strange doctrines.” And the apostle James compares the unstable to “a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed,” 1, 6. One of the principal elements of the perfection spoken of in v. 13, is stability in the truth ; and, therefore, the state of imperfection as con- trasted with it is described as one of instability and liability to be driven about by every wind of doctrine.
Children are not only unstable but easily deceived. They are an easy prey to the artful and designing. The apostle therefore adds: ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων͵ through (ἐν being instrumental) the artifice of men. KvBeia from κύβος (cube, die) means dice-playing; in which there are many arts of deception, and therefore the word is used for craft or deceit. It is explained by the following ‘phrase, ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης, Which, according to Luther’s version, means Tauscherei damit sie uns erschleichen zu verfuhren, the cunning with which they track us to mislead. The arti- fice («v8eia) is that craft which is used by seducers or errorists. The preposition πρὸς may mean according to. ‘Cunning according to the craft which error uses ; or which is characteristic of error.’ Or it may agree- ably to its commom force indicate direction or ten- dency. ‘The cunning which is directed to the craft of error, 1. e. that craft which is designed to seduce.’ The sense is the same. The word μεθοδεία occurs only here and in 6, 11—where in the plural form it is rendered wiles; “the wiles of the devil.” It is derived from μεθοδεύω (μετὰ 680s), to follow any one, to track him, as a wild animal its prey. Hence the substantive means