Enmity is deep, settled hostility between parties who are fundamentally opposed. Scripture identifies three great enmities: (1) The cosmic enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, decreed by God in Genesis 3:15 — the protoevangelium (first gospel): "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (2) The sinner's enmity against God — Paul declares the carnal mind is "enmity against God" (Rom 8:7), not merely indifferent but actively hostile. (3) The Gentile-Jewish enmity, which Christ abolished by breaking down "the dividing wall of hostility" through the cross (Eph 2:14–16). Enmity's end is the cross: Christ absorbed the enmity of God's wrath and the enmity of human rebellion simultaneously, creating peace where there was war.
ENMITY, n. [from enemy.] The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; hostile or unfriendly dispositions. Enmity is stronger than hatred. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom 8:7). The first declaration of enmity in Scripture: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed" (Gen 3:15).
Modern theology has largely removed enmity from its vocabulary, preferring therapeutic categories of brokenness and dysfunction. But Paul's declaration that the unregenerate mind is "enmity against God" — not merely broken, not merely confused, but hostile — has massive implications for evangelism, anthropology, and soteriology. If man is merely damaged, he needs repair. If man is at enmity with God, he needs reconciliation — a fundamentally different solution. Furthermore, the cosmic enmity of Genesis 3:15 is erased by cultures that deny spiritual warfare, leaving believers unprepared for an adversary who "prowls around like a roaring lion" (1 Pet 5:8). Peace with God is not the absence of conflict — it is the fruit of Christ's victory over cosmic enmity.
• Genesis 3:15 — "I will put enmity between you and the woman… he shall bruise your head."
• Romans 8:7 — "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law."
• Ephesians 2:14–16 — "He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility."
• Romans 5:10 — "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son."
• James 4:4 — "Friendship with the world is enmity with God."