Resources/Articles
God Made...Enmity?
Genesis 3.14-15 — “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 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.”
Enmity is hatred. It is the opposite of (agape) love. God does nothing without a good reason and always acts in harmony with his eternal purpose. The beauty of this is seen from the fact that the manner in which God placed this enmity is also the means by which he abled man to live wisely. Notice the parties between which this enmity was placed by God. Enmity was placed “between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” God clearly intended for there to be a distinction between those of Satan and those of Christ. For this reason, God gave to those and in his image something that would result in enmity. What was this? It was commandments! Notice how this distinction is inseparably linked to his word:
John 15.20 — “Remember the word that I said not you: A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”
1 John 2.5 — “…but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him…”
1 John 3.24 — “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
1 John 5.2 — “By this we know that we love t he children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”
