What does the Bible say about anger?

Handling Anger as a Christian Life Skill

What does the Bible say about anger? We're going to answer that question. You can also discover more on GotQuestions .org. Handling anger is an important life skill. Christian counselors report that 50 of people who come in for counseling have problems dealing with anger.

Anger can shatter communication and tear apart relationships. Sadly, people tend to justify their anger instead of accepting responsibility for it. Everyone struggles, to varying degrees, with anger. Thankfully, God's Word contains principles regarding how to handle anger in a godly manner and how to overcome sinful anger.

Anger is not always a sin. There is a type of anger of which the Bible approves, often called righteous indignation. Biblically, anger is God-driven energy intended to help us solve problems. Examples of Biblical anger include David and Jesus.

Neither of them involved self-defense, but a defense of others or of a principle. That being said, it is important to recognize that anger at an injustice inflicted against oneself is also appropriate.

Anger has been said to be a warning flag. It alerts us to those times when others have violated our boundaries. God cares for each individual. Often, while experiencing the trauma, victims of abuse, violent crime, or the like do not experience anger.

Later, in working through the trauma, anger will emerge. Because of the complexities of trauma recovery, this anger is often not short-lived, particularly for victims of abuse. Victims should process through their anger and come to a place of acceptance, even forgiveness.

This is often a long journey. As God heals the victim, the victim's emotions, including anger, will follow. Anger can become sinful when it is motivated by pride, when it is unproductive, or when anger is allowed to linger.

One obvious sign that anger has turned to sin is when, instead of attacking the problem at hand, we attack the wrongdoer. Anger becomes sin when it is allowed to boil over without restraint, the consequences of which are irreparable.

Anger also becomes sin when the angry one refuses to be pacified or holds a grudge. We can handle anger biblically by recognizing and admitting our prideful anger and or our wrong handling of anger as a sin.

Confession, God's Justice, and Returning Good for Evil

This confession should be both to God and to those who have been hurt. We can handle anger biblically by seeing God in the trial. Though God does allow bad things to happen, He is always faithful to redeem them for the good of His people.

We can handle anger biblically by making room for God's wrath. This is especially important in cases of injustice, when evil men abuse innocent people. The Bible tells us not to play God. God is righteous and just, and we can trust Him, who knows all and sees all, to act justly.

We can handle anger biblically by returning good for evil. This is key to converting our anger into love. We can change our feelings toward another by changing how we choose to act toward that person.

Communication, Boundaries, and Spiritual Growth in Overcoming Anger

We can handle anger biblically by communicating to solve the problem. There are four basic rules of communication shared in Ephesians. At times we can handle anger preemptively by putting up stricter boundaries.

Sometimes our anger leads us to recognize that certain people are unsafe for us. We can still forgive them, but we may choose not to re-enter the relationship. Finally, we must act to solve our part of the problem.

We cannot control how others act or respond, but we can make the changes that need to be made on our part. Overcoming a temper is not accomplished overnight, but through prayer, Bible study, and reliance upon God's Holy Spirit, ungodly anger can be overcome.

We may have allowed anger to become entrenched in our lives by habitual practice, but we can also practice responding correctly until that too becomes a habit and God is glorified in our response. That answers the question, what does the Bible say about anger?

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