Lest by any means, &c.— Or, Lest by some means or other, &c. As the success of the serpent against Eve lay in false pretences and insinuations, so the success of the false apostles was owing to deceitful pretensions and insinuations likewise. The simplicity that is in, or rather towards Christ, answers to one husband in the preceding verse; for ενι, one, is not used there without meaning, but plainly implies thus much: "I have formed and fitted you for one person alone, one husband, who is Christ: I am greatly concerned that you may not be drawn aside from that submission, that obedience, that temper of mind, which is due to him; for I hope to put you into his hands, possessed with pure virgin thoughts, wholly fixed on him, not divided, nor roving after any other, that he may take you to wife, and marry you to himself for ever." It is plain that their perverter, who opposed St. Paul, was a Jew, as we have seen. Of all who professed Christianity, the Jews were they who gave St. Paul most trouble and opposition; for they, having set their hearts upon their own religion, endeavoured to blend Judaism and Christianity together. We may suppose the case here to be much the same with that which he more fully expresses in the Epistle to the Galatians, particularly ch. 2 Corinthians 1:6-12 ch. 2 Corinthians 4:9-18 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-13. The meaning of the place before us seems to be this: "I have taught you the Gospel alone, in its pure and unmixed simplicity, by which only you can be united to Christ; but I fear lest this your new apostle should draw you from it, and that your minds should not adhere singly and simply to what I have taught, but should be corrupted by a mixture of Judaism."
Related Commentaries of 2 Corinthians 11:3
2 Corinthians 11:3
3 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.