Ephesians 4.14b-Paul Employs a Metaphor of Being at Sea to Describe a Spiritual Child
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 27, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:14b-Paul Employs a Metaphor of Being at Sea to Describe a Spiritual Child
Lesson # 240
Ephesians 4:11 Therefore, on the one hand, He Himself generously gave some to be apostles but on other hand, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, specifically, teachers 12 for the purpose of equipping the saints for performing the work of service in order to ultimately build up the members of Christ’s body 13 until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing the unity produced by obedience to the one and only Christian faith. Correspondingly, until all of us without exception attains to the unity produced by an experiential knowledge of God’s Son. Until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing a mature man. Until all of us without exception attains to experiencing proportionately to the full stature of the one and only Christ’s character. 14 In order that each of us as a corporate unit would no longer be children. Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race because of craftiness according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:14 is composed of the following:
(1) hina (ἵνα) purpose clause: hina mēketi ōmen nēpioi (ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι), “In order that each of us as a corporate unit would no longer be children.” (Author’s translation)
(2) Attributive participial clause: klydōnizomenoi kai peripheromenoi panti anemō tēs didaskalias (κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας), “Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching.” (Author’s translation)
(3) prepositional phrase: en tē kybeia tōn anthrōpōn (ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων), “by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race.” (Author’s translation)
(4) prepositional phrase: en panourgia (ἐν πανουργίᾳ), “because of craftiness.” (Author’s translation)
(5) prepositional phrase: pros tēn methodeian tēs planēs (πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης), “according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception.” (Author’s translation)
Ephesians 4:12 presents the “positive” purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ generously giving these four communication gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11.
On the other hand, the contents of Ephesians 4:14 present the “negative” purpose for which the Lord gave these gifts.
The adjective nēpios (νήπιος), “children” functions as a predicate nominative, which means it is making an assertion of members of the Christian community, namely they would no longer possess the characteristic of being spiritually children who are spiritually immature.
The attributive participle clause klydōnizomenoi kai peripheromenoi panti anemō tēs didaskalias (κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας), “Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching” (Author’s translation) describes in detail a spiritual child or one who is spiritually immature.
It contains a metaphor of being at sea and the damage that wind and waves can do to a ship in a storm.
The verb klydōnizomai (κλυδωνίζομαι) is used in a figurative sense to describe immature believers being unstable in their hearts because of accepting false doctrine as truth to live by.
This verb describes in figurative terms a believer who fluctuates as to what they believe and accept as truth to live by and what they no longer believe and no longer accepted as truth to live by.
The emphasis with this verb is “the action” of these spiritually immature Christians fluctuates between accepting sound doctrine as truth to live by and then rejecting it and accepting false doctrine as truth to the live by.
The participle conjugation of the verb klydōnizomai (κλυδωνίζομαι) functions an attributive participle, which means it is describing in figurative terms for the reader what it means to be a spiritual child.
Namely that like a ship tossed back and forth by waves, they fluctuate in their souls as to what they believe and accept as truth to live by and what they no longer believe and no longer accepted as truth to live by.
The verb peripherō (περιφέρω) is also used in a figurative sense of members of the Christian community rejecting sound doctrine as truth to live by and instead accepting false doctrine as truth to live by.
Therefore, this word describes members of the Christian community as those who vacillate in the sense that they accept reject sound doctrine as truth to live by and instead accept false doctrine as truth to live by.
The emphasis with this verb is “the place” the members of the Christian community end up as a result of accepting false doctrine as truth to live by.
The participle conjugation of the verb peripherō (περιφέρω) also functions an attributive participle, which means it is describing in figurative terms for the reader what it means to be a spiritual child.
Namely that like a ship carried about from place to place, they vacillate between accepting sound doctrine as truth to live by and then turning away from it and accepting false doctrine as truth to live by.
The verbs klydōnizomai (κλυδωνίζομαι), “tossed back and forth by waves” and peripherō (περιφέρω), “carried about from place to place” are united by the conjunction kai (καί) in order to form the figure of hendiadys, which means that they are not referring to two different concepts but rather one.
This figure would indicate that the idea expressed by the verb peripherō (περιφέρω), “carried about from place to place” is intensifying or advancing upon the idea expressed by the verb klydōnizomai (κλυδωνίζομαι), “tossed back and forth by waves.”
The latter we noted emphasizes the “action” of the spiritually immature believer being adversely affected spiritually in their lives as a result of accepting false doctrine as truth to live by.
On the other hand, the former we noted emphasizes the “place” they end up spiritually as a result of being adversely affected spiritually as a result of accepting false doctrine as truth to live by.
This “place” would be that which one has accepted as truth to live by.
Therefore, the advancement and intensification is that the action expressed by the verb peripherō (περιφέρω), “carried about” emphasizes the result of the action expressed by the verb klydōnizomai (κλυδωνίζομαι), “tossed back and forth by waves.”
This would express the idea that the believer is tossed back and forth by waves so that they are carried about from place to place.
This would mean that the believer is fluctuates or vacillates from accepting as sound doctrine as truth to live by to rejecting it and accepting false doctrine as truth to live by with the result is that they are out of fellowship with God and no longer doing His will.
The dative expression panti anemō tēs didaskalias (παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας), “by means of every wind, that is teaching” (Author’s translation)
It also contains the metaphor of being at sea and the damage that wind and waves can do to a ship in a storm.
It presents the means which the spiritually immature believer is like a ship tossed back and forth waves and carried about from place to place.
Namely it is by means every type of false teaching that this takes place.
The noun anemos (ἄνεμος), “wind” is used figuratively of different types of false doctrine, which are lies concocted by Satan and his kingdom which seek to deceive members of the human race from not worshipping Jesus Christ as their Savior and King and are promoted and propagated by false teachers.
This noun is modified by the adjective pas (πᾶς), “every,” which is used in a distributive sense expressing the idea of “every type” of false doctrine.
The noun didaskalia (διδασκαλία), “teaching” is used in an objective sense and means “doctrine, teaching” and is referring to the content of false teaching.
The articular construction of this noun is generic, which means that the article distinguishes false doctrine originating from Satan’s cosmic system from the sound doctrine which originates from the triune God.
This noun functions as genitive of apposition or epexegetical genitive, which means indicates that the former is defining what is meant by the latter, namely, false doctrine or teaching.
The noun anemos (ἄνεμος), “wind” functions as a dative of means, which expresses the idea of a believer being tossed back and forth by waves, so that they are carried about from place to place “by means of” every type of false doctrine or teaching.
