ENMITY (Snapshot)
What people think it means …
In modern language, people often reduce enmity to things like, “not getting along,” “having beef with one another,” or a simple “disagreement.”
Enmity (noun) is defined as:
A state of active opposition, hostility, hatred, or ill will between people or groups.
Most dictionaries include ideas like:
- deep-seated hostility
- animosity
- antagonism
- opposition in spirit or purpose
In short:
“I really don’t like you, and I’m going to make sure you know it.” (That’s my elementary-style definition).
What it actually means:
Biblically, enmity runs much deeper than open hostility. It is the posture of opposition toward the image of God in another person.
The word first appears prominently in Genesis 3:15 after the Fall: “I will put enmity between you and the woman…”
The Hebrew word carries the idea of hostility, hatred, deep opposition, and active division. It is not some sort of passive discomfort quietly simmering beneath the surface. It is relational fracture, a tearing apart of what was meant to exist in unity. And trust me, we women have been feeling it ever since.
Paul writes in Galatians 5 that the “works of the flesh” include: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, division, and envy.
So let’s be really frank here:
- Racism is enmity.
- Abuse is enmity.
- Exploitation is enmity.
- Slander is enmity.
- Lust is enmity.
- Dehumanization is enmity.
- Oppression disguised as order is enmity.
- Using religion to dominate people is enmity.
- Mocking the vulnerable is enmity.
- Treating women as lesser image-bearers is enmity.
- Hierarchy fawned over as “protection” is enmity.
- Pornography profits from enmity.
- Bitterness can become enmity when grief calcifies into contempt.
- Even gossip carries traces of it because it feeds on the tearing down of another person’s dignity.
Enmity thrives anywhere the image of God becomes secondary to power, appetite, ego, ideology, or control.
Save the Theological Acrobatics:
Before someone drags out the scarecrow and lights the strawman on fire, no, this is not me saying sin should not be confronted.
Why it matters:
Scripture absolutely calls believers to discern good from evil. But discernment and dehumanization are not the
same thing. There is a difference between grieving sin and cultivating contempt for the person carrying it.
Christ confronted sin constantly, yet He never ceased recognizing the image of God in the sinner standing before Him.
Enmity begins the moment we reduce people to objects, enemies, categories, temptations, talking points, political trophies, or theological projects instead of fellow image-bearers.
Christ did not merely come to forgive sinners. He came to destroy enmity itself. Christianity calls us to oppose evil without becoming hostile toward the humanity of others in the process.
“For He Himself is our peace… having destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” — Ephesians 2:14
The cross does not simply reconcile humanity to God. It confronts the hostility we carry toward one another. Yet somehow, some still believe they can persist in this enmity while claiming the Gospel.
Sure. Keep telling yourself that.
And while you are at it, remember:
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” (1 John 4:20)
Love restores image.
Enmity strips it away.
Call it conviction if you want, but enmity is still enmity.
- RJ Burton
What people think it means …
In modern language, people often reduce enmity to things like, “not getting along,” “having beef with one another,” or a simple “disagreement.”
Enmity (noun) is defined as:
A state of active opposition, hostility, hatred, or ill will between people or groups.
Most dictionaries include ideas like:
- deep-seated hostility
- animosity
- antagonism
- opposition in spirit or purpose
In short:
“I really don’t like you, and I’m going to make sure you know it.” (That’s my elementary-style definition).
What it actually means:
Biblically, enmity runs much deeper than open hostility. It is the posture of opposition toward the image of God in another person.
The word first appears prominently in Genesis 3:15 after the Fall: “I will put enmity between you and the woman…”
The Hebrew word carries the idea of hostility, hatred, deep opposition, and active division. It is not some sort of passive discomfort quietly simmering beneath the surface. It is relational fracture, a tearing apart of what was meant to exist in unity. And trust me, we women have been feeling it ever since.
Paul writes in Galatians 5 that the “works of the flesh” include: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, division, and envy.
So let’s be really frank here:
- Racism is enmity.
- Abuse is enmity.
- Exploitation is enmity.
- Slander is enmity.
- Lust is enmity.
- Dehumanization is enmity.
- Oppression disguised as order is enmity.
- Using religion to dominate people is enmity.
- Mocking the vulnerable is enmity.
- Treating women as lesser image-bearers is enmity.
- Hierarchy fawned over as “protection” is enmity.
- Pornography profits from enmity.
- Bitterness can become enmity when grief calcifies into contempt.
- Even gossip carries traces of it because it feeds on the tearing down of another person’s dignity.
Enmity thrives anywhere the image of God becomes secondary to power, appetite, ego, ideology, or control.
Save the Theological Acrobatics:
Before someone drags out the scarecrow and lights the strawman on fire, no, this is not me saying sin should not be confronted.
Why it matters:
Scripture absolutely calls believers to discern good from evil. But discernment and dehumanization are not the
same thing. There is a difference between grieving sin and cultivating contempt for the person carrying it.
Christ confronted sin constantly, yet He never ceased recognizing the image of God in the sinner standing before Him.
Enmity begins the moment we reduce people to objects, enemies, categories, temptations, talking points, political trophies, or theological projects instead of fellow image-bearers.
Christ did not merely come to forgive sinners. He came to destroy enmity itself. Christianity calls us to oppose evil without becoming hostile toward the humanity of others in the process.
“For He Himself is our peace… having destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” — Ephesians 2:14
The cross does not simply reconcile humanity to God. It confronts the hostility we carry toward one another. Yet somehow, some still believe they can persist in this enmity while claiming the Gospel.
Sure. Keep telling yourself that.
And while you are at it, remember:
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.” (1 John 4:20)
Love restores image.
Enmity strips it away.
Call it conviction if you want, but enmity is still enmity.
- RJ Burton