2 Corinthians 11:3

2Co_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.

Dangerous decits

I. The sources of mans liability to yield to Satans influences.

1. The heart. Many of our strongest moral propensities remain undiscovered until the force of outward circumstances brings them into action. Moses knew nothing of his impatience; Hazael of his cruelty; Hezekiah of his pride; yet from their youth each one of these had been nourishing the seeds of these evil propensities in their hearts. Search me, O God! and know my ways, etc. The heart is deceitful above all things, etc.

2. The moral darkness which has come over our mental and moral faculties. True, God has left us still the directive light of conscience, but even on this pure light the shadow of the Fall rests; and, there is a danger, that even the very light which is within us may become darkness. There is nothing which more helps a man to mistaken views of his own condition before God, than a corrupted conscience. And then the effect for evil is the greater, because it enables a man to sin upon a plan, to ruin his own soul upon a system. We have got conscience and reason on our side, what can God have given these lights to us for, if it were not to direct us the way He would have us go? The answer, God has given us two lights--a greater light to rule the conscience, and a lesser light to rule the will. There is one greater light to which conscience must do homage, the light of the Word, of the Spirit, of Christs blessed example; and this lesser light of conscience, if it borrow not its flame from this sun of truth, will soon become corrupt and obscure. Pauls conscience taught him to do many things contrary to the religion of Jesus of Nazareth.

II. The means by which this corrupting process is effected. Satan beguiles us--

1. By concealing the nature and effects of sin. His way is to bid us look at the fair side of temptation; he says nothing of the wormwood, and the gall.

2. By leaving us in ignorance of the magnetic and attractive power of sin, the way in which one sin drags another after it. No, the man is made to think that he can stop at any point he likes.

3. By teaching us to invent excuses for our own conduct. Such, e.g., as the habit of charging our fault upon others. He taught our first parents this lesson. And most of our excuses are as hollow as that of Aaron when he said, The people gave me this gold, and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. Again, are we conscious that as Christians we are living a low, worldly life? We begin to excuse ourselves by saying we were not blessed with godly parents as some were, our earliest influences were unfavourable, and we find it very hard to turn our usurped affections into a new channel now. And so with regard to our religious duties and exercises. I would be more frequent in prayer, a man will say, more self-denying, more active in good works, but the cares of a family, and the demands of business interfere. Do not doubt that this is the voice of the arch-impostor.

4. By the speciousness of a religious profession. Christianity has now a firm footing in the world, and a man endangers his character who does not pay to it the homage of outward respect. Yet this homage has caused men to mistake profession for practice, the name for the deed, the poor skeleton of a form of godliness for the living reality of its power. Conclusion: The great lesson must be the duty of diligent trying of our own spirits, a frequent proving of our own work, a prayerful and habitual inquiry into the state of our own souls before God. The simplicity that is in Christ--the simplicity of His doctrine, of His rule of life, is the test whereby we are to try ourselves whether we belong to Christ or not. (D. Moore, M. A.)

From the simplicity that is in Christ.--

The simplicity that is in Christ

The simplicity that is in Christ stands here contrasted with the subtilty of the serpent: and the instance given of the serpents subtilty illustrates what is meant by the simplicity which is opposed to it. In that first temptation, all on the part of God was abundantly simple; the command with the warning was simplicity itself. On the other hand, the subtilty of the tempter is apparent in the complex pleading which he holds with Eve. God has but one argument against eating; Satan has many for it; and there is no surer sign of subtilty than the giving of many reasons for what a single good one would better justify and explain. The simplicity that is in Christ may be discerned in every stage and department of His great salvation.

I. In His own finished work of righteousness and atonement. There is simplicity in Christ, as the Lord our righteousness, as the servant of the Father, and the substitute, surety, and saviour of the guilty. It was in this character that He came into the world: and with entire simplicity did He sustain it.

1. That there is nothing here that transcends mans finite understanding, and baffles his restless curiosity--we are far from saying. But is there not a simplicity in it that comes home to the heart of a poor despairing sinner?

2. But it is the policy of Satan to mar it, and by his subtilty to corrupt your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ, and Him crucified. Hence the endless questions he has contrived to raise in connection with it.

II. In the free offer of the gospel as connected with it.

1. How simple in its freeness (Isa_55:1; Rev_22:17). How near does it bring Christ! (Rom_10:6-9). How very plain as well as pathetic is the Lords pleading with sinners! (2Co_5:20; Isa_1:18). How explicit, how unequivocal, are His assurances! (Eze_18:32; Eze_33:11; Joh_6:37). How clear as it might seem beyond any sophistry is the declaration of the Lords will that all men should be saved.

2. Yet, it is here especially that Satan puts forth all his subtilty to beguile. How many reasons for doubt and unbelief does he contrive to set up against Gods one reason for believing. Here am I--a lost sinner. There is Christ, a living Saviour. It may be, Satan tells us, that you are not elected; that you may have committed the unpardonable sin. Or perhaps you are not convinced enough of your sin, or sorry enough for it; or perhaps you are not repenting, believing, praying aright. But it is upon no may-be that the blessed Lord invites you to commit your soul to Him. He has but one word to you. Let no subtilty of Satan corrupt your minds from the simplicity that is in the gospel offer of a free, a full, a present salvation.

III. In the completeness of believers as one with Jesus.

1. The apostle speaks to you as espoused to Christ; and we would be jealous over you, for duplicity now on your part towards Him is nothing short of spiritual adultery, and is sadly inconsistent with His simplicity towards you. And what, the apostle adds (2Co_11:4), would you have? Would you have one to come to you with another Jesus, another Spirit, another gospel? Are ye so soon weary of the homely fare of the Lords kingdom that ye would look out for new and foreign dainties?

2. The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, causing her to be discontented with the simple profusion of Edens blessings and the simple tenure on which she held them. And the like spirit of discontent he would fain cherish in you in regard to the simplicity that is in Christ--the simplicity of a rich and royal liberality, alike in His gifts and in His manner of giving. How simple is His treatment of you, that are His. Ye are complete in Him. All things are yours. All that He has is yours upon the simple footing of your abiding in Him.

IV. In His guidance of you, as your captain and Example.

1. It is a guidance--

(1) According to the free spirit, and not the mere servile letter of the law.

(2) Through the motive, not of a servile dread of still impending wrath, but of love to Him who has first loved us.

(3) By the power of that Spirit abiding in us, who worketh in us, both to will and to do of Gods good pleasure.

(4) In the very steps of Him who hath left us an example. Surely there is great simplicity in such guidance as this.

2. But the subtilty of Satan, how manifold is it in this department.

(1) For the rule--oh it cannot always be the strict unbending morality of the Ten Commandments. All men except recluses know that allowances must be made in social life, and regard must be had to circumstances.

(2) Then the motive of all you do ought doubtless to be not servile fear, but filial love, and it is plain that this motive might prompt many a service and sacrifice. Still, practically, as things now are, it is a great matter if a Christian keep clear of what is positively forbidden, and if nothing palpably wrong can be established against him.

(3) So also as to the power, it is admitted vaguely and generally, that you have a promise of Divine aid. But this, alas! does not hinder a large measure of apologetic pleading of human frailty.

(4) And when we look to the pattern, how aptly does Satan teach us to evade the obligation of a full following of Christ, by suggesting that there are many things in which Christ, being Divine, must be admitted to be inimitable.

V. In connection with his second coming and glorious appearing.

1. As to all that is essential and influential, it would seem to be simple enough. The Lord cometh as our Judge. He cometh as our exceeding great reward. Thus regarded, it is practically a most influential hope; influential for its very simplicity. It sets you upon working, watching, waiting for the Lord. How simple and how blessed an attitude!

2. Yet here Satan has been expending not a little of his subtilty throughout all the ages of the Churchs history, sometimes hiding the doctrine, at other times complicating and embarrassing it with a variety of questions, scarcely, if at all, bearing on its real, vital and practical import. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

The simplicity that is in Christ

I. The simplicity. The word signifies one-foldness. It has manifold applications. It is opposed to what is difficult, double, compound, cunning, deceitful; it is simple, easy, elementary, guileless, open. Now, in Christ we have--

1. Intellectual simplicity. The gospel is intended and adapted for the poor, and for the children.

2. Moral simplicity. The principles and duties which it enjoins are simple; and, if they appear complex, they may be reduced to simple elements. All the details of gospel morality grow from Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, etc.

3. Spiritual simplicity. The motives and the means of holiness are simple; and, whether the individual or the community concerned be learned or ignorant, the same truths and facts supply spiritual nourishment. This simplicity appears in--

(1) The Saviours teaching. The parables and discourses of Jesus are clear and intelligible.

(2) The way of salvation is plain.

(3) The gospel call is clear, distinct, unwavering.

(4) The life of faith to which the believer is called is composed of many stems and branches, but they all draw their nourishment from one common root. Looking unto Jesus.

II. Corruption of this simplicity.

1. Scientific, philosophical, metaphysical speculations imported into the gospel tend to corrupt the mind from its simplicity.

2. The moral simplicity that is in Christ may be corrupted by casuistical questionings and scrupulosities of conscience. The single eye may become distorted; the spirit of inquiry may be hypocritical.

3. The plan of salvation may be lost sight of. Another gospel, another Jesus, may be substituted.

III. The comparison. As the serpent beguiled Eve.

1. The position of our first parents was simple, and easy to understand. Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, etc. What could be plainer? Yet they were beguiled.

(1) Their minds were diverted from the one simple command.

(2) Doubts were started as to its meaning and purport.

(3) The Divine goodness was called in question if the command was rightly understood.

(4) Fair promises were made of something better.

(5) All this was done by gradual steps, cunningly and skilfully.

2. The same elements of temptation which beguiled them are at work to beguile us. As the law was misinterpreted, so the gospel is mystified, and souls are ruined thereby.

3. It is Satans subtilty--cunning--that we have most to fear. His mode of attack. He works ruin in such a way as to appear to be doing the reverse. He undermines our position while professedly raising us higher, He deceiveth the whole world (Rev_12:9).

4. This cunning on his part is not to be met by counter cunning on ours. We are no match for him with such weapons. We must fall back upon the simplicity that is in Christ. Gospel truths are true still. We have not followed cunningly devised fables. (James Smith, M. A.)

