Ephesians 4:14

14 so that we no longer be ‘infants’, tossed about as by waves and carried off by every doctrinal fad, through the underhanded dealings of the people who collect the fee for the error;*Before Paul wrote Ephesians, κυβεια always meant dice-throwing (but commentators usually don’t like that, and so take evasive action). Why do people do that? Usually for material advantage. If the dice-throwing is ‘crafty’ then it is crooked—the dice are loaded. But this has to do with doctrinal fads (‘winds’). Why do people start and push fads? To get or to keep attention, which usually involves material advantage. But who throws dice by himself? To cheat you have to have a victim. But why is the other guy playing? He hopes to make a fast buck, too. So why do people buy into doctrinal fads? Often for material advantage—the purveyor makes promises (e.g. the ‘prosperity gospel’); sometimes for ‘spiritual’ or social prestige (which can translate into material advantage). You have to make the victim think that there is something in it for him. One of the basic meanings for μεθοδεια is ‘a method of collecting taxes’ or ‘debts’. If you want to shear the sheep, you need a method. But who would be vulnerable to any such ‘method’? Only a spiritual ‘infant’, who still thinks he can make a fast spiritual buck, who thinks there can be shortcuts. A "perfect man" (ανηρ, not ανθρωπος) is like Jesus—when Satan comes with his shortcuts he is not taken in. Let us try to pull it together. The fad (ανεμος) is an error (πλανη), which carries a fee—the error is not free. The purveyor needs a method for collecting the fee (μεθοδεια) for the error he is selling. But it cannot be obvious, he needs to finesse it (κυβεια εν πανουργια) (he wants happy, unsuspecting sheep). Someone who is mature (verse 13) knows there are no shortcuts, so is not taken in by any cheap promise. Telling the truth in love (verse 15) contrasts with selling an error for gain (verse 14).