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2 Corinthians 11:3
ESV But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
NIV But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
NASB But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
CSB But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
NLT But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.
KJV 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.
NKJV But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

What does 2 Corinthians 11:3 mean?

The previous verse symbolized Paul as the protective father of a betrothed or engaged woman. The Corinthians were betrothed to Christ for eternity. Paul was their "spiritual father," as the one who introduced them to the gospel. He feels jealous for them on Christ's behalf when he sees false apostles luring them away from the true Christ with a false gospel.

Paul fears they will be led away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ by the false apostles. He compares their deceit to the serpent's cunning deception of Eve in Genesis 3. Using that approach, Paul connects the false apostles to Satan. He wrote in the previous chapter that his weapons were not of the flesh, but carried divine power to destroy the strongholds of a spiritual enemy doing battle for the thoughts and minds of believers (2 Corinthians 10:4–6).

In both cases, the weapon of the enemy is deception. Victory in the battle is decided by a believer's choice to believe God and maintain devotion to Christ.
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