An excerpt from Chapter 5 in David Orton's book, "Snakes in the Temple: Unmasking Idolatry in Today's Church"

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ"

2 Cor 11:2-3 NIV

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"Deceived by the Serpent's Cunning"

What does all this signify? The snakes in the temple symbolise for us the activity of deceiving spirits. Paul in addressing the Corinthian church declared:

" I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Cor 11:2-3 NIV emphasis mine).

More subtle than false doctrine

We usually think of the spirit of deception as corrupting doctrine. However, it is far more subtle. Symbolic of Satan⁸⁰, the serpent's design is to draw the Bride away from the heart-purity of her devotion to Christ. Through deceiving spirits, he seeks to draw her heart after other gods - into spiritually adulterous liaisons.

While preserving the appearance of doctrinal orthodoxy and even spirituality, another spirit seduces the affections of the heart.

Seduced through "super-apostles"

We conform to an appearance of spirituality, but live out of a wrong spirit. Paul was concerned that the "serpent's cunning" would seduce the Corinthians into receiving a "different spirit" (2 Cor 11:4).

But, how? Through a breed of "super-apostles" (v 5) who were competing among themselves and with Paul, presenting an image of success and spirituality:

"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise" (2 Cor 10:12 NIV).

This underscores the whole Corinthian correspondence. Paul was confronted by a mindset "looking only at the surface of things" (2 Cor 10:7), comparing him with others and saying, "in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing" (v 10).

Paul - the only apostle with one eyebrow!

The Corinthians were viewing Paul through the eyes of the world. Coming out of the Greek idolising of beauty - of mind and body - they looked at Paul and drew their conclusions. A second-century description tells us he was, small, bow-legged, beetle-browed (in fact, the description says meeting eyebrows), beak-nosed, and bald!⁸¹ Wow! The only apostle in the world with one eyebrow! Hardly your six-foot-four "all-American" tele-evangelist. Compared to the physical appearance and eloquence of the Corinthian "super-apostles" and the itinerant orators of the day Paul was not in the race. He would have been a nightmare for even today's image-makers.

The image of external things

And so, Paul concluded that the Corinthians were "taking pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart"(2 Cor 5:12 NIV). In so doing, they were "led astray from their sincere and pure devotion to Christ". They had, in effect, bowed to a worldly and idolatrous image of external things - of success,
glamour, and power. Using these things, including self-promotion, the so-called "super-apostles" had enslaved and exploited the Corinthians. Exposing their tactics Paul declared,

"...many are boasting in the way the world does...you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face" (2 Corinthians 11 v 18-20).

Through their self-promotional ways and false value system they had resorted to "secret and shameful ways" - to "deception", "distorting the word of God".⁸²

While to the Corinthians they are their self-proclaimed "super-apostles", to Paul they are "false apostles" and "deceitful...masquerading as apostles of Christ" (v 13).

The Corinthians were led astray by appearances. And because they were worshiping a visible image of success and spirituality83 they lost their ability to discern the invisible. They looked at the surface of things only, informed by their five senses but not by the Spirit. Blinded by impressive appearances and worldly success they were unable to discern the true character behind the image.

Imaginations of the heart

Paul, being aware of the "schemes of the devil",⁸⁴ warned them

"that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray". (2 Corinthians 11:3).

The idolatry of the elders in Ezekiel 8 is only symptomatic of a far deeper spiritual condition. The "chambers of imagery" (v 12) in which they worshiped alludes to the imaginations of the heart. The same Hebrew word for 'image' ('maskit') can be used figuratively for the imagination: "The imaginations ('maskit') of their heart run riot" (Ps 73:7b NASB) or in the NIV "...the evil conceits ('maskit') of their minds know no limits."

Ezekiel is not seeing actual happenings in the temple. But, rather, through vision, and symbolically, into the spiritual condition of Israel's leadership. He is seeing into the temple of their hearts. Just as idolatry was hidden deep within the inner recesses of the physical temple, so it is with the human heart. The leaders of Israel were, in fact, mesmerised by the idolatrous images of their own minds. Idolatry is, therefore, far more than ritual worship. Rather, it is a bowing of the heart to its own imaginations.

⁸⁰ Rev 12:9
⁸¹ Tim Dowley (ed), The History of Christianity, p 62
⁸² 2 Cor 4:2
⁸³ 1 Cor 14:37; 2:15 - 3:1 It seems the Corinthians considered themselves to be more "spiritual" than Paul. Therefore, he contrasts and explains the difference between the soul-man (psuche anthropos) and the spirit-man (pneumatikos). In truth, they are not spiritual men but worldly (sarx) - of the flesh, characterised by self-sufficiency, human wisdom, and eloquence. See 1 Cor 1-3.
⁸⁴ 2 Cor 2:11