Anger

Intro

Anger is a personal struggle of mine. I have a long history of ups and downs with this particular battle, with some victories, and many failures. Before I was a Christian, I just let my anger loose, and broke all sorts of things and made all sorts of bad decisions in the midst of fury. Sadly to say though, since I’ve been a Christian, some of the same stuff has happened, and I feel like this should not be so.

Many, many times, I have tried to get a grip on this issue. I honestly am ashamed of my anger sometimes, and when I relapse into a fit of anger, it feels like being an alcoholic taking a drink after being sober for a while. It feels like failure, and defeat. It feels like I’m just the same old sinner I always have been, and I just wonder why I can’t get it into my thick head that anger is not good, and remember that it has only ever caused me problems. It’s so hard to remember these simple truths when anger is flaring up in my heart.

I don’t know if perfection in this area is an attainable goal. I still have flesh, and I will always struggle on this side of heaven. But my prayer, my heart’s cry is to have patience and self-control. My desire is for the Lord to change my heart, and just make me a calmer, less angry, more joyful person. Certainly, I don’t want to diminish what the Lord has already done. He has taken me a long, long way from where I once was. But still, the relapses come, and I just want to be a changed man.

Well, that leads me into the intro for this study. The Bible is the Word of God. God uses His Word to change hearts. I wanted to look at anger in the Bible so that I could have a changed heart in this area. I hope and pray that as I dive into this study, I can be changed. And maybe someone who needs it could be changed too. All because of God’s effective Word, through the work of His Spirit, and for His glory and honor and to His praise.

God’s Anger

When I was thinking about this study on anger, I thought that looking at God’s anger would be a good place to start. God gets angry, which is interesting. My driving motivation for this study is that anger is bad in my life, so I wanted to see what anger looked like from a perfect God and how that can inform the whole picture.

I started searching through the Scriptures to find passages on God’s anger, and what I found is that God actually gets angry a lot. I mean, the amount of passages that talks of His anger, there’s just a bunch. I was actually a little surprised how prevalent these passages were, and all the examples that there are in Scripture for this part of the study. I was a little overwhelmed.

I tried to look over everything and figure out, what does God get angry about? Here is a simple bullet point list I came up with, perhaps not exhaustive, but it gives a pretty good idea of what angers God.

Idolatry
Irreverence
Disobedience and rebellion
Unbelief
His enemies
Whoever rejects the Son
Godlessness and wickedness
Sin

What I found is that God doesn’t just get angry at stubbing His toe, or His car breaking down, or something like that. It’s not a morally arbitrary anger. His anger and His wrath is over people’s sin, idolatry, disobedience, unbelief and the like. To sum it all up simply, God gets angry about evil. He gets angry about evil, and from what I gathered, He gets angry a lot because people are evil a lot. Unfortunately, people give Him a lot of reasons to be angry, because mankind is so evil, and we just do things all the time that fall into these categories. So because of our sin and rebellion, God is often angry.

I do want to take a moment though to highlight one thing that I think is really important. Although God has a lot of reasons to get angry, the Bible is very clear that God is slow to anger. So, kind of an interesting dynamic here. We can’t look at God’s anger without mentioning this fact. At least 8 times in the Bible, and possibly more than that, it is clearly stated that God is slow to anger.

Now, I want to look at some relevant Scriptures, and then briefly summarize this section on God’s anger. The first Scripture I want to look at is Romans 1:18.

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

In this passage we see a target of God’s wrath, or anger. It is godlessness and wickedness. The overall passage talks about how people really should be able to know something about God, just because of creation itself, but people are suppressing this evident truth “by their wickedness”. So there’s godlessness, wickedness, and a denial of truth that is clearly shown to them by their Creator. In this passage, these things are the target of God’s anger.

Next, I want to look at Colossians 3:5-6.

Colossians 3:5-6 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

This passage is kind of interesting, because we have a list of sins that are going to bring God’s wrath. Not so much the sinner, but these sins themselves are invoking His anger. Obviously, the sins are committed by people, who are sinners, but God isn’t just angry at people because they are people. He is angry at sin.

Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed and idolatry. These are all bad, evil things. Worthy of wrath, and worthy of judgment.

Numbers 14:18 – The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.

As I mentioned above, Scripture clearly teaches on numerous occasions that God is slow to anger, and a forgiving God. I feel like this is really important to consider, because when we think about a perfect God, we know that His anger must be perfect and right. Yet, He is slow to anger, so in His perfect character, being quick to anger isn’t how it is described. Although God gets angry often, I don’t think we should forget this point.

However, to understand and appreciate God’s character as it is, we need to recognize that He is still just. He still executes justice against the guilty. We can’t overlook either side. He’s slow to be angry, but He still does the right thing when anger and judgment is called for.

Jeremiah 10:10 – But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

In the context of this passage, God is being compared to the false idols of the surrounding nations. Whereas the idols can do nothing, God is mighty and also to be feared. God’s anger is a fearful thing that nobody can stand against. No nation can endure it, and the earth even trembles at it.

God’s anger is powerful, mighty and unstoppable. Looking at this passage reminds me that I don’t want to be on the other side of God’s anger. It is an indescribably powerful force.

Psalm 90:7-11 – We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

The anger of the Lord is consuming, and it is terrifying. In this passage, Moses is talking about God’s anger, and tying it to our iniquities and secret sins. When I was reading this, it just reminded me of how the two are so closely related. God’s anger is not arbitrary or untargeted, it is against the sins of man. That’s really what it’s all about.

Also, when I read this passage, I thought about how knowing the power of God’s anger justifies fear of Him. We are told to fear the Lord, and understanding the power of His anger can certainly help with that.

To summarize what I found about God’s anger concisely, here’s a little bullet point list.

God does get angry, often.
God’s anger is a result of man’s sin, disobedience, rebellion and unbelief.
God is slow to anger, but still just.
When He does get angry, He is righteous to do so.
God’s anger is fearful and powerful.

Man’s Anger

Now, I want to turn my attention to the anger of man. We know a little bit about God’s anger, and I want to compare that to our anger. God gets angry, and so do we. How is that similar? How is it different? Is it good, or bad? Can our anger be like God’s? These are all questions that I have that I want to answer.

I want to start just by jotting down some Scriptures that I thought seemed relevant to some of these questions. Scriptures that seem like they can paint a picture of what our anger is like.

Proverbs 29:22 – An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.

Matthew 5:21-22 – “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

Galatians 5:19-21 – The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 4:26-27 – “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Reading these passages, I feel like we get a much different picture of human anger than God’s anger. We see that a hot-tempered person commits many sins. Jesus compares anger with murder. Fits of rage are listed as an act of the flesh that could keep you from inheriting the kingdom. Anger is said to be a foothold for the devil. And lastly in James, human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

So in a general sense, Scripture seems to point to the idea that human anger is a dangerous thing, that can lead to sin, and that it’s not necessarily fruitful or profitable. But this still leaves us with the questions, is human anger itself sin? And, can human anger ever be good? Does the Bible give any examples of human anger that is good, or at least okay?

I believe there are some passages of Scripture that give examples of people being angry, and they are not portrayed as being wrong for being angry. I’m going to list the passage locations, and instead of quoting directly, I will briefly summarize what they’re talking about.

Exodus 16:20 – Moses was angry with the Israelites for keeping manna until the next morning despite his instruction from the Lord not to do that.

Exodus 32:19 – Moses is angry with Aaron and the Israelites for making a golden calf to worship.

2 Kings 13:19 – Elisha was angry with king Jehoash because he did not follow his instructions with zeal.

Nehemiah 5:6 – Nehemiah found out that the nobles and officials were charging their fellow Jews interest on loans, and he was angry at their mistreatment.

Job 32:2-3 – Elihu was angry with Job for justifying himself before God, and he was angry at Job’s three friends for condemning Job without refuting him well.

