SLOW TO ANGER

Not all expressions of anger are wrong or out of line. The antithesis in Proverbs is not between getting angry and not getting angry; rather the antithesis—and we must always put it in the right place—is between being slow to anger and being quick to anger. “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly” (Pro. 14:29). “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention” (15:18). We are exhorted to be slow to anger, which means we are to be like our God, who is often described as being slow to anger.

When the LORD appeared to Moses, part of that revelation included the truth the God is “slow to anger” (Ex. 34:6). Nahum delivered an oracle concerning judgment upon Nineveh, including a reminder that “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet…The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him” (Nah. 1:3, 5-6). Yes, God is slow to anger, but nonetheless He does get angry. There’s no getting around this aspect of God’s character. In fact, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps. 7:6, KJV).

Too many Christians insist that these passages don’t apply, because they describe the God of the OT. My response is, “So what?” The God of the OT is the same God that we find in the NT. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). It’s not as though God has mellowed over time. Do we think that during the OT era sin angered God, but now in the NT era God isn’t bothered by murder, idolatry, rape, theft, etc.?

Let’s not forget that there were times when Jesus, who is gentle and lowly in heart, got angry (see Mk. 3:1-6; 11:15-17; Matt. 23); nor let us forget that Christians in the NT era were on occasion put to death for their sin (e.g. Ananias and Sapphira in Act 5:1-11, as well as some of the Corinthians who were not discerning the body during Communion, and consequently they ate and drank judgment on themselves, 1 Cor. 11:29-30). God is slow to anger; He doesn’t fly off the handle at the least little peccadillo, but He does get angry and He does unleash His wrath. And we certainly don’t what to presume to know how God may or may not express His anger.

As evangelicals, we talk about the need to “be saved” all the time. Well, what exactly do we need to be saved from? The devil? In one sense we do, since he takes captives to do his will (Eph. 2:1-2; 2 Tim. 2:26). But in the ultimate sense, we need to be saved from the wrath of God—hell. Therefore, His anger should provoke our greatest fear, since He can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28).

God gets angry, but He never sins. We are to imitate Him. In Ephesians 4:26, Paul wrote, “Be angry and do not sin.” “Be angry” is a present passive imperative verb, which means it’s a command. God commands His people to be angry. I wonder how many Christians think of anger as a fruit of the Spirit? We need to tread carefully here, since “fits of anger” is a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:20). But with that being said, there is a place for righteous indignation. For example, In 1 Samuel 11, the Ammonites have besieged Jabesh-gilead. In response the men of Jabesh want to make a treaty with the Ammonites, but the Ammonites will do so only if the Israelites allow them to gouge out all their right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all Israel. When Saul hears about this, we read, “And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled” (vs. 6). And then Saul put together an army and routed the enemy. We’re not accustomed to thinking this way, due to our overreaction to the damage anger can cause, but righteous indignation is a fruit of the Spirit.

Martin Luther said that he never preached or prayed so well as when he was angry. One of the problems with modern evangelicals is that they’re not disturbed enough by sin. Our calm composure in the face of horrific wickedness is not a virtue, but a vice; that which angers God causes us no consternation at all. Evil and corruption and injustice and perversity, which once upon a time enraged the people of God, now only gets a shrug of the shoulders and a yawn. We need to repent, and ask God to forgive us for not being slow to anger. Let me reiterate, we don’t want to be hot-heads, but we need to recognize that there’s a place for Christ-like anger.