What anger can do

1. Anger motivates jealousy and cruelty, Proverbs 27:4.

2. Anger is related to stupidity, Ecclesiastes 7:9.

3. Anger is a sin from the OSN, Galatians 5:20.

4. Anger is never an isolated sin, Proverbs 29:22.

5. Anger destroys a nation, Amos 1:11.

6. Anger is associated with grieving the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30,31.

7. Anger is a violation of the royal family honour code, Colossians 3:8.

8. Anger hinders effective prayer, 1 Timothy 2:8.

There is such a things as what people call “righteous indignation.” But it is not anger, it is not an emotion, it is a clear understanding of a bad situation. When it says Jesus became angry with His disciples when they forbade the children to be brought to Him in Mark 10:14, it is not anger. It is simply the understanding of a wrong and therefore not appreciating it at all. Having good norms and standards but not anger.

Jesus expressed what might be called righteous indignation when the Pharisees were involved — Matthew 23:13-36. In Matthew 23:33 Jesus wasn’t angry when He said, “You serpents, you brood of vipers. How shall you escape the judgement of Gehennah [The Lake of Fire]?” Our Lord expressed what people might call righteous indignation but what is really the understanding of injustice when He said to Peter in Matthew 16:23: “Get behind me Satan: you are a stumbling block to me: you have not concentrated on the doctrines of God, but on the things of man.”

Anger is used as an anthropopathism. Two phrases found in the Bible many times: “the anger of the Lord” and “the wrath of God” .This is not the sin of anger, it is an anthropopathism expressing a divine concept in human terms so it could be understood.

Principles

1. Anger destroys virtue in the subject, therefore anger destroys the function of impersonal love.

2. Anger which does not destroy the virtue of the subject is classified, as in Psalm 4:4, as being tempted but not doing it.

3. Anger as a sin is a violation of the royal family honour code.

4. Impersonal love for all mankind maintains the virtue of the subject but sinful anger destroys the function of virtue.

5. When anger is perpetuated it becomes the motivation for many sins. Therefore do not let the sun set on your anger.

6. To be angry and sin not - all too often so-called righteous indignation is an excuse for the function of legalism.

7. All unbelievers in their status of spiritual death are said to be in the status quo of wrath. E.g. Romans 9:22 - unbelievers are called vessels of wrath.