Simplicity towards Christ

This is one of the many cases in which a slight alteration makes a great difference. The Authorised Version by its reading suggests erroneously that the simplicity is something belonging to Christ; and we have all heard the use of the phrase as expressive of what is supposed to be a plain, simple gospel, as contrasted with mans refinements. But if we read as we ought to do, the simplicity that is towards Christ, we see that what the apostle is thinking about is not a quality belonging to the gospel or to its Lord, but to the believer, and that it expresses no characteristic of the Redeemer or of His revelation, but something about the way in which we ought to receive and to cleave to Him.

I. Then note the attitude required. The English words simple and simplicity, like their Greek equivalents, embody a striking figure. Simple literally means without a fold, and the noun here formed from it means consequently, if we may coin a word after the analogy of manifoldness, singlefoldness. Hence it is used to express the two kindred ideas of perfect genuineness or, as we say, straightforwardness, and of thoroughness and out-and-outness. So that the two ideas that are conveyed here are those of genuine and out-and-out simpleminded devotion. He would have them to be, as a bride ought to be, wholly filled with the love and confidence of Him to whom he presents them. The phrase, then, as interpreted by the emblem that stands by the side of it, suggests these three things.

1. We must have simple-hearted love. A brides love that is halved is destroyed. And the Christian mans heart that is divided is empty of all genuine love to the Master. He requires that we shall love Him all in all, or not at all; and interprets that as treason which is not out-and-out surrender and consecration to Him. The heart need not be emptied of other affections. The central diamond may have round about it a cluster of brilliants, but they must be kept in subordination, small and encompassing. And so our lives are then pure and blessed, not when the love of Christ chills our hearts to other dear ones, but warms and purifies our loves to them into some effluence and likeness of itself.

2. A single-minded submission to Him as fountain of truth, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, is another part of the simplicity that is towards Christ. Just as, in regard to single-hearted love, there is no impoverishing of the affections because He claims the first-fruits of them all, so, in regard of this single-minded discipleship, there is no limiting of the faculties, excluding of Christians from any field of thought, because He claims to be first and last and midst and without end, the only teacher whose word is absolute truth. All our other thinking ought to be held in subordination to the truths that He reveals.

3. Single-eyed consecration of the practical life to Him is another part of this simplicity that is towards Christ. Where the heart is single, and the mind filled with His thoughts and commandments and promises and revelations, the life will, of course, yield itself to be directed by Him.

II. This singleness and thoroughness is the only attitude that at all corresponds to what Christ is to us, and what we say we are to Him. We are to cleave to Christ only because Christ is enough. God, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, had the right to demand all the devotion of heart, soul, mind, strength, because He had the power to satisfy and to bless all the faculties that were consecrated to Him. Jesus Christ has no right to ask me to give my whole self to Him unless He has given His whole self to me; and unless, in that gift, I can find nourishment and strength, and the supply of every craving and every need. If our mind is bowed before the incarnate truth of God we shall know neither the unrest of resultless search nor the gloom of continual doubt, but shall have the light of life to shine upon our road.

III. Note the blessedness that will attend such out-and-out and genuine Christian life. The true misery of men comes because they do not know their own minds nor consistently and persistently keep to one course. Distraction is misery. Unity is peace, and peace is strength, and unity and peace and strength, in the utter devotion of myself to the worthy Christ, are the blessedness of earth, the predictions and foretastes of the transports of eternity. The simplicity that is towards Christ is the beginning of the rest that remaineth for the people of God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The danger and evil of being turned away from the simplicity that is in Christ

The gospel is supposed by many to be something very easily understood. No doubt its leading truths are comparatively few and simple, but the evil heart of unbelief, our natural blindness, and the efforts of the adversary, often bring it about that men misunderstand it, pervert it, add to it, or detract from it. Hence Paul expresses himself in the language of anxiety, I fear. And if so the evil he deprecates must be a great evil. Note--

I. Satans temptation of Eve, as a proof of his subtilty and our danger (cf. Gen_3:1-6).

1. His subtilty is manifest in his availing himself of the circumstances in which Eve was placed.

(1) She was alone. Had Adam been near she would surely have consulted him. Satans success manifestly depended on his giving no opportunity for consulting one perhaps possessed of more vigour of mind and judgment than herself. Here learn that in times of temptation we should avail ourselves of the benefit of Christian counsel.

(2) She was in the situation where temptation was most likely to be successful--near the forbidden fruit. She apparently had but to lift the eye, and the object of temptation was before her. Had she been obliged to travel to a distance, there might have been time for deliberation; but being upon the spot, the very sight of the forbidden fruit would bring new feelings and desires into action, and add fuel to the fire. Let us learn from this to be especially upon our guard when near the object of temptation.

2. Satans subtilty is manifest in the way in which he assailed her, viz., by the serpent. The very fact of the serpents speaking must have awakened no ordinary surprise and curiosity. Her mind could not be in a calm state. And the remarkable occurrence might only the better prepare her for giving credit to his subsequent statement. And does not this teach us that Satan is ever more to be dreaded when he speaks to us through the instrumentality of others. Peter, no doubt, thought he was but giving utterance to his own feelings when he said, Far be it from Thee, Lord. But Christs words are, Get thee behind Me, Satan, etc.

3. The subtilty of Satan is more especially manifest in the nature of the temptation, and the manner in which it is conducted.

(1) The first step of the temptation is laid in the remark, Yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

(a) Here Satans effort seems to be to awaken doubts of Gods goodness and truth. Is it so? Can it be that God hath made this restriction? Can He have created the fruit; given you appetites and desires, and forbidden you to indulge them? He must either be a hard master, or you must be labouring under some strange delusion. This is the way in which he still works. Sometimes he will work through the burden of sin pressing upon the conscience; sometimes through present suffering, or our natural craving after things forbidden; and if he can but awaken doubt or suspicion, a separation is made between the creature and the Creator. The creature stands helpless and alone, and the after steps are comparatively easy.

(b) Look now to the results. These are brought before us in the answer of Eve. From the extensive nature of the grant, so illustrative of His goodness, her attention is turned away. A separation is made between Eve and God.

(2) Satan has her now at a great advantage. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. Emboldened by success, Satan daringly sets up his word in opposition to the word of the God of truth. But a few moments before he would not have ventured thus to accost his victim.

II. The evil which the apostle fears and deprecates. Lest your minds should be corrupted.

1. From the simple, poor gospel, that is in Christ. Free in Christ are held forth all spiritual blessings. The gospel--simple, intelligible, and plainly revealed. And yet, how few understand it, believe it! The apostle had preached it at Corinth, and yet he speaks of Christ crucified being to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. Well aware of the importance of clear and realising views of the gospel, Satan is ever active in his efforts to mislead, to blind, or to obscure (2Co_4:3-4). Ah! be then upon your guard. Bear in mind that you have such an adversary, not the less to be dreaded because unseen.

2. From the simple, direct, confiding reliance upon Christ. This is our duty, and it is our interest. But obligatory and blessed as it is our minds, through the subtilty of Satan, are very apt to be corrupted or turned away from it. He will suggest that your sins have been too many and that the sacrifices that you will have to make are too many or too great.

3. From the simple, ruling aim, of glorifying God in Christ. (J. Thomson.)

Simplicity towards Christ

(R.V.):--

1. Simplicity, here, has been supposed to describe a quality belonging to Christ or the gospel. Hence Give us the simple gospel has been the cry, and preachers have been expected to reiterate commonplaces, which have made both them and their hearers listless. The gospel is simple, but it is also deep, and they will best appreciate its simplicity who have most honestly endeavoured to fathom its depth. When we let our little sounding lines out, and find that they do not reach the bottom, we begin to wonder even more at the transparency of the clear abyss.

2. It is not simplicity in but towards Christ of which the apostle is speaking. Note--

I. The attitude towards Christ which befits the Christian relation to Him.

1. The word has had a touch of contempt associated with it. It is a somewhat doubtful compliment to say of a man that he is simple minded. All noble words, as indeed all good things tend to deteriorate by time and use. It means to be without a fold, which is, in one aspect, to be transparently honest and true, and in another to be out and out of a piece. There is no underside of the cloth, doubled up beneath, running in the opposite direction; but all tends in one way. A man with no under-currents, no by-ends, who is down to the very roots what he looks, and all whose being is knit together and hurled in one direction, that is the simple man whom the apostle means.

2. The attitude which corresponds to our relation to Christ as bride and Bridegroom (2Co_11:2), is that of--

(1) A faith which looks to Him exclusively as--

(a) The source of salvation. Paul feared that the Judaising teachers would find their way into this church and teach them that obedience to the Jewish law was a condition of salvation, along with trust in Christ. And because they thus shared out the work of salvation between Jesus and something else, Paul regarded them as preaching another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel (2Co_11:4). That particular error is long dead and buried. But has this old foe not got a new face, and does not it live amongst us as really as it lived then? I think it does; in the grosser kind of ecclesiasticism which sticks sacraments and a church in front of the Cross, and in the definite denial that Christs death is the one means of salvation, and in the coarse, common wish to have a finger in the pie and a share in the work of saving myself, as a drowning man will sometimes half drown his rescuer by trying to use his own limbs. These tendencies that Paul fought are perennial in human nature. And we have to be on our guard for ever against them. It is not Christ and anything else. Men are not saved by a syndicate. Beside Him there is no Saviour. You go into a Turkish mosque and the roof is held up by a forest of slim pillars. You go into a cathedral chapter-house, and there is one strong support in the centre. The one is an emblem of the Christless multiplicity of vain supports, the other of the eternal sufficiency of the one pillar on which the whole weight of a worlds salvation rests.

(b) The sole light and teacher of men as to God, themselves, their duty, their destinies and prospects. In this day of confusions let us listen for the voice of Christ and accept all which comes from Him. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou only hast the words of eternal life.

(2) An exclusive love which He demands or rather permits or privileges. It is the joy of the betrothed that her duty is to keep her heart clear from all competing affections. But it is none the less her duty because it is her joy. Not that we are to love nothing but Him, but we are to love all things else in Him. Love to one who has done what He has done for us is in its very nature exclusive. The centre diamond makes the little stones set round it all the more lustrous. Divided love incurs the condemnation that falls heavily upon the head of the faithless bride.

(3) Absolute obedience. In all matters His command is my law, and, as surely as I make His command my law, will He make my desire His motive. If ye love Me keep My commandments. If ye ask anything in My name I will do it.

