Ephesians: We Are No Longer Children
Ephesians 4:14-16 - ““Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 NASB1995
“As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
Ephesians 4:14-16 NASB1995
As a result of the unity of faith and maturity that Paul described, we are no longer children. This passage goes into the concerns for immaturity of faith and urges us to speak the truth in love.
Steve asked ChatGPT to create an image from this passage and here is what the AI source said when it offered the image at the top:
A first-century wooden fishing boat on rough seas during a violent storm. Some passengers panic as waves crash around them, symbolizing false teaching and instability.
But one older Christian figure at the center remains calm, holding tightly to a lantern whose light cuts through the storm. The mast and rigging subtly form the shape of a cross without looking artificial.
Above the clouds, a break in the storm allows warm sunlight to shine through.
This would be dramatic and cinematic while still rooted in Paul’s metaphor of being “blown here and there by every wind of teaching.”
That seems rather insightful on the part of this tool; it came up with this unprompted except for being given the verses. I would not have thought of that symbolism. Pretty scary!
Let’s do some word studies from the Blue Letter Bible lexicon!
Children comes from the Greek adjective νήπιος or nḗpios (Strong’s G3516), with the following Biblical usages:
an infant, little child
a minor, not of age
metaph. childish, untaught, unskilled
The Strong’s definition also includes “simple-minded person”.
Tossed here and there by waves comes from the Greek verb κλυδωνίζομαι or klydōnízomai (Strong’s G2831), with the following Biblical usages:
to be tossed by the waves
metaph. to be agitated (like the waves) mentally
Do you think that there is a single person who lives in this modern world who is NOT agitated mentally, even a little bit, with all of the information and opinion (true and false) flying at us like a raging dust storm? Many can turn it off (or never turn it on) or ignore it, others scour media for more things to agitate them. There are probably a few remote tribes and groups like the Amish who are not scanning their phones, but information overload is becoming common worldwide.
Wind of Doctrine comes first from the Greek noun ἄνεμος or ánemos (Strong’s G417) followed by the Greek noun διδασκαλία or didaskalía (Strong’s G1319) with the following Biblical usages:
wind, a violent agitation and stream of air
a very strong tempestuous wind
the four principal or cardinal winds, hence the four corners of heaven,
And
teaching, instruction
teaching
that which is taught, doctrine
teachings, precepts
My metaphor of a raging dust storm is apt. Doctrine is stirred up in a violent agitation and false outcomes occur.
Trickery comes from the Greek noun κυβεία or kybeía (Strong’s G2940), with the following Biblical usages:
dice playing
metaph. the deception of men, because dice players sometimes cheated and defrauded their fellow players
Fraudulent activity is a favorite vocation for millions of humans. They defraud people through on-line scams. They defraud governments of millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. This kind of trickery can probably date back to a shell con game played somewhere in the deserts of the Middle East thousands of years ago. Why wouldn’t scripture be subject to fraudsters?
Craftiness comes from the Greek noun πανουργία or panourgía (Strong’s G3834), with the following Biblical usages:
craftiness, cunning
a specious or false wisdom
in a good sense, prudence, skill, in undertaking and carrying on affairs
Obviously, this is not in the good sense, but indicates specious or false wisdom.
Deceitful comes from the Greek noun πλάνη or plánē (Strong’s G4106)m with the following Biblical usages:
wandering, a straying about
one led astray from the right way, roams hither and thither
metaph.
mental straying
error, wrong opinion relative to morals or religion
error which shows itself in action, a wrong mode of acting
error, that which leads into error, deceit or fraud
Deceit leads us astray.
Scheming comes from the Greek noun μεθοδεία or methodeía (Strong’s G3180), with the following Biblical usages:
cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery
Paul has probably used every noun, adjective or verb to describe the ways that immature believers can be caught up in deceit.
