who or what is "The Enemy"?

Hey Oscar...on a side note: I hope you had a great Christmas!

Now back to your regularly scheduled question. :)

who or what is "The Enemy"?

Depends on the context. An enemy is simply someone against you. Am I to assume you are talking about the ultimate enemy? Are you quoting Scripture? If so, a verse like the following one seems to answer your question...

Matthew 13:39 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=13&verse=39&version=31&context=verse)
and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

who or what is "The Enemy"?Death? :yes:

Certainly mankind is held bondage to death, so that is an enemy we can all sink our teeth into. The world has it as "death and taxes". The Bible as "death and judgment". Paul says we are all subject to the "law of sin and death". Science has it as "entropy" (for the science fans ;)).

The question is, has death already won? Does death win every time? Is the ultimate destiny of the universe death?

:hmm: Death is certainly a worthy enemy.

God Bless!

Hey Oscar...on a side note: I hope you had a great Christmas!

Now back to your regularly scheduled question. :)

thank you , yep my Christmas was merry indeed, hope yours was too.

Depends on the context. An enemy is simply someone against you. Am I to assume you are talking about the ultimate enemy? Are you quoting Scripture? If so, a verse like the following one seems to answer your question...

Matthew 13:39 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=13&verse=39&version=31&context=verse)
and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

thanks to you matthew

who or what is "The Enemy"?

From a Christian perspective the devil (emphasis mine):

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Why do you ask?

Death? :yes:

Certainly mankind is held bondage to death, so that is an enemy we can all sink our teeth into. The world has it as "death and taxes". The Bible as "death and judgment". Paul says we are all subject to the "law of sin and death". Science has it as "entropy" (for the science fans ;)).

The question is, has death already won? Does death win every time? Is the ultimate destiny of the universe death?

:hmm: Death is certainly a worthy enemy.

God Bless!

I see, thanks watching

From a Christian perspective the devil (emphasis mine):

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Why do you ask?

thanks Tango. I just asked because it is another one of those things that I hear often, but never really knew what was meant by it exactly....it can be quite frightening when people are telling you about how the enemy wants to destroy you, especially when it remains so amorphous....I guess its like "The World" and "The Devil".

Hi oscarkipling.
Yep, our enemies are the forces of evil and they are spirits, not people.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.... against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12

To a born-again believer, the enemy is three-fold:

Flesh.

World.

Devil.

The flesh being attitudes and thought structures within ourselves that are contrary to God's thoughts, His Word, and His nature. The flesh being a tricky thing because it keeps us in such wonderful habits as self-worship, self-gratification, self-this and self-that, me me me, mine mine mine, and we have to learn to step outside of ourselves to deal with it, and so you can easily see where we would need the assistance of God to accomplish such a thing.

The World being a man-made system that is fallen, with laws and principles and people treating one another that is also contrary to God's thoughts, His Word and His nature. This is outside ourselves, evidently.

The devil being a spiritual enmity who is always seeking to trip us up on a spiritual level and who very heavily influences the world and lends it his powers as he seeks to rule over it in any way he can, because ultimately, he seeks to be worshipped as God and craves the dominion that rightfully belongs to God (because evidently, the devil didn't create this planet nor the people on it, and so he has to lie and convince people to believe lies so they will serve him and not God). So you can see why there might be a struggle happening.

The trick is knowing which is which and what to do about each. The Bible is very clear how we are to deal with each enemy, but so very often, the challenge remains as to what exactly we're dealing with, and there is certainly a learning curve involved.

Hope that helps. :)

Hi oscarkipling.
Yep, our enemies are the forces of evil and they are spirits, not people.
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.... against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12

thanks for your answer jesusisgod

To a born-again believer, the enemy is three-fold:

Flesh.

World.

Devil.

The flesh being attitudes and thought structures within ourselves that are contrary to God's thoughts, His Word, and His nature. The flesh being a tricky thing because it keeps us in such wonderful habits as self-worship, self-gratification, self-this and self-that, me me me, mine mine mine, and we have to learn to step outside of ourselves to deal with it, and so you can easily see where we would need the assistance of God to accomplish such a thing.

The World being a man-made system that is fallen, with laws and principles and people treating one another that is also contrary to God's thoughts, His Word and His nature. This is outside ourselves, evidently.

The devil being a spiritual enmity who is always seeking to trip us up on a spiritual level and who very heavily influences the world and lends it his powers as he seeks to rule over it in any way he can, because ultimately, he seeks to be worshipped as God and craves the dominion that rightfully belongs to God (because evidently, the devil didn't create this planet nor the people on it, and so he has to lie and convince people to believe lies so they will serve him and not God). So you can see why there might be a struggle happening.

The trick is knowing which is which and what to do about each. The Bible is very clear how we are to deal with each enemy, but so very often, the challenge remains as to what exactly we're dealing with, and there is certainly a learning curve involved.

Hope that helps. :)

many thanks danihansen