I spend at least part of each day writing. That leads me to more than a little preoccupation with words, the basic building blocks of communication. (Did you notice the alliteration of “basic building blocks?”) I usually try to not be too self-indulgent, writing to please my own sensibilities, but occasionally I let my guard down and hope that others who love a turn of phrase will appreciate a subtlety. Of course, this preamble precludes any possibility of subtlety, but now that I’m this far into this hole I’m digging for myself, I can’t escape easily.
“Enmity” is a somewhat archaic word which indicates a negative emotion like hostility, hatred, ill will, animosity, or antagonism. It appears in older translations of the Bible, but newer versions use other words more common in everyday speech.
Enmity is often produced where profound differences are in evidence. Ethnic tensions can be described with the word. It often takes root between members of different religions with each calling the other unclean, infidel or pagan. Enmity often forms between the intellectual elite and the general public, sometimes dismissed with negative terms like “the rabble” by that elite. And frequently we could use the word to describe the difference between social classes. One feature of enmity is that it is generally mutual. You might say that one person or grooup has feelings of enmity for another person or group, but most commonly each has the same negative feelings toward the other.
In Colossians 3:10-11, Paul wrote about the church as a singularity made up of numerous dualities. In each case, he indicated that through the Lord Jesus Christ, these groups which are normally characterized by enmity have been brought into unity. He starts by mentioning ethnicity. Because of his audience he pitted Greeks against Jews. Normally contemptuous of each other at the time, both had been brought together in the Church. He then cited religion, again referencing Jews in contrast to all gentiles in general, because the Jews didn’t bother to categorize other religions. They just recognized them as non-Jews. Next, he made reference to cultural differences comparing mentioning the Scythians, the most barbaric people of the time, finally he touched on social class by comparing slaves and free.
All of these pairs were characterized by mutual distrust, hostility, hatred, animosity - in a word, enmity. Paul’s point, however, is that Christ has changed all this, replacing these concepts with trust, friendship, love, cooperation because rather than being focussed on themselves, Christians are centred on Christ, regardless of their backgrounds and other affiliations. As he put it, for Christians, “Christ is all and in all.”
When it comes to relating with others, there’s a world of difference between enmity with its distrust and hostility, and unity with its trust and love.
Ron Hughes
© June 2008