As far as I can tell, these examples of people getting angry are okay. It doesn’t seem like the Bible condemns their anger, or says it’s wrong, or reprimands them for doing it. This is certainly not an exhaustive list either, I’m sure there’s plenty more examples that are similar in nature to these.

What do these examples all have in common? Well, the people are getting angry about real injustice. People around them were disobeying God, either directly or indirectly, and the ones who were getting angry wanted things to be made right. That was their desire, for things to align with God’s commands or will. And the anger, similar to God’s anger, was directed and pointed at sin, evil and disobedience.

So, this helps us to answer another question. Is human anger itself sin? Based on the examples above, as well as Ephesians 4:26, I feel like the answer is that human anger in and of itself is not sin. We have examples of people getting angry, and it doesn’t seem to say that they are being sinful for doing so. And in the Ephesians passage, we see that it’s possible for a person to not sin in their anger. So although the two certainly can go together, they don’t have to. They can be separated.

But, the warning from Scripture is still clear. Anger can and does often lead to sin. Most of the examples in the Bible of people getting angry are people who are sinning in their anger, or being led to sin by their anger. When searching the Scriptures for examples of humans getting angry, the vast majority of what you find is examples of sinful anger, and not righteous anger. Even examples of what might seem like righteous anger at first, often leads to sinful actions. You have to sift through many, many examples of sinful anger to find the handful of examples of people getting angry in what seems like a decent way with a decent outcome.

So, in summary, in regards to anger being sin or not. Anger itself is not sin. But BE WARNED, in anger, sin can be very close at hand.

How then, does our anger compare to God’s?

Our anger often leads to sin, and can be sinful, yet God never sins. His anger is always against sin, not in sin.
God’s anger is always righteous, our anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
God is slow to anger, but many people are hot-tempered.
God gets angry at sin, and sometimes people also get angry at sin, with a desire to see things made right. This is about the only time anger seems like it could be justified for a person.
For people, anger can be a foothold for the devil, obviously God has no such weakness.

Can our anger ever be like God’s?

In a very small number of cases, it can be, sort of, in some kind of way. When it is appropriately directed at sin and injustice, and when it is used as a catalyst for people wanting to make things right, specifically right in the eyes of God and according to His will and ways.

But, in general, no. As a general truth, it does not appear that the Bible teaches that our anger can be like God’s anger. With a passage like James 1:20, it is hard to argue that human anger is often a source for righteousness. Actually, this passage directly contradicts that idea. Can a person’s anger lead to change according to God’s desire? Sure. Is that the most common outcome? No. And it seems wise to not rely upon human anger to bring about such changes. It is not the tool for that, generally speaking.

What Does the Bible Teach About Anger?

For this part of the study, I just wanted to dig into the Scriptures and see what all it has to say about anger. What does the Bible instruct us to do or be like in regards to anger? Does the Bible give us any tools to fight against anger? Any specific commands? Any deep or profound truths? Since the Bible is the Word of God, I just want to know what it says about this topic, and I want to be changed by what it says about this topic.

For the format of this section, I figured I’d just go through each passage, and do some good old fashioned exegesis. Dig into each passage, see what it says, learn from it. Then maybe I can wrap everything up after that. But for right now, I want the Scriptures themselves to speak and be the main focus. This likely is not an exhaustive list of all of the Scriptures about anger. Either way, there’s a lot here to look at and meditate on.

Psalm 37:7-9 – Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

The anger talked about here seems to be the kind that would be directed towards evil people doing evil things. It’s interesting, because the only “good” examples of people getting angry in the Bible is at evil stuff. But here, in contrast to that, the psalmist says that as a general rule we should not fret about evil people carrying out their evil schemes. The fretting about it can itself lead to evil.

We also see the reason to refrain from anger and fretting. It’s because of the certainty of the Lord’s justice. The psalmist instructs us to be still before the Lord and to wait patiently for Him. Those who are evil will be destroyed. This is a promise, and God is sure to do it. God has a righteous anger that will bring about true justice in the end.

