Anger [1 of 4]

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There are three kinds of anger mentioned in the Bible and confirmed by observation and experience.  The first two words we will consider are found in Ephesians 4:13:
 

 
The first word is "thumos," which means "a turbulent commotion, an explosion of temper or rage."  This is the pit bull kind of anger, brothers; it is the rage that DESTROYS, the rage that ABUSES.
 

A second word is "orge," which means "a long-lasting attitude that continues to seek revenge"; it could also be defined as 'RESENTMENT.'  This kind of anger reminds us of the cobra, which carries out its schemes with cunning, methodical, devious, emotionless planning.  This kind of anger can abuse, deceive, and blame without a twinge of conscience.  What distinguishes it from "thumos" (the pit bull anger) is that "orge" is usually not out of control.  In fact, the person with this kind of anger takes pride in his ability to remain calm and collected as his schemes are carried out.  He is the kind of person who will clean his gun in the presence of his wife, just to remind her of what could happen were she to defy him. (!)

The third Greek word for anger is [aganaktesis],  which means "indignation"; it is the kind of indignation that usually brings about APPROPRIATE behavior.  Of course, there is not a neat division between these kind of anger in real life.  Some abusers might act like a pit bull one day, a cobra the next, and be appropriately indignant the day after that.  In any case, the person who is filled with rage might be charming or intimidating or cunning ... and maybe all three at once.
 

Interestingly, in the Old Testament Hebrew, the word (Vine's) most often translated "anger" is [aph], which means "nostrils."  This is a word picture of someone whose nostrils are flared or snorting with ANGER.  We sometimes speak of someone who is "hot under the collar" - that is, someone whose blood vessels are inflamed because of ANGER.
 

However, anger is not always sin:
 

"In your anger do not sin:  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry," Paul wrote in Eph. 4:26.  We should be angry with injustice, with evil, and with the stubbornness of the human heart.  Of Jesus we read, "He looked around at them [IN ANGER] and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said . . ." (Mark 3:5).
 

Anger is often the basis of MOTIVATION; those who are angry at the right things can move mountains to see their vision accomplished.  Wilberforce was angry at slavery, Luther was angry with the indulgence traffic, and Martin Luther King was angry about racisim.  Each of these people sparked a reformation; they changed the moral and spiritual landscape of their times because they became angry with abuses.  Yes, it is possible to be "good and angry."
 

BUT . . . anger also distorts perception.  Two men have an argument, and in a fit of rage, one kills the other.  Imagine waking up every day in prison for the next thirty years, flooded with shame and regret over such actions. Anger can make us do in a moment what cannot be recovered in a lifetime.
 

Most anger is MASKED.  It is skillfully hidden beneath the surface of one's psyche . . . in other words, in the heart.  Ask the parents of the Columbine gunmen if they suspected that their children were angry and violent and they will tell you that No, they did not think their sons were capable of such crimes.
 

Like a lot of people, in my old life I was usually calm and collected on the outside.  But, as I discovered later, I was a burning cauldron of deep rage within.
 

Angry people can be abusers, having deep hidden resentments ... thus they are angry almost all the time.  Because this resentment is unconscious, it is often DENIED.  Yet it will have its way, and very frequently bursts forth in a frenzied binge of sexual acting out, again and again.
 

Brothers, we will never deal with the roots of rage unless we know the meaning of  FORGIVENESS; we will never deal with these roots until we know the meaning of ACCEPTANCE; we will never deal with these roots until we understand the lie of REJECTION.
 

And we will never be free from anger until we know the true wonder of Jesus!

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