At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)
He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Proverbs 14:29
The Scriptures do not treat anger itself as a sin. The problem appears to be carnal anger, or thoughtless anger—what might be called passion. The virtue commended in this proverb is that of being slow to anger, not incapable of anger. A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger (Prov. 19:11). The same virtue is enjoined by the Lord’s brother, James.
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19).
When we learn how to be slow in anger, we are becoming more like God. There are numerous passages where God is described in just this way (Ps. 103:8; Ex. 34:6; Ps. 145:8; and quite a few more).
The contrast in the proverb is with the man who is “hasty of spirit.” This would be the man who, in the words of James, was not “slow to speak.” As soon as the thought is in his mind, it is immediately in his mouth. The problem is that of an emotional outburst, an emotional reaction.
Now we know that anger can be a sin because Paul tells us:
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph. 4:31).
But just a few verses before this, Paul commands us to be angry, but to do so without sinning.
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Eph. 4:26).
Putting all this together, we can see that righteous anger is an act of obedience. When Jesus looked around the synagogue in anger (Mark 3:5), the end result of His anger was that the man with a withered hand was healed. His anger was obedient and constructive. In contrast, the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God (Jas. 1:20).
The takeaway for us in the process of our sanctification is that we need to mortify our temper, and activate our zeal for righteousness.
