‘Trust not every spirit’ (cf. 1Th 5:20 f. προφητείας μὴ ἐξουθενεῖτε πάντα δὲ δοκιμάζετε). Otherwise it would be tempting to suppose that, as in Col 2:8 the false teachers came with a philosophy of their own, so those whom St Paul has specially in mind have arrogated the title of ‘the doctrine’ for their own system. In the Pastoral Epistles ἡ ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία seems to stand in contrast with a specific rival. Hort however, Eccl. p. 162, interprets the clause of ‘the old heathen state of distracted beguilement by unworthy teachers,’ on the analogy perhaps of 1Co 12:2.

ἐν τῇ κυβίᾳ. ‘Recklessness,’ lit. dice-playing. It refers to lack of seriousness in principle in dealing as teachers with truth.

τῶν ἀνθρώπων. The thought recalls Col 2:8 and Eph 4:22, which itself recalls Isa 29:13 and Mar 7:6 ff.; cf. 1Co 3:3. Human nature trusting to itself is (Eph 2:2) under the dominion of ‘the spirit that is at work even now in the sons of disobedience.’

ἐν πανουργίᾳ. ‘By knavery.’ The word has not necessarily a bad meaning, e.g. Pro 1:4 ἴνα δῷ ἀκάκοις πανουργίαν, but St Paul uses it so in a somewhat similar context 2Co 4:2 and of the subtlety of the serpent, 2Co 11:3. Here it is better with Robinson to connect it closely with the following clause.

πρὸς. Cf. Luk 12:47 ποιεῖν πρὸς τὸ θέλημα, ‘corresponding to,’ ‘following the guidance of.’

τὴν μεθοδίαν. Cf. Eph 6:11. ‘The scheming.’

τῆς πλάνης. Cf. Hort quoted on Eph 2:2, ‘A collective term for the moral anarchy of heathenism.’ Cf. ἡ ἀπάτη Eph 4:22, τὸ ψεῦδος Eph 4:25, and ct. τῆς ἀληθείας Eph 4:24. The parallel in Eph 6:11 shows that μεθοδία is naturally connected with an active force. Πλανᾶν is used of Satan Rev 12:9; Rev 20:10; cf. Rev 13:14 of ‘the False Prophet’; cf. ἡ ἀπάτη τοῦ πλούτου Mar 4:19. It seems better therefore to regard it here in its active rather than in its passive sense. The schemings are not merely mistaken but misleading. The true state or the false state of the society to which we belong, the ideal of the Church and the ideal of the world, exercise an influence over our judgements especially in matters of right and wrong of a most practical kind. Cf. Hort on κόσμος in St James.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι, κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας. “That we may be no longer children tossed and borne to and fro by every wind of teaching.” This does not depend on ver. 13, for one does not become a mature man in order to grow. Ver. 12 states the final goal of the work of the teachers; ver. 13, that which must take place in the meantime in order to the attainment of that end. κλυδωνιζόμενοι from κλύδων, a billow or surge, may mean either tossed by the waves or tossed like waves, as in Josephus, Ant. ix. 11. 3, ὁ δῆμος ταρασσόμενος καὶ κλυδωνιζόμενος. Here, as ἀνέμῳ is most naturally connected with it as well as with περιφ., the latter seems best; and this corresponds with Jas 1:8, διακρινόμενος ἔοικε κλύδωνι θαλάσσης ἀνεμιζομένῳ. A similar figure occurs in Jud 1:12, νεφέλαι ἄνυδροι ὑπὸ ἀνέμων παραφερόμενοι: cf. Heb 13:9, διδαχαῖς ποικίλαις μὴ παραφέρεσθε.

ἀνέμῳ does not refer to “emptiness” nor to “impulsive power,” but rather is chosen as suitable to the idea of changeableness. So Theophylact: τῇ τροπῇ ἐμμένων καὶ ἀνέμους ἐκάλεσε τὰς διαφόρους διδασκαλίας. The article before διδ. does not “give definitive prominence to the teaching” (Eadie), but marks teaching in the abstract.

ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. “Through the sleight of men.” κυβεία, from κύβος, is properly “dice-playing,” and hence “trickery, deceit.” Soden prefers to take it as expressing conduct void of seriousness; these persons play with the conscience and the soul’s health of the Christians. But this is not the ordinary sense of the word. ἐν is instrumental, the words expressing the means by which the περιφ. κ.τ.λ. is attained. There is no objection to this on the ground that it would thus be pleonastic after ἐν ἀνέμῳ (Ell.), since ἐν τῇ κ. is not connected with περιφερόμενοι, but with the whole clause. Ellicott himself says the preposition “appears rather to denote the element, the evil atmosphere as it were, in which the varying currents of doctrine exert their force.” “Element” is itself figurative, and requires explanation; and if “evil atmosphere,” etc., is intended as an explanation, it is clear that no such idea is implied in the Greek, nor would it be at all in St. Paul’s way to carry out the figure in such detail, or to expect the reader to compare κυβεία to the atmosphere; see on 5:5.

ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης. “By craftiness, tending to the scheming of error.” πανοῦργος and πανουργία are used in the Sept. generally, if not invariably, in a good or an indifferent sense, “prudent,” Pro 13:1; “prudence,” Pro 1:4, Pro 1:8:5; “shrewdness,” Ecclus. 21:12; Jos 9:4 (though this latter may be thought an instance of a bad sense). Polybius also uses πανοῦργος in the sense of δεινός, “clever, shrewd.” In classical writers the words have almost invariably a bad sense, the substantive meaning “knavery, unscrupulous conduct.”

In the N.T. the substantive occurs five times, always in a bad sense (Luk 20:23; 1Co 3:19; 2Co 4:2, 2Co 11:3, and here), the adjective once, 2Co 12:16, in the sense “crafty.”

μεθοδεία is found only here and ch. 6:11. The verb μεθοδεύω is used, however, by Polybius, Diodorus, and the Sept., and means to deal craftily (cf. 2Sa 19:27, where Mephibosheth says of Ziba, μεθώδευσεν ἐν τῷ δούλῳ σου); the substantive μέθοδος, from which it is derived, being used by later authors in the meaning “cunning device.” πλάνη has its usual meaning “error,” not “seduction” (a meaning which it never has, not even in 2Th 2:11), and the genitive is subjective, thus personifying error. In the Revised Version πρός is taken as = according to, “after the wiles of error,” a comma being placed after πανουργίᾳ. This seems to leave the latter word too isolated. Moreover, this sense of πρός, though appropriate after verbs of action, being founded on the idea of “looking to,” or the like, does not agree with the participles κλυδ. and περιφ. Codex A adds after πλάνης, τοῦ διαβόλου, an addition suggested probably by 6:11.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Children [νηπιοι] . See on 1Co 2:6; 1Co 3:1. As to the connection, ver. 13 states the ultimate goal of christian training; ver. 14 that which is pursued with a view to the attainment of that goal. Ver. 14 is subordinate to ver. 13, as is shown by the retention of the same figure, and is remotely dependent on vers 11, 12. The remote end, ver. 13, is placed before the more immediate one, as in ver. 12. See note.

Tossed to and fro [κλυδωνιζομενοι] . Only here in the New Testament. See on wave, Jas 1:6. For Paul 's use of nautical metaphors, see on Phi 1:23. Compare Plato : "Socrates. In a ship, if a man having the power to do what he likes, has no intelligence or skill in navigation, do you see what will happen to him and to his fellow - sailors ? Alcibiades. Yes, I see that they will all perish" (" Alcibiades, " 1, 135).

Wind of doctrine. Or of the teaching. The different teachings of philosophers or of religious quacks are represented as winds, blowing the unstable soul in every direction.

Sleight [κυβεια] . Only here in the New Testament. From kubov a cube or die. Lit., dice - playing.

Cunning craftiness [πανουργια] . See on Luk 20:23. The craft which gamblers use.

Whereby they lie in wait to deceive [προς την μεθοδειαν της πλανης] . Lit., tending to the system of error. Rev., after the wiles of error. Meqodeia means a deliberate planning or system. Of error includes the idea of deceit or delusion. See Mt 27:64; Rom 1:27; 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 3:17; Jas 5:20. Error organizes. It has its systems and its logic. Ellicott remarks that here it is almost personified.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.