Though it may, at times, be permissible to feel anger toward injustice, evil or sin, ultimately, the fretting over such things can also lead to evil. We are instead instructed here to “refrain from anger and turn from wrath”. And the alternative response is important to note. We are to “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” This is much better than getting angry. Instead of getting angry, let’s wait on the Lord and trust Him.

Proverbs 22:24-25 – Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.

Here, we have an instruction not to get too close with someone who has a bad temper. The reason is that we could end up being like that ourselves, and to be like that would be a snare. We would get caught up in something that is not good. Pretty straight forward passage. We are not to be hot-tempered, and we are not to be close friends with someone who is hot-tempered.

Proverbs 30:33 – For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.

When you churn cream, you’re going to get butter. When you twist a nose, it’s going to bleed. When you stir up anger, you’re going to produce strife. Anger is going to produce issues, particularly between people and relationships. It’s going to cause conflict and friction. That is just what anger does.

Knowing that anger can and will produce conflict in relationships, it would be wise to consider if and why we would want to engage in it.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

In this passage we have a specific instruction, “do not be quickly provoked in your spirit.” This is really straightforward. Don’t be quickly provoked. Relax, and don’t be so quick to get angry or freak out. Try to handle things calmly.

The instruction comes with a reason, “for anger resides in the lap of fools.” So, there is one who gets easily provoked. There is someone who gets angered quickly, and flies off the handle. And that one is a fool. If I’m allowing myself to get angry quickly and freak out easily, then I’m being foolish. That might sound kind of harsh, but that is what is being said here. There’s no way to sugar coat it. To be quickly angered is to act foolishly.

So don’t do it. Do not be quickly provoked, but rather handle things calmly. I thought this verse was so good that it’s now one of my memory verses. Easy and to the point. Don’t freak out, or you’re being foolish.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 – Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

The famous passage that talks about love. What is love? What is not love? I was kind of surprised that this passage ended up in this study, because I didn’t know that it would be relevant to anger. But interestingly enough, it does talk about anger, and how quick anger is not love.

Obviously, as Christians, we should strive for love. Love for God, the greatest commandment in all of Scripture. And love for others, the second greatest command. In this passage we are taught that love “is not easily angered.” So in our pursuit of true biblical love, we need to remember that it does not allow for a quick temper. Being easily angered is contradictory to love. If we are commanded to love, then in turn, it seems we are commanded to control our anger.

Ephesians 4:26-27 – “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

This passage, I believe, is a good proof text to show that you can in fact be angry and not sin. That’s what it says, “in your anger do not sin”. So anger itself is shown not to be sinful in and of itself.

This passage does carry a warning though, and that warning is not to continue in your anger for a long time. It says that continuing in your anger is actually giving the devil a foothold. If you continue in it, you are giving Satan an opportunity to hold you down, and manipulate you. Obviously this is not something we want to allow, and this should really make us think twice about holding onto our anger. Who wants to be held down by Satan?!

So there may be a time where you can feel a little angry, and that can be alright. But first of all, don’t sin in that anger. Secondly, let go of that anger as soon as you possibly can. Don’t give the devil an opportunity to hold you down because of it.

Ephesians 4:31-32 – Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

So this is a pretty straightforward command: get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, and every form of malice. This seems to be a picture of anger in the context of relationships with others. This passage basically says that this type of anger is just not appropriate for the person of God to have or practice.

Just before this verse, Paul talks about not using unwholesome talk, but building others up, and not grieving the Holy Spirit. So the context here is how we are to be with others, and how we are to be loving others, treating others, and forgiving others.

The alternative, and solution for this type of anger is forgiveness. This isn’t always an easy thing to do, but here we are commanded by the Lord to let go of our anger, rage, bitterness, brawling and slander. We are commanded to be kind and compassionate, and to forgive. If we are not doing this, if we are harboring anger in our hearts with unforgiveness and wrath towards others, then we are not following God’s command here.