II. The solicitude for its maintenance.

1. Think of what threatens it. 1 say nothing about the ferment of opinion in this day, for one man that is swept away from a whole-hearted faith by intellectual considerations, there are a dozen from whom it is filched without their knowing it.

(1) By the world. Who can hear the low voice that speaks peace and wisdom when Niagara is roaring past his ears? But it is possible that we may so carry into all the whirl the central peace, as that we shall not be disturbed by it; and possible that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we may do all to His glory, so that we can, even in the midst of our daily pressing avocations and cares be keeping our hearts in the Heavens, and our souls in touch with our Lord.

(2) By our own weaknesses, waywardnesses, senses, passions, desires. All these have a counteracting force, which needs continual watchfulness in order to be neutralised. No man can grasp a stay, which alone keeps him from being immersed in the waves with uniform tenacity, unless every now and then he tightens his muscles. And no man can keep himself firmly grasping Christ unless by conscious effort directed to bettering his hold.

2. If there be dangers around and within us, the discipline which we have to pursue to secure this uniform single-hearted devotion is plain enough. Let us be vividly conscious of the peril; let us take stock of ourselves lest creeping evil may be encroaching upon us, while we are all unaware; let us clearly contemplate the possibility of an indefinite increase in the closeness and thoroughness of our surrender to Him; let us find time or make time for the patient, habitual contemplation of the great facts which kindle our devotion; let us, too, wait with prayerful patience for that Divine Spirit who will knit more closely to our Lord. Alas, how remiss we are in all this.

3. Half and half religion will bring no praise to Christ or profit to ourselves. A half-and-half Christian has religion enough to prick and sting him, and not enough to impel him to forsake the evil which yet he cannot comfortably do. If we are to be Christian men at all, let us be it out and out. Half-and-half religion is no religion. One foot on land, and one on sea. To one thing constant never! That is the type of thousands of professing Christians. I fear lest by any means your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is towards Christ. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Satan himself transformed into an angel of light

I. The way of his operation upon the soul, in conveying his fallacies in the minds of men.

1. By moving, stirring, and sometimes altering the humours and disposition of the body. He knows that there is no grace but has its counterfeit in some passion; and no passion of the mind, but moves upon the wheel of some humour of the body. So that it is easy for him to refine the fire of a choleric humour into zeal, and raise the operations of melancholy to the semblance of humiliation.

2. By suggesting the ideas and spiritual pictures of things to the imagination. From whence it is, that poor deluded women talk much of sudden joys and raptures, etc. Again, some perhaps have had a text cast into their fancy, e.g., Jer_48:10, whereupon they presently thought themselves commissioned, by an extraordinary call from heaven, to cut and slay.

3. By an actual ingress into the man like a vicarious soul. And now how easy must it be for this spirit to cast any person possessed by him into an ecstasy. And the person possessed (Act_19:16) could never have prevailed over so many men, had he not had something in him stronger than man. But what needs there any further arguing when we read how often our Saviour cast him out of men?

II. The grand instances in which the devil, under this mask of light, has imposed upon the Christian world. It has been his constant method to accommodate his impostures to the prevailing notions of each particular age.

1. The ruling principle of the first ages of the church was zealous devotion, and concern for the worship of one only God, having been so newly converted from the worship of many. Accordingly, the devil sets up Arianism, and with a bold stroke strikes at the Godhead of the Son of God.

2. As the Arian ages had chiefly set themselves to take away our Saviours divinity, so the following ages, by a kind of contrary stretch, were no less intent upon paying an exorbitant devotion to every thing belonging to His humanity. For from hence men came to give that inordinate veneration to the sacrament of Christs body and blood. After which, with great industry, they got together and kept all relics, which any way represented His memory, till at length they even adored them. This superstition extended itself to Christs martyrs; the memory of whom they celebrated with solemn invocations at their sepulchres. And thus by degrees paganism came to be christened into a new form and name. Then mortification was (in show at least) advanced, and Satan began to play the white devil, by prohibiting, upon pretence of higher sacerdotal purity, the marriage of the clergy, forbidding also certain sorts of meat, and enjoining others: as likewise imposing many corporal severities, for the recommending of all which to mens use, they taught them that these practices were satisfactory for sin, and meritorious of heaven.

3. When the mist of ignorance began to clear up, men began to smell out the cheat. But then again, lest so sudden and mighty a light might baffle all his projects, he began wisely to light up his candle, too, in the new sect of Ignatius Loyola, a sect composed of the best wits and ablest heads. And by this course he quickly fought the protestants at their own weapons. For he saw well enough that it was learning which must do his business, when ignorance was grown out of fashion. So having long imposed upon Christendom by popery, and at length finding a new light sprung in upon a great part of it, he thought it his interest to trump up a new scene of things, and so correspondently to the two main parts of religion, speculative and practical, he fell upon two contrary but equally destructive extremes, Socinianism and enthusiasm.

III. Some principles by which he is likely to repeat the same cheats. And these are eminently three.

1. The stating of the doctrine of faith and free grace so as to make them undermine the necessity of a good life.

2. The opposing the power of godliness irreconcileably to all forms. And what is this but in another instance to confront subordinates, and to destroy the body because the soul can subsist without it?

3. The ascribing such a kingdom to Christ, as shall oppose and interfere with the kingdoms and governments of the world. (R. South, D. D.)

Satan transformed into an angel of light

Satan was once, in deed and in truth, an angel of light. He became an angel of darkness, and he is now transformed into an angel of light again; not into the reality, but into the form and semblance.

I. Satan appears in the guise of an angel of light. In such a guise it was that he presented himself to our first mother, Eve, in Paradise (Gen_3:4-5). In such a guise it was that he assaulted the Son of Man in the wilderness. To this encounter he brought with him the Word of God. Fancy not that every one who has a Bible in his hand, and a text in his mouth, is therefore taught of God. The devil will quote scripture with any one of you. Satan transforms himself into an angel of light and becomes a great preacher of--

1. Philosophy. And so contrives to mysticise the Word of God. He can so confound principle with speculation, and argument with assumption, as to leave you in doubt between the simplest elements of fact or truth, and the wildest theories of imagination.

2. Morality. And so he labours to degrade the Scriptures: to take away the spirit, and leave nothing but the letter; a formal code of decency, without life.

3. Expediency. This is his grand bulwark of defiance against the efficacy of the Word of God. Here the world can find a reply to any appeal, however urgent; an evasion of any duty, however solemn. There is always something to be urged, in answer to the commands of God; some plea of necessity, convenience, etc.

4. Rites and ceremonies. The world is always pleased to rest in outward observances, and to substitute the form of godliness for the spirit. The devil knows that and gives them, in his gospel, a full supply.

5. Austerities. This, however, is one of those refinements in the gospel of Satan which he promulgates not to the world at large, but reserves, as a special boon, for those of a more morbid temperament.

6. Superstitions. To make the services of religion irksome is one of his devices; to make them ludicrous is another.

II. The marks which denote the minister of the gospel of christ.

1. He hesitates not to declare the whole counsel of God. There may be much he cannot understand, much he cannot reconcile; still he believes all, proclaims all.

2. Beyond all things and above all things, he manifests a concern for souls (2Ti_4:2).

3. In the midst of all his labours he casts off the confidence of the flesh. He knows that Paul may plant, and Apollos water, but God must give the increase.

Conclusion:

1. It is when false apostles are transformed into angels of light that they most effectually promote the kingdom of darkness.

2. There is a transformation, and that, too, from darkness to light, which leaves a man but a devil at the last. This is the transformation of the head and not of the heart, and gives men a devils faith, without works; a devils zeal, without knowledge. How careful should we be, not only to attain a transformation, but the right and true conversion, which none but God can impart. (R. Hall, M. A.)

The transformation of evil

If evil were as frightful in its aspect as in its essence we should be in little danger from it. We shrink from a tiger, rattlesnake, vulture, etc. But just as the Oriental invests destructive beasts with a certain glamour, so vice attains a certain glamour in our eyes. Note--

I. The transfiguration of evil. It is transfigured--

1. By imagination. A naturalist writes concerning The beautiful methods of killing the delicate inhabitants of the sea. What beautiful methods there are for killing the delicate inhabitants of the land. The bard robes corruption in cloth of gold. In fiction immoral characters are often made heroic and charming. How artfully has intemperance been metamorphosed into delightful shapes. Bacchus marches accompanied by choicest songs. It is the same with war. In a certain village we saw a slaughter-house cleverly concealed by evergreens; and the slaughter-house of nations has been similarly hidden by flowers of rhetoric. Libertinism is often made to glow with delusive lustre. In nature we see sometimes the dirtiest puddles tinged with bits of rainbow: oftener still in literature. On the banks of the Amazon there is a brilliant spider that spreads itself out as a flower, and the insects lighting upon it find death. So in human life.

2. By philosophy which may mislead us.

(1) In matters of faith and worship. There is a philosophy which explains the gospel--

(a) In the sense of worldliness. It regards Christianity as favourable to health, temperance, economy, etc., and ignores all its heavenliness.

(b) In the sense of anti-nomianism. Under the pretence of honouring Christ it transgresses the law of righteousness which He came to maintain.

(c) In the sense of unbelief. False apostles urge their theories as doctrines of Christ whilst the essentials of faith are lacking in those theories. In the name of reason, independence, progress, we are exhorted to conclusions which make the Cross of Christ of none effect.

Many have philosophised about the gospel until they have embraced despair. Eastern travellers are mocked by splendid mirages until they will not believe in the real oases when they see them. And we may philosophise about the church until we find ourselves embracing superstition. The church itself may become a siren alluring us away from Him who is the sinners peace and hope.

(2) In matters of conduct. What unsophisticated men regard with simple abhorrence clever reasoners can show has a good side to it. Take e.g.--

(a) Improvidence. Mr. Nisbet says, Indirectly the poor man who brings forth children he cannot feed is a public benefactor; he renders the struggle for life more acute, and by that means stimulates the energies of his race. The simple-minded feel that he is a shameless wretch.

(b) Intemperance. Mr. Matthieu Williams says That all human beings who are fit to survive as members of a civilised community will avoid intemperance, whilst those who are incapable of self-restraint are provided with a happy despatch by natural alcoholic selection, provided nobody interferes with their desire for a short life and a merry one. So the sot is an unconscious philosopher!

