Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ¹  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ² 

Ephesians 6:18

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ³  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ⁴  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

¹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

² tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

³ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

⁴ tn Grk “and toward it.”