What Is The Bible Definition and Explanation Of Righteous Anger?

Nearly everyone you talk to knows someone who has a problem with anger or personally struggles with anger. Many think that anger is bad because of the things they see angry people do. However, many do not know that not all anger is bad. Some anger is defined Biblically as righteous anger. This then presents the question of how to know righteous anger from bad or unrighteous anger? To understand this we must ask, “What is the Bible definition and explanation of righteous anger?”

What is anger?

Anger is defined as a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility (1). A less technical definition would be that anger is the strong desire to hurt or destroy someone or something. Biblically speaking there are seven levels of anger. However, understanding righteous anger, identifying what happened that started the anger, the thinking involved, and the resulting behaviors is important. It will also show us if our anger is righteous or not.

In my experience as a Biblical counselor, nearly everyone I meet seeking counseling for anger tells me they have a problem with anger. After we talk about what happens when they get angry I tell them that their anger works great. What they do as a result of their anger is the problem.

The heart of anger is found at the sixth level when the feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility brings increased pressure to go over the line of self-control. Up to this point, behaviors resulting from anger are under control. If the anger is not relieved at this level it crosses the line into the seventh level of anger, wrath.

What is wrath?

Wrath is when all sane control of behavior has been lost and bad things happen. Whether it yelling, slamming doors, murder, or suicide, the overwhelming desire to destroy someone or something is now unleashed. This results in behaviors that are not righteous Biblically speaking. We see this in the Bible as follows:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)

What does righteous mean?

Righteous is defined as a person or conduct morally right or justifiable; virtuous; very good or excellent (2). Biblically speaking righteous is defined as equitable (in character or act); by implication innocent, holy (absolute or relative) (3). So, righteous behavior is behavior that is a result of being morally right, virtuous, equitable, innocent and holy. The question becomes how does God’s righteousness differ from ours?

Where does motivation come in?

A humans, we are motivated by three basic things: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride (1 John 2:15-16). Humans instinctively are motivated by the desire to survive. This desire results in behaviors that seek to please our lusts of the eyes and flesh and our pride (Proverbs 4:20-26; Matthew 15:10-19; Ephesians 4:17-19).

God tells us that our desire should be on loving God first and our neighbor as our self (Matthew 22:35-40; Mark 12:28-31). This is contrary to what is natural to us, so we need a motivation that will change our desire. Jesus provided that motivation when He died on the cross to pay for our sins, which provides a way for us to be saved (Romans 5:6-12; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21). His motivation was His love for us because God is love (1 John 4:7-16). This motivates us to love and please Him (John 3:16; 1 John 4:19).

Most people would agree that we are not God and are not perfect like God. God’s standard of perfection and holiness is based on Himself because He is perfect and holy (Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Psalms 18:30; Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15-16). Our standard of righteous behavior is based on our perception of right and wrong. God’s standard of righteous behavior is based on His reality of right and wrong because He is righteous (Ezra 9:15; Psalms 7:9; Psalms 35:24; Matthew 6:33; 2 Peter 1:1).

When our works do not measure up to God’s standard (Isaiah 64:6-7; Romans 3:10-18; Galatians 5:19-21) we demonstrate our imperfections and unrighteousness. In order for our motivations and behaviors to meet God’s standards we must have God’s righteousness. Without it we are not righteous in God’s eyes (Romans 10:3-4).

How do we become righteous?

We become righteous the moment we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior. At that moment God declares us righteous and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit (Romans 3:22-28; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:10-14). The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of our salvation and also begins changing the motivations of our heart. These changed motivations inspire us to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Jesus demonstrated to us how to live a righteous life (2 Corinthians 4:3-6; 1 Peter 2:21-23). Since Jesus is God, His righteousness was Godly (John 1:1, 14; John 17:11; 1 John 5:7, Revelation 1:7-18). This means that His behaviors are righteous too.

What is righteous and unrighteous anger?

The key to understanding righteous anger is by knowing the motivation. Righteous anger is based on loving God and loving our neighbor. Unrighteous anger is based on the selfish lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride.

