Be Angry, and Sin Not (Ephesians 4:25-32)

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:26–27).

In Ephesians 4, we find the imperative, “Therefore, putting away lying, ‘Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another. ‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (vv. 25–26). The main thrust of this verse is a warning concerning the misuse of anger, but notice the strange way in which Paul introduces the subject. He uses the imperative, “Be angry.” Obviously, God allows us to be angry, but that anger is qualified. Christian behavior is to be imitative of Christ, who Himself imitates the Father. Christian virtue, therefore, is a matter of being like Christ. There are times when Christ is angry, therefore, there are times when we should be angry.

This imperative is not a license to express any type of anger, rather, anger must also be imitative, it must be like the anger of Christ, which is righteous indignation. There are times when it is appropriate to be angry, when anger is justified and even required. There are things that occur in the world and in the church that ought to make us angry. When the truth of God is maligned or distorted, when human beings are violated, when Christ’s name is dishonored, we should be angry. If we don’t get angry, it shows a great indifference to sacred things.

The key to knowing when to be angry is the example of Christ. It is important to notice how Jesus interacted with different people. He treated the woman caught in adultery with gentleness and compassion. He rebuked her, but He was tender and free from anger. With the broken and the downtrodden, He was tender. But notice how He treated the Pharisees, those who pretended to be righteous, those who were the leaders, those in the seats of power and authority. With them, He expressed His wrath. It takes great wisdom to know when we should be angry with someone and when we should be tender.

If there is any emotion that is laced with danger and can destroy other people, it’s anger. Paul says, be angry and sin not. We must always guard against the power of anger. It is easy to overreact, to become bitter and hateful, to allow anger to eat away at our souls. The way we guard against this danger is not to harbor bitterness, and not to remain angry without dealing with in it in a biblical manner.

Are you an angry person? Have you allowed bitterness to eat away at your soul? Have you never dealt with anger by forgiving other people and putting their sin behind you? Do you overreact, tend to be defensive, explosive, even violent? Do you hold grudges? Examine yourself and heed to the admonition to be angry but sin not.

The Son’s Anger (Psalm 2:12)

"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little" (Ps. 2:12a).

In Revelation 14, John records this vision: “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ … So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.” These angels display the wrath of Christ through judging the nations. We do not usually think of Christ in these terms, but the Bible uses the language of judgment regarding the second coming of Christ.

In Psalm 2, we read of the gathering together of rebellious nations to take their stand against Jehovah. The psalmist says that God laughs from heaven, and that His anger is kindled against them. He also writes, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way.” In this verse, we see the correlation between the wrath of the Father and of the Son. In light of this, we cannot think of the Father as angry and the Son as the epitome of tranquility. The Son, too, is angry with sin, and He will break the unbowed knees of sinners with His iron rod.

The Scriptures tell us that, when Christ came, He came to reveal the Father, that He is the express image of the Father, and that He most perfectly reveals the character of the Father. If anger is intrinsically evil, then it would be defect in both the Father and the Son if they ever became angry. But, we know that Christ was the lamb without blemish, that He lived a sinless life. That is because in Christ we see anger without sin. When he threw the moneychangers out of the temple, Jesus was angry. When He brought cursing upon the Pharisees, He was angry. When He comes again, He will come in righteous fury, bringing satisfaction to the justice of God.

What we need to learn as we seek to understand human wrath is when it is righteous and when is it sinful. Our anger can go both ways. It can be justifiable, or an occasion for violence and bitterness. In Christ there was anger, but never a distortion or misapplication of that anger.

The psalmist tells us to kiss the Son, lest He be angry. What does it mean to kiss the Son (think in terms of how a subject bows before his king)? Will Christ overlook sin? If Christ is angered by sin, what should your response to sin be? Should you delight in it or feel comfortable around it? Memorize Psalm 2:12.

God’s Furious Anger (Romans 1:18-20)

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom. 1:18).

Today we will begin studies focusing on the topic of anger. In Exodus 32, we saw two examples of righteous anger fueled by the sin of the Israelites—the anger of God and the anger of Moses. In the next few studies, we will see why this anger was justified, and we will learn the difference between righteous and sinful anger.