The passage also points to the most important reason, and inspiration for our forgiveness of others. That is the forgiveness that we have through Christ. In Christ, God forgave us. We weren’t worthy, we weren’t good, we weren’t deserving. But through the death of Jesus Himself, we were forgiven. We are to forgive because of, and to point to, this great fact of our faith.

Colossians 3:8 – But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Just like in the passage above, this is a clear command to get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language. When it comes to anger towards others, ill feeling, bitterness, rage, malice, a desire to bring people down in the sight of others, these are just things that the people of God should be cleaning out of their lives.

Just before this verse, Paul instructs us to “put to death” what belongs to our earthly nature, and he also explains that the sins of our earthly nature are why God’s wrath is coming. Then after this verse, Paul talks about how we have taken off the old self, and have put on the new self, which is being “renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” When we look at the passage as a whole then, we get this awesome picture. Who we were has got to go. We have to take off that old self, with its sins, its anger and bitterness of heart towards others. We have to forsake that old self, and in place of that, we have the joy and the blessing of being renewed in the image of Christ.

1 Timothy 2:8 – Therefore I want men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

Because of the truth of the Gospel, there are ways in which Paul says are appropriate to act. In chapter 2 of 1 Timothy, he talks about praying for leaders, living a quiet life, how women should dress, and about women teaching. In the middle of all of that he makes this comment about the men not having anger or disputing.

In this context, we know that anger and disputing is not something that should be practiced by the people of God in light of the Gospel.

James 1:19-21 – My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

When it comes to a study on anger, this passage here is pure gold. We have a clear command: be slow to become angry. Be slow to anger, do not be quick-tempered. Simple enough. And instead of being quick to anger, listen well, and hold your tongue while you listen.

Then we have what I consider one of the best proof texts in the argument that anger is rarely, if ever profitable for someone to have. It says “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” Wow. That’s pretty straightforward, and pretty heavy of a statement.

We might think in our anger that we could really do something for the Lord. We could really change something for the better, or funnel that into a righteous cause. Taking into account the whole Bible, it does seem like that is possible. There are examples of anger leading to good. But in reality, these examples are rare. Far outweighing these are examples of anger leading to sin, and the opposite of a righteous cause.

We do see anger occasionally directed at evil and leading to reform that appears to be good. But as a general principle, if we wanted a broad picture on anger, it actually does not produce godly righteousness. In general, it just doesn’t have that effect.

Therefore, we should be good listeners, slow speakers, and not easily angered. We need to be slow to anger. Our anger is not going to produce righteousness.

Proverbs 29:22 – An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.

What does an angry person do? They stir up conflict. They bring about disorder, and friction, and relational issues and problems. That’s what an angry person does.

I know from personal experience that the result of anger is not good. The result of anger is conflict. Anger doesn’t bring peace, resolution or butterflies. It doesn’t ever have that effect. It brings conflict, and issues, and baggage, and lost jobs, hurt spouses and discouraged children. This is just the truth of what anger brings.

Also, a person who has a bad temper commits many sins. Again, we see this direct correlation between anger and sin. Anger can, and does lead to sin. Anger gives the devil a foothold. Anger is like a petri dish in our heart for sin to grow.

This passage is found in the sermon on the mount, a profound teaching moment from Jesus Himself. We have here Jesus comparing anger to murder.

Later in verses 27 and 28, Jesus talks about adultery and lustfully looking at a woman. The connection between these two things is obvious. Lustfully looking at a woman can lead to sin with her, and Jesus says that even the looking itself is sin in the heart. I feel like this connection, though profound, is sort of obvious. Less often, I think, do we see the connection between anger and murder.

Jesus warns of the same danger of judgment for someone who is angry with another, as one who murders another. A big thing this passage does is give us the opportunity to see the severity and seriousness of anger. We might think a little bitterness towards someone is not a big deal, but according to Jesus, the same roots that grow anger are the same roots that can grow into murder.

