We know the Scriptures “love your enemy” and “love your neighbor as yourself”. Think also how often we’ve heard “you are your own worst enemy”. So who is the first enemy to love? Is this the enemy written about in Romans 7? Or is “enemy” the wrong term to describe the corrupted form of our human nature called self that confuses us and makes it hard to love the enemies around us. It could even make us see friends as enemies and enemies as friends. We are to hate evil and even battle against it but today’s use of the term enemy in our culture has confused us from the depths of the real issue.
We have learned to come together as Pilot and Herod in Luke 23:12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies. We often rally around what we are against which depends on fear, hatred, and suspicion.
No wonder we call evil good and good evil when we rely on our own wisdom. Isaiah 5:20