Can a Christian be God’s Enemy?

Posted by Dan C. on

The following scripture absolutely begs the question.

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4

Discuss.

2 responses to “Can a Christian be God’s Enemy?”

  1. Ok, so a little light question for a Sunday eh? LOL

    Ummm…This made me dig and I think I would start with 1 John 2:15 which says “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The Greek word there is agapao, which is a reasoned, determined love. So in this verse John’s counsel is about having a willful attachment, not just a mere affectionate one. So in this verse John is saying we should not have intimate fellowship or a loyal devotion to the world. This world chews Christians up and spits them out, and if permitted, trashes spiritual realities that may have once been cherished hopes and dreams….

    So in James 4:4, to have a warm and familiar attitude with this world is to mean nothing less than to be on good terms with God’s enemy. It means to adopt the world’s set of values and wants, to desire what the world wants instead of our choosing according to divine standards or divine truths. To me when we do this we actually become subject to the enemy because he is indeed the god of this world. The worldly person will choose to satisfy self, take actions based on his own desires, which causes confusion and division. This I believe, was the problem in the congregation to which James is writing. I read in 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul basically says the same thing…”You are yet carnal.” These are converted people, but carnal and they showed it in their choices. I believe they had the Spirit of God, but were just very weak.

    So, this scripture to me is saying, we can’t straddle the fence….”no man can serve two masters”….this is a black and white world, and thiss war we are in has no neutral zone.

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  2. You did so some digging! Let;s see if anyone else is up to the challenge. 🙂

    “Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

    Notice who does the “enemy making here”. That can smack a guy right up side the head!

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