By Mike Chaffin
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Mark 3:5
Some people may be in a quandary. Righteous anger? God is love, He can’t get angry, can He? Therein lies the rub. He does. If he didn’t get angry with those He loves, it wouldn’t be love. But one might argue, what about Paul’s definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13? How do you reconcile true love with righteous anger? Paul never says love doesn’t get angry. He does say it is patient. He also says it doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoings but rejoices with the truth. Here in lies the definition of righteous anger.
God is slow to anger,
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15
However, God will get angry enough at his children to correct them, just like a loving father or mother who sees their child disobey. It wouldn’t be love if we told our child don’t play with fire, but didn’t respond in anger toward them when they set the house on fire. He warned the Israelites in the wilderness to stop their idol worship, unbelief, and complaining or His anger would consume them. Eventually, when they refused to repent, they died in the wilderness. But the innocent and faithful, while living through that time, were spared from God’s wrath, and entered the promised land.
Some have argued God is an angry God in the Old Testament but not in the New Testament. Jesus loved everyone, died for everyone, and taught God is love. This is a false teaching because it is a half truth. Jesus displayed righteous anger many times at false teachers.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Matthew 23:25
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. Matthew 23:27
Half-truths are just whole lies.
Jesus did indeed come to redeem the world and not condemn it, but in so doing he displayed righteous anger at those who knew better or should have.
So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. John 2:15
Those who torment, persecute, and condemn His followers will face God’s wrath. When Jesus comes again, it won’t be to redeem the world, but to judge it. In so doing, God’s righteous anger will rightly judge those who have never accepted Jesus as savior and ridiculed and persecuted his faithful followers.
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. Romans 2:8
Christians can also display righteous anger, but we must be careful in doing so. James rightly warned us that human anger, let out of control, is not Godly.
because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires James 1:20
This is why we must put on the righteousness of Christ. In His righteousness we can love others enough to get into their messed-up lives and tell them about the way, the truth and the life. Only Jesus can rescue the lost. Righteous anger gives us the courage and boldness to speak up against wrongdoing and wrong teaching. God’s way is the highway, all other paths are just dead ends. In Christ’s righteousness the Holy Spirit will guide us as to what to say and how to pray that we don’t let our human anger get in the way of God’s righteous anger.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to be patient, slow to anger and ready to forgive. Help me to seek your righteousness and the guiding of the Holy Spirit in how to respond in righteous anger to the evils in this world. In Jesus’ name, amen.
