Is It A Sin To Be Angry?

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Good morning R____,

Thank you for your question. You ask:

Let’s look at that verse:

Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

According to Strong’s, that entire phrase is translated from a single Greek word. Here is that word and all the other scriptures in the New Testament, where that word appears.

This word actually only appears seven times. The computer fails to see that the whole phrase is taken from this one word in Matthew 5:22, which appears twice in the above list.

In five of the seven times it appears, it is translated with the English word ‘vain.’ Once in Colossians 2:18 it is translated ‘vainly’. The only place it is not translated into some form of the word ‘vain’ is in Mat 5:22, where it is translated with this entire phrase “without a cause.”

Thus this verse should really read ‘Whosoever is angry with his brother vainly (or out of vanity), shall be in danger of the judgment…’

There is certainly nothing wrong with being angry with the sins and oppressions of our brothers in Christ which we witness all around us every day at the hands of all of the false prophets of Babylon. In fact we are expressly exhorted to “be ye angry:”

Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Tit 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
Tit 1:13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

But we are also admonished “and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” It should be obvious for any who have been given a grasp of the sovereignty of God, that our wrath against the evil of this world is ordained by God, and should be expressed and not suppressed. It is never to be expressed in a sinful, uncontrolled or unbiblical manner. Our wrath, like Christ’s wrath, should be simply to call a spade a spade, a sin a sin, a perversion a perversion and to exhort those who are involved in such evils of the fruit of their actions. At the end of the day we are to “let not the sun go down on our wrath.”

It is God’s Word and not our efforts, which will deal with the sins and evils of this age.

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Which words are the inspiration for John’s prophesy:

Rev 11:3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

We are crucified to the world, and yet we live to God and destroy our enemies with the fire from our mouths, which fire is nothing more or less than the Word of God.

I hope that explains to your satisfaction why Matthew 5:22 tells us not to be angry in vain or out of vanity. That verse certainly is not saying that Christ’s elect are never to be angry. As you pointed out, Christ certainly was angry with the greedy, grievous wolves of His day.

What Matthew 5:22 is saying is that Christ’s elect are not to be angry out of their own vanity as if they could somehow change things when the evil being done is the evil which God himself has made for the day of evil. It was created for our own time which we are to spend in ‘Egypt’ as well as the time all men must spend both in Egypt and in Babylon.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 19:14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Amo 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

So the Lord Himself creates and sends the evil in our lives. Yet it is right and proper that we display righteous indignation towards that evil, and yet do so in a Christ- like and godly manner.

Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

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