(c) Impurity. Mr. Sinclair says, Prostitutes are not the worst, but generally the best of the lower classes; people of fine physique, who cannot get their true match in the sphere where born, but must, by the holiest of all instincts, that of truth, seek upward by any means.

(d) War. Powerful writers assure us that war is a sacrifice to the cause of progress, as wholesome as a lightning storm, a school of virtue.

(e) And not content with affirming that certain evils are necessary evils, philosophy declares boldly that there is no evil at all. Good and evil are only different degrees of the same thing.

3. By society. The practical world is a great transformation scene where the imp often appears a fairy, and the beast, beauty. Acts of revenge are vindicated when they are called affairs of honour; debt is innocency itself when known as pecuniary obligation; libertinism is purged of all taint when characterised as gay life; the most brutal gladiatorship has suffered a change into something rich when it becomes the noble art of self-defence. But by whatever alias evil may be known its action is equally ruinous. The arrow is not the less fatal because shot from ambush or winged with an eagles feather.

II. The path of safety amid these dangerous illusions.

1. Let us not forget that the chief danger of life lies in this moral illusion. It is often hard to persuade us that there is any such danger of deception. But the scientist while he believes his eyes takes great pains so that he may be sure he sees truly. The connoisseur is equally careful, and the businessman, knowing the trickery in his province, acts warily. And caution is particularly needed in the moral world. Satan conceals his fell purposes as the Greek assassins did their swords in myrtle branches.

2. Let us be sincere in soul. Much depends on integrity of purpose in life. Under all deception is self-deception--a secret willingness to be deceived because we have pleasure in unrighteousness and purpose to follow it. An adventurer persuades you that a few shares at a trifling cost will make you a millionaire; but you find ere long that you have been cruelly deceived. Will the public pity you? No. You were easily blinded because of your inordinate desires.

3. Let us respect the written law. The Bible is a wonderful book for destroying the glamour of sin. It makes palpable--

(1) Its sophistry. It exposes the deceitfulness of the heart, and pierces the maxims by which society excuses its folly and vices.

(2) Its horror. It compels the transformed devil to return to his true shape.

(3) Its fruits. Once our Master encountered Satan in his uttermost transfiguration. With the words It is written, our Lord pricked one gorgeous bubble after another, and we must follow His example.

4. Let us constantly see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and bring to Him whatever theory or thing may solicit us. In His light we shall know exactly what is true. (W. L. Watkinson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 11:3. But I fear — Love is full of these fears; lest by any means — By some means or other; as the serpent — A most apposite comparison; deceived Eve — Simple, ignorant of ill; by his subtlety — Which is in the highest degree dangerous to such a disposition; so your minds — (We might therefore be tempted, even if there were no sin in us;) should be corrupted — Losing their virginal purity; from the simplicity that is in Christ — Namely, that simplicity which is lovingly intent on him alone. “That it was the devil who beguiled Eve, our Lord hath intimated, by calling him a murderer from the beginning, and a liar, Joh 8:44. The same also St. John hath intimated, by giving the name of the old serpent to him who is called the devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world, Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2. Besides, in the history of the fall, the serpent is said to have been punished, as a rational and accountable agent. Wherefore, what Moses hath written of the fall, is not an apologue, or fable, with a moral meaning, as Middleton and others contend, but a true history of things really done, in which the devil was the chief actor.” — Macknight. See note on Gen 3:1-15.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Corinthians

SIMPLICITY TOWARDS CHRIST

2Co 11:3

The Revised Version, amongst other alterations, reads, ‘the simplicity that is _towards_ Christ.’

The inaccurate rendering of the Authorised Version is responsible for a mistake in the meaning of these words, which has done much harm. They have been supposed to describe a quality or characteristic belonging to Christ or the Gospel; and, so construed, they have sometimes been made the watchword of narrowness and of intellectual indolence. ‘Give us the simple Gospel’ has been the cry of people who have thought themselves to be evangelical when they were only lazy, and the consequence has been that preachers have been expected to reiterate commonplaces, which have made both them and their hearers listless, and to sink the educational for the evangelistic aspect of the Christian teacher’s function.

It is quite true that the Gospel is simple, but it is also true that it is deep, and they will best appreciate its simplicity who have most honestly endeavoured to fathom its depth. When we let our little sounding lines out, and find that they do not reach the bottom, we begin to wonder even more at the transparency of the clear abyss. It is not simplicity _in_ Christ, but _towards_ Christ of which the Apostle is speaking; not a quality in Him, but a quality in _us_ towards Him. I wish, then, to turn to the two thoughts that these words suggest. First and chiefly, the attitude towards Christ which befits our relation to Him; and, secondly and briefly, the solicitude for its maintenance.

I. First, then, look at the attitude towards Christ which befits the Christian relation to Him.

The word ‘simplicity’ has had a touch of contempt associated with it. It is a somewhat doubtful compliment to say of a man that he is ‘simple-minded.’ All noble words which describe great qualities get oxidised by exposure to the atmosphere, and rust comes over them, as indeed all good things tend to become deteriorated in time and by use. But the notion of the word is really a very noble and lofty one. To be ‘without a fold,’ which is the meaning of the Greek word and of its equivalent ‘simplicity,’ is, in one aspect, to be transparently honest and true, and in another to be out and out of a piece. There is no underside of the cloth, doubled up beneath the upper which shows, and running in the opposite direction; but all tends in one way. A man with no under-currents, no by-ends, who is down to the very roots what he looks, and all whose being is knit together and hurled in one direction, without reservation or back-drawing, that is the ‘simple’ man whom the Apostle means. Such simplicity is the truest wisdom; such simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ is the only attitude of heart and mind which corresponds to the facts of our relation to Him. That relation is set forth in the context by a very sweet and tender image, in the true line of scriptural teaching, which in many a place speaks of the Bride and Bridegroom, and which on its last page shows us the Lamb’s wife descending from Heaven to meet her husband. The state of devout souls and of the community of such here on earth is that of betrothal. Their state in heaven is that of marriage. Very beautiful it is to see how this fiery Paul, like the ascetic John, who never knew the sacred joys of that state, lays hold of the thought of the Bridegroom and the Bride, and of his individual relation to both as indicating the duties of the Church and the solicitude of the Apostle. He says that he has been the intermediary who, according to Oriental custom, arranged the preliminaries of the marriage, and brought the bride to the bridegroom, and, as the friend of the latter, standing by rejoices greatly to hear the bridegroom’s voice, and is solicitous mainly that in the tremulous heart of the betrothed there should be no admixture of other loves, but a whole-hearted devotion, an exclusive affection, and an absolute obedience. ‘I have espoused you,’ says he, ‘to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest . . . your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is towards Him.’

Now that metaphor carries in its implication all that anybody can say about the exclusiveness, the depth, the purity, the all-pervasiveness of the dependent love which should knit us to Jesus Christ. The same thought of whole-hearted, single, absolute devotion is conveyed by other Scripture metaphors, the _slave_ and the _soldier_ of Christ. But all that is repellent or harsh in these is softened and glorified when we contemplate it in the light of the metaphor of my text.

So I might leave it to do its own work, but I may perhaps be allowed to follow out the thought in one or two directions.

The attitude, then, which corresponds to our relation to Jesus Christ is that, first, of a faith which looks to Him exclusively as the source of salvation and of light. The specific danger which was alarming Paul, in reference to that little community of Christians in Corinth, was one which, in its particular form, is long since dead and buried. But the principles which underlay it, the tendencies to which it appealed, and the perils which alarmed Paul for the Corinthian Church, are perennial. He feared that these Judaising teachers, who dogged his heels all his life long, and whose one aim seemed to be to build upon his foundation and to overthrow his building, should find their way into this church and wreck it. The keenness of the polemic, in this and in the contextual chapters, shows how real and imminent the danger was. Now what they did was to tell people that Jesus Christ had a partner in His saving work. They said that obedience to the Jewish law, ceremonial and other, was a condition of salvation, along with trust in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And because they thus shared out the work of salvation between Jesus Christ and something else, Paul thundered and lightened at them all his life, and, as he tells us in this context, regarded them as preaching another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel. That particular error is long dead and buried.

But is there nothing else that has come into its place? Has this old foe not got a new face, and does not it live amongst us as really as it lived then? I think it does; whether in the form of the grosser kind of sacramentarianism and ecclesiasticism which sticks sacraments and a church in front of the Cross, or in the form of the definite denial that Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross is the one means of salvation, or simply in the form of the coarse, common wish to have a finger in the pie and a share in the work of saving oneself, as a drowning man will sometimes half drown his rescuer by trying to use his own limbs. These tendencies that Paul fought, and which he feared would corrupt the Corinthians from their simple and exclusive reliance on Christ, and Christ alone, as the ground and author of their salvation, are perennial in human nature, and we have to be on our guard for ever and for ever against them. Whether they come in organised, systematic, doctrinal form, or whether they are simply the rising in our own hearts of the old Adam of pride and self-trust, they equally destroy the whole work of Christ, because they infringe upon its solitariness and uniqueness. It is not Christ and anything else. Men are not saved by a syndicate. It is Jesus Christ alone, and ‘beside Him there is no Saviour.’ You go into a Turkish mosque and see the roof held up by a forest of slim pillars. You go into a cathedral chapter-house and see one strong support in the centre that bears the whole roof. The one is an emblem of the Christless multiplicity of vain supports, the other of the solitary strength and eternal sufficiency of the one Pillar on which the whole weight of a world’s salvation rests, and which lightly bears it triumphantly aloft. ‘I fear lest your minds be corrupted from the simplicity’ of a reasonable faith directed towards Christ.

And in like manner He is the sole light and teacher of men as to God, themselves, their duty, their destinies and prospects. He, and He alone, brings these things to light. His word, whether it comes from His lips or from the deeds which are part of His revelation, or from the voice of the Spirit which takes of His and speaks to the ages through His apostles, should be ‘the end of all strife.’ What He says, and all that He says, and nothing else than what He says, is the creed of the Christian. He, and He only, is ‘the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ In this day of babblements and confusions, let us listen for the voice of Christ and accept all which comes from Him, and let the language of our deepest hearts be, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou only hast the words of eternal life.’

