Deceitful Wiles

“...so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cun­ning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, being faithful to the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ....” Verses 14-15.

Generally speaking, when a person goes astray from the word of truth, he becomes infatuated with clever fables. He laughs heartily at all these deceitful wiles, and in his arrogance he fancies that he has grown mightily in Christ.

It is difficult for immature but upright souls to resist these “authoritative” tricksters. That’s why the Apostle wants us, by re­maining faithful to the truth in love, to grow up into Him who is the Head—Christ. He wants us to become mature in Christ, so that we do not allow ourselves to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. But if we are to grow up, we must acquire the knowledge of God so that we have something with which to counter the knowledge of deceitful wiles. The knowledge of God will always lead us to godliness and to the crucifixion of all our carnal lusts. False doctrines, on the other hand, will lead us away from the cross and only promote arrogance and self-adulation.