Animosity is violent hatred; active, intense hostility; and open enmity. The best cure for this strong hatred is love! I would be so honored if you would take 15 minutes to review this lesson and share your thoughts.

Animosity: The Best Cure For This Hatred Is Love

STM Bible Lesson

Lesson focus: Genesis 3:14-15. Bible lesson background Genesis 3:1-24:
1. The serpent deceives Eve – Genesis 3:1-5.
2. Both she and Adam transgress the divine command, and fall into sin and misery – Genesis 3:6-7.
3. God finds fault them (the serpent, Adam, and Eve) – Genesis 3:8-13.
4. God curses the serpent – Genesis 3:14.
5. The promised seed – Genesis 3:15 .
6. God punishes mankind – Genesis 3:16-20.
7. Their first clothing – Genesis 3:21.
8. They are expelled from the garden – Genesis 3:22-24.

Genesis 3:14-15 [read Genesis 3:1-24 (14-15)]

Adonai Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you did this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and above every animal of the field. On your belly will you go, and dust will you eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put animosity between you and the woman—between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel. (TLV)

KJV: And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Animosity is Violent Hatred; Enmity

Ephesians 4:31 [read Ephesians 4:25-32 (31)]

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. (AMP)

KJV: Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Despite the fact that none of the King James translations use animosity. I did however find it in five of the 3 Jewish and 26 English translations. So, let’s see what the Bible has to say about this feeling.

The loving God is not pleased

Later we will give definitions of animosity, but I wanted to alert the children of God; animosity is not a quality that is acceptable or pleasing to God. I know we are not perfect, but we should be working to rid our lives of things that do not please God.

[Read Romans 8:1-11 (focus verses: 5-8) and 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (focus verses: 1 and 3-8)].

Definition

Animosity is violent hatred; active, intense hostility; ill will or resentment tending toward active hostility; open enmity. The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology defines hate as a “deep, enduring, intense emotion expressing animosity, anger, and hostility towards a person, group, or object.”

Comparison

Let’s compare three words that grow and develop out of hatred; enmity, animosity, and malice. Animosity is active and open or publicly declared and is considered more serious and extreme than enmity which is often hidden or secret. Malice is an intentional desire to hurt another or delight in harming or hurting others.

• Hatred – Great dislike or aversion; hate; enmity. Hatred is an aversion to evil, and may spring from utter disapprobation, as the hatred of vice or meanness; or it may spring from offenses or injuries done by fellow men, or from envy or jealousy, in which case it is usually accompanied with malevolence or malignity. Extreme hatred is abhorrence or detestation.
• Enmity – The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence. It expresses more than aversion and less than malice and differs from displeasure in denoting a fixed or rooted hatred, whereas displeasure is more transient.
• Malice – Extreme enmity of heart, or malevolence; a disposition to injure others without cause, from mere personal gratification or from a spirit of revenge; unprovoked malignity or spite.

Animosity differs from enmity which may be secret and inactive; and it expresses a less criminal passion than malice. Animosity seeks to gain a cause or destroy an enemy or rival, from hatred or private interest; malice seeks revenge for the sake of giving pain. Webster

Trust in God concerning the treachery of friends

Psalms 55:2-3 [read Psalms 55:1-3 (2-3)]

Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint, and I murmur, 3 because of the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the wicked, for they cause trouble to drop on me, and in wrath they have animosity against me. (MEV)

KJV: Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise; 3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.

Less hatred and more love

Psalms 25:19 [read Psalms 25:16-21 (19)]

Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. (ESV)

KJV: Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

Proverbs 10:12 [read Proverbs 10:12 (12)]

Hatred stirs up trouble; love overlooks the wrongs that others do. (CEV)

KJV: Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

A call to holy living

1 Peter 1:22 [read 1 Peter 1:22-25 (22)]

Now you can have real love for everyone because your souls have been cleansed from selfishness and hatred when you trusted Christ to save you; so see to it that you really do love each other warmly, with all your hearts. (TLB)

KJV: eeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Intense Hatred

To make this crystal clear, animosity is defined as violent or intense hatred. Galatians 5:20 lists hatred as a sin—work of the flesh—those guilty of such will not inherit the kingdom of God. I cannot speak for you, but I hope we can agree, if animosity is a more intense and active form of hatred, I do not want it to become a part of me.

Get rid of hatred and enmity before it grows into animosity. Maybe the Word can help us understand why we need to eliminate it. The Revised King James NT revision of Romans 8:7 tells us that “the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God”; the KJV “the carnal mind is enmity against God”.