Some believe that all anger is wrong and fail to take this into account. In doing so they fail to acknowledge that God expects that there will be times we may get angry, but He wants us to quickly deal with our anger before if leads to us doing wrong (Ephesians 4:26; Ephesians 4:31).

The Bible has numerous examples that show us that God can be angry (1 Kings 11:9; Psalms 7:11; Psalms 80:4). However, God’s anger is directed against sin (Judges 2:12; 2 Samuel 6:7; 1 Kings 15:30) and unrighteousness (Romans 1:18; Ephesians 5:6). Likewise, God’s wrath is controlled and purely based on righteousness motivations.

Jesus demonstrated righteous anger in Mark 3:1-6, when met a man on the Sabbath in the synagogue who had a withered hand. The religious leaders watched to see if Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath, which they considered to be wrong. Jesus asked the leaders if it was lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath. When they did not respond, he looked around at all of them with anger (Mark 3:5).

The motivation for His anger was because He could see that their hearts were hardened and they cared more about their religious customs and authority than the poor man’s healing. Jesus healed the man anyhow. The religious leaders got angry and left so they could make plans on how to kill Jesus.

Jesus’ anger was based on a love for the man, their anger was based on selfish pride. Jesus’ anger was righteous and the religious leader’s anger was unrighteous. As we learned in James 1:19, man’s wrath, like the religious leader’s plan to kill Jesus, does not produce behaviors that reflect God’s righteousness.

What do we do when we are angry?

When we are angry there are two things we should do. First, we should identify the motivation for our anger. This means we should think about the thoughts that led to our anger and make sure we know the facts (Proverbs 18: 13, 15, 17, 19). This will help us determine if our anger is based on selfish reasons.

Did someone insult us? Did we secretly think or openly say to the person, “Who do you think you are?” Are we mad because someone else got the promotion at work? If so, it sounds like unrighteous anger. On the other hand, are we angry because someone molested a child or because someone said the Bible is nothing but fairy tales? If so, it then sounds like righteous anger.

Second, we must immediately remove our self from the situation and/or get our thoughts on God’s Word (Philippians 4:4-9; James 1:21-22). We must use the example of Christ and direct our efforts demonstrating His righteousness. This means we should focus on winning over the other person with love and leaving vengeance to God (Psalms 34:14; Romans 12:14-21; 1 Peter 2:18-3:17). In cases where laws have been broken God has ordained ministers such as police or military members and courts to execute wrath and justice on those who are intent on doing evil (Romans 13:1-6).

Conclusion

Righteous anger is based on God’s righteousness, which is rooted in a love of God and love of our neighbor. It is not based on selfish lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or pride. It seeks to do no harm to others personally, but instead seeks to do good so as to convince the offending party to change their attitude and behavior. It also defers wrath to God and His ministers. Dealing with righteous anger was perfectly demonstrated by Jesus Christ, who serves as our example.

Article By Dr. Michael Williams

Dr. Michael L. Williams is a pastor, author, Christian educator and Biblical counselor who has served in ministry since March of 2000. Dr. Mike holds under-graduate through post graduate degrees in Christian Education and formerly worked as a nurse. Dr. Mike is the Senior Pastor of Selah Mountain Ministries, which he founded in March of 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (selahmountain.org). In addition to counseling, he teaches how to overcome life issues Biblically on topics such as anger management, marriage, addictions, and other subjects typically referred to as mental illnesses. Dr. Mike is also a writer at What Christians Want To Know. Dr. Mike lives with his wife Pamela Rose and adult daughter Hollie Rose. He and Pamela have other adult children and several grandchildren as well. Learn more about Dr. Mike at his personal ministry web site Wisdom4Today

Resources – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, King James Version. (1) Google. (2014). “Anger”. Retrieved from https: //www.google. com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what+is+anger. (2) Google. (2014). “Righteous”. Retrieved from Google, https ://www.google. com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what+is+righteous. (3) Strong, James, (2014). “Righteous”. Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. Retrieved from WordSearch 10.