In a time characterized by inflammatory rhetoric on social media and immediate responses to every developing news story, Christians may feel it is their obligation to be angry at injustice or injury against the innocent. Christians will often use the phrase “righteous anger” as an excuse for these outbursts, as though anger produced from godly motives is permissible in certain circumstances. Scripture has much to say on the danger of anger in the life of the Christian, both with direct commands in the Proverbs and examples of anger’s negative impact on one’s life. However, Christians may still believe they are justified in exhibiting righteous anger.
This paper will argue that despite both the Father and the Son invoking anger, Christians cannot follow Their examples and exhibit any anger, including so-called “righteous” anger. This paper contends that righteous anger in humans is a created emotion, used as an excuse for Christians to be angry and not sin. Man’s anger is also sinful, including righteous anger. While on the surface, certain verses and passages of Scripture appear to allow for anger, this paper will show righteous anger belongs to the divine and is not an accessible emotion to be utilized by man in any situation.
This paper will first look at what Scripture says about anger in both the Old and New Testaments before specifically assessing the command by Paul in Ephesians 4 to be angry and not sin. This paper will then examine several episodes in the life of Jesus and Paul where Scripture describes the two men possibly showing anger. It will briefly look at the divine anger of the Father in the Old Testament before concluding and showing that sinless, righteous anger is not an attribute accessible to man.