With some rare exceptions, most of us would probably say that we do not struggle with the sin of murder. We might get a little angry, but we are not murderers. But, just as the man who lustfully looks is on the road to adultery, the person who has anger in his heart is on the road to murder. This is a pretty crazy comparison here, and one that really digs into how serious anger truly is.

Jesus also talks about what someone says to, or about another person. These things can often be fueled by anger, and Jesus says that using the mouth to call someone names like “fool” is in the same vein as anger, and murder. According to this passage, we need to take this issue seriously.

Proverbs 12:16 – Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlooks an insult.

We see here a contrast between the fool and the prudent. The fool is quick to show annoyance and get upset, while the prudent can just brush things off. To be able to brush things off is wise and admirable. But to be easily annoyed and easily upset over things is foolish. Even insults directed at us can be overlooked, and this is a prudent thing.

Proverbs 14:29 – Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.

Again, we have a contrast between those with understanding and those who show folly. Patience is a virtue that exemplifies wisdom and understanding. This is what I want to be like. Patient and wise. I think most people would want to be seen as patient and wise. This seems like a great goal. A quick-tempered person, however, is showing foolishness.

Do I really understand and accept the fact that when I am quick-tempered I am being a fool? Do I really see patience as wise and understanding? I feel like I overlook this, and just plain ignore it, and let my emotions get the best of me too often. If I was really convinced, and also remembered, that a quick-temper was truly foolish and that patience was a sign of great understanding, then I would probably make more of an effort to be more patient and less quick-tempered.

Proverbs 27:3-4 – A stone is heavy and sand a burden, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

A fool’s provocation, meaning his irritation or anger, is a heavy burden. It uses the illustration of a stone, or sand. Something that must be moved or carried, and is burdensome. The anger of a fool is even worse than carrying rocks.

The main point of the second statement is mostly about jealousy, and how jealousy can be even worse than anger or fury. But there still is a point here made about anger and fury, though not the main thrust of the sentence. Anger is cruel and fury is overwhelming.

Proverbs 19:19 – A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

Here we see that there is a penalty for being easily angered. One who has a bad temper can find themself in a situation where they need to be rescued. Not only will they need to be rescued, but they will need it again.

There’s a couple things we can draw from this. First, a person’s bad temper can lead them into bad situations. Hence, the need for rescue. This alone makes a good point as to where a bad temper leads.

Secondly, it seems to imply that a hot-tempered person may not even learn from their mistakes. They can find themself in a bad situation because of their uncontrolled anger, and then get saved from that, and then just go right back to the same thing. This is not good, and it illustrates the perpetual issues that come with uncontrolled anger.

Proverbs 25:28 – Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

This is such a great illustration. A city that is broken into, with broken walls. An enemy can just come in and out, causing havoc and destruction. The protection and the security is gone, and things are just open and vulnerable. This is what it’s like when someone doesn’t have control over themselves.

This could easily apply to all sorts of emotions or temptations, but in regards to anger, when it comes, the one who doesn’t have self-control is taken over and consumed by it. They are vulnerable to evil and attack. They are not secure.

The solution here, to give someone security against these kinds of attacks and temptations, is self-control. We should aspire to have self-control, because that is like the walls to our city. That is the barrier between us and bad decisions.

Proverbs 16:32 – Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.

This statement here is really profound. We think of the warrior, or one who can conquer as being admirable and strong. This is someone to look up to, who is quite capable. But we see here that even more admirable is the patient person who has self-control.

It’s one thing to conquer a city, but it’s another whole battle to conquer your own emotions and temptations. There is great value and strength in being able to control yourself. We also see here that our valuation of different virtues may be skewed. We admire, or may even want to be, the strong warrior. That’s the cool person who has strength. But even better, and more desirable, is to be the one who is patient, and collected, and self-controlled. I want to keep this proverb in mind and remember that this is the better virtue.

