God’s Anger . . .

 

 

ANGER. The OT uses several words for anger but all are similar; God’s anger refers to His aversion to evil. On the other hand, human anger usually flows from inconsideration, covetousness or simply shortsighted and selfish behavior.

God’s anger is protective of his interests, including the objects of his love. His anger is against evil and all that is not in keeping with his holiness. Anger is not the opposite of love; love’s opposite is apathy.

We tend to associate anger with sin yet the Bible says: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians 4:26) indicating that both humans and also God can be angry without a sinful reason for it. If I see a bully beating up a child, I can be angry without shooting the bully. Our anger is often retaliation, but God’s anger is true ‘righteous indignation’ that wants godliness not sin.

God’s anger is justified. In Romans 1, it is directed against the ungodliness of men. He is not becoming angry over nothing; He is not overreacting. He is not simply being touchy or flying off the handle for no real reason. Rather, He is responding to real evil. Being holy in all His being, He cannot react any other way; anger against sin is the proper response for Him, a righteous anger. Though He is patient and gracious, He does grow angry over merciless unrighteousness and is justified in doing so.

Scripture speaks of the will of God and what makes Him angry. One commentary says His “anger” is provoked by acts of omission, rebellion, subversion, or disobedience. Instead of thinking God is having a human-like selfish, me-first reaction to those who do not comply with His wishes, I must remember that He is holy, perfect and the only One who has the right to glory. Not only that, His anger is more about my failure to accept that He wants the best for me:

And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. (Deuteronomy 6:24)

The NT says our fathers “disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” (Hebrews 12:10) In other words, the anger of God against sin is because we are foolishly hurting ourselves. He wants that to stop and may go to severe lengths to produce in us a humble heart of obedience. Think of a horrified father yanking his little child from sticking his hand into a fire. God’s anger regarding His people is benevolent not condemnation and punishment.

It is little wonder that the OT believers declared things like, “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath!” and “Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger.” (Psalm 38:1, 27:9) One passage tells of wasting away under God’s anger as it affected his health. All knew that only God could restore them to well-being through His gracious forgiveness. They knew that “He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever” (Psalm 103:9).

This is not true in the case of unbelief. As Luther said, God’s anger is not against sinners but against unbelievers. There will come a day when all who refuse His truth will suffer the ultimate anger, more often called “wrath” for they have been given all they need to know that He is God but refused it. After saying “the righteous shall live by faith” the Word of God says this . . .

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18–25)

This passage describes how people slide into sin because they refuse to respond to His revelation of Himself. What more can God do? Those who ‘get it’ will go on to receive more truth from God until they realize their need for His saving power, but any refusal along the way puts them in danger of wrath and condemnation.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I’m grateful that Jesus bore the wrath of God for my sin and grateful that God disciplines me because He loves me. I should never be angry because I don’t get my way. Instead, I need to be much more concerned that God gets His way, with me and with others, because He loves us.