Is anger a sin or not?
Each first week of this year, we are looking at one emotion as found in the Bible. We have already looked at joy and delight, envy and regret. This month let’s look at anger.
I have heard in Christian circles that anger is bad, or that we should ‘not let the sun go down while you are still angry’ (Ephesians 4:26). These trite sayings don’t do much to explain anything about anger, though. Clearly, the Bible should be followed, but we cannot take verses out of context.
God gets angry
God experiences anger (Exodus 15:7), and we know that God does not sin (1 Peter 2:22). The natural logic then is if God experiences anger and does not sin, then anger itself is not sin. We humans are in a disadvantaged place because we live in a place that is full of sin. This earth has fallen and so we are tempted to sin when we are angry. It is what we do with our anger that may be sin. Anger is also a common response to sin. Sin in particular is what draws God’s anger, or wrath.
So anger reveals what needs to be set right. Anger is what we experience when something has been broken - a promise, an expectation, a desire. Cain was angry and killed Abel. Saul goes on a multi-year campaign to kill David. Jonah angrily runs from God and ends up in the belly of a fish and cursing a vine that shades him.
What is it that anger indicates needs to be set right?
Many times, anger indicates that our heart needs an adjustment. Consider Cain (Genesis 4) – God even warns him to ‘do what is right’ and says that sin is crouching at his door. Instead of looking inside, he blames Abel and kills him. Cain didn’t do what was right.
Similarly, Saul needed a heart adjustment. In 1 Samuel 18, we find that Saul becomes jealous of David’s acclamation following victories in war. From that time, Saul begins to attack David, eventually causing David to run. The victory was not David’s nor was it Saul’s. The victory was God’s and Saul had lost his perspective. Saul thought better of himself, though it was God’s victory. Was this idolatry as well as jealousy? Either way, Saul did not obey God’s commands.
Jonah ran from God, thinking it was too generous to save the people of Ninevah, who were the worst around at the time. He didn’t agree with God’s decision to save them, so he ran away and was eventually convinced to carry out God’s will, but only begrudgingly. His heart wasn’t in it, and he had disobeyed.
When Dinah was raped in Genesis 34, her brothers get angry and kill the whole tribe of the man who raped her. It seems righteous to avenge a rape. We can see that killing every man in the town was sin. We can also see that the brothers acted without the knowledge of their father Jacob. No spiritual leader was consulted when they decided to get revenge. Righting a wrong must be done under God’s guidance.
Responding to Anger
Anger is not sin in itself, but the response that we have to anger must fall under God’s laws and will. When we are angry, we must consider how God will put it right, and not take (or at least try to take) things into our own hands.
We can recognize anger as a potential or temptation to sin, but can stop that by learning form the stories above:
checking our hearts for bitterness, jealousy and other emotions
asking God how to right the wrong
following his word
That’s all fine and good, but I really need a bit more than just, look to God. I’m usually the person who needs to wring a towel, take a deep breath, avoid situations that cause anger; you get the idea, right?
Anger is not to be pushed aside so we don’t let the sun go down on it. Anger is to be managed. This particular verse (which always seems to be thrown in the face of an angry person!) actually only indicates that it should not last too long. It doesn’t say to squash anger, but to deal with it in a timely manner.
More Anger lessons from the Bible
Proverbs 14:29 says, ‘Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.’ So, when anger causes us to make impulsive decisions, we likely are missing understanding. Perhaps it is the other person’s perspective, or the history of the situation that got us this far. We may be missing vital pieces of information when we are angry, and foolishly make decisions.
Proverbs 19:11 tells us, ‘A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.’ This yields two things for us to consider: our wisdom – which God gives to all who ask (James 1:5), and control. Wisdom will make itself known not only in how we respond to anger, but in all areas of our lives. Wisdom will guide us in who our friends are, how we manage our time and prioritize our actions, etc. And here we are told we will find patience in our wisdom, a gift from God in the wisdom of our lives.
The second part of Proverbs 19:11 is about overlooking an offense. It’s about not letting someone else provoke our anger. It’s about the control we have so that we don’t react to others or give them control over our emotions, but indeed control them ourselves. We may not always overlook an offense, but if we do, it will give God glory. Please do not assume that the opposite is true if you don’t overlook an offense – it does NOT say we will take away his glory!
Holy Spirit Collaboration
There are many more proverbs about anger and more we can learn, but there is another verse we should also consider. Colossians 3:8-10 says,
‘But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’
You may think I am returning to ‘put away anger’, but that is not what we find here. We find here that we are ‘renewed’ people! The Holy Spirit is working in us and for us to putt away these things. And I find that this list is where I find the one thing that has most impacted my impulsive behavior – foul talk. Sure, I no longer use ‘bad’ or ‘curse’ words, but I find even the ongoing verbal spew about whatever has angered me causes my anger to fester. The choice of words and tone when we talk of our anger contributes to the anger itself. I think this is what Paul is getting at in this passage. All these contribute to one another, piling up on top of each other – which we must reject in the name of the Holy Spirit and with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the answer to a right response to anger
An acquaintance told of her mother when she and her sister used to get into fights. Their mother would just start singing the name of Jesus. One word and things would diffuse. He is all we need, to find the righteous solution to the injustice or disagreement, or heart illness that we may have when we are angered. There is nothing wrong with anger, but rather what we do with out anger must be guided by God.