Proverbs 19:11 – A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

This says that a person’s wisdom results in patience. If a person truly has wisdom, patience will be a fruit of that. That’s just the way it is.

When something wrong is done to you, it is for your good to just let it go. Here, glory has the idea of beauty, honor, radiance, fame, pride, ornament, and so on… That’s what comes up when you look at the original word used for glory. So with that in mind, it seems like one who is able to let things go, they just look good. This is a trait that looks good, and is honorable in the sight of others. I feel like this could be a good incentive to dismiss offenses. Outwardly, this is just an honorable thing to do.

Titus 1:7 – Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless – not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

In this passage, Paul is giving Titus requirements for an overseer in the church. In this list, having a quick temper is something that disqualifies someone from being an overseer in the church. Really, this is a pretty big deal. Not all people will be, or aspire to be elders, but Paul is saying that someone who can’t control their temper is not even worthy to be an elder.

If there is a sin that disqualifies you for service in the house of God, I feel like we should look at that and think, “I don’t want to be like that.” I personally would want to aspire to have the traits necessary to serve in the house of God well. Even if I never have the opportunity to become an elder, I would want to be worthy of that position.

This passage also shows us that having a quick temper is outside of the ideal characteristics for a Christian. Someone who is worthy to be an overseer is living well according to God. And we see here that a quick temper is not what God desires for His people.

Conclusion

So, that brings me to the end of this study. I’ve looked at God’s anger. I’ve looked at man’s anger. Lastly, I’ve looked at a lot of Scriptures that talk about anger. It seems like the Bible is pretty clear on its teaching about anger. Thankfully, there’s a lot to learn from it. Sometimes the hardest part is not just learning the information, but internalizing it in our hearts so that we can be changed. May the Lord do that for me! May I be changed by the Word of God…

In regards to God’s anger, I learned that God gets angry quite often. In some ways, this was a bit of a surprise for me. I was surprised at just how many examples there were of God’s anger throughout the Scriptures. I also learned that God’s anger is always righteously targeted at sin and evil. I also learned that God is slow to anger. These truths brought me to the sobering fact that God is angry so often because people are just so wicked. There really is no other cause for God’s anger. His anger is perfect, and always morally right. He knows what is good and bad, and He gets angry at what is bad. Apparently we give Him a lot of things to be angry about.

I also learned that His anger is powerful and something to be feared. The Scriptures say that the earth trembles at His anger, and the nations cannot endure it. Really, nothing is a match for God’s anger. Nothing could stand against it, or be saved from it. Thankfully, God is slow to anger. If He weren’t, well there probably would be nothing left of this earth, because mankind is deserving of His wrath. But in His goodness, and His perfect character, He is slow to anger. This does not in any way negate His justice, or righteousness, He is still morally perfect. But for our great benefit, He is not quickly angered. He is patient and kind.

I then took a look at man’s anger in comparison to God’s. Pretty quickly, I came to the conclusion that our anger is not like God’s, and that rarely would we ever be able to justify our anger or call it a righteous force. A question that I had when I started this study was if our anger could ever be a good thing. I wanted to know if the Scripture ever clearly stated that there could be a good cause for our anger, or a good outcome from it.

In general, I would say that the Bible never clearly states that human anger can be good. I want to be careful here, because in order to get the whole picture, it’s important to look at the entire Bible. There are examples in the Bible of people getting angry at sin or injustice, and it seems like that anger could have been a catalyst for positive change. That is what seems to be happening in some examples. These examples always include a person getting angry because people have broken God’s laws or gone against His will, and always with the desire for people to be following God’s laws and will. So, it seems necessary that the person not be offended personally, but rather with a heart for the will of God specifically.

We also know from Ephesians 4:26 that it is possible to be angry and not sin. So I think it would be wrong to rigidly assert that human anger in and of itself is sin, and that it can never be used for good. I don’t think that’s quite what the Bible teaches. Now, I do not think the Bible has any clear teachings that human anger can be good. There are never any times where it instructs us to be angry or try to use our anger constructively. The only times that you could get this conclusion out of the Scriptures is through implicit principles from historical examples.

