---
title: 2 Corinthians 11:3
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/2-corinthians-11-3/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/2-corinthians-11-3.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 2 Corinthians 11:3
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 2 Corinthians 11:3

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> 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.

## JW Usage

JWs invoke 2 Corinthians 11:3 ("the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning... your minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ") as a warning against deception by "apostate" teachings and independent Bible study. The "sincerity that is due the Christ" is understood as unified submission to the organisation's interpretation — deviation from which is framed as Satan-orchestrated corruption of the mind.

## Protestant Usage

Paul's actual fear is something quite different — and quite specific. What Paul worries will be corrupted is the *simplicity* (ESV/NIV) or *sincerity* (NWT) that belongs to Christ. The gospel is plain: Christ crucified for sinners, righteousness received through faith (Philippians 3:9), salvation as a completed perfect- tense gift ("you have been saved" — Ephesians 2:8, NWT). When anything is added to that simplicity, it is corrupted.
The NWT's rendering of pisteuō as "exercise faith" throughout John 3:16, John 5:24, and elsewhere is exactly the corruption Paul warns about — a stative verb ("believe") converted to an ongoing effort ("keep exercising"), adding a works-component to what Paul calls simplicity. Ray Comfort's parachute analogy puts it bluntly: a parachute plus arm-flapping is not "mostly parachute"; it is distrust of the parachute. 2 Corinthians 11:3 warns against the very drift JWs are trained to make — trust Christ plus obey the organisation — because Christ plus anything is Christ zero.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Parachute Analogy — Trust, Not Effort](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/parachute-analogy.md) — Ephesians 2:8–9 / Way of the Master [Salvation]