Anger

Reading the Spurgeon's Devotional (see below) today was very interesting. It is upon a topic that is frequently discussed in our household: Anger. So what do you all think? Is the anger of man EVER good and acceptable?

Spurgeon's Devotional, July 13, 2013
Jon 4:6
Anger is not always or necessarily sinful, but it has such a tendency to run wild that whenever it displays itself, we should be quick to question its character, with this enquiry, "Doest thou well to be angry?" It may be that we can answer, "YES." Very frequently anger is the madman's firebrand, but sometimes it is Elijah's fire from heaven. We do well when we are angry with sin, because of the wrong which it commits against our good and gracious God; or with ourselves because we remain so foolish after so much divine instruction; or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil which they do. He who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it. Sin is a loathsome and hateful thing, and no renewed heart can patiently endure it. God himself is angry with the wicked every day, and it is written in His Word, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Far more frequently it is to be feared that our anger is not commendable or even justifiable, and then we must answer, "NO." Why should we be fretful with children, passionate with servants, and wrathful with companions? Is such anger honourable to our Christian profession, or glorifying to God? Is it not the old evil heart seeking to gain dominion, and should we not resist it with all the might of our newborn nature? Many professors give way to temper as though it were useless to attempt resistance; but let the believer remember that he must be a conqueror in every point, or else he cannot be crowned. If we cannot control our tempers, what has grace done for us? Some one told Mr. Jay that grace was often grafted on a crab-stump. "Yes," said he, "but the fruit will not be crabs." We must not make natural infirmity an excuse for sin, but we must fly to the cross and pray the Lord to crucify our tempers, and renew us in gentleness and meekness after His own image.

The answer to your questions is "Yes"!

Okay Carissa, then can you give me a concrete example of righteous anger? Biblical would be great.

Ummm…. Jesus in the temple in John 2? "God is angry with the wicked every day"? "The wrath of God is being revealed…"

I think that's enough to convince me that anger is not sin. If God can do it, then it's not sin, in and of itself. It's the motive behind it that can be sinful.

Ephesians 4:26 [ESV] Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

In Ephesians 4:26 it says, "Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger." And in Psalm 4:4 it says, "Be angry and do not sin…"

I think I have to agree with Spurgeon on everything there; he put it far better than I ever could. :) Anger is not always wrong; sometimes, in fact, it is even necessary! We just have to make sure not to let our anger get out of control–a thing which we, as humans, tend to let occur far too often.

So, we should pray to God to help us see what we should be angry at, and how much we should be angry at it; and also to help us refrain from being angry when we should not be. :)

Getting mad because someone sinned is okay, if we have the right motives.

Getting mad because we stubbed our toe… on the other hand… isn't!

I believe that you can have a righteous anger, and would argue that you should have a righteous anger.
It is right to be angry when someone is sinning – for example, if someone takes the Lord's name in vain, I will be angry and disgusted at that, because they are misusing the name of God, Whose name is holy, and ought to be used reverently.
Also, when Christ drove out the merchants and money changers from the temple, did He sin in His anger? No, He had a righteous anger, because they had turned the temple of God (which was supposed to be a house of prayer (see Matthew 21:13)) into a 'den of thieves'.
But, as OCTSRIS said, it is not right to get mad over stubbing your toe, etc. :)

@Christian, MCS, and Carissa, your verses are great; however, they are not quite what I'm looking for. I'll tell you why.

Christian, I agree with you that if wrath was always sin, God and Christ would not display it. However, I tend to think that just because God has the prerogative to get angry does not mean that we should be angry. Don't get me wrong - I am not necessarily disagreeing with you. I am in fact currently trying to decide exactly what I believe right now concerning anger. I chose my words carefully in my original question: Is the anger OF MAN ever good and acceptable?

MCS and Carissa, again, I chose my words carefully: Is the anger of man ever GOOD? I know that anger in itself is not a sin; after all, it is our natural inclination that God gave to us as a part of being in His image. However, since it can so easily become sin, is it wise to let it run its course? (Incidentally, an alternate translation for Psalm 4 and Ephesians 4 would be "If/When you get angry, be sure not to sin.") I probably should have specified "righteous anger of man" in my previous comment - sorry about that Carissa.

Here are a couple of verses as food for thought:

Psalm 37:8
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

James 1:19-20
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

I agree with what you said, Matthew. Good thoughts!

Ohhh….good topic, Matthew! I have some thoughts to share with y'all, but I don't have any time to write them out right now. I'll try to before the week's over….

(And no, I didn't say I would disagree with you, Matthew!)

One thing I learned at Worldview Academy is that if someone is trying to make you argue with them you should not get angry and let all arguments loose, because if you do you lose right there and then. I don't think all anger is sinful, but you need to think before you get angry on whether or not it is necessary and whether or not it will help the situation.

Is the anger OF MAN ever good and acceptable?

I still would say yes. Christ, although God, was just as much a man as we are. He was the Man. And He never did anything that was not good. Therefore, because Christ, as a man, became angry, then we, as men, can become angry, and be doing something good.

Anger cannot be inherently wrong, because it is an attribute that is shown by God, just like Jealousy.
But the wrath of man is different than the righteous anger/wrath of God. Just as the jealousy of man is wrong, but God's jealousy is perfect, because he is perfect, and deserves infinite praise.
We are to be righteous in our anger, meaning we get angry at what makes God angry, not what makes our sinful man angry.
Because it is so easy to sin in our anger, we must be slow to it (james 1:20).