Is There Such a Thing as Righteous Anger?

This was originally posted on The King and His Kingdom in September 2021.

As a teenager, I took a hunter safety course at a Christian retreat center that also hosts hunting groups. On the wall by one of the main doors, there was a spattering of holes, scars from a shotgun accident. Thankfully it only injured the wall, and turned into a convenient object lesson for gun safety. A sign next to the hole reads, “There’s no such thing as an empty gun.”

Technically, of course, there is such a thing as an empty gun. But if you think it’s empty and you’re wrong, the consequences can be so tragic it’s better to just pretend that no gun is ever empty, except in very specific situations like cleaning or repairing it.

I’m beginning to think we should have a similar attitude towards so-called “righteous anger.”

Just as there is technically such a thing as an empty gun, there is technically such a thing as righteous anger. The prime example is always Jesus angrily driving the money-changers out of the temple, or Paul harshly rebuking his adversaries. As these examples show, it’s right to be angry about sin, and in some cases to forcefully rebuke the perpetrators.

However, there is also such a thing as human nature. When someone does something that hurts us or dishonors God, we naturally feel angry, and there’s little we can do to avoid that feeling. But as Christians, we can make a choice about what to do with it. Do we hand it over to God as a flaw in ourselves, and do our best to show grace and love to the person who wronged us? Or do we act on the anger, and use it to bring justice and rebuke to the person who wronged us?

The right answer, of course, depends on the situation. Maybe your anger is not from sin in the other party, but simply because you’re being too sensitive and irritable. Maybe you are right to feel angry about what they did, but the best way to handle the situation is to forgive quickly and let the offense slide. Or maybe you’re in a position to channel your anger into a rebuke that will, by the grace of God, convince the offender to change their behavior.

And here’s where it gets tricky: do you trust your own ability to discern which of those situations you’re in?  I honestly don’t. I very often find myself angry and frustrated over things that are not even caused by someone else’s sin – I’m just offended because they hurt my pride or I’m not getting my way. At other times I can see where the other person was wrong, but I don’t dare address it because I will just get far angrier than the situation calls for. And sometimes I think I might be right to offer a rebuke, but I can’t untangle my righteous frustration from my prideful indignation.

Yes, there are parts of the Bible that command us to be angry about evil and injustice, but there are also a lot of commands about gentleness and forgiveness and patience, which is also called longsuffering – as in, suffering for a long time before you snap. And yes, Jesus often got angry, but Jesus could be certain that His anger was always righteous, because there was no unrighteousness in Him. Which makes His grace and forgiveness toward guilty sinners even more amazing.

I read a wonderful article a few months ago by Ray Ortlund called “Do Not Trust Your Anger,” in which he says many of the same things I’m saying here, just much more eloquently. I strongly suggest you read the whole thing, but I’ll close by quoting the end of his article:

Christian anger knows the devil’s strategies and is determined to obey the Lord at any cost rather than serve the devil. But oblivious anger stomps on the devil’s land mines: lies, spin, slander, false accusations, lust for controversy, tribal superiority, church splits, and even outright violence. The devil loves hanging out with angry people. I suppose, for him, it’s funny how they keep falling for his same old tricks.

This is why I don’t trust my anger. And I don’t trust yours. If you come recruiting me for your cause, and your appeal is, “Look how wrong they are! We’ve got to do something!” — well, they might be wrong. They might be worse than you think. But I keep remembering the words of Paul Rees from years ago: “The early Christians did not say in dismay, ‘Look what the world has come to!’ They said in delight, ‘Look Who has come to the world!’”

Friends, be very careful with your anger. If you think a gun is empty when it’s not, it can destroy lives. If you think you’re acting out of righteous anger when you’re not, it can destroy families, churches, and even nations. The Bible has so much to say about both righteous and unrighteous anger – use that as your guide. And always look to the One who is perfect in both anger and grace.

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