Again, our relation to Jesus Christ demands exclusive love to Him. ‘Demands’ is an ugly word to bracket with love. We might say, and perhaps more truly, permits or privileges. It is the joy of the betrothed that her duty is to love, and to keep her heart clear from all competing affections. But it is none the less her duty because it is her joy. What Christ is to you, if you are a Christian, and what He longs to be to us all, whether we are Christians or not, is of such a character as that the only fitting attitude of our hearts to Him in response is that of exclusive affection. I do not mean that we are to love nothing but Him, but I mean that we are to love all things else in Him, and that, if any creature so delays or deflects our love as that either it does not pass, by means of the creature, into the presence of the Christ, or is turned away from the Christ by the creature, then we have fallen beneath the sweet level of our lofty privilege, and have won for ourselves the misery due to distracted and idolatrous hearts. Love to one who has done what He has done for us is in its very nature exclusive, and its exclusiveness is all-pervasive exclusiveness. The centre diamond makes the little stones set round it all the more lustrous. We must love Jesus Christ all in all or not at all. Divided love incurs the condemnation that falls heavily upon the head of the faithless bride.

Dear friends, the conception of the essence of religion as being love is no relaxation, but an increase, of its stringent requirements. The more we think of that sweet bond as being the true union of the soul with God, who is its only rest and home, the more reasonable and imperative will appear the old commandment, ‘Thou shalt love Him with all thy heart, and soul, and strength, and mind.’

But, further, our relation to Jesus Christ is such as that nothing short of absolute obedience to His commandment corresponds to it. There must be the simplicity, the single-mindedness that thus obeys, obeys swiftly, cheerfully, constantly. In all matters His command is my law, and, as surely as I make His command my law, will He make my desire His motive. For He Himself has said, in words that bring together our obedience to His will and His compliance with our wishes, in a fashion that we should not have ventured upon unless He had set us an example, ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments. If ye ask anything in My name I will do it.’ The exclusive love that binds us, by reason of our faith in Him alone, to that Lord ought to express itself in unhesitating, unfaltering, unreserved, and unreluctant obedience to every word that comes from His mouth.

These brief outlines are but the poorest attempt to draw out what the words of my text imply. But such as they are, let us remember that they do set forth the only proper response of the saved man to the saving Christ. ‘Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.’ Anything short of a faith that rests on Him alone, of a love that knits itself to His single, all-sufficient heart, and of an obedience that bows the whole being to the sweet yoke of His commandment is an unworthy answer to the Love that died, and that lives for us all.

II. And now I have only time to glance at the solicitude for the maintenance of this exclusive single-mindedness towards Christ.

Think of what threatens it. I say nothing about the ferment of opinion in this day, for one man that is swept away from a thorough whole-hearted faith by intellectual considerations, there are a dozen from whom it is filched without their knowing it, by their own weaknesses and the world’s noises. And so it is more profitable that we should think of the whole crowd of external duties, enjoyments, sweetnesses, bitternesses, that solicit us, and would seek to draw us away. Who can hear the low voice that speaks peace and wisdom when Niagara is roaring past his ears? ‘The world is too much with us, late and soon. Buying and selling we lay waste our powers,’ and break ourselves away from our simple devotion to that dear Lord. But it is possible that we may so carry into all the whirl the central peace, as that we shall not be disturbed by it; and possible that ‘whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we may do all to His glory,’ so that we can, even in the midst of our daily pressing avocations and cares be keeping our hearts in the heavens, and our souls in touch with our Lord.

But it is not only things without that draw us away. Our own weaknesses and waywardnesses, our strong senses, our passions, our desires, our necessities, all these have a counteracting force, which needs continual watchfulness in order to be neutralised. No man can grasp a stay, which alone keeps him from being immersed in the waves, with uniform tenacity, unless every now and then he tightens his muscles. And no man can keep himself firmly grasping Jesus Christ without conscious effort directed to bettering his hold.

If there be dangers around us, and dangers within us, the discipline which we have to pursue in order to secure this uniform, single-hearted devotion is plain enough. Let us be vividly conscious of the peril--which is what some of us are not. Let us take stock of ourselves lest creeping evil may be encroaching upon us, while we are all unaware--which is what some of us never do. Let us clearly contemplate the possibility of an indefinite increase in the closeness and thoroughness of our surrender to Him--a conviction which has faded away from the minds of many professing Christians. Above all, let us find time or make time for the patient, habitual contemplation of the great facts which kindle our devotion. For if you never think of Jesus Christ and His love to you, how can you love Him back again? And if you are so busy carrying out your own secular affairs, or pursuing your own ambitions, or attending to your own duties, as they may seem to be, that you have no time to think of Christ, His death, His life, His Spirit, His yearning heart over His bride, how can it be expected that you will have any depth of love to Him? Let us, too, wait with prayerful patience for that Divine Spirit who will knit us more closely to our Lord.

Unless we do so, we shall get no happiness out of our religion, and it will bring no praise to Christ or profit to ourselves. I do not know a more miserable man than a half-and-half Christian, after the pattern of, I was going to say, the ordinary average of professing Christians of this generation. He has religion enough to prick and sting him, and not enough to impel him to forsake the evil which yet he cannot comfortably do. He has religion enough to ‘inflame his conscience,’ not enough to subdue his will and heart. How many of my hearers are in that condition it is for them to settle. If we are to be Christian men at all, let us be it out and out. Half-and-half religion is no religion.

‘One foot in sea, and one on shore; To one thing constant never!’

That is the type of thousands of professing Christians. ‘I fear lest by any means your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is towards Christ.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:3 The false teachers were pulling the Corinthian believers away from pure and undivided devotion to Christ. In this they are doing the work of Satan, just as the serpent did in Eden (11:14; see Gen 3:4, 13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 11:3. Φοβοῦμαι, I fear) Such fear is not only not contrary to love, but it is a property of love, ch. 2Co 12:20; 2Co 12:19. [All jealousy doubtless arises from fear.—V. g.]—δὲ, but) This is opposed to, I have espoused.—ὡς, as) a very apposite comparison.—Εὖαν, Eve) who was simple and unacquainted with evil.—πανουργίᾳ, through subtilty) which is most inimical to simplicity.—οὕτως, so) The saints, even though original sin were entirely quiescent, may be tempted.—φθαρῇ, should be corrupted) Having lost their virgin purity. Seducers threatened the Corinthians; see next verse. An abbreviated mode of expression for, May be corrupted and drawn from their simplicity.—ἀπλότητος, the simplicity) which is intent on one object, and most tender; which seeks not another [Jesus; ἄλλον] nor a different [Spirit: ἕτερον, second and different], 2Co 11:4.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_11:3. The point of comparison is the leading astray by the devil, which took place in the case of Eve (through the serpent), and was to be feared in that of the Corinthians (through the false apostles, Satans servants, 2Co_11:15). For Paul presupposes it as well known to his readers, that Satan had led astray Eve by means of the serpent. To him and to them the serpent was by no means either a symbol or a mystical figure of the cosmical principle (Martensen). Comp. Wis_2:23 f.; 4Ma_18:8; 1Jn_3:8; Rev_12:9; Rev_12:14 f., Rev_20:2; and see on Joh_8:44, and Grimm on Wisd. l.c. For the monstrous inventions of the later Rabbins, see Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenth. I. p. 830 ff.

Pauls mention (comp. 1Ti_2:15) of Eve (not Adam) is alike in keeping with the narrative (Genesis 3) and with the comparison, since the church is represented as feminine (comp. Ignat. Eph. interpol. 17). In Rom_5:12 and 1Co_15:22, the connection demanded the mention of Adam.

ὁ ὄφις] the well-known serpen.

ἐν τῇ πανουργ. αὐτοῦ] instrumental. Comp. Eph_4:14; Aq. Gen_3:1 : ὁ ὄφις ἦν πανοῦργος, Ignat. Phil. 11 interpol.: ὁ σκολιὸς ὄφις κ.τ.λ.

φθαρῇ] become corrupted, not be corrupt (Ewald). Paul expresses himself with tender forbearance; the corruption of the church by anti-Pauline doctrine (2Co_11:4) he sees as a danger.

ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότ. κ.τ.λ.] a pregnant phrase: lest your thoughts (comp. 2Co_3:14, 2Co_4:4, 2Co_10:5) become corrupted and led away from the simplicity towards Christ (εἰς Χ. is not equivalent to ἐν Χ., as the Vulgate, Beza, Calvin, and others have it). See Fritzsche, Diss. II. p. 63 f.; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 277 [E. T. 322]. The ἁπλότης ἡ εἰς Χ. is the quality of simple, honest fidelity in the παρθένος ἁγνή, who shares her heart with no other than with her betrothed.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 11:3 . φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή πως κ . τ . λ .: but I fear lest by any means, as “the serpent beguiled” Eve in his craftiness (in Gen 3:1 the serpent is called φρονιμώτατος , but St. Paul changes the word to indicate the baseness of the serpent’s wisdom. Aristotle uses πανουργία in direct contrast to φρόνησις ; cf. Nic. Eth. , vi., 12), your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity ( cf. chap. 2Co 6:6 ) that is toward Christ . It would appear that the belief of the synagogues was that the serpent literally “seduced” Eve ( cf. 4Ma 18:6-8 , and Iren., contra Haer. , i., 307), and it is probably in reference to this that St. Paul substitutes the stronger word ἐξαπατάω (as he does at 1Ti 2:14 ) for the simple verb ἀπατ . of Gen 3:13 . Carrying on the metaphor of 2Co 11:2 , he expresses his anxiety lest the Corinthian Church, the Bride of Christ, should be seduced by the devil from her singleness of affection ( cf. 1Ma 2:37 ; 1Ma 2:60 , and see on 2Co 8:2 for ἁπλότης ) and her purity, and so should be guilty of spiritual fornication. He assumes that “the serpent” is to be identified with Satan, the tempter of mankind, as he does also at Rom 16:20 ; the earliest trace of this identification, which has become so familiar, is Wis 2:24 , cf. Rev 12:9 ; Rev 20:2 . He now gives the reason of his anxiety, lest they should fall away; viz. , they were showing themselves too willing to listen to strange teachings.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This place is to be marked against them which loathe that plain and pure simplicity of the Scriptures, in comparison of the colors and paintings of man’s eloquence.

