"But I say to
you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the
court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the
supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go
into the fiery hell. If therefore you
are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother
has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go
your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your
offering." (Matt. 5:22-24 NAS)
When Jesus spoke these words he was speaking to a Jewish
audience that was then living under the Law of Moses. Living today 2,000 years after the fact we
read this passage and it brings questions to our minds wondering exactly what
he meant in some of the things said here and what if any application the
passage might have to us today. I
suspect most of us have at one point in time or another just read over the
passage and gone on. That is what we
often do with passages we really do not understand. Yet, if there is a lesson for us in the
passage as there was for those who first heard it we need to learn it. I begin with the subject of anger, the first
clause of this paragraph.
Does Jesus completely forbid anger? Are we never to be angry? Some translations add, after the word angry,
the words "without a cause."
Most scholars and most translations omit the phrase believing the
evidence is against its inclusion. Be
that as it may, the question remains—does God forbid all anger? Is that what the first clause of this passage
teaches?
Jesus was angry in Mark 3:5 with the Pharisees in the
synagogue, "And 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." (NAS) We are all familiar with the passage in
Ephesians 4:26, "BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down
on your anger." (NAS) The first
part of that verse is a quotation taken from Psalm 4:4. We all experience anger at one point in time
or another. Of course, some grow angry
much easier than others and certainly there are degrees of anger.
Does God want us to be angry? Of course not but he made a provision for
anger so that it would not become sin to us—Eph. 4:26 just quoted. Do not let anger linger. Rid yourself of it quickly. While it is impossible to keep from becoming
angry at times one does have the ability to cast it aside and not dwell on it, one
has the ability to let go of the anger.
Does God mean we must literally cease being angry by
sunset? What if you become angry at the
midnight hour? What if someone has just
beaten or murdered your son or daughter?
What if your spouse just walked out on you and took the children to go
off with another? Not all anger can be
rid of so easily or quickly so I don't think God is telling us there is a time
limit on anger like if it is two minutes before sunset when something happens
to anger you then you only have two minutes to get over it but I think he is
saying rid yourself of it and do so quickly, don't nurture it. That is my take on the verse as an uninspired
man, one man’s thoughts.
The very next verse, Eph. 4:27, reads, "and do not give
the devil an opportunity." (NAS)
Eph. 4:26 and 27 are all one sentence and the idea is if you stay angry
it is likely going to lead to other things because staying angry is giving the
devil an opportunity. After anger comes
hatred, malice, vengeance, and many other evils. We know this is true and thus we know we
cannot remain angry long without worse things to come. Anger ends up destroying the one who has it
for it becomes a cancer within growing into things that destroy the soul and
that make life miserable in the here and now.
Paul closes the 4th chapter of Ephesians from
which I have been quoting by saying, "Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted,
forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (Eph.
4:31-32 NAS) In Col. 3:8 he says to put
aside anger. James says to be "slow
to anger" (James 1:19 NAS) and that "the anger of man does not
achieve the righteousness of God." (James 1:20 NAS) So we come back to our question—is it a sin
to be or become angry? The scriptural
answer seems to be it depends on how you handle it. You cannot retain anger and please God even
if you had just cause for indignation.
Anger held onto becomes sin.
Paul says to put it away and thus if we disobey that Holy Spirit
inspired command it becomes sin to us.
And then there is the question of why we are angry and over what? Often there is no real cause for anger and
the problem is not that which comes from without a person to arouse just
indignation but a problem from within the person, a problem of personal
character flaws and of the heart. God
certainly does not condone unjustified anger even for a short while. If we have a short fuse and are ready to
fight at a moment's notice over the littlest thing, if we are ready to perceive
a slight when most men see nothing, then the problem is within us and the anger
is totally unjustified.
The KKK in this country in the days of segregation would lynch
a black man occasionally because he was black.
A white man who had done what the black man was alleged to have done
would never have been lynched. Are you
angry at a man over the color of his skin?
Surely this is not the type of anger that God would allow a man to hold
even till sunset and declare it sinless, so the cause of the anger must also
enter into the equation. Of course, one
could argue that this type of thing is not anger but hatred. I would not debate that for I think you would
be right but anger can turn into hatred and thus is be gotten rid of
immediately before it is allowed to grow and develop. Anger can lead to hatred but the hatred may
also come before the specific anger (racism being a prime example).
"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you
know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15
NAS) We ought to run from anger lest it
turns into something far worse. Remember
one can become and be angry up to a point without sinning (Eph. 4:26) but there
is a fine line we dare not cross.
We all know we are not happy when angry, when we are mad. There is no joy in anger. The wise person will forgive and forget even
if the original anger was somewhat justified in that he/she was truly
wronged. By forgiving and letting go of
the anger one is allowing themselves to be happy again and is thus doing self a
favor as well as doing God's will.
It is good to also remind ourselves of what we already
know. No one likes to be around an angry
person. If we say we can hide our anger
I would say I know we may try but it is easier said than done. When you are mad inwardly, even though you
are hiding it, you are generally not much fun to be around, a person of a sour
disposition.
We must learn to control our tempers so we do not become
angry easily. As James said, quoted
earlier, be "slow to anger." (James 1:19 NAS) The NKJV uses the word "wrath"
whereas the NAS uses the word "anger." The Old Testament has several passages that
teach and warn us about anger:
"Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger
resides in the bosom of fools." (Eccl. 7:9 NAS)
"Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with
a hot-tempered man." (Prov. 22:24 NAS)
"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to
anger pacifies contention." (Prov. 15:18 NAS)
"A man of great anger shall bear the penalty, For if
you rescue him, you will only have to do it again." (Prov. 19:19 NAS)
"Like a city that is broken into and without walls Is a
man who has no control over his spirit." (Prov. 25:28 NAS)
Man can and must learn to control his temper and thus his
anger if he is to be happy, if he is to please God, and if he is not going to
bring himself to ruin. Anger destroys
love, family, and relationships and endangers salvation and so it must be
mastered.
In closing, we ought to deal with this question of how the
angry man in our text shall be guilty before the court. I used the New American Standard Bible in
preparing this article. Most
translations use the word “judgment” whereas the NASB uses the word “court” in
Matt. 5:22. I will just quote it here
beginning with Matt. 5:21 going through Matt. 5:22, the verse in question, and
do so from the Christian Standard Bible so you can see what I am talking about.
“You have heard it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will
be subject to judgment. But I tell you,
everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment.
…” I think that clarifies the matter
quite a bit. Anger is no little thing. It is a very serious issue in a person’s life
if it resides within them.
John Gill (1697-1771) says on this passage, and I quote, "in danger of judgment; not of any of the courts of judicature among the Jews, as the Sanhedrim of three, or of twenty three, or of seventy one, which took no notice of anger, as a passion in the mind, only of facts committed; but of the judgment of God."
Do not allow anger to abide in you for if you do surely it will become sin to you and you will be judged for it. Anger against another will, if held onto, eventually turn on you and destroy you. So the Bible teaches. So it is.
This article was written in view of personal anger against another individual or individuals. We ought to be angry against sin and evil everyday but love the sinner. God wants us to hate sin. You will find no verses in the Bible teaching you to love sin, not one. We ought always to hate the evil we see being done in the world but have sympathy for the souls of lost sinners and desire their repentance and salvation. We have all been guilty and it is by God’s grace that anyone can be saved.
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