My wife and I are going through the Book of James together and recently came across James 1:19,20 which says:
19This you know, my beloved brethren But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
From verse 20 the question I am forced to ask is, "Does the anger of God achieve His righteousness?" I would say Yes, it does. How can His anger NOT achieve His righteousness?
The next question I want to ask is then, "Since the anger of man does not achieve God's righteousness, is man's anger therefore wrong and sinful?"
Scripture has the following to say about anger:
Galatians 5:19-21
19Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: (A)immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Colossians 3:8
8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Ephesians 4:31
31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
I might be said about the first passage that only 'outbursts' of anger are sinful, and that how one handles anger is dependent on if it is sin or not, however, the latter two passages seem to say that all anger and wrath are sin.
I think a comparison is in order. One between anger and another emotion that is a result of our sinful state yet is not sin in itself. I choose sadness. How are sadness and anger different? How is sadness good and anger not good? Sadness accomplishes pity which in turn can result in love. How can anger result in love or anything positive?
There is also another verse regarding anger that says:
Ephesians 4:26
26BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
There two things I want to point out about this verse. First, there are two different Greek words used in the verses listed. The word used in the verse above is orgizo, and the word used in the other verses listed is orge, the definitions for which are listed below
3709. orge or-gay' from 3713; properly, desire (as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind), i.e. (by analogy), violent passion (ire, or (justifiable) abhorrence); by implication punishment:--anger, indignation, vengeance, wrath.
3710. orgizo or-gid'-zo from 3709; to provoke or enrage, i.e. (passively) become exasperated:--be angry (wroth).
The noted difference between the two is (a)provocation and (b)passiveness. So Ephesians 4:26 refers to a provoked passive anger or exasperation whereas the other verses such as Ephesians 4:31 refer to good ol' regular anger as we know and love it.
Secondly, Paul is supposedly quoting Psalm 4:4 in Ephesians 4:26, which reads:
Psalm 4:4
4Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
In Psalm 4:4 the psalmist is saying tremble with fear,...not anger. This leads me to ask if Paul REALLY is quoting Psalm 4:4, or if there is corruption, etc. I also think that Paul might have been using the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) but I'm not sure that would make sense since Paul was an ex-Pharisee. I have found a Greek Septuagint online, but copying and pasting words into Lexicons does not work so I'm not sure what the definitions of certain words are.
LXX
Until these questions about Ephesians 4:26 and Psalm 4:4 are figured out I'm not really sure, but if I had to draw a conclusion right now, I would say that anger is indeed a sin....more to come soon, I'm still doing reading
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