Anger

We use such phrases as, “blow a fuse, getting bent out of shape, blow a gasket, and having a cow.” They all mean that we have gotten angry at someone or something that has happened to us. Anger is defined as “a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.” No matter what we do to try and control it we all get angry many times in our lives. Sometimes it is easier than we wish it would be. There are even times that we get angrier than we wish we would at situations that most times are out of our control. Anger is one of those emotions that we really don’t enjoy having, especially when it gets the better of us and we lash out a lot stronger than we wish we would have.  

            Anger in itself is not evil or wrong. The mind is formed to be angry as well as to love. Both are original susceptibilities of our human nature. If anger were in itself sinful, how could God himself be angry? We read in Deuteronomy 9:20 that "the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him.” We also seen in Matthew 21:21 “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.” Even God and His Son were angry so obviously being angry is not considered a sin; why would God give us the emotion if it were?

            Where we get it wrong and do sin because of our anger is when we blow our top or have a cow and our anger controls our words and our actions to the point that they stop becoming righteous and they become judgmental. Today I want to look a little deeper at anger and see if we can find some answers to 4 important questions. How does anger relate to sin? Does the Bible condemn all anger? What is the theological difference between righteous and sinful anger? How can Christians manage their anger biblically? Hopefully by the time we get done today we can all look at little differently at how we handle the times when we get angry with a little more biblical understanding and purpose.

How does anger relate to sin?

            Like I mentioned a couple minutes ago, anger itself is not inherently evil. What makes it sinful is in the way we express and manage it. Like any emotion, anger is a complex emotional response that can either align with or deviate from God’s purposes. Because we lack God’s complete understanding of things, our emotions are going to be tainted by sin. However, the Bible calls on us to be angry at sin and be loving towards people, including ourselves, in spite of our sin. When Paul calls on us to be angry but not to sin in his letter to the Ephesians, he is wanting us to recognize that the longer we allow anger to persist in any situation we are in the easier it will be for Satan to get a foothold and our anger does become sinful.

            There are at least 3 ways that we can see that our anger can become sinful. First is when it rises in us to quickly and it overwhelms our rational thought process. Anger, when it is not quenched with the love that comes from forgiveness can easily spread and destroy a great deal more than we want it to. Satan likes to exploit our emotions, especially anger, and exploit it to fan the flames adding fuel to it and creating what could be a very dangerous emotional fire in our life, If we are not careful that fire can rage out of control and cause more damage in our life than we could ever realize.

            The second way that it can become sinful is when it is accompanied by bitterness, blame, and unforgiveness. The longer we allow our anger to fester in our hearts the easier it will be to see bitterness and blame come into it and then unforgiveness comes in and it becomes even more difficult to escape this dangerous poison to our hearts. When we are in God’s word as much as possible it becomes easier to turn that unforgiveness into grace and forgiveness, many times to the surprise of everyone including the one that you were angry with.

            The last way that it can become sinful, that we are going to look at today, is when our anger stirs up arguments and controversy. Just as in everything else we are called to do in our Christian walk, we can use our anger as a positive tool to show the grace and forgiveness that comes with a relationship with Jesus. When we truly love our neighbors as ourselves like we are commanded by Christ to do we will be more likely to be angry at a persons sin and yet still able to honestly be loving and forgiving towards the person. Allow the other person to have their opinion on something and respecting them enough to recognize that will go a long way to preventing your anger from causing an argument. We are all on a different path in our walk with God and even though we know what the end destination is for everyone who is in Christ we should only focus on the path that we are on and not on the different path that He has placed others on.

Does the Bible condemn all anger?

            This leads us right into our second question asking if the Bible condemns all anger. Honestly when we look at how humans are likely to handle situations when they feel angry the answer to that question would be yes the Bible does condemn that kind of anger. In fact, we actually see Jesus compare anger to murder in the Sermon on the Mount. He says in 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.” Jesus recognized that we have a very difficult time controlling the strongest of our emotions, anger being one of the hardest to control. By putting our anger in with murder he is wanting us to see that if we do not work hard to control that anger it can very easily turn into long term unforgiveness, bitterness, and eventually can lead to murder.

            However, the biblical perspective is not a blanket condemnation. Anger is an emotional arousal caused by something displeasing, and the New Testament principle suggests that believers should be “angry at sin but loving toward people.” There is a “good sort” of anger called “righteous indignation,” which represents the extreme displeasure of a holy heart unable to tolerate sin. This is exemplified by God’s anger when people forsake His covenant and serve other gods. While we may feel as if we are expressing our anger as a form of righteous indignation it is a good idea to leave the righteousness up to God and instead focus on helping others to see forgiveness of their sin and show them the love that Christ showed each of us.

