How Do You Discern Righteous Anger From Sinful Anger?

The Bible has a lot to say about anger. Much of it is bad. Yet without disregarding this, there is indeed such a thing as righteous anger. It would take a very callous heart to not be angry over children being violated and tortured. One of the reasons nations, localities, and families decay morally is the apathy which many sinfully arrive at and wallow in which leads to enabling evil. There are even manipulative people who are guilty of heinous crimes which try to portray those that are outraged over what they have done as evil due to that outrage.

In order for anger to be righteous, it must have at least these three characteristics.

One) It must be directed at something that is actually unrighteous.

This is very often not the case. Many get angry over things which don’t really matter or things which an impartial outlook would cause them to not take very seriously. Those who see themselves as the center of the universe might see personal discomforts and inconveniences as major evils which they have a right to be angry over. In many cases, people get notably angry in defending their sins or defending others in their sins.

Proverbs 22:24-25 says: “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.”

Those who are prone to fits of rage and any who are quick to contend with others who have not really harmed them nor anyone else are people who operate in fleshly anger. This behavior often stems from envy, jealousy pertaining to one’s own agendas, and/or covetousness. It often involves partiality and/or hypocrisy. Those who cannot receive criticism, take correction, and be inconvenienced without arguing, lashing out somehow, and/or getting revenge later certainly fit the Bible’s description of an angry, furious person who should be avoided as a companion in order to not be snared by their destructive ways.

Two) It doesn’t cause one to self-control.

Self-control is not negotiable. Anger is sinful whenever it causes one to be carried away by passion- no matter how outrageous the evil which has been brought to one’s knowledge is.

In relation, self-control also involves not making rash judgments concerning another’s character; and concerning whether one who is suspected of doing something evil is actually guilty or not.

Three) Even if there is just cause for outrage, anger is still sinful if one doesn’t regard other righteous principles in dealing with it. It must honor proper boundaries and act within them.

Anger cannot be righteous when it involves a disproportionate response. There is the need to act proportionally according to what has been done and according to one’s jurisdiction in the particular matter.

Violence is only right in defense of yourself or of another in immediate danger; or when done through appropriate authorities who are doing the violence as a result of the due process of law being carried out.

Unruly mobs and rioting are evil. The Bible has much to say about unruly mobs. None of it is good. The Bible does indeed know of large gatherings supporting a righteous cause which are not unruly. Those are fine. Usually, the cause of a mob which descends to rioting is in itself wicked. However, even if the assembled group’s cause is right, if it descends to rioting, that is only adding more evil to the equation and making things worse. Rioting is virtually certain to harm people who don’t deserve it. It even carries the great dangers of making corrupt forces look credible and of giving corrupt authority an excuse to take more unrighteous power. Don’t even think about it.