"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus. . .or if you receive a different spirit...or a different gospel. . .you may well put up with it!" (1 Cor. 11:3, 4).

Paul's fear was that his brethren would somehow be tricked from the simplicity of the gospel unto another Jesus and tolerate another gospel. How? By Satan's craftiness, of course. Where must we go to learn of Satan's tactics? Obviously, we must go back to Genesis. However, if Genesis is a book of fiction, then Paul referencing his brethren back to Eden is flimsy and forceless. But as the threat was real that the church of God at Corinth could be turned aside to another gospel, so it was real that Satan successfully deceived Eve and garbled the simplicity of God's word (cf. 1 Tim. 2:14). If Genesis is not speaking about a real creation, a real garden, a real man, a real woman, a real serpent, a real command, and a real tree, then why should we believe that it speaks of real sin and real death? If one rejects the literal "days of creation" as presented in Genesis, what will keep one from rejecting the literal serpent, tree, Adam and Eve? What will allow one to reject the creation, as it is written and yet, accept the real curse which came through Adam? "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12). If the days of Genesis are not literal, then why should Adam be; and if Adam is not literal, why should Moses be? "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses" (Rom. 5:14). If Adam and Moses are not real then why should we believe in a real Jesus? "For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, . . .righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17). "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). All of these things: sin and righteousness, death and life, Adam and Jesus stand or fall together. Is the "first Adam" of human history dispensable to the gospel message? Rather, he is as indispensable as the "Last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45). Can one reject Adam's tree of Eden and yet accept Jesus' tree of Golgotha? The everlasting word of God has forever chained these things together! "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate" (Mk. 10:9).

What then of the serpent's craftiness and of Paul's fear? Behold, it is written, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?'" (Gen. 3:1). The first tactic is misquoting God. Unlike what the Devil asked Eve, God said, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. . ." (Gen. 2:16, 17; emp. mine.). In other words, of all the trees in the garden, there is only one tree that shall not be eaten of. The second tactic is to create doubt by questioning God's word, ". . .Has God indeed said?. . ." (3:1). When we question God's word, we begin to doubt God's word. When we doubt God's word, we depart from Him. "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God" (Heb. 3:12). The third tactic is to make God's word mean the opposite of what it says (see Gen. 3:4). When people say, "It is not what Genesis says that is important, but what it means," are they not doing what the serpent did? How can there be any meaning apart from what is said? Beware, Satan asks:

• "Has God indeed said, 'All The Days of Genesis 1 are literal 24 hour days'?"
• "Has God indeed said, 'All women shall not teach over men'?"
• "Has God indeed said, 'He built only one church'?"
• "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not tolerate all false teachers'?"
• "Has God indeed said, 'All divorced people shall not be permitted to get remarried'?"
• "Has God indeed said, 'Jesus was born of a literal virgin'?"
• "Has God indeed said, 'Everyone must be baptized in water to be saved'?"