Which is meet for them that are in Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I fear-- (Co2 12:20); not inconsistent with love. His source of fear was their yielding character.

subtilty--the utter foe of the "simplicity" which is intent on ONE object, Jesus, and seeks none "other," and no "other" and different Spirit (Co2 11:4); but loves him with tender SINGLENESS OF AFFECTION. Where Eve first gave way, was in mentally harboring for a moment the possibility insinuated by the serpent, of GOD not having her truest interests at heart, and of this "other" professing friend being more concerned for her than God.

corrupted--so as to lose their virgin purity through seducers (Co2 11:4). The same Greek stands for "minds" as for "thoughts" (Co2 10:5, also see on Co2 10:5); intents of the will, or mind. The oldest manuscripts after "simplicity," add, "and the purity" or "chastity."

in Christ--rather, "that is towards Christ."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty] This is a strong reflection on the false apostle and his teaching: he was subtle, πανουργος and by his subtlety (πανουργια, from παν, all, and εργον, work; his versatility of character and conduct, his capability of doing all work, and accommodating himself to the caprices, prejudices, and evil propensities of those to whom he ministered) he was enabled to corrupt the minds of the people from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ; or, to follow the metaphor, he had seduced the pure, chaste, well educated virgin, from her duty, affection, and allegiance to her one only true husband, the high priest, Jesus Christ. And here he seems to intimate that the serpent had seduced the mind of Eve from her affections and allegiance to Adam, her true husband; and certainly from God, her creator and governor. See at the end of the chapter. "2Co 11:33"

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. But I fear He begins to explain, what is the nature of that virginity of which he has made mention — our cleaving to Christ alone, sincerely, with our whole heart. God, indeed, everywhere requires from us, that we be joined with him in body and in spirit, and he warns us that he is a jealous God, (Exodus 20:5,) to avenge with the utmost severity the wrong done to him, in the event of any one’s drawing back from him. This connection, however, is accomplished in Christ, as Paul teaches in Ephesians, (Ephesians 5:25, 27.) He points out, however, at present the means of it — when we remain in the pure simplicity of the gospel, for, as in contracting marriages among men, there are written contracts drawn out, so the spiritual connection between us and the Son of God is confirmed by the gospel, as a kind of written contract. Let us maintain the fidelity, love, and obedience, that have been there promised by us; he will be faithful to us on his part.

Now Paul says that he is concerned, that the minds of the Corinthians may not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Paul, it is true, says in Greek εἰς Χριστόν, which Erasmus renders towards Christ, but the Old Interpreter has come nearer, in my opinion, to Paul’s intention, because by the simplicity that is in Christ is meant, that which keeps us in the unadulterated and pure doctrine of the gospel, and admits of no foreign admixtures By this he intimates that men’s minds are adulterated, whenever they turn aside, even in the least degree, to the one side or to the other, from the pure doctrine of Christ. Nor is it without good reason, for who would not condemn a matron as guilty of unchastity, so soon as she lends an ear to a seducer? So in like manner we, when we admit wicked and false teachers, who are Satan’s vile agents, show but too clearly, that we do not maintain conjugal fidelity towards Christ. We must also take notice of the term simplicity, for Paul’s fear was not, lest the Corinthians should all at once openly draw back altogether from Christ, but lest, by turning aside, by little and little, from the simplicity which they had learned, so as to go after profane and foreign contrivances, they should at length become adulterated.

He brings forward a comparison as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty For if false teachers have a show of wisdom, if they have any power of eloquence for persuading, if they plausibly insinuate themselves into the minds of their hearers, and instill their poison by fawning artifices, it was in a similar way that Satan also beguiled Eve, as he did not openly declare himself to be an enemy, but crept in privily under a specious pretext.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent . . .—An allusive reference to the history of Genesis 3, which meets us again in 1Ti_3:13-15. St. Paul either takes for granted that the disciples at Corinth will recognise the “serpent” as the symbol of the great Tempter, as in Rev_12:9; or, without laying stress on that identification, simply compares the work of the rival teachers to that of the serpent. The word for “subtilty” is not that used in the LXX. of Gen_3:1. Literally, it expresses the mischievous activity of a man who is capable de tout—ready, as we say, for anything.

Corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.—The Greek for “corrupt” has the same special sense as in 2Co_7:2, as implying something which is incompatible with the idea of purity. The Apostle seeks, as it were, for a chastity of mind as well as of body. Many of the better MSS. give, from the simplicity (i.e., singleness of affection) and chastity; and some, chastity and simplicity.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. as the serpent beguiled Eve] The Church, as a second Eve, is espoused to Christ, the new Adam (1Co_15:45). She must beware lest, like Eve, she listen to the voice of the same tempter, who ever lieth in wait to deceive, and so lose the privileges she was destined to enjoy. See ch. 2Co_2:11.

through his subtilty] See ch. 2Co_4:2, and note. A similar sentiment will be found in Col_2:4-8. For the serpent, see Gen_3:1; and cf. Wis_2:23-24; Rev_12:9; Rev_12:14-15.

your minds] See note on ch. 2Co_2:11, where the same word is used as here.

from the simplicity] Rather, singlemindness. See ch, 2Co_1:12, 2Co_8:2, 2Co_9:11; 2Co_9:13. Most editors here add and the chastity. No doubt the words and the chastity have been left out from the close similarity of the two Greek words in this passage. A word only differing in the Greek from this by one letter has been substituted for the word simplicity by many editors in ch. 2Co_1:12.

that is in Christ] Literally, ‘that is unto Christ’ (that ye had toward Christ, Cranmer). “This is an expression commonly mistaken. People suppose simplicity means what a child or ploughman can understand. Now if this be simplicity, the simplicity of the Gospel was corrupted by St Paul himself. ‘Simple,’ according to St Paul, means unmixed or unadulterated.” Robertson. See notes on passages cited in last note. The meaning therefore is ‘your single-minded devotion to Christ.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I fear lest by any means,.... Jealousy is always attended with fear, care, and solicitude, whether in things natural or spiritual. The apostle, as things were in this church, could not but express his fears, lest

as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety; that is, the old serpent the devil, who made use of a serpent, the most subtle creature of all the beasts of the field, and seduced Eve from her obedience to God, to transgress his command, by eating the forbidden fruit. The apostle here speaks the language and sense of the Jews, who say (p), that, "Satan and the serpent have one name", i.e. are the same; and that it was the old serpent (the devil), , "that beguiled Eve" (q), and who is said to be corrupted by him;

"the serpent (they say (r)) was corrupted first, after that, , "Eve was corrupted", and after that Adam was corrupted.''

So the apostle was jealous and fearful, knowing that the false apostles were ministers of Satan, artful and cunning men, lest, through their craftiness and sophistry,

your minds, says he,

should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ; that is, lest their judgments should be misled, their minds be vitiated with corrupt principles, and be carried away in any degree with the error of the wicked, from off the pure and simple doctrine of the Gospel, which respects the person and grace of Christ; and chiefly lies in this one plain, easy, and important truth, salvation alone by him. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "your minds should be corrupted, and should fall from the simplicity that is in Christ".

(p) Caphtor, fol. 93. 1. (q) Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Exod. fol. 50. 1. (r) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 15. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Ver. 3. But I fear] Jealousy is made up of love, fear, and anger.

By his subtilty] He mustered all his forces, or rather all his frauds, together to cheat her. That old serpent, when he was young, outwitted our first parents; now that he is old, and we young, Eph 4:14, what will he not do, if we watch not? Bellarmine saith of his Romanists, Romani sicut non acumina, ita nec imposturas habent, that they are neither sharp nor subtle. The devil is both, and so are they; witness their crafty cruel both positions and dispositions; this old serpent having lent them both his seven heads to plot and his ten horns to push.

So your minds should be corrupted] Satan hath his νοηματα, set and composed machination, 2Co 2:11, whereby he adulterateth our νοηματα, our judgments.

From the simplicity, &c.] Of all graces Satan would beguile us of this simplicity; the world calls it silliness, sheepishness.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I fear - Paul had just compared the church to a virgin, soon to be presented as a bride to the Redeemer. The mention of this seems to have suggested to him the fact that the first woman was deceived and led astray by the tempter, and that the same thing might occur in regard to the church which he was so desirous should be preserved pure. The grounds of his fear were:

That Satan had seduced the first woman, thus demonstrating that the most holy ones were in danger of being led astray by temptation; and, That special efforts were made to seduce them from the faith. The persuasive arts of the false teachers; the power of philosophy; and the attractive and corrupting influences of the world, he had reason to suppose might be employed to seduce them from simple attachment to Christ.

Lest by any means - Lest somehow (μήπως mēpōs). It is implied that many means would be used; that all arts would be tried; and that in some way, which perhaps they little suspected, these arts would be successful, unless they were constantly put upon their guard.

As the serpent beguiled Eve - see Gen 3:1-11. The word “serpent” here refers doubtless to Satan, who was the agent by whom Eve was beguiled see Joh 8:44; 1Jo 3:8; Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2. Paul did not mean that they were in danger of being corrupted in the same way, but that similar efforts would be made to seduce them. Satan adapts his temptations to the character and circumstances of the tempted. He varies them from age to age, and applies them in such a way as best to secure his object. Hence, all should be on their guard. No one knows the mode in which he will approach him, but all may know that he will approach them in some way.

Through his subtilty - see Gen 3:1. By his craft, art, wiles (ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ en tē panourgia). The word implies that shrewdness, cunning, craft was employed. A tempter always employs cunning and art to accomplish his object. The precise mode in which Satan accomplished his object is not certainly known. Perhaps the cunning consisted in assuming an attractive form - a fascinating manner - a manner suited to charm; perhaps in the idea that the eating of the forbidden fruit had endowed a serpent with the power of reason and speech above all other animals, and that it might be expected to produce a similar transformation in Eve. At all events there were false pretences and appearances, and such Paul apprehended would be employed by the false teachers to seduce and allure them; see on 2Co 11:13-14.

So your minds should be corrupted - So your thoughts should be perverted. So your hearts should be alienated. The mind is corrupted when the affections are alienated from the proper object, and when the soul is filled with unholy plans, and purposes, and desires.

From the simplicity that is in Christ -

(1) From simple and single-hearted devotedness to him - from pure and unmixed attachment to him. The fear was that their affections would be fixed on other objects, and that the singleness and unity of their devotedness to him would be destroyed.

(2) From his pure doctrines. By the admixture of philosophy; by the opinions of the world there was danger that their minds should be turned away from their hold on the simple truths which Christ had taught.