If you remember my previous studies on the atonement, you will recall that one dimension of the atonement is propitiation, the appeasing of God’s wrath. Given this integral element of the atonement, one would have to wonder why it has created controversy in the church. But that is exactly what has happened in recent years. Some people today don’t want to think of God, who is full of mercy and grace, as ever being angry. Part of this confusion comes from an inability to understand God’s anger beyond human experience. We see how sinful our anger is, and we automatically think that is the only kind of anger that exists. But to understand human anger, we must first understand God’s anger (not the other way around).

In the New Testament, there are more statements about the wrath of God than about His grace. The Bible takes the wrath of God very seriously, and so should we. In Romans 1:18, Paul writes that the “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” The Greek word for wrath is orge, which expresses strong, passionate anger. Thus, when the Bible describes God as wrathful, it does not mean God is mildly displeased or irritated—He is furious. This fury is directed to all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. God is not overreacting, neither is He “pitching a fit” or being arbitrarily angry. He is responding righteously to evil.

Psalm 7 says that God is a just judge and that He is angry with the wicked every day. Notice that the wrath of God is couched in terms of His holy justice. It is injustice that angers God, and it is because He is holy, righteous and just that He is wrathful. Certainly, God is slow to anger—this is due to His forbearance and patience. But Jehovah is a just God, and He is angry with the wicked every day. If you are not a Christian, then the wrath of God is upon you. Only in the Savior can that divine anger be placated. Only through the atoning work of Jesus Christ can you find peace with God.

Read Psalm 7 and the passage for today. How important is it for you to warn unbelievers that God is angry with them? Why should you not indiscriminately tell them that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives? If someone asked you to describe God’s anger, what would you say? 

Portrait of Impenitence (Exodus 32:22-24)

“And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out” (Ex. 32:24).

In today’s passage, Moses confronts Aaron with his sin, but Aaron refuses to repent of it. Let’s look at the various ways that Aaron avoids true confession and heartfelt repentance.

The first indication that this is a trivial rationalization instead of true penitence comes when Aaron pleads with Moses not to be angry. Aaron sinned against God, not his brother. But Aaron, not having to deal directly with God, was more concerned about appeasing Moses. This is often the way it is with the impenitent. They are more concerned with turning away the anger of their fellow men than with being reconciled to God. Notice that David, in his prayer in Psalm 51, confesses that he sinned against God, that he had incited God’s displeasure. This is the posture of a true penitent, he recognizes that God has been wronged and so he seeks reconciliation with God first.

The second indication that Aaron was not really sincere in his confession is that he blames the people. He calls them evil and corrupt. It is typical for us to transfer our guilt to others, and to draw a dark picture of them so that we look better by comparison. Adam did it, and Eve after him. We don’t want to own our sin, so we blame others. Sometimes we do this blatantly as Aaron did, sometimes more subtly, making the implication that we are not to blame because of our past, our situation or our parents. Whatever the object of blame, if we do not own our sin and admit our guilt, we cannot be truly penitent. Notice, too, Aaron even blames Moses, suggesting that, if he had not stayed so long on the mount, he never would have sinned.

Lastly, Aaron soft-pedals his role in the idolatry by saying, “I just asked them to toss in some gold jewelry and then, poof, a calf appeared.” Those who will not name their sin, who will not take full responsibility for their part, cannot be truly penitent. Aaron refuses to admit that he fashioned the calf with his own hands. He tells just enough to get by, but no more. We must be wary of those who confess to playing only a part in sin. Often, the role they played was much larger than they care to admit.

Aaron has provided for us a lesson in how to be impenitent. Let us not follow his example, but do as Christ has commanded by confessing our sin and finding forgiveness in Him.

Do your confessions sound anything like Aaron’s? Be honest with yourself. Are you ever more concerned about having offended another person than about having offended God? Do you ever blame other people for your sin? Do you ever tell only part of the story? If so, make a new start today. Own your guilt and confess your sin.

