Sinful Anger

“Make no friendship with an angry man; And with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, And get a snare to thy soul.” (Proverbs 22:24–25)

This is obviously a very serious thing. We are called to not keep close company with people who are of quick temper and who are peevish and soon wroth, so that we do not become like them. Sinful anger is a dangerous and contagious thing.

            First of all, we must understand that sinful anger is dangerous simply because it does us no good, thus being harmful. “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) There are probably numerous ways in which man’s sinful anger and wrath fail to accomplish God’s righteousness, but sinful anger certainly fails to be righteous in two important ways.

The first of these ways is that sinful anger is a usurpation of God’s authority. We are warned that we should yield to God’s wrath, as it is His prerogative (See Romans 12:19.). God is the one lawgiver who has the right of judgment (James 4:10-12), and He judges righteously (1Peter 2:24).

            The second important manner in which sinful anger fails to accomplish that which is right is that it is a failure of faith in God. We are told that Jesus Himself did not exercise wrath, when He was mistreated, but trusted in God. “Qho did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:22–24) It is our sacred duty to walk in the footsteps of our holy Savior, and trust God to judge, rather than trying to do so in our own wrath.

In Genesis 4:1-6 we see Cain’s anger toward his brother, Abel, which led to him murdering Abel. Cain was first angry with God before he was angry with his brother. Stop and think of that, because we must see that sinful anger is first about our relationship with God. We must take our attitudes seriously, as they are reflective of our relationship with God. The person who is angered quickly and often is often out of sorts with God. Let us examine ourselves.

Not only did James warn us that our sinful anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness, he also warned us that angry words are inflammatory. “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue amongst our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” (James 3:6) Sinful anger is contagious. It is transmitted especially by the words which we speak, so we must be very careful both how and what we say.

      Remember, sinful anger is catching. This is why our text warns us about keeping company with wrathful people. The Geneva Bible of 1560 renders our text thus: “Make no friẽdship with an angrie mã, nether go with the furious man, Lest thou learne his wayes, and receive destruction to thy soule.” (Proverbs 22:24–25) The Puritan preacher, Matthew Henry said, “Though we must be civil to all, yet we must be careful whom we lay in our bosoms and contract a familiarity with. And, among others, a man who is easily provoked, touchy, and apt to resent affronts, who, when he is in a passion, cares not what he says or does, but grows outrageous, such a one is not fit to be made a friend or companion, for he will be ever and anon angry with us and that will be our trouble, and he will expect that we should, like him, be angry with others, and that will be our sin.^[1]”  We must be careful of the company we keep, lest we become people of sinful anger and wreck our own lives.

Finally, we need to consider what the Scriptures tell us about the character of the person who habitually indulges in sinful anger and wrath. He or she:

1. Acts like a fool. “A fool’s wrath is presently known: But a prudent man covereth shame.” (Proverbs 12:16) “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” (Ecclesiastes 7:9)

2. Exalts folly, rather than understanding. “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.” (Proverbs 14:29)

3. Must suffer punishment, and needs to learn his lesson. “A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: For if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.” (Proverbs 19:19)

4. Is arrogant and scornful. “Proud and haughty scorner is his name, Who dealeth in proud wrath.” (Proverbs 21:24)

5. Sins much and stirs up trouble. “An angry man stirreth up strife, And a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” (Proverbs 29:22)

I honestly know of none of God’s people who would want to wear labels such as these.

            All of the above things being true, let us make it a priority to grow out of sinful anger and into godly attitudes and actions.

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^[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 1005.

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.