I have a recent example of how this tossing about, deceitfulness, fraud and trickery can fool people. Since we post these devotionals on Substack, we get recommendations for other articles that people have written. A few weeks ago, I was invited to read an article from someone that was entitled “Why I hate Paul”. I decided to take the bait and read the article.
This person, who claimed to be a believer (of what?), started with the false assumption that either Paul never existed or someone else, later in the early church, created some of the epistles that are attributed to him to “soften” the message of the Gospel and that only a few of his epistles are real. He cited examples of “contradictory statements” that Paul supposedly made, particularly the exhortation that women are to keep silent. This writer even doubted the origins of the Gospels, but was more convinced that the Paulian epistles (real or false, in his fevered mind) did a lot to influence the Gospel messages of Christ’s love, grace, sacrifice, and the resurrection.
The true nature of this person’s distorted and false beliefs became apparent as you read further into the article. He was of the opinion that Jesus was a hard-core revolutionary, an “early proto-Marxist” who wanted to destroy the hegemony and wealth of the Roman Empire and establish a “just and egalitarian society” on Earth (paging John Lennon to write the theme music). I was pretty angry at this point, but what was even more disturbing was how many comments he received that approved of this message and said that it had “opened their eyes” to the “truth”. People are so gullible! No wonder ridiculous conspiracy theories and outright nonsense dominate social media! Fortunately, other commenters and scholars jumped all over this false doctrine and tried to tell the truth in love (mostly), but this egotistical author resorted to the worst name-calling and retorts in response to them in an effort to do the enemy’s work and silence the critics.
Here is what Enduring Word says about the first part of this passage in Ephesians 4:
d. We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine: The gifted offices and equipped saints result in stability, being firmly planted on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20).
i. Those who do not mature in this way are targets of deceivers, who are effective precisely because they operate with trickeryand cunning craftiness – and they lie in wait to deceive. They are out there like landmines that the mature can avoid.
ii. The ancient Greek word for tossed to and fro is from the same words used to describe the stormy Sea of Galilee in Luke 8:24 (raging of the water). We can wrongly value movement over growth; mere movement is being tossed to and fro, but God wants us to grow up in all things.
iii. By the trickery of men: “The words… 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.” (Clarke) Running after spiritual fads always leaves one a loser.
Let me repeat that last line: Running after spiritual fads always leaves one a loser!
An aside about our devotionals: Steve and I are amateur Bible enthusiasts and believers who use these devotionals as our way to better understand scripture by consulting established Biblical authors and scholars. We came from a skeptical and agnostic background and returned to faith, which is an important part of our story. I strongly encourage everyone to apply reason and a research of Scripture, just like the Bereans did in Acts 17, to the many Biblical studies and writings that are out there, including ours. There are way too many immature children wandering around confused about their faith and they can fall victim to tricksters like the author of that dreadful screed about Paul.
Let’s look at the remaining part of this passage, reproduced here so you don’t have to scroll up to the top:
…but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
So how do we approach those who are deceitful and tricksters and speak the truth? I like this commentary from John Philips, quoted in Precept Austin:
We can go to two extremes. We can speak the truth but not in love, in which case we are being ungracious. Truth spoken in that spirit often offends and does little good because it alienates the people we are seeking to win. Or we can speak in love and suppress the truth, in which case we are being unfaithful. People who do not want to hurt someone’s feelings may say nothing and allow a sinful situation to continue. They suffer in silence. True love, however, will always speak at the right time, with the right words, in the right spirit, and using the right approach. Paul spoke the truth in love to the Ephesians. He got down to very practical issues later in chapter 4. He talked about lying, anger, stealing, unclean conversation, and marital relationships, but no one took offense because earlier he made so many warm and positive comments. None of the Ephesian Christians thought that Paul was being harsh or unkind. They all knew that he loved them. We can accept the truth from someone with whom we share mutual love. As Solomon said, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6). (See Exploring Ephesians & Philippians: An Expository Commentary).
