9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.



Ver. 9. Be not carried about] ðåïéöåñïìåíïé . Error is a precipice, a vortex, or whirlpool, which first turns men round, and then sucks them in. Islebius Agricola, that first Antinomian, did many times promise amendment; and yet afterwards not only fell to his error again, but turned Papist, fell into the other extreme. So hard a thing it is to get poison out when once swallowed down. {See Trapp on "Eph_4:14"}



With divers and strange doctrines] That agree neither with themselves nor with the truth.



That the heart be established] Ballasted as a ship, balanced as the bee with a little stone taken up by her, when she hath far to fly in a high wind, Ne leve alarum remigium praecipitent flabra ventorum, as Ambrose observeth, lest the bigger blast should dash her to the ground.



Not with meats] As if they were holy, or helpful to salvation. By meats understand all the legal ceremonies, opposed here to the gospel, that doctrine of grace.