There was a time when our society, and for that matter, the societies of the entire Western world, considered anger or making someone else angry a sin. It was automatic. Anger adversely affected the person who was angry, negatively affecting that person’s relationships. To be angry was considered a lack of self-control.
Now, our society and people who teach them sociology, psychology, etc., say that anger is healthy. Everyone has the right to do as they wish and be angry if they want to, which is okay.
Even though human beings receive the communicable attribute of anger from God, humankind can never sinlessly use it because only God, who is perfectly righteous, can have righteous anger without that anger being surrounded by sin.
God can have anger because God’s anger is always perfectly righteous. Human beings can have anger, but it is always associated with sin. Therefore, when a human has anger or makes someone else angry, it is a sin.
The Hebrew words aph (pron. ăff), meaning to show one’s anger, and kâac, (pron. kah’-as), meaning to provoke someone to anger, are primarily translated in the Bible’s Old Testament as “anger.” They are used 230 times in the Old Testament but only four times in the New Testament (Rom. 10:19; Eph. 4:31; and Col. 3:8, 21). In the New Testament, the Greek words ŏrgē, (pron. or-GAY), meaning to show anger, and parŏrgizō, (pron. pah-ror-GEE-zo), meaning to provoke one to anger, are usually translated as “anger.”
In the Bible, the Hebrew words ănaph, (pron. ah-NAHF), which means to be enraged, and chărăh, which means to be angry, are translated as “angry”44 times, but only seven of those times in the New Testament (Matt. 5:22; Luke 14:21, 15:28; John 7:23; Eph. 4:26; Titus 1:7; Rev. 11:18). In the New Testament, the Greek word ŏrgizō, (pron. or-GEE-zo), which means to provoke to anger, is usually translated as “angry.”
Whenever the words anger or angry are translated as being used by God, it refers to God’s righteous anger, which is always proper. Some writers say that anger in humans is always okay if the anger is righteous because of sin against God. But this is untrue (Ps. 37:8; Eccl. 7:9; Matt. 5:22; Gal. 5:19-21; Ja. 1:19, 20). Any time a Christian is angry, he or she sins (Prov. 15:1; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8). Anger in humans is often accompanied by pride, self-righteousness, etc. (Prov. 15:18, 29:22).
But the Bible says something very different. Ephesians 4:31 says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” This verse tells Christians that anger is wrong and a sin, among other things. James 1:20 teaches us, “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” This tells us that anger in human beings is not righteous. And Ecclesiastes 7:9 reads, “Be not quick in your spirit to be angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.” A fool is a “stupid fellow; dull person.”[1] So, if you have anger in your heart, you are a stupid, dull person.
Jesus taught us about dealing with persecution, whether anger or any other form, from our enemies in Matthew 5:44-48, which says:
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
As the Bible and Jesus tell us plainly, do not exchange anger for anger, persecution for persecution, or any evil for any evil. Respond to others’ anger with love and not with anger because anger is a sinful response.
[1] The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. (Thomas Nelson 2001) Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary, p. 133.
