Anger: The Neglected Virtue
This is a guest post from Mitchell Slater. To write for the Think Institute, submit your proposal here.
By Mitchell Slater / April 15, 2021 (Tax Day)
We are not called to get rid of our anger, but to redeem our anger. We should get angry at what makes God angry, and we should respond to evil the way he responds to evil. This kind of anger does not give the devil an opportunity; rather, it proves to be his defeat.
The Call to Anger
What motivates you as a Christian? What is it that leads you to pursue holiness, share your faith, and show sacrificial love? Several virtues immediately come to mind: love, humility, patience, hope...but what about anger? That word wouldn’t typically be at the top of our list, if it was on the list at all. The Apostle Paul, however, has a different perspective on anger when he exhorts the Ephesians to “be angry and do not sin” (Eph. 4:26). It’s true that scripture provides frequent warnings about the danger of human anger, but Paul is showing us the other side of that warning. To understand this, we need to understand what’s happening in Ephesians 4.
In this chapter the Apostle calls every Christian to “put off your old self” and to “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). He then applies this put off/put on principle in several different aspects of life, including anger in verses 26 and 27. In these verses Paul commands us to not let the sun go down on our anger so that the devil will not gain an opportunity. That’s what we need to put off, and that makes sense to us. So what do we need to put on? Anger. Righteous anger, that is. “Be angry and do not sin”. We are not called to get rid of our anger, but to redeem our anger.
If this feels a bit uncomfortable, you’re in good company. Most believers don’t know what to do with this verse and tend to avoid the subject of righteous anger all together. Yet, the Holy Spirit inspired this very verse that we might be trained and equipped, ready for every good work. So how do we understand the virtue of righteous anger? I want to focus on three biblical examples that will serve as our guides: God’s anger, Christ’s anger, and Paul’s anger.
The Anger of God
The God of the bible is holy, majestic, loving, merciful, gracious, just, and yes, angry. The wrath of God is in beautiful harmony with His other attributes. The goodness of God and the love of God are perfectly in step with the fury of God. As J.I. Packer wrote, “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil”. When seen in that light, how could we not delight in the reality of God’s anger? Who doesn’t want a God who is opposed to evil and committed to setting things right? The difficulty arises, however, when we apply this truth about God to his image-bearers.
We are to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, the God who is “angry with the wicked everyday” (Psalm 7:11). We are to be angry as he is angry, and that feels very dangerous. What if we get it wrong? What if we take things too far? How can we tell when we’ve moved from righteous anger to sinful anger? This is where the example of Jesus comes to our aid.
“We are to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, the God who is “angry with the wicked everyday” (Psalm 7:11).”
The Anger of Christ
In Mark 3, we find all eyes on Jesus as a synagogue full of Jews watched him to see if he would heal a man with a withered hand. There is no doubt that at this moment Jesus was moved by compassion, love, and mercy, but that is not what Mark chose to focus on. Instead, he gave us this glimpse into the heart of Christ: “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand”” (Mark 3:5).
Jesus, very God of very God, the Word made flesh, got angry, but his anger looked quite different than what we would expect. He didn’t spew out vitriol at the Scribes and Pharisees. He didn’t give them a scathing rebuke. He didn’t throw them out of the Synagogue. The Messiah’s anger led him to do good. He healed the man. He brought restoration. He set things right. This is what righteous anger looks like. But he was the Son of God! Is there any hope for us to do the same? To answer that question, let’s look at the example of Paul.
The Anger of Paul
In Acts 17 the Apostle to the Gentiles walked into Athens, and when he saw their blatant idolatry “his spirit was provoked within him” (Acts 17:16). What did this anger lead Paul to do? He didn’t smash their idols of stone. He didn’t set their heathen temples ablaze. No, he preached the gospel! He tells that pagan city about the true God and only Savior, and some believed! He reflected God’s anger, and did what was good and pleasing in the sight of his Master.
Righteous anger is not a common temptation for modern Christians, but apathy most certainly is. We would have walked through those ancient Athenian streets and taken pictures of the cultural artifacts and beautiful sculptures. We wouldn’t dream of standing up and preaching a sermon to that hostile crowd of intellectual elites! We need to have our spirits provoked to get us off the couch and out seeking first the kingdom!
Be Angry and Do Good
These two examples show us that we are not simply to be angry and avoid sin, but we need to be angry and do good! Do you want to know if your anger is truly righteous? Look at the results! Righteous anger leads to righteous living. Holy anger produces holiness. Godly anger results in true godliness. For instance, how do you respond to the injustice of abortion? Do you throw your hands up in the air and silently give up the fight? If so, that is sinful apathy, and you need to be angry and do good! Do you feel the temptation to go downtown and set an abortion clinic on fire? If so, that is sinful anger, and you need to be angry and do good! Or, do you feel the desire to go and help a mother in need, or to donate to a pregnancy resource center, or to preach the gospel outside of a clinic? If so, that is godly anger producing its fruit in you!
We should get angry at what makes God angry, and we should respond to evil the way he responds to evil. Christ didn’t come to condemn the word, but to save it. He wasn’t apathetic, and in his anger he came to defeat the enemies of sin, Satan, and the grave. This kind of anger does not give the devil an opportunity; rather, it proves to be his defeat. May we walk in the warpath of our Redeemer and heed the call to be angry, kill sin, and do good.