ANGER-RIGHTEOUS
If your anger
is due to your recognition that a holy God has been offended by another's
behavior, that anger is righteous. In
other words, if we are angry because God's revealed will (not His decreed will;
for everything that happens has been foreordained by
Him) is violated, our anger is righteous.
On the other hand, if your anger is the result of not having your
personal desires met, that anger is likely to be sinful.
The Complete Husband, Calvary
Press, 1999, Appendix H, www.calvarypress.com.
I go further
and say that there is a great need in the contemporary world for more Christian
anger. We human beings compromise with
sin in a way in which God never does. In
the face of blatant evil we should be indignant not tolerant, angry, not
apathetic. If God hates sin, His people
should hate sin too. If evil arouses His
anger, it should arouse ours too. What
other reaction can wickedness be expected to provoke
in those who love God?
John Stott
The Message of Ephesians, InterVarsity Press,
1979, p. 186.
So there is
such a thing as perfect hatred, just as there is such a thing as righteous
anger. But it is a hatred for God's enemies, not our own enemies. It is
entirely free of all spite, rancor and vindictiveness, and is fired only by
love for God's honor and glory.
John Stott
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, IVP, 1978, p.
117.
Righteous
wrath is no less noble than love, since both coexist in God.
The Book on Leadership, 2004, p. 125.
A man who
does not know how to be angry does not know how to be good. And a man that does not know how to be shaken
to his heart’s core with indignation over things evil is either a fungus or a
wicked man.
If we would be angry and not sin
(says one), we must be angry at nothing but sin; and we should be more jealous
for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own.
When we have
a controversy with the wicked we should take heed that private spleen do not
rule us, but that only our interest in God’s quarrel with them doth move us.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 63.
He that will
be angry, and not sin, must not be angry but for sin.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 20.
We should
never be angry but at sin, and this should always be that which we oppose in
our anger. And when our spirits are stirred
to oppose this evil, it should be as sin, or chiefly as it is against God. If there be no sin and no fault, then we have
no cause to be angry; and if there be a fault or sin, then it is infinitely
worse as against God than it is as against us, and therefore it requires the
most opposition on that account. Persons sin in their anger when they are selfish in it; for
we are not to act as if we were our own, or for ourselves simply, since we
belong to God, and not to ourselves. When a fault is committed wherein God is
sinned against, and persons are injured by it, they should be chiefly
concerned, and their spirits chiefly moved against it, because it is against
God; for they should be more solicitous for God's honor than for their own
temporal interests.
The Spirit of Love the Opposite of An Angry or Wrathful Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13:5.
Does
it grieve you my friends, that the name of God is being taken in vain and
desecrated? Does it grieve you that we are living in a godless age...But, we
are living in such an age and the main reason we should be praying about
revival is that we are anxious to see God's name vindicated and His glory
manifested. We should be anxious to see something happening that will arrest
the nations, all the peoples, and cause them to stop and to think again.
I never work
better than when I am inspired by anger; for when I am angry, I can write,
pray, and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my
understanding sharpened, and all mundane vexations and temptations depart.
The first
thing to understand about anger is that it isn’t always a bad thing. Many people, especially Christians, have the
mistaken notion that anger is intrinsically evil. As a result, they feel needless guilt. The idea that a Christian is never allowed to
be angry is a demonic myth that tends to produce neurotic anxiety. I’ve had to struggle with this myth nearly
all my life.
R.C. Sproul
The
Intimate Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1975, p. 71.
[Righteous]
anger is not selfish and does not center on the pain you currently feel. To be
free of sin such anger must be zealous for truth and purity, with the glory of
God its chief objective.
Oswald Sanders
Spiritual Leadership, Moody Publishers, 1967, p. 70.
Anger itself
is not sinful; every emotion is from God and is good when biblically
appropriate. But, “Do not let the sun go
down on your anger,” Paul says (Eph. 4:26).
Jay E. Adams
Christian Living in the Home, P&R
Publishing, 1972, p. 31, Used by Permission.
Controlled
anger against sin and genuine love may dwell in the same heart at the same time
and be directed toward the same person.
It is legitimate for us to be angry with our children over genuine
disobedience. At the same time, we must
not express that anger in sinful ways (yelling, screaming, nastiness,
irritation, etc.) but in loving ways for the good of our children.
Strengthening Your Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1977, p. 164. Used by Permission.