“True love for others will always speak at the right time, with the right words, in the right spirit, and using the right approach.” I am ashamed to say that I walked away from that false doctrine that I read without commenting, because I am still a coward when it comes to arguing Biblical truths. I felt anger and not compassion or concern for the author’s mental state and his untruths. We DID walk away from the growing apostasy at the ELCA and we even explained why, in a heartfelt letter to our pastor. The response to that letter (anger, arrogance, and mostly indifference), told us we made the right decision. I still have a long ways to go, that’s for sure, but I rely on the Holy Spirit every day to grow into all aspects of Christ. The author of Precept Austin has a thought on that growth:
THOUGHT - This association of speaking the truth in love and growing up in Christ begs the question - Am I growing in Christ-likeness? Am I more like Christ today than I was last month, last year, last decade? Does the fruit of the Spirit's love birthed by faith and obedience in my heart translate into loving action in my life and in so doing mimic the love of Christ? If so our lips and life are in synch , speaking and showing love and growing in grace, growing in Christ-likeness which is living a life of integrity which is defined in English dictionaries as "an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting." See Integrity - A Whole Heart, Daniel-Man of Integrity and Give Me An Undivided Heart.
The link goes to a section of Precept Austin that is devoted to the subject of integrity.
This growth into Christ helps us be fitted and held together by what every joint of the Body of Christ brings to our unity in Christ. We all have different gifts and abilities and weaknesses. Here’s more commentary from Enduring Word:
e. Speaking the truth in love: This speaks to not only how we are to relate to one another in God’s family, but also to how leaders and saints are to deal with deceivers. We should deal with them in love, but never budging from the truth.
f. May grow up in all things into Him who is the head: Another way maturity is described is as the growing up into Jesus, who is the head. Again, this defines the direction of maturity. We never grow “independent” of Jesus, we grow up into Him.
i. “A church that is only united in itself, but not united to Christ, is no living church at all. You may attain to the unity of the frost-bound earth in which men and women are frozen together with the cold proprieties of aristocracy, but it is not the unity of life.” (Spurgeon)
ii. Adam Clarke on grow up… into Him: “This is a continuance of a metaphor taken from the members of a human body receiving nourishment equally and growing up, each in its due proportion to other parts, and to the body in general.”
g. According to the effective working by which every part does its share: The evidence of maturity – that the leaders and the saints are all doing their job – is this effective working. This means every part and joint provides what it can supply in a coordinated effort. When this happens, it naturally causes the growth of the body (both in size and strength), but especially growth for building itself up in love.
i. Some people think of the church as a pyramid, with the pastor at the top. Others think of the church as a bus driven by the pastor, who takes his passive passengers where they should go. God wants us to see the church as a body, where every part does its share.
Every part certainly doesn’t do its share at our mega church, that’s for sure. Most people in the congregation are passive observers of worship and word, sadly. It is not a maturity of effort yet. I think that is true for any organization, not just churches. We both do volunteer work for my retirees group and it’s always the same few people who are enthusiastic about organizing or doing something.
What an important passage by Paul and one that is challenging to Bible readers! My next devotional examines Ephesians 4:17-19 - The Christian’s Walk.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please help me to grow in the fruit of love, gentleness, and kindness when confronted with deceitful doctrine and to speak the truth. Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
“G3516 - nēpios - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3516/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G2831 - klydōnizomai - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2831/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G417 - anemos - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g417/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G1319 - didaskalia - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1319/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G2940 - kybeia - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2940/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G3834 - panourgia - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3834/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G4106 - planē - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4106/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
“G3180 - methodeia - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (NASB95).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 6 May, 2026. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3180/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/>.
Precept Austin was accessed on 05/06/2026 to review commentary for Ephesians 4:14-16.
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com. Within the Enduring Word commentary are the following references:
Clarke, Adam The New Testament with A Commentary and Critical Notes, Volume II (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1831)
Clarke, Adam The New Testament with A Commentary and Critical Notes, Volume II (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1831)