Author's Note: All previous volumes of this series are here. The first 56 volumes are compiled into the book "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible." "Part Two," featuring volumes 57-113, was published in December 2022.
Thank you for joining today’s study on a topic many of you can relate to and may find timely. Honestly, I needed to explore anger and why the Lord placed it in my frontal lobes.
Currently, many national and international events get me riled up. My usual approach to handling this anger is to pray and remind myself that God is in control. Also, discussing these issues with my husband (he calls it “ranting”) or with close friends helps me to vent.
If you struggle with anger, the Word of God can help you (and all of us) understand that anger is a normal human emotion. However, how we handle it is the critical difference between a person with faith and someone who lashes out, causing harm to others.
At the beginning of the Bible, just four chapters into Genesis, you find the most extreme act of anger — a brother killing a brother:
“In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’
“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Genesis 4:3-8).
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By design, the Lord shows us the worst way to handle anger so early in the Bible. Now, let’s review some anger-related passages from the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible).
Moses recorded how the Lord described Himself, and one of His traits became a commonly repeated biblical phrase:
“The Lord passed before him [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’” (Exodus 34:6).
In Leviticus, the Lord commands us how to act — a handbook for anger management:
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:17-18).
Moving on, King David wrote about God’s personality. He repeated what God told Moses, reminding us how humans should respond to prevent anger from escalating:
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8).
The phrase “slow to anger” is a learned and essential behavioral skill. Developing emotional control takes practice. Always strive to avoid impulsiveness and acts of anger that might later lead to regret. Proverbs offers much wisdom through repetition of the phrase:
“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly” (Proverbs 14:29).
“A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention” (Proverbs 15:18).
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense” (Proverbs 19:11). And now, a variation on the theme:
“Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man..” (Proverbs 22:24). Now, back to the phrase from a minor Hebrew prophet:
“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” (Nahum 1:3).
There are many more Old Testament anger-related passages, but let’s turn to the New Testament, beginning with what Jesus said:
“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:22).
Jesus teaches us the gold standard for behavior, which can be challenging to uphold. The following passage is a marriage counseling guideline to “never go to bed mad,” but with more flowery language:
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27). Next, St. Paul teaches us how to be like Jesus:
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32). Paul also offers parenting advice:
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
To summarize today’s key lessons about dealing with anger, James wrote:
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1: 19-20).
Paul explains how God helps us to control our anger by letting God be God:
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
Finally, we need to address the occasion when Jesus showed anger by overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple court. This monumental event appears in all four Gospels: (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46; and John 2:15).
Jesus showed righteous anger for a purpose. He cited Isaiah 56:7, which said the temple was God’s “house of prayer,” but now the money changers were turning it into “a den of robbers.” Jesus’s anger was premeditated because He had previously made the whip that he used during His outburst. Since the temple was being misused, Jesus needed to put an end to the injustice on that holy ground.
There are times when justified anger is appropriate because it can prevent the mistreatment of individuals, groups, or places. At the temple, Jesus couldn't be meek because God’s House was being desecrated. A mature believer in God can learn from Jesus, using anger carefully and selectively, only when “being nice” does not suffice in a serious situation.
I hope this study has been helpful to those who need it and that they will absorb its lessons (including myself). Amen to that!
Author's Note: My friend Rabbi Jonathan Cahn has a new movie, “The Dragon’s Prophecy,” based on his book. The film will be shown in theaters next week, on Tuesday, October 6, and Thursday, October 8. Tickets are only available at: thedragonsprophecyfilm.com/.
Myra Kahn Adams is a conservative political and religious writer. Her book "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible" reprints the first 56 volumes of this popular study. "Part 2,” reprints Vols. 57 –113. Order it here.
She is also the Executive Director of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit. You can join our new effort in Orlando, Florida. Contact: Myraadams01@gmail.com
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