The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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The apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians: “But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly” (2 Cor. 11:3-4, emphasis added).

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul depicted Christ as the last Adam and second man in order to show how Jesus’ death and resurrection reversed the effects of the Fall and secured a glorious future for us (1  Cor. 15:45-49). Borrowing from that analogy in his second letter, Paul now likens the church to a second Eve. As Adam and Eve became one flesh (Gen. 2:24), Christ and the church are joined in a covenant relationship. 

The image of salvation as betrothal between Christ and his followers is consistent with first-century Jewish marriage customs involving two separate ceremonies: the betrothal,  and the nuptial ceremony that consummates the marriage. Usually, a year separates the two events, yet the betrothed young woman legally is regarded as the man’s wife and obligates herself to remain a virgin. The contract is binding; only death or a formal bill of divorce may end it. If the betrothed woman cheats on her husband, she is considered an adulteress. She may be banished under Roman rule or stoned under Old Testament law (Deut. 22:23-27). 

Since Paul spent considerable time planting the church in Corinth, he feels a personal responsibility, as spiritual father, to ensure the church’s faithfulness to the Lord. But in his absence, Corinthian believers have welcomed seducers into the church – self-proclaimed “super apostles” who teach “another Jesus,” “a different spirit,” and “a different gospel” (2 Cor. 11:4-5). 

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