First posted to: https://surehopecounseling.com/anger-in-scripture-emotion-warning-and-wisdom/
Anger gets a bad rap in our world–not just the Christian world, but in the general culture. Some Christians are taught that to be angry is inherently wrong. Most people would rather be called “a sad person” rather than “an angry person” because anger is often equated with danger, toxicity, and impulsivity. While these things can be and often are true, so is the fact that scripture addresses anger as a purposeful emotion, just as much as sadness/sorrow, joy, surprise, worry, etc. Let’s take a deep dive into anger in scripture as an emotion, with a warning, and managed in biblical wisdom.
Emotion:
Scripture does not condemn anger itself. In fact, the emotion of anger was provided to us by God as a helpful tool in identifying injustice, reveal violated boundaries, and point us to our own grief, love, or fear. Ephesians 4:26 instructs us to “be angry and do not sin,” noting here that Paul, the author, did not ask Christ-followers to suppress their anger, but to express it in a way that encourages healthy stewardship of the emotion. Anger is present throughout scripture, both in humanity and God. A few examples, and how the anger can be interpreted in the scripture:
| Scripture Reference | Interpretation of Anger |
| Exodus 32:19 – Moses is angry after witnessing Israel worship the golden calf | The anger is a response to a betrayal of the covenant between God and Israel, and shows Moses’ grief over sin |
| Psalm 44 – an emotion-filled Psalm that appears to “blame” God | The author of this Psalm seems to have a “venting” session to God–the anger is directed at what the psalmist appears to interpret as a failure of God. While we know that this is untrue, this Psalm gives an excellent example of how honesty and prayer can be healing and how we can (and should) in our anger be in direct communication with God. |
| Mark 3:1-5 – Jesus’ anger at the Pharisees when they condemn him for healing a man and breaking Sabbath law | Jesus’ anger is connected to grief, seeing their lack of compassion and blindness to grace and godly love. |
| John 2:13-17 – Jesus overturns tables and drives out the merchants in the temple courts | Jesus’ anger is over the corruption of the merchants and the exploitation of the house of God for their personal gain. |
Warning:
You can see that some of these passages are examples of anger in Jesus, God Himself. As such, we can see that because Jesus was sinless, His anger was not sinful. Anger is not inherently sinful, and can be righteous. We will leave the turning of the tables to Jesus, whose wrath was justified, however, for us believers, emotion and behavior are not the same thing. Feeling anger and acting out in anger are separate things. In psychology, anger is often spoken about as being a “secondary emotion,” or to put it another way, an emotion that can emerge as a result of a more painful emotion underneath, often fear, shame, grief, or helplessness. In this form, fear can be protective, and/or impulsive. In another form, however, anger can stand alone as an appropriate response to evil or true injustice, still often paired with grief as you can see in the examples above. Regardless, scripture gives us several warnings about anger:
- Again, Ephesians 4:25 – “be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”
- James 1:19-20 – “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (emphasis added)
- Ecclesiastes 7:9 – “Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.”
- Proverbs 14:29 – “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding…”
Scripture consistently shows the contrast between impulsivity and self-control when it comes to anger as well as the relationship between having a quick-temper and foolishness. A quick search will show you that the Bible refers to God as “slow to anger” numerous times (Psalm 103:8, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15), although he rightfully feels “indignation every day” for the sins of the world (Psalm 7:11).
Wisdom:
So how are we called to handle anger in our lives? Think about the things that push your buttons daily or are topics of discussion/conflict in your home and in counseling: your children’s disobedience, your spouse’s neglect to meet your needs, the coworker that threw you under the bus, the friend that betrayed your trust, the spouse who was unfaithful, the child who hurled insults at you…the list goes on. What’s something in common with these? They are all relational. Yes, anger can exist about other things, but in life and in the Bible we see a clear command to work toward reconciliation when a rift has been caused by anger. In Matthew 5:21-24, Jesus is clear that anger and unresolved conflict become a barrier to worship and right relationship with God.
Suppressing anger does not make it go away; instead it shapes your heart towards self-focused, destructive behavior. We are called to steward our anger in wisdom, allowing God to use it to shape us into righteous servants. God does not leave us unequipped to do this; He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Consider the fact that some of the fruit of the Spirit are peace, gentleness, patience, and self-control. A rootedness in our Savior Jesus, a God who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love,” and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we never have to feel stuck in our anger. Our honest expressions of anger, outrage, indignance, and grief, are not too much for our compassionate God who has felt them too, and wants to carry them for you.
-Mary Shea – learn more about Mary’s offerings for seminars, workshops, and online presentations here!
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