The works of the sinful nature

Galatians 5:19-21 [read Galatians 5:16-26 (19-21)]

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are these: adultery, whoredom, impurity, lasciviousness, 20 idolatry, magical charms, enmities, strifes, jealousies, animosities, quarrels, divisions, heresies, 21 envyings, murders, drunkenness, revels, and the like of these, concerning which I tell you now, as I have told you already, that they who live in such practices shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Haweis)

KJV: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The word ‘hatred’ is used only once in the KJV New Testament, but according to the Englishman’s Concordance, the Greek word ἔχθρα echthra is also used as ‘enmity’ in Luke 23:12, Romans 8:7, Ephesians 2:15 and 16 and James 4:4.

“hatred” – G2189 ἔχθρα echthra (ekh’-thrah) 1. hostility 2. (by implication) a reason for opposition. Thayer’s defines hatred (echtra) as enmity and the cause of enmity. The Teknia Greek Dictionary defines echtra as enmity, discord, feud, Luke 23:12; Galatians 5:20; alienation, Ephesians 2:14, 16; a principle or state of enmity, Romans 8:7; James 4:4

Other translations

I mentioned the absence of animosity in the various King James revisions. The following are a few Scriptures in other translations where animosity (hereinafter referred to as ‘the keyword’) replaced, war, hated, and hatred.

Animosity led to murder

Genesis 27:41 [read Genesis 27:41-46 (41)]

So Esau harbored animosity toward Jacob because of the way his father had blessed him. Esau kept saying to himself, “The time to mourn for my father is very near. That’s when I’m going to kill my brother Jacob.” (ISV)

KJV: And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

H7852 שָׂטַם satam (saw-tam’) v. to hate, oppose oneself to, bear a grudge, retain animosity against, cherish animosity against.

Israel rejects Hosea’s prophetic exhortations

Hosea 9:8 [read Hosea 9:1-17 (8)]

The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God. (NET)

KJV: The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

H4895 מַשׂטֵּמָה mastemah (mas-tay-maw’) n-f. 1. Enmity; animosity. [From the same as H7850] KJV: hatred.

Complete Word Study Dictionary OT – A feminine noun describing hostility or hatred. In context, it indicates an attitude and state of animosity and rejection, especially toward God’s prophets and spokesmen (Hosea 9:7, 8).

Immorality defiles the church

1 Corinthians 5:8 [read 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 (8)]

Therefore, let us perform the festival, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of wickedness and animosity, but with the unleavened bread of purity and of holiness. (Etheridge)

KJV: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Worldly Social Ways

Colossians 3:8 [read Colossians 3:1-11 (8)]

But now put away all these also, wrath, animosity, malice, calumny, and filthy discourse out of your mouth. (Worsley)

KJV: But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

That is all for now my dear friends, animosity may not exist in your version of the Bible. Many horrible sinful acts are not listed in the Bible e.g., genocide or serial killer, but do not think they are okay. Any violent action resulting from or carried out in hatred cannot reflect a Christian attitude or character.

Love the hate out of them

Jesus teaches about loving those who hate you.

Matthew 5:43-44 [read Matthew 5:43-48 (43-44)]

“You have heard that it has been said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate those who hate you.’ 44 But I tell you, love those who hate you. (*Respect and give thanks for those who say bad things to you. Do good to those who hate you.) Pray for those who do bad things to you and who make it hard for you. (NLV)

KJV: Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Everett’s Study Notes: Jesus Christ spoke these words to a people who had spent years under the bitter oppression of the Roman government. He spoke to a people who had been treated cruel by their enemies. Jesus was telling them to love them and not to hate them.

Remember, the best cure for animosity, hatred, and enmity is love! Please continue to allow the Scriptures and the Spirit of God to guide you. Thank you for taking the time to read this Bible lesson. I urge you to make full use of it. Blessings to you and your loved ones—♥ Tim. ☺

Hate is often a precursor to violence. Before a war, a populace is sometimes trained via political propaganda to hate some nation or political regime. Hatred remains a major motive behind armed conflicts such as war and terrorism. Hate is not necessarily logical and it can be counterproductive and self-perpetuating.

Related studies, lessons, and snacks for further spiritual growth:

Active Faith Shows That You Trust God By Doing – an estimated 4-minute read.

Hater; How To Love People Like God and Hate… – an estimated 18-minute read.

Jealous People Cause Trouble, Worry, Hatred, And Bad Outcomes – an estimated 15-minute read.

Never Stop Praising The Lord, He Is Our Hope – an estimated 7-minute read.

Racial Animosity (Forerunner Commentary) – Bible Tools