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Our relationship?
** Children are especially susceptible to deception, primarily due to lack of experience and teaching **
Date: 7/2/2017 3:35:16 PM ( 7 y ) ... viewed 957 times
Our relationship?
Ephesians 4:14
Note on Ephesians 4:14
The Greek word that was translated “children” in this verse is “NEPIOS,” and it means “not speaking, i.e. an infant” (Strong’s Concordance).
It was translated “infant” in the New International Version’s translation of this verse.
It is describing an infant who cannot do anything to control their circumstances, as opposed to an adult who can. An infant in a boat would just have to go with the flow, but an adult in a boat could row or swim and not be at the mercy of the current.
Likewise, we should be spiritual adults and not just go with the flow. We have to get a vision of where the Lord wants us to go and use all the power God has given us to reach those goals.
Children are especially susceptible to deception, primarily due to lack of experience and teaching.
It also has to do with trust. They will believe in a rabbit who lays eggs and a fat man in a red suit who has flying reindeer if someone they trust tells them it’s so. Part of growing up is challenging things we have been taught, based on observation and our own reasoning (Acts 17:11). This is good, but it’s also potentially bad.
If we had to prove everything on our own and were not able to benefit from the study and experience of others, we would still be walking everywhere and not using the modern conveniences that are such a part of our lives. So, there is a great benefit in trusting others’ research and experience, but it can also lead us into error
(Mark 7:13).
So, who do we trust?
The Word of God is tried and proven (Psalms 18:30).
It has to be the standard against which everything is tried (see my notes at Proverbs 21:30 and Philippians 1:10).
The fact that the body of Christ as a whole hasn’t matured to the point where they aren’t following every wind of doctrine is an indictment against those in the five-fold ministry for not doing their job. (Ephesians 4:11-12)
The Greek word “METHODEIA,” which was translated “lie in wait” in this verse, was only used one other time in Scripture. In Ephesians 6:11, it was translated “wiles,” referring to the wiles of the devil.
Life For Today Study Bible Notes
Note 26 at Ephesians 4:14: The Lord doesn’t want His saints to remain in the nursery forever. He wants us to mature. From this verse, we can see that one of the characteristics of children is that they are easily deceived. They are gullible. They are not stable. This means the body of Christ today must be pretty immature because it’s not uncommon for some of us Christians to follow every new “fad” that comes along.
One of the things that must take place to move from childhood into son-ship is spiritual discernment. This comes from being grounded in the Word of God.
Note 27 at Ephesians 4:14: The Greek word that was translated “tossed to and fro” here is “KLUDONIZOMAI.” It means “to surge, i.e. (figuratively) to fluctuate”
(Strong’s Concordance).
It comes from the root word “KLUDON,” and this describes a wave of the sea (Strong’s Concordance). Paul was speaking of being tossed about the way something floating in the sea would be. Mature Christians are not “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:6). That’s double-mindedness, and it prevents us from receiving from God
(James 1:7-8).
Note 28 at Ephesians 4:14: The word “sleight” was translated from the Greek word “KUBEIA.” This Greek word comes from the word “KUBOS,” the name for a cube for dice-playing, and KUBEIA literally means “gambling” (Strong’s Concordance). In the same way that “card sharks” deceive with sleight of hand, Paul was saying people can deceive immature Christians, promising them everything but delivering nothing. This is the only time this word–English or Greek–was used in the Bible.
Ephesians 4:15
Note on Ephesians 4:15
Ephesians 4:15-16 compares the way all the members of Christ function to the way the human body functions. Christ is the head, controlling all the different parts of the body. But each part, or member, has to grow to express what the head wants to accomplish.
Ephesians 4:25 shows lying and speaking the truth as opposites. So, if we aren’t speaking the truth in love to each other, we are lying. We are bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16) when we withhold the truth.
Life For Today Study Bible Notes
Note 29 at Ephesians 4:15: How is it that believers grow out of the immaturity Paul spoke of in Ephesians 4:14? The answer is, they must speak the truth in love. Truth without love is like a club, and love without truth is powerless. One reason for such immaturity in the body of Christ is because ministers (Ephesians 4:11) haven’t been faithful to speak the truth in love as they should.
The clergy was “politically correct” long before it was “cool.” Many ministers preach on the things people want to hear instead of what they need to hear. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32, New King James Version).
Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary.
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