2 Corinthians 11:3; Simplicity That Is In Christ

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

The serpent said to Eve, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). It was contrary to God’s instruction to Eve, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Beguile means “to seduce wholly or to deceive completely”. By trickery, in craftiness, the serpent convinced Eve of his lie.

Proverbs 12:19 The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Proverbs 12:17 He thatspeaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.

Henrik Obsen (1828-1906) observed well, “Lies can be so furbished and disguised in gorgeous wrappings that not a soul would recognizes their skinny carcasses.”

The reality of the serpent’s deception was recorded in the stark reality of Adam and thus Eve’s death in Genesis 5:5, “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”

The church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul feared, may have been beguiled by the serpent to reject the gospel of Christ that he has preached to them. He was concerned with the influence of falsehoods in the church that corrupted the minds of God’s people. What is the consequence? Spiritual death when the true gospel that gives spiritual life was rejected. A frightening prospect.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.