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.
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).
• 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."
Modern theology has largely removed enmity from its vocabulary, preferring therapeutic categories of brokenness and d...
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.