When a Gentle Answer Turns Away Wrath

Protests gripped America in 2020. How do we as Christians, respond to protests and riots? Many of us want everyone to have equal rights, and we want to fight for the afflicted and disadvantaged. If we are not careful, however, our feelings can get the best of us.

My story from high school

While in high school, I reacted angrily toward one of my fellow students. Sadly, during a marching band practice, we had two trumpet players who did not get along. One boy was having a hard time keeping up with the routine, and the other boy took every opportunity to make fun of him in front of others. On this particular day, his harassment included yelling and jokingly degrading the boy in front of everybody. In that moment of anger, I responded by knocking the offending boy down. After I destroyed him physically, I continued to threaten him while he glared back up at me.

I vividly remember looking up and seeing our band teacher staring back at me, and I immediately thought I was in deep trouble. However, much to my surprise, he turned his head the other way, ignoring my infraction! In fact, he gave me first chair in my section even though I was clearly not the best player. Weeks later, he was so proud of my moment of anger he told other teachers about what I had done.

My teacher seemed to think that my anger was justified, but was it? We all know that anger is an inescapable human emotion. Was my use of anger against a fellow student sinful? Let’s see what the Bible says.

Anger is designed by God

Before we look at sinful anger, think about the fact that God invented it. Anger is designed by and found in God. Then he placed it inside the pinnacle of his creation, which is you and me. This anger stirring within us is to be used for good and not to destroy people or property. I believe that he gave us anger so that it motivates us to tackle difficult circumstances in life and is often necessary to motivate us.

Looking back to conflict with my classmate in high school it breaks my heart to think about how I handled the situation. I wasn’t a Christian at the time, but if I had been I would have handled the situation differently. In order to get things done in life, it is necessary for us to confront people. However, when I choose to confront, I do not set out to hurt the person. Or in the case of my fellow student, embarrass him in front of others. The key is to responsibly motivate them and only in a just way.?Anger must be used with a motive of love. That is the only way to accomplish anything if it is to last any length of time. I can’t turn off my emotion, but I need to control the expression of the emotion.

Jesus and anger

Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger. (Ephesians 4:26, NASB)

The Apostle Paul tells us to be angry but not to sin, thus making a distinction between the two emotions. He doesn’t predictably say, “don’t be angry,” proving that it is possible to be angry without sinning.

The stories about Jesus found in the Biblical accounts of the four Gospels portray him as loving, healing, and compassionate, but he did use the Lord’s anger to convict the hearts of men. For example, (Mark 3:5, NASB)says,

“After looking around at them with?anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, ‘stretch out your hand’ And he stretched it out and his hand was restored.”

Jesus was angry at their hardness of heart towards this man. Man-made rules about the Sabbath meant more to the Pharisees than the welfare of a person made in God’s image. Emotions, in and of themselves, are not sinful. Jesus displayed to us that not all anger is sinful.

What is sinful anger?

Jesus showed Godly anger, but was it the kind of anger that involves sin?Sinful anger is that which is unhealthy and hurts other people or ourselves. This type of ill-temper doesn’t solve the problem at hand, and in the case of violent protests that spin out of control into mob-run riots, it is destructive to the neighborhood where it occurs. Intentional harm towards a person or community is always a sin. The Bible is clear in this message.

“A quick-tempered man acts foolishly.” (Proverbs 14:17, NASB)

“He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.” (Proverbs 14:29, NASB)

“A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.” (Proverbs 19:11, NASB)

Unfortunately, during my life, I have a tendency toward thoughts and feelings that often become anxiety, hurts, and anger. My irritations cultivate negative attitudes, which influence what I say to become bad fruit. The Bible is a playbook for positive emotions. Look at these verses,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23, NASB).

Even as a mature believer in Christ, I am sometimes incentivized by my bad fruit, rather than the fruits described by God. I think that a daily connection with God and giving sincere repentance greatly diminishes my propensity to continue making these negative expressions of emotion.

Conclusion

God’s voice says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”(Proverbs 15:1, NASB). He instructs us to always respond with gentle answers in the face of injustice. To do so turns away another’s anger, which is the desired response. When confronting my schoolmate, I was right to feel mad. My mistake was in how I responded and express my anger. Shoving someone to the ground is not a gentle solution.

Racism and injustice are repulsive. The answer is never found by turning peaceful protests into riots. And wrongdoings found in the world will only be put down by doing good to those who intend to do harm to others (Ephesians 4:29, NASB).