One such example is when Nehemiah gets angry at his fellow Israelites for charging interest on loans to their poor brothers and sisters. They were taking advantage of the poor Israelites, after they had all just come back from the exile that was a result of their disobedience and sin. He got angry, and the people who were doing such things were ashamed, and changed their behavior. This is one example where a person got angry, and it wasn’t condemned, and it led to positive change.

I said this earlier in this portion of the study, but these kinds of examples are really rare. For the most part, examples of human anger in Scripture can only be described as sinful, or leading to sin. So there are no clear instructions to be angry, and only a few rare examples of constructive anger. On the other hand, there are a ton of examples of unrighteous anger, and many clear instructions to avoid anger, and many clear teachings about how anger is dangerous and not good.

I don’t want to say more than what Scripture says, and I don’t want to forbid something Scripture doesn’t forbid, but I feel pretty confident in saying that Scripture teaches us that we should not be angry. I feel like the Bible teaches that we should avoid anger, that it ultimately is not constructive, that our anger is not righteous, and that for the most part it is just a bad thing. There may be the rare exception, but the teachings about anger in the Scriptures are just too clear to deny. With a passage like James 1:20, it’s hard to argue that our anger is really a good thing, or a tool to be used in righteousness. Rather, the Bible teaches that “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” This is a pretty clear statement that should have us thinking twice about trying to use anger for the will of God. It just doesn’t seem like it adds up to what the Bible says.

So is our anger different from God’s? Very much so. God’s anger is perfectly directed at evil, and man’s anger is often a source of evil and conflict. God’s anger is always righteous, and man’s anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. God’s anger is powerful and scary, man’s anger can also be scary but lacks the glorious power of God’s.

So, in general, what does the Bible say about anger? It says that we should avoid it. It says that we should not be hot-tempered or easily angered. It says that anger is for the fool, whereas self-control and a cool head is for the wise and prudent. It says that we should rid ourselves of it, and avoid it, and even avoid friendship with people who are given to it. It says that it does not produce the righteousness God desires, and even that it is a foothold for the devil. It says that it produces conflict and strife, and leads to many sins, and is a heavy burden. It says that someone who is quick to anger is not eligible to be a leader in the church. Jesus compares anger to murder, and warns of the same judgment for both.

You just can’t get away from it. The Bible does not condone anger or allow for it regularly in the life of a believer. It may be true that anger itself is not necessarily sin, but when allowed into the heart, it seems clear from Scripture and from experience that sin is never far behind it. Sin can and does very often follow after anger. Like I said in a statement above, anger is like a petri dish in our hearts for sin. If and when we hold onto it, we are promised that conflict and sin are going to result.

Again, with some hesitation, I am tempted to say that there may be a time, or a place where anger could be used for good. This is perhaps implied by some historical accounts. But never, not once does the Bible encourage us to try to make that happen. It only warns of the opposite outcome, and instructs us to avoid anger in its entirety.

Where do I go from here? I feel settled in my heart that the Bible teaches that we should not be angry people. So based on that, I truly desire to be a man of patience and self-control. When I am faced with the temptation to get angry, I want to remember what I have learned here, take a step back, and ask for God’s help to align with His truth on the matter. His truth is that my anger is not going to do anything good for me. My anger will only display my foolishness. My anger will not accomplish His righteous will. My anger will cause conflict and strife in my life. My anger at others is not accomplishing anything other than disobedience to God, and instead what I am commanded to do is forgive. My anger could and would disqualify me from serving well in the church. My anger will lead to sin. It just will.

These are not necessarily easy things, or else I would not be an angry person to begin with. But by the grace of God, He’s given us His Word. He’s given us His Spirit if our trust is in Him. There is much hope for the weak fool like me to grow in the knowledge, understanding and practice of these wonderful spiritual truths. Praise God!

The Weak Fool

Anger

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Anger

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