Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, defending his apostleship against rival teachers who are presenting a different Christ. The verse sits between the marriage metaphor (v.2) and the specific charge of tolerating a different gospel (v.4).
The words — ἐξηπάτησεν (exēpatēsen) means "deceived, tricked," the same verb used of the serpent in Genesis 3:13, carrying a sense of cunning manipulation rather than mere error.
The thread — The same warning against being captured by deceptive teaching recurs in Galatians 1:6 (turning to a different gospel), Colossians 2:8 (empty deception), and Ephesians 4:14 (tossed about by every wind of teaching).
Why it lands — It asks the reader to test whether their devotion to Christ remains simple and pure or has been quietly redirected by something that sounds like the gospel but is not.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.
- Galatians 1:6 I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
- Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- Colossians 2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.
- Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
- 1 Timothy 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
- Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
- Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.