The Gospels teach that Jesus expressed anger without sinning. Since we are to imitate Him, we can conclude that our anger need not be sinful, but that is the challenge: how to be angry and yet do not sin?

There are good reasons to be angry, such as: abortion, marital infidelity, or murder. But there are many more times we express sinful anger based on things perceived “about me”, such as: hurt feelings, lack of respect, lack of agreement, etc. In these instances we must take care to work towards a God-honoring, non-sinful response.

To help understand how you can obey the command to not sin in the midst of your anger, reflect on a recent situation in which unrighteous anger dominated your response. Then use the following questions to help guide you towards identifying a God honoring response.

1. What led to my becoming angry?
2. How did I respond?
3. What does the Bible say about my response? (James 1:20, Rom 12:19, Eph 4:31)
4. What did I want/desire?
5. What does the Bible say about what I wanted? (James 4:1-3)
6. How should my identity in Christ affect my thinking? (Gal 2:20, 5:22-23; Col 3:3)
7. What does the Bible say I should have said/done?(Matt 5:44, Eph 5:25, 1 Peter 2:17, 1 Thes 3:12)

Are you seriously struggling with this sin and want counsel from someone here at Bethel? Make an appointment with one of our biblical counselors.