Is It Sinful To Be Angry?

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(3) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, (4) not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (5) In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…’ (Philippians 2:3-5)

We can get mad over various things, and sometimes its understandable when the reason we get angry is easily preventable. A delivery bubba or bubbette sets a cardboard package of paperback books down on the very wet floor of your entryway next to the dry bench that says ‘Packages Here’ while you’re not home; the transmission that was just repaired once again starts slipping out of gear as it is being driven home; the kids take dishes out of the dishwasher that are obviously not clean and stack them on the shelves.

Anger can and will come into play when these situations (and many, many others) occur. It is natural and anger is an emotion that the Lord has provided us, but is it sinful to get angry? If not, can it draw out to become a sin?

As said, anger is not a sin but an emotion.  God angers, and so does Jesus.  When someone does something egregiously stupid, something preventable or a repeat of past failures, it is natural that we get angry.  Sometimes we want to have an outburst to convey our anger, and there may be (what should be) extremely rare occasions where we may want to engage the offender in ‘wall-to-wall counseling’.  We would like to think that sometimes such measures are necessary, but typically this is not the correct response.   The correct response must be appropriate to the grievance suffered.  We see this through the example of Jesus and the Scriptures.

In Philippians 2:3-5, Paul tells the people that in all matters we are to look at the viewpoint of others, or ‘take a walk in their shoes’.  The delivery guy who put the boxes on the floor when it was dry with only some clouds rolling in; the repair bubba who thought the transmission was fixed – and it worked great when he test-drove the car on Friday morning before calling to say its repaired.  If I call the delivery company or the mechanic and yell, that may make me feel better, but it doesn’t help the situation.  With the delivery guy, it may be a teaching moment, it is in his best interest for me to let him know to set the next delivery on the bench next time.  He would likely listen more intently if I greet him with a smile than a shout (Proverbs 15:1).

For the mechanic, considering this has happened before, it may be more appropriate to convey disappointment, but in a firm but respectful tone.  This cannot continue, but then again, his job is to repair it quickly – in and out.  He has other customers, and if he believes the problem is fixed and the indications are there it is fixed he has to move on.  He also needs to know that (1) his repair did not work, (2) I am not pleased, and (3) the problem needs resolved – either he needs to resolve it or I do by taking it somewhere else. 

The conversation needs to be constructive, not destructive.   No one – especially a professional – likes to receive the message they are not meeting the standards or expectations of their performance, yet there is a need to tell them to correct the situation, lest they continue to make mistakes that will harm them (and perhaps others).  It hurts at first but done correctly, without the self-satisfaction of exploding in anger but the intent to firmly but respectfully letting the other person know of their mistakes, will allow the person to reflect and adjust to fix their issues (Hebrews 12:11).

The examples of Jesus using a teaching moment to correct, as well as a firm but respectful rebuke is throughout the Gospels.  Only once did He explode in fury – or did He?  It was at the Temple Court, when Jesus saw the moneychangers there (John 2:14-16, Matthew 21:12-13); they are committing flagrant thievery and debauchery on the Holy Ground of the Temple, and one can speculate whether they were first approached in a calm but firm manner or not, but they should have known better.  The Temple priests obviously took the approach of the ostrich; they saw it and ignored it without the guts to confront the wrongdoers. 

Jesus’ anger was Righteous to respond to the need to remove the sinning on the Holy grounds.  I am certain there was a calm approach, followed by a firm discussion, followed by the need to use physical persuasion to get them to stop.  It was a measure of last resort to get the attention of the wrongdoers and to warn others not to take advantage of Jesus’ meekness and humbleness.  But, Jesus did this not for His own personal gratification but to stand up for the Holiness of His Father.  The importance was to correct their wrongdoing, not to satisfy a need to claim a self-sense of victory.

If one gets angry and uses it as an excuse to humiliate or (in the extreme) beat up on people to satisfy a need of retribution is that point when it becomes sin. Self-gratification to exact a pound of flesh is wrong. Sometimes it is necessary for one to ‘get what they deserve’, but what they deserve from a Christian is constructive criticism and not retribution. Jesus is the example of being meek without being weak, to speak the Truth and out of love to provide correction to help a person improve. Defend yourself to the utmost, but only go on the offensive with correction not retribution in mind.

Be angry and not ashamed of having that emotion, but don’t allow it to be the excuse to act out to please yourself but instead to act out in helping out the wrongdoer.