Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Corinthians 11:3

"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." — 2 Corinthians 11:3 (ASV)

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 with the church, which he so desired to be preserved pure. The grounds of his fear were:

1. That Satan had seduced the first woman, thus demonstrating that even the most holy were in danger of being led astray by temptation; and
2. 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 (mhpwv). It is implied that many means would be used and all arts would be tried. Furthermore, it suggested that these arts, in some way they perhaps little suspected, would be successful unless they were constantly on their guard.

As the serpent beguiled Eve. See Genesis 3:1-11. The word serpent here undoubtedly refers to Satan, who was the agent that deceived Eve. See John 8:44; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 12:9; 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. Therefore, all should be on their guard. No one knows the way in which he will approach them, but all may know that he will approach them in some way.

Through his subtilty. See Genesis 3:1. By his craft, art, wiles (en th panourgia). The word implies that shrewdness, cunning, and craft were employed. A tempter always employs cunning and art to accomplish his object. The precise way in which Satan accomplished his object is not certainly known. Perhaps the cunning consisted in assuming an attractive form—a fascinating manner fitted to charm. Or perhaps it lay in the idea that eating 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. In any case, there were false pretenses and appearances; and Paul feared that such methods would be employed by the false teachers to seduce and allure them. (See Barnes on 2 Corinthians 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 used 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. He feared they would insensibly be led to adopt the maxims of mere cunning, policy, expediency, and seductive arts, which prevailed so much in the world. This was a danger imminent among the shrewd and cunning people of Greece, but it 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 be such as could be offered by all classes of men—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 there were to corrupt it! Those accustomed to the magnificence of the temple service might suppose the Messiah's religion could not be less gorgeous than what foreshadowed His coming. Similarly, those accustomed to the splendid rites of pagan worship might suppose 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 at least equal costliness 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, 1 Peter 3:3–6; 1 Timothy 2:9–10.

Yet how much proneness there is at all times to depart from this! What a besetting sin it has been, in all ages, to the church of Christ! And how much care should be taken to ensure that the very simplicity that is in Christ is observed by all who bear the Christian name!