In verse 14 Paul does not speak of the wind of heresy, but he speaks of the wind of teaching. Any teaching, even a scriptural one, that distracts believers from Christ and the church is a wind that carries them away from God’s central purpose. First Timothy 1:3 and 4 reveal that some in Paul’s time were teaching differently. This does not mean that they were teaching heresy; it means that they were teaching something different from God’s New Testament economy. Their teaching was not the teaching of the New Testament ministry. In the New Testament there is one ministry. This ministry is the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers for the building up of the churches. We must beware of any teaching or supposed ministry that teaches something different from God’s economy, that is, that teaches something other than God’s dispensation for the building up of the churches.
As a whole, Christians today have been carried away by various winds of teaching. Every denomination or independent group is under the influence of some kind of doctrinal wind. What Christians today are not being tossed by waves or carried about by winds? We need to ask ourselves whether we are still under the influence of such waves and winds. I can strongly proclaim that I am not tossed by any waves or carried about by any winds, because I care only for Christ and the church. Some have asked me about pray-reading. I have answered that I am not for pray-reading, but that I am for Christ and the church. As a result, I do not make myself different from other Christians. However many Christians have made themselves different from me.
For example, some strongly disagree with immersion and advocate sprinkling. I can say to such a one, “Brother, I don’t care for sprinkling, but I certainly care for you. I simply receive you as my brother in the Lord.” By receiving him in this way, I am the same as he. But by insisting on sprinkling, he makes himself different from me. Therefore, he, not I, must bear the responsibility for any difference between us.
Before you came into the Lord’s recovery, you were probably concerned about certain things besides Christ and the church. You may have cared for a particular doctrine, practice, or work. But in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we care only for Christ and the church. It is crucial that we have the clear vision that the New Testament economy is for nothing other than the dispensing of the Triune God into people for the building up of the Body of Christ. This is our goal and our testimony. It is also God’s recovery. If we have this goal always before us, we shall not receive any teaching, concept, or opinion that distracts us from the central lane of God’s economy.
In verse 14 Paul speaks of the “sleight of men.” The Greek word for sleight signifies the cheating of dice players. The teachings that become winds, carrying believers away from the central lane of Christ and the church, are a deception instigated by Satan in his subtlety and utilizing the sleight of men, in order to frustrate God’s eternal purpose to build up the Body of Christ. No matter how good a teaching may appear to be, if it distracts us from Christ and the church, it is something of the sleight of men. The sleight of men is even worse than deceit, for not only is it false, but it also involves an evil plot. Even if a doctrine is scriptural, it may be utilized in such a wicked plot.
In this verse Paul also mentions craftiness. This word indicates that a certain evil skill is involved. Hence, the sleight of men involves both the formulation of a plot and the use of skill to deceive.
Finally, Paul says, “with a view to a system of error.” These teachings that divide are organized and systematized by Satan to cause serious error and thus damage the practical oneness of the Body life. The plot is apparently of man, but the system is of Satan. We have seen that God’s economy is to dispense the Triune God into us for the building up of the Body of Christ. Satan hates this. Therefore, he uses teachings, concepts, doctrines, and opinions in craftiness as part of an evil plot to carry people away and eventually to lead them into a system of error. How devilish! May the Lord expose the subtlety of the enemy so that we may detect the system of error related to the deceitful teachings that are designed to distract the saints from Christ and the church life.