Being Corrupted: 2 Corinthians 11:1-6, especially vs. 3: "My fear is that, just as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted and you may fall away from your sincere and complete devotion to Christ" [NAB]. The fear of which St. Paul speaks was justified: a man came to Corinth commending himself to the Christians as a disciple approved by "the most eminent apostles" (2 Cor. 10:18; 11:5). In fact, he was preaching an 'alien Jesus,' in an heretical spirit, based on a false gospel (2 Cor. 11:4). This erring teacher built the case for his message by insinuating that St. Paul was "untrained in speech" (vs. 6), "inferior to the most eminent apostles"(vs. 5), and presenting a gospel without Apostolic authority (2 Cor.10:13).
History demonstrates, by a host of examples, how easily human "thoughts can be corrupted" (vs. 3) by cunning half-truths and distortions of the Faith; and the records of history substantiate our urgent need to be on guard against any so-called 'Christian' teaching that belittles the Church or its teaching by promoting 'better or up-to-date' insights into the Faith. Being Orthodox, we are united to the true Jesus through Holy Baptism and Chrismation, in the power of the Holy Spirit, having accepted the Faith once delivered to the Apostles (Jude 3).
The most dangerous heresies which assault the Faithful are those that demean the Person of the Lord Jesus either in His Divinity or His humanity or by otherwise impugning the reality of His assumption of human flesh from the Virgin, by which God and man are joined eternally and irrevocably. How often the Church reminds us that we worship "a Son without father, Who before eternity was begotten of the Father without mother, the property and essence of each substance remaining intact!" Attend to the message of the Gospels, the icons, and the Liturgy!
What makes discernment so difficult, and therefore makes us susceptible to being corrupted, is the spirit in which false teachings are presented. There is no encouragement in the modern world for being spiritually aware. In fact, contemporary wisdom brushes aside all suggestions of a spiritual dimension under the banner of scientific rigor. So, if we are not alert, we may miss reductions of Orthodox truth in the presentations of heretical gospels which aim to be palatable or "user-friendly" to the so-called "modern ear." The Apostles knew such teachings and had to cope with immature Christians who will "not endure sound doctrine...because they have itching ears, and will heap up for themselves teachers and turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Tim. 4:3,4). In fact, Beloved of the Lord, we have "received the Heavenly Spirit" Who is greater than all false spirits (2 Cor. 11:4). Be attentive!
St. Paul's concern with the new Christians at Corinth arose from the fact that they were showing signs of being drawn to "a different gospel from the one you accepted" (vs. 4, RSV), meaning, from the one he had taught them which they had received in the first place. This is very much akin to our situation today. We "have found the true Faith, worshiping the undivided Trinity: for He hath saved us;" yet there are those around us who are working hard to promote different gospels from the one we accepted when we received the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
The Apostles and their Holy Church are jealous for us "with godly jealousy" (vs. 2). We have been "betrothed...to one Husband....as a chaste virgin to Christ" (vs. 2). At this point we are only betrothed. The wedding banquet of the age to come is not yet begun, though we regularly receive a foretaste of that Mystical Supper. Let us above all confess the True Lord like the good thief and not be condemned for accepting a false spirit or investigating a diminished gospel.
Establish us in Thy Sanctification, O Lord, that all the day long we may meditate upon Thy righteousness. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.