(3) From that simplicity of mind and heart; that childlike candor and docility; that freedom from all guile, dishonesty, and deception which so eminently characterized the Redeemer. Christ had a single aim; was free from all guile; was purely honest; never made use of any improper arts; never resorted to false appearances; and never deceived. His followers should in like manner be artless and guileless. There should be no mere cunning, no trick, no craft in advancing their purposes. There should be nothing but honesty and truth in all that they say. Paul was afraid that they would lose this beautiful simplicity and artlessness of character and manner; and that they would insensibly be led to adopt the maxims of mere cunning, of policy, of expediency, of seductive arts which prevailed so much in the world - a danger which was imminent among the shrewd and cunning people of Greece; but which is confined to no time and no place. Christians should be more guileless than even children are; as pure and free from trick, and from art and cunning as was the Redeemer himself.

(4) From the simplicity in worship which the Lord Jesus commended and required. The worship which the Redeemer designed to establish was simple, unostentatious, and pure - strongly in contrast with the gorgeousness and corruption of the pagan worship, and even with the imposing splendor of the Jewish temple service. He intended that it should be adapted to all lands, and such as could be offered by all classes of people - a pure worship, claiming first the homage of the heart, and then such simple external expressions as should best exhibit the homage of the heart. How easily might this be corrupted! What temptations were there to attempt to corrupt it by those who had been accustomed to the magnificence of the temple service, and who would suppose that the religion of the Messiah could not be less gorgeous than that which was designed to shadow forth his coming; and by those who had been accustomed to the splendid rites of the pagan worship, and who would suppose that the true religion ought not to be less costly and splendid than the false religion had been. If so much expense had been lavished on false religions, how natural to suppose that equal costliness at least should be bestowed on the true religion. Accordingly the history of the church for a considerable part of its existence has been little more than a record of the various forms in which the simple worship instituted by the Redeemer has been corrupted, until all that was gorgeous in pagan ceremonies and splendid in the Jewish ritual has been introduced as a part of Christian worship.

(5) From simplicity in dress and manner of living. The Redeemer’s dress was simple. His manner of living was simple. His requirements demand great simplicity and plainness of apparel and manner of life; 1Pe 3:3-6; 1Ti 2:9-10. Yet how much proneness is there at all times to depart from this! What a besetting sin has it been in all ages to the church of Christ! And how much pains should there be that the very simplicity that is in Christ should be observed by all who bear the Christian name!

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

So your minds shall be corrupted by those false teachers, from the simplicity in Christ, from the sincerity and purity of the gospel doctrine. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In all jealousy there is a mixture of love and fear: the apostle’s love to this church, together with his earnest desire to present them in the day of judgment unto Christ pure and uncorrupted, caused him to write; because he was afraid, lest that as the serpent by his subtlety deceived Eve, so some subtle seducers should corrupt them, and so withdraw them from the simplicity of their faith in Christ, and obedience to him. This danger was partly from the pagan philosophers, mixing their philosophical notions with the plain doctrine of the gospel; and partly from some that were tenacious of the Judaical rites, and would not understand the abolition of the ceremonial law.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. The serpent—St. Paul is jealous, lest as the serpent seduced Eve, so the Christine will seduce away the Corinthian Church. He here supposes even the Gentile Corinthians to be acquainted with and believers in the Genesis history.

Simplicity—Singleness of devotion.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I fear. Even now he would only contemplate their defection as a future dread, not as a present catastrophe. Lest by any means; lest. (2Co_2:7 2Co_9:4) As the serpent beguiled Eve. St. Paul merely touches on the central moral fact of the temptation and the Fall. (Gen_3:1-6) He enters into no speculation about the symbols, though, doubtless, like St. John, (Rev_12:9 Rev_20:2) he would have identified the serpent with Satan. (comp. 2Co_2:11 and RAPC Wis 2:23) Through his subtlety. The word means "crafty wickedness." It is used in 2Co_12:16, and is found in Luk_20:23. Your minds; literally, your thoughts. (2Co_2:11) Should be corrupted. (comp. Col_2:4-8; 1Ti_4:1) The simplicity. The apostles always insisted on this virtue, but especially St. Paul, in whose Epistles the word (aJplothv occurs seven times. That is in Christ; rather, that is towards (literally, into) Christ; as Cranmer rendered it, "The perfect fidelity Which looks to him above.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 3.

The simplicity in Christ.

your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Some manuscripts read, "simplicity and chastity." By the term "simplicity" is first meant "singleness of affection," "single-minded devotion to Christ," and the word is used in connection with the marriage figure of vers. 1, 2. It should be remembered that, in the East, the time of espousal is regarded as sacred, and any infidelities during the time of espousal are treated as adulteries are after marriage. In St. Paul"s conception the Church is the espoused bride of Christ, and he had been the means of arranging the espousal in the case of the Church at Corinth. "What the apostle now urges is that it is as natural for him to be jealous for the purity of the Church which owes its birth to him, as it is for a father to be jealous for the chastity of the daughter whom he has betrothed as to a kingly bridegroom." The older theocratic figure of idolatry as adultery, which so often appears in the books of the prophets, should be compared with this. The term "simplicity" may, however, be more full and suggestive to us, and mean singleness of devotion to Christ, entireness of service to him, unmixed love for him.

F.W. Robertson says that the expression, "the simplicity of the gospel," isconstantly mistaken. "People suppose simplicity means what a child or a ploughman can understand. Now, if this be simplicity, evidently the simplicity of the gospel was corrupted by St. Paul himself; for he is not simple. Who understands his deep writings? Does one in a thousand? St. Peter says there are things hard to be understood in St. Paul"s Epistles. We often hear it alleged as a charge against a book, a lecture, or a sermon, that it is not simple. If we are told that what we are to preach must be on a level with the most inferior intellect, so that without attention or thought it may be plain to all, we are bound to disclaim any obligation to do this; if it is supposed that the mysteries of God, of which we are the stewards, can be made as easy of comprehension as an article in a newspaper or a novel, we say that such simplicity can only be attained by shallowness. There must be earnestness, candour, patience, and a certain degree of intelligence, as well as a sort of sympathy between the minds of the preacher and his hearers, and there must be a determination to believe that no man who endeavours to preach the gospel will deliberately and expressly say what he knows to be false or wrong. "Simple" means, according to St. Paul, unmixed or unadulterated.

I THE PLACE OF CHRISTIAN THE CHURCH. It is as unique as that of the husband in relation to the wife. A place that can know no rivalry. Christ is Head, Lord, Husband. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." The old testimony is renewed for the Christian spheres, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord." "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." No earthly teachers may push into his place. No claim of Judaic ceremonies may spoil the trust in and devotion to him. "Him first, him midst, him last, him all in all." The bride has but one Husband, even Christ.

II THE SPIRIT OF THE CHURCH TOWARDS CHRIST. It is that full loyalty which follows upon setting our whole affection on Christ, and which finds expression in all loving submissions and obediences. It is precisely set before us by the great apostle when he says, "To me to live in Christ." "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

III THE TEMPTATIONS TO WHICH THE CHURCH IS EXPOSED. Answering to the disloyalty of a wife. And such temptations may take forms of subtlety, like those presented by the serpent to Eve. In every age there are things which tend to take the mind and heart from Christ. Nowadays it is worldliness, self-indulgence, the beautiful in art, and the fascination of scientific knowledge. We want now to love and serve so many things much and Christ a little, and still the old message sounds forth, "If a man forsake not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." St. Paul counted "all things loss for Christ," and would have nothing Mosaic rite, human philosophy, or aught else come between him and his one Lord. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I fear - Love is full of these fears. Lest as the serpent - A most apposite comparison. Deceived Eve - Simple, ignorant of evil. By his subtilty - Which is in the highest degree dangerous to such a disposition. So your minds - We might therefore be tempted, even if there were no sin in us. Might be corrupted - Losing their virginal purity. From the simplicity that is in Christ - That simplicity which is lovingly intent on him alone, seeking no other person or thing.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our apostle having in the foregoing verses, with a rhetorical insinuation, begged their pardon and their patience, whilst by a just and necessary commendation of himself, he vindicated his person and office from contempt: and having shewn, that what he did and said, was the fruit and effect of a pious jealousy, or holy love, mixed with fear: accordingly, he tells them very plainly in this verse, that he was really afraid of them, lest as Eve was seduced by the subtilty of the devil, so their minds should be corrupted by false apostles, and seduced from the pure doctrine of the gospel: For as the noblest and most generous wine is adulterated by mingling it with water, so is the doctrine of the gospel corrupted, by mixing with it either philosophical speculations, or Jewish traditions, or any sort of human inventions. Well therefore might the apostle say, I fear less your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. But I fear. As Eve was seduced from God by the serpent (Gen. 3:1), so he fears that the Corinthian brethren may be led from the simplicity (single-minded devotion) that is in Christ.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

But I am afraid that somehow ... pure devotion to Christ

"But I am afraid that somehow your thoughts might be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ just as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness"

your thoughts might be led astray away

Paul speaks of thoughts as if they were animals that people could lead along the wrong path. AT: "someone might cause you to believe lies" (See: Metaphor)

For suppose that someone comes and

"When anyone comes and"

a different spirit than what you received. Or suppose that you receive a different gospel than the one you received

"a different spirit than the Holy Spirit, or a different gospel than you received from us"

put up with these things

"deal with these things." See how these words were translated in 2 Corinthians 11:1.

translationWords

fear

serpent

deceive

Eve

astray

pure

Christ

preach

Jesus

preach

spirit

good news

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

3. φθαρῇ (אBDFGP, d g r Copt. Arm. Goth.) rather than οὔτω φθαρῇ (D2D3KLM, f Vulg. Syrr. Aeth.): the variant φθαρει (KLP) may be ignored. It is not easy to decide as to the genuineness of καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος, which אBFG 17, 74, g Aeth. have after ἀπλότητος, while D, d have τῆς ἀγνότητος καὶ τῆς ἁπλότητος, and א3D3KLMP, f have τῆς ἀπλότητος without κ. τ. ἀγνότητος. It is well attested, but it looks like a gloss, which very early got into the text, sometimes in one place and sometimes in another. It might be accidentally omitted through homœoteleuton. With less doubt read τὸν χριστόν (BDKLP) rather than Χριστόν (אFGM 80, 89).

