Anger

March 14

Anger

orgē

A second remnant of the old man that can easily creep back into the Christian’s life is sinful anger. In Eph_4:26, Paul commands that while we can get angry, we must not sin in that anger. The Greek is orgē (G3709; verb, orgizō, G3710), which is distinct from the Greek thumos (G2372). While thumos is passionate and temporary, orgē indicates "a more enduring state of mind." The idea here then is that there is what is called "righteous anger." This is a settled state of mind in which there is an indignation and hatred of that which is offensive to and sinful against God and a desire for God’s justice.

With the words "and sin not," however, Paul provides us with a check and a restraint, a test to show whether our anger is truly righteous (see August 6). When is anger sin? When it is not directed at things that are sin against God. In short, sinful anger is when our anger is motivated out of personal reasons, that is, when someone has offended us, not God.

How often is our anger selfish instead of godly? How often do we get angry because we’ve been wronged instead of getting angry because God’s Word has been violated? Even if someone’s action is itself sinful, we also sin if our anger is motivated out of self, if it is motivated out of personal offense or "hurt feelings."

What horrendous destruction comes as a result of personally motivated anger! The story is told of a woman who tried to defend her bad temper by saying to preacher Billy Sunday, "Although I blow up over the least little thing, it’s all over in a minute," to which Sunday replied, "So is a shotgun blast! It’s over in seconds, too, but look at the terrible damage it can do." Consider the results of so-called crimes of passion, where out of momentary anger someone is stabbed, shot, or just defamed by words.

The famous first-century BC Roman poet Horace wrote, "Anger is momentary insanity." How true! "Insanity" is a loss of mental capacity and reason, and that is what uncontrolled anger is. So that is not how the Christian is to live. The Christian doesn’t go insane, doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t "lose it," doesn’t get enraged over the least little thing. When there is anger, it is for the right reason and is controlled.

Scriptures for Study: What does Rom_1:18 declare about God’s "wrath" (orgē)? What does Paul command in Rom_12:19? Likewise, what is James’s counsel (Jas_1:19-20)?

 
 Top of page