Frenemies
Frenemies. How soon will this new word be in our dictionaries? It refers to enemies who act like friends for mutual advantage. Politicians are experts at it. John Huntsman after abandoning his race for the presidency endorsed Mitt Romney. They are acknowledged frenemies.
This behavior is not new. John 16 is a chapter describing Jesus with thousands of ‘friends’ early on. As he let people know his true self and purpose here, friends became frenemies and later enemies. By chapters end, he was questioning even his disciples as to their loyalty.
The word ‘friend’ in Scripture actually has three different words in the original language. Those three words have quite different meanings. One who uses you–actually not a friend at all, one who is a friend of convenience, and one who loves unconditionally.