3. “The Church, as a second Eve, is espoused to Christ, the second Adam (1Co 15:45). She must beware lest, like Eve, she listen to the voice of the same tempter, who ever lieth in wait to deceive, and so lose the privileges she was destined to enjoy” (Lias). On the supposed allusion to Rabbinic legends about the Fall see Heinrici in Meyer, and Thackeray, The Relation of St Paul to Contemporary Jewish Thought, pp. 50 ff. The identification of the serpent with the devil is found first in Wis 2:24.

φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή πως. Comp. 2Co 12:20; Gal 4:11. The δέ marks a contrast to the hopeful παραστῆσαι: he is quite sure that they will be loyal to Christ; but still he is very uneasy.

ἐξηπάτησεν. The strong compound is peculiar to Paul in the N.T. (Rom 7:11; Rom 16:18; 1Co 3:18; 2Th 2:3; 1Ti 2:14), and in the LXX. occurs only twice (Exo 8:29 [25] where A reads ἀπατῆσαι: Sus. 56). In classical Greek the compound is common; ἐξηπατήσας τὴν γυναῖκα (Hdt. II. 114:2). In Gen 3:3 we have ὁ ὄφις ἠπάτησέν με. Comp. Rev 12:9.

ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτοῦ, in his craftiness (2Co 4:2; 1Co 3:19; Eph 4:14; Luk 20:23). ‘Subtilty’ (A.V.) suggests a connexion with Gen 3:1 (‘was more subtle than any beast of the field’) which does not exist; ὁ δὲ ὄφις ἦν φρονιμώτατος πάντων τῶν θηρίων. Comp. Jos 9:4; Sir 19:25.

φθαρῇ τα νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπό τῆς ἁπλότητος. Your thoughts (2Co 2:11, 2Co 3:14, 2Co 4:4, 2Co 10:5) should be corrupted from the simplicity (2Co 8:2, 2Co 9:11; 2Co 9:13) and the purity (2Co 6:6 only) that is toward (2Co 8:22) the Christ. See critical note. The ἁγνότης ἡ εἰς τ. χρ. the loyalty of the betrothed παρθένος ἀγνή. For this use of ἀπό comp. κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός (Rom 7:2), and ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ χριστοῦ (Rom 9:3). The analogy between the serpent, which was Satan, and the Judaizing leaders, who were Satan’s ministers (2Co 11:15), lay in the cunning with which they seduced people from their loyalty and obedience. And in both cases the bait was similar,—a promise of enlightenment and privilege.

3. How is the statement of S. Paul here, that ‘the ethnarch guarded the city of the Damascenes to take me’, to be reconciled with that of S. Luke (Act 9:24), that ‘the Jews watched the gates day and night to kill him’? There is no real discrepancy. There were thousands of Jews in Damascus (Joseph. B. J. II. xx. 2, VII. viii. 7), and it was they who moved the ethnarch to persecute Saul. How powerful their synagogues were is seen from Act 9:2. Of course they would themselves watch the gates along with those who were placed there by Aretas, especially as they wished that Saul should not merely be taken, but be killed: comp. Act 23:12. The ethnarch would be glad enough to win popularity with so important a section of the population by the sacrifice of a troublesome visitor.

On all these questions see Hastings’ DB. i. pp. 145, 424, 793; Schürer, Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, I. ii. pp. 89, 356, II. i. p. 98; Lewin, Fasti Sacri, pp. 226, 249; Knowling on Act 9:23-24.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3.] But he fears their being seduced from their fidelity to Christ.

ὁ ὄφις] He takes for granted that the Corinthians recognized the agency of Satan in the (well-known) serpent: see vv. 13-15, where his μετασχηματισμός for the sake of deceit is alluded to.

ἐν τῇ παν. αὐτοῦ] in (i.e. by means of, as the element in which the deed was done) his versatility (or subtlety),—so (οὕτω has been a gloss from the margin) your thoughts (‘sentiments,’ ref. and ch. 10:5) be corrupted from (pregnant construction, = be corrupted, and seduced from) your simplicity (singleness of affection) and your chastity towards Christ (εἰς χρ. is not = ἐν χριστῷ, as Vulg., E. V., Beza, Calvin, al.).

4,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή πως. Timeo autem ne forte. He does not express either complete trust or complete distrust. Cf. 12:20; Gal 4:11. He has just expressed his own share and interest in their relationship to the Christ. Of course it must and will be maintained; but (δέ) there are perils about which he has misgivings.

ὡς ὁ ὄφις ἐξηπάτησεν Εὔαν. ‘As the serpent deceived Eve.’ The compound verb is strong in meaning, and perhaps justifies the insertion of ‘utterly’ or ‘completely.’ In 1Ti 2:14 the compound marks a distinction between Adam and Eve; she was ‘entirely deceived,’ but he was not even ‘ deceived’; what he did, he did to please himself and his wife. Nowhere else in N.T. is Eve mentioned. In LXX the compound is very rare, and in Gen 3:13 we have ὁ ὄφις ἠπάτησέν με. In N.T. it is confined to St Paul (1Co 3:18; Rom 7:11, Rom 7:16:18; 2Th 2:3; 1Ti 2:14), who is fond of compounds withἐκ (10:9, 11:12, 33, 12:15; 7, 13, 14, 15:34; ect.). In N.T. ἀπατάω is rare (Eph 5:6.; 1Ti 2:14; Jas 1:26).

Thackeray (Relation of St Paul to Contemporary Jewish Thought, p. 55) perhaps goes too far in saying that in these verses (3-15) we have “very strong reasons for presuming an acquaintance on the part of St Paul with the Rabbinical legend found in the Apocalypse of Moses and elsewhere, that the serpent seduced Eve to unchastity and that Cain was their child; also that Satan, after having first taken the form of a serpent, afterwards took that of an angel.” Menzies regards it as certain that “Paul knew a Haggadah or legend of this kind.” Heinrici in Meyer gives reasons for doubting this. Had St Paul said τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ αὐτοῦ and expressed what follows with more resemblance to the legend, his acquaintance with it would have been more certain.* Assuming that he knew it, there is no evidence that he believed it. He uses legends as illustrations of truth; see on 1Co 10:4.

ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτοῦ. ‘In his craftiness’ (see on 4:2). ‘Subtilty’ (AV) is no doubt meant to connect this with ‘the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field’ (Gen 3:1); but there LXX has φρονιμώτατος.† The legend says that it was because the serpent was the wisest animal that Satan took its form. The identification of the serpent with Satan is not found earlier than Wisd. 2:24, and it is not certain that it is found there. ‘By the envy of the devil death entered into the world,’ may refer to Cain’s envy leading him to kill Abel. Clement of Rome (Cor. 3) takes it so; as does Theophilus (Ad Autol. ii. 29). Cf. 1Jn 3:12. See Gregg on Wisd. 2:24.

φθαρῇ τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότητος. ‘Your thoughts’ (2:11, 3:14, 4:4, 10:5) should be corrupted (7:2; 1Co 15:33; Eph 4:22) from the simplicity (8:2, 9:11, 13) and the purity (6:6 only) that is toward (8:22) the Christ.’ Note that it is the Christian community as a whole, and not any individual Christian, that is the spouse of the Christ. The Apostle’s fear that the community will be seduced is very strange after the satisfaction expressed in the first seven chapters. The ἀπό implies that the corruption issues in seduction and separation; cf. Rom 7:2, Rom 9:3. If κοὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος is genuine, it refers to the chaste conduct of the παρθένος ἁγνή during the interval between betrothal and marriage. Like the serpent, the false teachers were promising enlightenment as the reward of disloyalty and disobedience. See Denney, p. 323.

א B D* G P 17, d e g r, Copt. omit οὕτω before φθαρῇ, and neither οὕτω (D2 and 3 E K L M, f Vulg. Syrr.) nor φθάρει (K L P) is likely to be original. καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος after ἁπλότητος (א * B F G 17, g Goth. Aeth.) is strongly attested. But א3 D3 K L M P, f Vulg. Syrr., Clem. Alex. omit, and D* E d e have τῆς ἁγνότητος καὶ τῆς ἁπλότητος, which suggests that the words may be a gloss inserted in two different places. Note the divergence of f from F א G M omit τόν before Χριστόν.

3. The conquest of Damascus by Aretas at any time is so improbable that it may safely be rejected from consideration.

The precise meaning of ἐθνάρχης is uncertain and not very important. The government of the Nabataean kingdom of Aretas seems to have been tribal, and ἐθνάρχης occurs in inscriptions as the head of a tribal district. Jewish governors in Palestine and Alexandria had the title, and perhaps ‘viceroy’ would be the modern equivalent (1 Macc. 14:47, 15:1, 2). It was applied to vassal princes, and it was under this title that the high priests governed the Jews (Joseph. Ant. XVII. xiii. 4; B.J. II. vi. 3).

There is no discrepancy between the statement here, that ‘the ethnarch guarded the city to take me,’ and that in Act 9:24, that ‘the Jews watched the gates night and day to kill him.’ It was the Jews who urged the ethnarch against Saul, and they were very numerous in Damascus (B.J. II. xx. 2, VII. viii. 7), and they would watch the gates along with the guards set by the ethnarch, who would not be sorry to gratify this turbulent element among his subjects by so simple a concession. Saul had already caused disturbance, and it would be an advantage to get him out of the way. But the total difference of wording, and the omission of the retirement to Arabia, show that Luke wrote quite independently of his friend’s letters. See Zahn, Intr. to N.T. iii. pp. 121, 140.

On these various problems see Hastings, DB. i. pp. 145, 424, 793; Enc. Bibl. i. 296, 815; Herzog, Real. Enc. i. p. 618 (Hauck, i p. 795); Schürer, Jewish People in the Time of J.C. 1. ii. pp. 89, 356, 11. i. p. 98; Lewin, Fasti Sacri, pp. 226, 249; Knowling on Act 9:23, Act 9:24; Zahn, Intr. to N.T. iii. p. 445; also Intr. to 1 Cor. p. xxviii.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The serpent. Paul 's only allusion to the story of the serpent in Eden. Eve. In accordance with the representation of the Church as the bride. Simplicity that is in Christ. Rev. adds, and the purity, following Westcott and Hort's text. Simplicity, single - hearted loyalty. In Christ; better, as Rev., towards [εις] .

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.