Got Anger Issues?

“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26)

Ephesians 4:26 is a surprising verse, isn’t it? He actually says to “Be ye angry!” I’m pretty sure most of us don’t need be told to be angry. A lot of us are pretty good at it, aren’t we?

What is Paul talking about?

To make matters worse, this word for “angry” in the Greek isn’t just translated as “angry” elsewhere in the Bible. It’s also on 3 occasions translated as “wroth.” “Wroth” means VERY angry. So Paul is using a word that means an active surge of anger or being very angry. He is instructing you- Be ye ANGRY!

A number of commentaries would try to argue that this verse doesn’t really mean what it says, that God doesn’t want you to be angry at any time ever.

Except for the fact that Paul says, “Be ye angry.”

Do we believe what he says here or not?

Some will teach that anger is always a sin. Anger is always wrong. You should feel guilty if you ever fall into the trap of feeling anger.

Tell me – how can you keep from feeling angry at times?

Plus, how do you explain Psa 7:11 which says, God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day? Is God a sinner for being angry with the wicked every day?

On the other hand, Col. 3:8 and Eph. 4:31 both say to put off all anger. Yet, here Paul says “Be ye angry.” What’s the difference?

Kevin Sadler, in an older issue of the Berean Searchlight wrote, “God does not want us to be angry with a sinful anger.” A “sinful anger?” What is that? Where does Scripture distinguish between good anger and bad anger?

This may be controversial, but I’d argue that the Word teaches that anger itself is not a sin. God Himself gets angry. Therefore, anger CANNOT be a sin. BUT God’s anger springs from a holy nature. WE are living in sin-corrupted bodies. So, for us, anger isn’t a sin. We SHOULD be angry ABOUT sin.

What we do with our anger and how long we hold onto it is the problem.

Anger, for us, has to be managed, which is why Paul also puts up guardrails around anger and says, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Paul doesn’t say anger is wrong. He says anger has to be managed. It better be gone by sundown. It better be short-lived.

Let’s start with Webster’s definition of angry.

What did he mean when he said, “followed generally by with before a person?” He’s talking about how the word “angry” is grammatically used in a sentence. You’re not angry AT a person. You’re angry WITH a person. If it’s an object, you say “at.” You’re angry AT the computer. You’re angry WITH a person but angry AT an object.

Let’s also make distinctions between anger and hatred. Anger is a response. Hatred is a settled condition. Anger flares up when something is wrong. Hatred is a settled posture of the heart toward someone. Anger is immediate and usually just situational. Hatred lingers, chooses to stick around. Anger can be righteous. Hatred is always a sin. Consider I John 3:15 – “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” Anger is a feeling. Hatred is a choice you make. Anger can be resolved. You can let anger go. Hatred lingers and changes you from the inside out. Hatred hardens your heart. Anger knocks on the door. Hatred moves in, rearranges the furniture, and starts calling all the shots.

The issue isn’t whether anger shows up — it’s what you do with it when it does.

When we think of anger, we think of out-of-control outbursts, acting in the flesh, of verbal abuse, etc. However, what Paul is talking about in Eph. 4:26 is more of a fierce, even emotional, inner revulsion and opposition to sin itself, which is the best way to describe God’s anger. God gets angry, but He is also slow to anger (Psa. 103:8) and longsuffering. He’s slow to act upon His righteous indignation, which is meant to be a model to us. God’s anger is always justifiable, appropriate for the circumstances. His anger is righteous. It is a response to sin, injustice, and rebellion. But He is never impulsive or out of control.

When God carries out judgment for the wrong that was done, that wrath we see is actually the just expression of His holiness. His anger springs from His perfect, holy nature.

If God Himself feels wrath and anger about sin, why should it be such an unrighteous thing if we feel the same way about the same things?

The difference is we have sin-corrupted flesh tempting us to use that anger to act in ways contrary to everything we are in Christ. Thus, our anger has to be managed.

Be Ye Angry

When Paul says, “Be ye angry,” I’d suggest he’s exhorting you to feel angry opposition to sin itself, especially lying. He wants us to feel God-like righteous indignation about sin.

Wait a minute.

In Col. 3:8, Paul says to put off anger. Down in verse 31 of Eph. 4, he says, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. Yet, here in vs 26, he says “Be ye angry.” What’s the difference?

Context.

The other verses are about anger being a way of life out in the world. Anger isn’t your operating system anymore. Love is. But in Eph. 4:26, Paul is talking about anger as having this inner feeling of disdain and angry opposition to sin itself when it happens. That is a healthy response. It is healthy to feel an inner revulsion and anger about seeing depravity and sin. That’ a good thing. That should be a natural feeling for every believer in a sin-cursed world. If one is indifferent to evil or lying, that’s a problem, isn’t it?

Paul is permitting anger where it’s appropriate but then he immediately puts guardrails around that anger when he says, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You should be feeling a holy fire about sin and evil in the world, but if you’re not careful, that fire can also burn your house down. The paradox of righteous indignation is that it requires a “holy heat” while maintaining a proper “temperature control.” So you better be disciplined about putting an end to that wrath before the sun goes down.

The irony of Ephesians 4:26 is that it instructs us to feel an emotion that we humans are notoriously bad at managing. But this also means that a healthy spiritual life should feel revolted by all that is sinful, which is meant to guide your walk. If you’re feeling repulsion about sin, that should help you to avoid sinning in your walk. “Be ye angry (about the right things)” but keep it under control.

There are things that will rightly provoke you — but don’t let that anger cross the line. The anger should be a momentary, truth-aligned, natural, spiritual response to sin and wrong that must be quickly resolved before it becomes sinful behavior on your part.

Sin provokes righteous anger… but unresolved anger can destroy the very relationships truth was meant to protect.

Sin Not

Then Paul writes, “and sin not.” This is a kind of anger that helps you live right. When Paul says, “Be ye angry, and sin not,” he’s not telling you to unleash your emotions — he’s telling you to let your anger about sin motivate you to not sin. You ought to be bothered by sin. You ought to feel something when you see what it does — how it dishonors God, damages people, and derails your walk.

But that anger is meant to produce conviction, not acting in the flesh. It should drive you to put off sin, not act it out. The danger is when your anger at sin turns into sinful behavior — when you start lashing out, holding grudges, or rationalizing the fact that you’re acting in the flesh.

So yes, be angry — but let that anger push you toward holiness, not away from it.

Let Not the Sun Go Down Upon Your Wrath

Then Paul gets practical: “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” The word “wrath” here speaks of a lingering fury — anger that stays, resentment that simmers underneath. Paul is saying: don’t let anger settle inside of you. Don’t let it take up residence in you. Anger can visit your house — but don’t let it stay overnight. Because once anger lingers inside of you, that anger will transform you. What starts as a reaction becomes a state of being. What begins as a spark turns into a wildfire.

Paul is not forbidding anger — he is regulating it. Anger may happen. It’s perfectly natural, but it must never cross over into sin, and it must never be allowed to linger.

The renewed mind doesn’t deny anger — it processes reality through the Word of God. It resolves internally that issue quickly and refuses to let it take root.