Anger

Written By Jeff Rybacki
 

It is not hard to find anger in this world. It is constant on our tv and on our social media. As Christians, we are called to be set apart, to be different from the world. I thought it would be helpful to provide a biblical definition of anger and describe manifestations of anger in both the inner and outer man, explain the biblical factors that drive anger, and then end with some biblical strategies to respond to anger. 

Starting with a biblical definition of anger - anger is a passionate and active response of the entire person to a real or perceived wrong.  Anger is a God-given emotion of displeasure. Anger expresses that I am against that and take an active stance to oppose something that I determine as both important and wrong. Anger can either be constructive if handled righteously (Mt 5:21-22) or destructive if handled sinfully and not addressed (Eph 4:26). God can feel anger and Jesus manifested anger when he entered the synagogue and saw the hardness of their hearts (Mark 3:5). The believer is made in the image of God and is commanded to be angry without sinning (Eph 4:26). Righteous anger focuses on God and His kingdom, rights, and concerns, it is not focused on me and my kingdom, rights and concerns. In Scripture, God-centered motives, not self-centered motives, drive righteous anger. Righteous anger focuses on how people offend God and his name, not me and my name. It terminates on God more than me. In other words, accurately viewing something as offensive is not enough. We must view it primarily as offending God. Unrighteous/sinful anger is inappropriate when we choose an angry response because we are personally affronted in some way. It is important to see that anger is included in a list of disturbing sins (Gal. 5:19-21). Scripture is clear that anger must be removed (Col. 3:8).

Manifestations of anger in the inner man include bitterness, wrath, brooding and seething because they cannot get what they want (Eph 4:31). Bitterness is a long-lasting resentment which wreaks havoc on our relationships. Manifestations of the outer man include outburst of anger while speaking (Gal 5:20), facial expressions (Prov 25:23), and actions that may include violence (Mt 5:21-24). Ephesians 4 also shows manifestations including clamor, slander, and all malice.

Biblical factors that drive anger are love of self and a lack of trust in God. James 4:1-3 describes the love of self and our own passions that are at war within us. The world will try to tell us that other people or our circumstances drives our anger, but in this passage, God tells us that our anger comes from our evil desires that are within us. We chose to worship ourselves by chasing after our own desires/idols and choosing not to love and worship God (Mt 22:37). The second factor is a lack of trust in God. Anger begins to build in our hearts when we believe God is not meeting our expectations and leads to not fully trusting our sovereign God. But trusting in self or others will prove unreliable (Jeremiah 5: 7-8). 

Here are some biblical strategies to respond to anger. First is to get to the root of the anger. It is important to ask questions to get to the heart of the anger. What was the situation? How did you react? What did you desire? What are the consequences? Am I angry at the kinds of things at which God is angry? Is your anger directed towards building up/unity or towards destruction? How do you turn to God for help? Addressing put off and put on – how can you respond differently? God doesn’t want us to just put off anger, God wants us to replace it with a put-on (Gal. 5:22-23 Fruit of the Spirit). Its not enough to stop being angry. We need to get to the root of the sin, repent, replace, and ask for forgiveness.

In times of anger, we must pray for the love of Christ to be manifested in the midst of all involved. We need to trust our Father for He alone is the judge of all (1 Peter 2:23) and believe God’s sovereignty over the situation (Rom 8:28). Believe God’s purpose in the situation for the sanctification of the believer (Rom 8:29). Christ teaches/commands us to love and honor others instead of acting sinfully (Rom 12:10, 20–21; Ep. 4:29). When we accept God’s will with thankfulness, anger will not preside in our hearts (Gen 50:20; Phil 4:6-7). Practice patience, patience is the contrast to anger (Proverbs 14:29, 15:18, 16:32).  It is not what happens to us, it is how we respond that shows the love of Christ.

I pray that everyone that reads this would have time to go into God’s Word to read and meditate on the verses referenced. We need to be committed to the kind of change spoken of in the Scriptures.

 
Jeff Rybacki
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