How False Doctrine Comes

Continuing our look at discernment in Ephesians 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—Paul tells us that false doctrine comes in three ways.

First, by the sleight of men. Here is a fascinating term. The word sleight is by far the best translation of the Greek kubeia, from kubos (English “cube”) and appears only here in the New Testament. The Greek literally means “playing dice” and sleight graphically pictures the implication of the gambling, trickery, and fraud that is involved. We can picture this easily by thinking of how many people throw away billions of dollars on gambling. The house edge in Roulette, for example, is 2.7% for single zero and 5.26% for double zero. The edge is even worse for other games, such as 4.5% for Sportsbook Betting, 3.9% to 15.2% for various slot machines, and an unbelievable 25% for Keno.

I was also reminded of the old scam, Three-Card Monte, in which the expert scam artist lays three cards on the table, one of which is a queen, shuffles them back and forth, and then asks you to “find the lady.” You’ll win at first, but when the bet increases, you will lose because of a sleight of hand trick. The dealer picks up two cards with his right hand, the upper card between his thumb and his forefinger and the lower card between his thumb and his middle finger, with a small gap between both cards. According to common sense, and, is in fact, what he did before, the dealer should drop the lower card first, but this time his forefinger smoothly and slyly ejects the upper card first, which causes you to lose track of the queen. This is especially difficult to see if the dealer’s hand makes a sweeping move from his left side to his right side while he drops the cards. The moral of the story is, you are going to lose.

That is the false teacher. By “slight of mouth” he tricks the unwary without their knowing it because they are gullible and over-confident in their knowledge. Pride gets the Three Card Monte victim every time; he’s confident he can follow the Queen, but he can’t because of sleight of hand—the hand is quicker than the eye. Likewise, immature Christians are over-confident in their supposed knowledge and are easy prey for false teachers. This is precisely why Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Miletus that “grievous wolves [will] enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30).

Second, false doctrine comes by cunning craftiness (panourgia), which literally means “capable of all work,” or as Aristotle viewed it, “an unprincipled [capability] to do anything.” That is the false teacher. He will do anything, stoop to any level needed to manipulate error, to make something look like truth and thereby lead others away from truth. Paul also uses this word in II Corinthians 2:2, where believers should “[renounce] the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Just as one cult deceitfully alters the Greek text of John 1:1 so they can translate it, “In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god” (and thereby deny the Deity of Christ), men will do anything to make their teaching look like truth when it is the very opposite.

Third, false doctrine comes by delusion and deception (they lie in wait to deceive). Lie in wait (methododeia, English “method”) means “to investigate by settled plan” or “a deliberate planning or system.”  There is a settled plan, an elaborate system, a deliberate scheme behind those who teach false doctrine. Their desire to is to deceive (plane), “a wandering out of the right way” and, therefore, figuratively delusion and error. I Thessalonians 2:10-11 speak of the lost multitude that will believe the Antichrist, and for that very reason God will “send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” While that day is not yet here, delusion, error, and seduction are everywhere.

What is even more tragic is how many true believers there are who are gullible and will believe virtually anything and follow almost anybody. Even with our unequaled education, freedom, sophistication, access to God’s Word, Christian books, and a multitude of Bible translations (which I am convinced is actually part of the problem), it seems that anybody, no matter what he teaches, can get a following and even financial support from not only individual Christians but entire Local Churches and even whole denominations, associations, and fellowships. Like little children, they are captivated by something new: a new interpretation, a new idea, a new catchy phrase or term, a new method of “ministry,” and countless other things.