Righteous Anger

“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” (Ephesians 4:26)

           

            For the next few weeks we will be studying the subject of anger and wrath. The first thing that we will consider is righteous anger. There are those who consider all anger to be sinful; but that cannot be so, because God is spoken of as being angry and exercising wrath, and we know that God cannot sin.

            It is necessary that we be very careful to distinguish between that which is right and that which is wrong, however. God has called us to holiness, and we must pursue holiness in every area of our lives.

            Holiness should especially be pursued in our thought lives, because thoughts lead to deeds. This is why we are told to guard our hearts: our hearts dictate our actions (See Proverbs 4:23.). This is also why Jesus warned against unrighteous anger saying, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:21–22) Sinful anger is what leads to murder, so we should beware of our sinful hearts thinking murderous thoughts.

            Nahum spoke of God’s righteous anger: “The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; The Lord revengeth, and is furious; The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, And he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked: The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of his feet.” (Nahum 1:1–3) God is Creator and King of all things, and all sin is rebellion against His righteous government. This is why we read of God’s wrath and great displeasure in Psalm two.

            Sin, too, is a rejection of God’s worthiness and ability to give us joy. When we sin we show that we are convinced that lesser things are of greater worth than God, and that they have the capacity to satisfy us where God cannot. This is one reason why the fall of man in the Garden of Eden was sinful. We also find that David’s sin is spoken of as despising God, or counting Him to be of less value than a few moments of sensual pleasure with a beautiful woman (See 2Samuel 12:7-10.).

            God is right to be angry when we rebel against His righteous rule and act as if His creatures can give us more joy than He can give us.

            Our text commands us to not sin when we are angry. We can exhibit righteous anger, but we must not allow our anger to become sinful.

            We can be angry and act righteously. Jesus did so when He cleansed the temple in John chapter two. I once heard a sermon in which a man said that we could not know from the text whether Jesus was angry or not. The text, however, tells us that Jesus had a zeal, or an indignation, for God’s house that He expressed that day.

            Paul told us of a righteous anger that is the result of repentance. When we repent of our sins, we have the ability to become angry about the sin that is present in our lives and, through that anger, expel that sin from our hearts and lives. (See 2Corinthians 7:8-11.).

            Righteous anger shows itself in the fact that, while we are angry, we do not seek vengeance. Righteous anger leaves vengeance to God. Paul tells us, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19) We are not to seek vengeance, but to yield to the wrath of God, who will judge righteously. While our wrath will not work God’s righteousness, God will rightly deal with sin. We must step aside and trust Him to do what He does perfectly: rule as King of the universe.

            Beware, however, the tendency to think that we are justified in most, or all, of our anger. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19–20) We need to be very careful that we do not deceive ourselves and think that the things which may rightly anger us give us the right to express our anger in any fashion that we please. Simply because we have become angered for righteous reasons does not mean that we are free to express righteous anger in a sinful fashion. Man’s wrath does not express God’s righteousness. We must step aside and yield to God’s wrath. We must commit ourselves to Him who judges righteously (See 1Peter 2:21-24.), and trust Him to take care of those persons and things which anger us. Our wrath will show itself in very sinful passions and in the mistreatment of those with whom we are angry. God will judge rightly.

            As we look around us today, we see an angry world. It is as if many people have joined the society of the perpetually peeved. They are angry about everything and angry at everyone. It seems that many are on the lookout for any and every opportunity to express their outrage. God’s children must be among those who are peacemakers. We must seek peace and pursue it (See 1Peter 3:8-10.). We must beware lest our anger swiftly transition from righteous anger to unrighteous wrath.