Simple and Pure Devotion to Christ

2 Corinthians 11:3. (NASB95) But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

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

2 Corinthians 11:3 (Amplified). But [now] I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

But I am afraid [“phobos,” terrified, frightened]
Paul spent the first letter correcting the Corinthians about all sorts of things. This passage is almost all the way through the second letter. But he was not afraid for them before this.

that, as the serpent [Rev 12: 9,10: “the serpent of old who is called the devil,” diabolos, the slanderer]
The serpent is the one who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He did so, partly, by slandering God. [“Has God said...?” “You surely will not die.”] The devil called God a liar. And he still does. His goal is to separate us from God. He does so by questioning God, by lying about God, by denying God’s love for us. But the devil tries to separate us from God by reminding us of our unworthiness to receive God’s love for us. He speaks accusation against us, to us. He also tries to separate us from our brothers and sisters in the Lord by speaking accusation against them.

deceived [“deceived” or “seduced”]
As I wrote above, the devil deceives us by lying about God to us. He tries to woo (“seduce”) us away from God by questioning His love for us and His promises to us.

Eve by his craftiness [his subtlety],
“Craftiness” is the opposite of simplicity. “Subtlety” offers multiple options to any problem. It declares a problem to be nuanced and complex. It asks us to look at the “big picture.” It tells us to look at the “context” of the problem. Yet, God is the big picture. And the biggest context of them all is God.

your minds [or “thoughts” or “the intent of your will”]
When I think of “mind,” I think of the whole mind: all the thoughts, emotion and will that makes up what is going on in my brain. But the Greek word covers more territory. When I think of “thoughts.” I think about the train of thoughts that make up my daily life: each thought leading to the next. “The intent of my will” is another distinct concept in English. It is what I want and intend to happen.

When I put all the ideas covered by the Greek word together, I can get a clearer picture of how the devil operates. He desires to lead astray my train of thoughts so that they do not naturally tend towards Jesus. He wants to corrupt the intent of my will, so that I will not want to turn to Jesus every chance I get. He wants my mind to be occupied by things other than devotion to (worship of) the Christ who forgave my sins and set me free from bondage.

will be led astray [destroyed, corrupted, spoilt]
When I think of the word “astray,” I think of it as a synonym for “distracted.” But this is different. The devil desires to corrupt my thought processes, not just distract me (although that can happen, too). “Corrupt” is a synonym for “evil.” But evil is not necessarily wicked deeds. In terms of the Kingdom of God, evil is simply things opposed to God and any of His ways. The devil wants to make my thoughts evil, that it, opposed to God.

from the simplicity [“singleness” or “sincerity.” Wuest - “single-hearted loyalty.”]

James 1:8 says that a “double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ...Purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

God asks us to display single-hearted loyalty to Him. He wants us to walk in simplicity with Him, to be stable. Subtlety tries to second-guess God; corruption tries to replace God with something else. If my thoughts become corrupt, if the intent of heart is turned away from God, yet I still walk with God in many ways, I will become unstable. I will become up and down emotionally, in and out of church life or even churches, always “learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.”

and purity of devotion [from a word meaning “holy, sacred, undefiled, chaste, innocent.” It is the same word that the Greek word for “saint” is derived from.]
For me, this is turning to Jesus every chance I get. Or, at least, every time I think about it. It is developing a habit of mindfulness towards Jesus. Praying without ceasing, being quick to pray in tongues when the job of the moment is finished, or letting worship bubble up from my heart. “I am “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

to Christ. [Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One. ]
Jesus is the focus of attention for Paul. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, he wrote, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Jesus was crucified for the forgiveness of sins. That act opened the way for us to approach God and stand in His presence. Paul displayed to the Corinthians a “single-minded loyalty” to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. Paul was afraid that the simplicity he had walked in with them, and that they had responded to, would by lost or damaged by the devil.