2 Corinthians 11:1-4 Don’t Listen to the Serpent!
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: May 12, 2020 2 Corinthians 11:1-4
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
(Understanding the Text) Paul is about to launch into some boasting about himself that he really doesn’t want to do, but he feels it is necessary to answer his critics so that the Corinthians will remain true to the gospel of Jesus. He asks them to be patient with what he is about to say since they have already lapped up the bragging of the false apostles who have been contradicting the teaching that Paul brought to them.
I think from what I have been reading in Bruce’s The Spreading Flame and what I have heard elsewhere that the Greeks were really into trying to get higher understanding and bigger knowledge. This is not to say that they were focused on understanding truth in all its dimensions. This is more that they wanted to relate everything together to come up with more knowledge without discarding their old ideas. They wanted to incorporate their old understanding of the world with their new knowledge of Jesus to come up with something unique and different. We have inherited that Greek way of thinking in western culture. When Christians are first converted, they eagerly read to find out new information, but then they run into parts they don’t understand and ignore those. They are left with reading the same parts that they do understand over and over. They get bored with this and try to enlarge their understanding of these passages by relating them to their own lives, which would not be a problem if they let the passages dictate their understanding, but instead, they transform their understanding of the passages to fit what they have inherited from their sinful culture and lives. They are attracted by someone new who comes in and declares one of these new understandings that fit their worldly values. I think this is what was happening with the Corinthians.
(Revelation of God) “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Here is a window into the heart of Paul’s belief in Jesus. He feels that believers are the bride of Jesus. He believes that they are pure and should be devoted to Jesus. He is worried that the believers are starting to be led away from their sincere connection to Jesus. They are allowing that pure devotion to be adulterated with worldly ideas and beliefs. They are allowing their loyalty to Jesus to be turned away to another. I think this might be similar to the letter to the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation where Jesus says “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2:4-5). It seems that just as the Corinthians had received the gospel before the Ephesians, they also were losing their first love before the Ephesians. The difference is that the Corinthians were trying to replace that first love with new strange ideas. They were trying to make the relationship exciting superficially, which stands to reason in a people who took the marriage relationship for granted and looked for exciting sex outside of the relationship.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that weaknesses in one area might be conquered and then show up in a new area. A specific sinful behavior may no longer be a problem, but the weakness that led to that behavior can show up in other ways unless it is dealt with. The only way to deal with these weaknesses is by relationship with You. If we hold You up as our model and love of our life, we won’t have to worry, but if we hold up any other idol, we will be led away from You, and our weaknesses will devour us.