I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. 3 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. NLT

The old ‘’serpent’’, the devil, who deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, still slithers in and out of churches today, endeavouring to capture the minds and hearts of believers. The way to get to the heart is via the mind, and the frequency of the warnings about deception in the New Testament, should alert us to its ever-present possibility. We must guard our minds.

Jewish marriages tended to be arranged. Paul pictures himself as the father of the bride. He has promised her (the Corinthians) to Christ, but fears she (they) might now be seduced by another. The wider context suggests that, although he has feared this, he doesn’t now think it will happen. Nevertheless, he issues the warning.

The serpent is subtle. He has been employing the tactics he used in ‘the garden’ for centuries – with great success. So there is no room for complacency. We must be wary and alert lest our minds should also be captivated, and captured, by the lure of false teaching.

‘’ 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).’’ (From ‘Bible Ref’ website).