The REMEDY for Unrighteous Anger
The remedy for unrighteous anger is reordered loves. You see, misguided or unrighteous affection are what lead to unrighteous anger. That means ordered loves and righteous loves lead to righteous anger. Our loves are reordered when the love of God is central to our self-concept and our view of the rest of the world. This is the work of Jesus. Professor James K.A. Smith writes, “Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand 'the kingdom of God'" (You Are What You Love). We could easily add to Smith's list, to be angered by what angers God.
The way this change takes place is the substance of James' command in James 1:21, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” It's clear an exchange or transformation has to take place. James says somethings must be "put away" and something must be "received." That's the remedy. We deal with this unrighteous anger by putting away something and receiving something else. This I believe is part of that practical process of aligning our loves and longings with Jesus' loves and longings; aligning ourselves with the kingdom of God.
We put away our loves.
We receive his love.
Quelling unrighteous anger, James says requires putting away filthiness and rampant wickedness. Well, what's that? Paul tells the Colossians something similar and yet with much more detail. He says, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth" (Colossians 3:5-8). With a humanistic ear we might hear, stop being angry ... wrathful ... malicious ... slanderous ... and talking smack about people. Stop doing the things that make God angry. But Paul (and James) is talking about much more than behavior modification. Notice Paul says, you used to live like this ... you used to be like this ... you used to be this. In the next verse he'll call this the "old self." And that's not you anymore!
Back in James, what we understand theologically as Christians is that to put away something is not to start new habits but to realize new identity. You can only live differently when you are different. Putting away all filthiness and rampant wickedness is like taking off an old garment which is no longer yours. Specifically, unrighteous anger is not who you are. Take it off!
The power to realize and continually cultivate this new identity, James says, is by receiving with meekness the implanted word. The language of this secondary command helps us to see again that we're not talking about behavior modification. James is not saying, don't do this ... do this. Don't be angry about this ... be angry about this. He's talking about a transformed heart, a new heart. Specifically he's talking about a new nature in which the Word of God is not simply known and obeyed, but it is received and implanted within us. Again, scholar James K.A. Smith explains, “Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings" (You Are What You Love). James sees this as the fulfillment of the word God spoke to Jeremiah, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). We put off the old self, and we receive by grace the word that makes us new … the word written on our hearts.
All of this possible because Jesus responded to God's righteous anger. He absorbed the anger of God on the cross. You see, God's righteous anger was upon us. Upon you. Upon me. Because of our unrighteousness. Sin makes God angry, and we were enslaved to it. This is what the cross is about. This is why the cross is the place we make sense of God's anger and love. Because on the cross the full wrath or anger of God toward sin was poured out on Christ out of love for us. The cross teaches us how loved we are, and what we ought to do with anger ... take it to the cross.
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Adapted from the sermon, “Slow to Anger” preached on October 2, 2022.