What is the theological difference between righteous and sinful anger?

            Next I want to spend sometime looking at just what the Bible says about the differences between the righteous and the sinful when it comes to anger. Just as with everything when it comes to our faith and our belief in God, there is a very important difference between being righteous and being sinful with our anger. Righteous anger ensures that the focus is on God’s kingdom, rights, and concerns. In other words, it focuses on what God wants for our lives and what He wants to ensure that we remain on the path that he has for our lives and the lives of those who we encounter and minister to.

            Sinful anger is just the opposite. It puts all the focus on personal rights and self-interests. This can be a very difficult distinction to make when we allow our emotions to control our words and actions. When we lash out in anger we are letting our own sinful nature control what we say and do instead of letting God control things. This is why it is so shocking and unbelievable when we see those who have suffered great loss due to the actions of others, forgive them instead of being bitter and vengeful towards them. We say we can understand when they want them to pay for their actions or we use such awful phrases such as “they deserve to die or to rot in prison.” When we let our emotions control our words and our actions we forget that in our own sin we are also deserving of death as well. The only punishment that God has set for disobedience and sin is death.

            Now when it comes to righteous anger it does not contain any of the self-serving attitudes and reasons that we get with the sinful version. Righteous anger focuses on God’s kingdom, rights, and concerns, while sinful anger centers on personal rights and self-interests. Other things we see in righteous anger are that it is always unselfish, unlike sinful anger which emerges from frustrated personal desires. It remains controlled, preventing destructive outbursts; and it is directed toward sinful acts or unjust situations, not against people themselves. When we look at the things that we find in righteous anger, then we look at situations such as God killing several thousand during the exodus from Egypt, or Jesus turning over the tables in the temple, we can see that their reasoning was indeed controlled. While we would look at what happened during the exodus and think that it was directed against the people, what God was doing was directed at punishing them for their sins against His law and not against them as people. God was doing like any father would in that he was punishing his children for their disobedience.

How can Christians manage their anger biblically?

Our final question that we are going to look at today is how can we, as Christians manage our anger in a more biblical way? We read in James 1:19-20 “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.” While that statement is really easy to just read and then say ok let’s go do life, like a lot of things that we are called to do as Christians is not that easy to put into practice. Someone cuts you off in traffic or pushes in front of you in the line at Wal-Mart, you are likely going to be angry at their actions thinking they are directed towards you personally. To be honest I would be one of the first ones that would have started yelling at the other driver or giving that person in Wal-Mart a piece of my mind as it were. However, that is not what we are called to do as Christians. Anger itself can be viewed constructively—like a smoke alarm, it warns of potential danger and prompts appropriate action. As Christians we need to look at situations trying to understand what the other person is going through and instead of reacting we need to effectively communicate patience, understanding, and biblical love for our neighbors.

Christians are called to “return good for evil,” which can transform anger into love. Our actions can actually reshape our hearts—by choosing to act differently toward someone, we can gradually change our feelings. Overcoming ungodly anger is a process that requires patience, involves prayer, Bible study, and reliance on the Holy Spirit. With consistent practice, healthier responses can become habitual, ultimately glorifying God. This is not saying that handling our anger is easy or that it is not possible for us to slip back into our old habits of how we handle those situations and people. However, what we need to remember is that as Christians we are commanded to conduct ourselves and our lives in a manner that reflects the love and purity that we get from God. If we are to be the kind of example for others that we are called to be by God then we need to rely on prayer and being in the word to teach us how to handle these tough situations instead of lashing out in sinful anger instead of patience love and understanding.

I want to conclude today and talk for just a second about our safety when it comes to anger. Sometimes our anger leads us to recognize that certain people are unsafe for us. We can still and should eventually forgive them, but we may choose not to re-enter the relationship. When we have these people in our lives chances are they are a big part of our lives and escaping that part of life in order to get out of a situation that is unsafe for us can many times cause anger and hatred to grow towards us and seem to make things even worse. When this happens it is important that instead of allowing ourselves to go back into that situations we surround ourselves with several friends who can protect us as well as getting in contact with people who are trained in how to handle these kinds of situations safely and effectively. We should never stay in situations and relationships that are unsafe for us for any reasons.