Impatience and Idolatry

Moses had been on the mountain, in the presence of God, receiving instruction from the mouth of God for forty days and nights. During this time the Lord had been giving him detailed directions for Israel’s worship (Ex. 25–31). After all, Israel had been brought out of Egypt to worship the Lord (Ex. 3:12, 18; 4:23; 5:1, 3). The worship of the one true God was their supreme privilege and responsibility. But the people of God were impatient (Ex. 32:1). Thus ensues one of the saddest tales in the history of Israel. But it is more than a gripping and depressing narrative, it is a world of instruction for us (as Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 10:1–11). Indeed, as Alan Cole says, “It is because Israel is so like us in every way that the stories of Israel have such exemplary value.”

Exodus 32 records the grim account of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God (and Aaron’s participation in their wickedness), even in the very shadow of Sinai, after the Lord had given to them the moral law. But it also records for us the faithfulness of Moses, Joshua, and the Levites, and the amazing intercession of Moses in which he asks the Lord to forgive the people. There are many salutary warnings and rich encouragements to be found in this passage.

We have here a stern admonition regarding the danger and attraction of idolatry. It is clear that the central sin of the passage is idolatry—one violating both the first and second commandments. But it is the people’s willfulness and lack of trust that lead them to this idolatry, and the idolatry itself opens the gates for immorality and debauchery. In other words, idolatry always involves a web of sin. It springs from pride and unbelief, and entails our own degradation. Paul makes this clear in Romans 1:18–27.

Moses had been on the mountain for a long time, and the people quickly grew impatient, for, if I may put it sarcastically, the Lord had kept them waiting. They demanded the creation of a representation of deity to lead them into the Promised Land, and they wickedly discounted the faithful service of Moses, God’s chosen instrument in the Exodus from Egypt (Ex. 32:1). One never would have guessed that such a desertion could have occurred in such close proximity to the time and place in which God had revealed Himself and His Law with thunder and lightning.

Notice how the impatience and willfulness of the people contributed to their idolatry: “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’ ” (Ex. 32:1). They were tired of waiting for the Promised Land, tired of waiting for Moses to return, tired of waiting for the divine regulations on religious worship that Moses even then was receiving on the mountain. And so, in their pride and impetuosity, they took matters into their own hands. Idolatry inevitably results from such a spirit, for the one true God does not operate on our schedule, or at our convenience. Self-will is the root of idolatry. As Pat Morley has said, “There is a god we want and the God who is, and the two are not the same.” This is, in fact, why our wise Puritan forebears called idolatry “will-worship,” and one reason it is so important for us to worship God in strict accord with the way He has revealed in His Word. We must worship according to His good pleasure, not ours. This is a fundamental problem in our entertainment-oriented, “user-friendly” church.

Notice also that there are two ways to commit idolatry. You can worship anything or anyone that is not the true God and be an idolater (breaking the first commandment), or you can worship the true God in the wrong way and be an idolater (breaking the second commandment). Israel broke both commands in Exodus 32. Even though, in Egypt, God had demonstrated His superiority over all gods represented by idols, the people called for an image, a representation of deity, to be made. They directly violated God’s will by worshiping a false god or gods in the form of the young bull. Some no doubt were still infected with polytheism, while others made the God of Israel after their own fancy, and thus became worshipers of a god that didn’t exist. In these ways they transgressed the first and second commandments even as they were being explicitly delivered to Moses.

God’s stricture against idolatry was and is vital for the purity of worship and for spiritual growth. If we worship God according to our own designs and imaginations, instead of in accordance with His Word, we inevitably become idolaters. Furthermore, idolatry undercuts spirituality (though it often claims to enhance it). For, if spiritual growth means being transformed by God’s grace into His moral likeness, then worshiping Him in a likeness that is not in accordance with His Word necessarily derails the process of sanctification. In fact, idolatry always leads to sub-human behavior (Rom. 1:21–32).

We who live in an age when church leaders host conferences on “re-imaging God,” and when the Bible’s teaching about God is altered to make Him more politically correct and culturally palatable, dare not dismiss these warnings against idolatry. We may feel ourselves far too sophisticated to be capable of idolatry, but A. W. Tozer warned us many years ago, “An idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.”