Early on in the list of elder qualifications in Paul’s letter to Titus we get a reference to anger control, or the lack of it. He says (Titus 1:7) —

“For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent…” (ESV)

δεῖ γὰρ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ἀνέγκλητον εἶναι ὡς θεοῦ οἰκονόμον, μὴ αὐθάδη, μὴ ὀργίλον, μὴ πάροινον, μὴ πλήκτην… (THGNT-T)

The word orgilos (ὀργίλος) here is translated by the ESV as “quick-tempered.” Another rendering would be “inclined to anger,” as one well-known dictionary puts it (BDAG).

The word appears just this once in the New Testament. But there is, in fact, a lot we can say about it, drawing on its cognates in the New Testament, as well as in the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. First, let’s note that the word orgilos (ὀργίλος), “inclined to anger,” itself appears four times in the Old Testament’s ancient Greek translation. For example, we read these wise words (Proverbs 22:24) —

“Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man…” (ESV)

The two terms in Hebrew referring to men with a proclivity towards anger are rough equivalents. The second one (ish hemot - אישׁ חמות), a “wrathful man” in the ESV, is translated in the ancient Greek version as orgilos.

A second example is similar. We read this proverbial wisdom (Proverbs 29:22) —

“A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.” (ESV)

Here the second term, “one given to anger” (Hebrew: ba᾽al hemah – בעל חמה), is rendered in the ancient Greek version as orgilos.

This already gives us a glimpse of how the term could be understood, proverbially, in an ancient Christian context, as referring to the person prone to anger, who is severely criticized in the Proverbs. Still, with only four instances of orgilos in the entire Old Testament, we wouldn’t expect it to be a term that was deeply impressed on ancient readers of the Scriptures.

Returning to the New Testament, we can note that our word is closely related to the basic noun for “anger” or “wrath,” best transliterated perhaps as orgay (ὀργή) (I avoid regular transliteration, which might be mispronounced).

The word itself is ambivalent. It may be good or bad. It depends on the context. There are 36 instances of orgay in the New Testament. Even Jesus got angry. Observing that some religious leaders wanted to stop him from healing on the Sabbath, Jesus’ anger was stirred up (Mark 3:5) —

“And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” (ESV)

καὶ περιβλεψάμενος αὐτοὺς μετ’ ὀργῆς, συνλυπούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν, λέγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου. καὶ ἐξέτεινεν, καὶ ἀπεκατεστάθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ. (THGNT)

Jesus is both sad and angry, simultaneously – sad because their hearts are too hard to know God‘s ways, angry because they are preventing Jesus from helping others.

We learn through James, from the Holy Spirit, that one of the keys in relation to anger is to be slow to become angry (James 1:19) –

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…” (ESV)

Ἴστε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί· ἔστω δὲ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ταχὺς εἰς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι, βραδὺς εἰς τὸ λαλῆσαι, βραδὺς εἰς ὀργήν. (THGNT)

Anger (orgay) is fine, but an anger that easily flares up is not. Quick anger, that is a man’s anger, James adds, does not produce any good result (James 1:20) —

“…for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (ESV)

ὀργὴ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς δικαιοσύνην θεοῦ οὐκ ἐργάζεται. (THGNT)

Another key, the Holy Spirit informs us through Paul, is to trust God, not taking into our own hands the task of righting an injustice, but allowing God to have his own timing and flawless administration of justice (Romans 12:19) –

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” (ESV)

μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικοῦντες, ἀγαπητοί, ἀλλὰ δότε τόπον τῇ ὀργῇ· γέγραπται γάρ· ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω, λέγει κύριος. (THGNT)

The word orgay here has a sense of not only anger, but also retribution that comes as a result of God’s anger at injustice.

Still, orgay may have an entirely negative sense, as in the ethical instructions here (Ephesians 4:31) –

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” (ESV)

Πᾶσα πικρία καὶ θυμὸς καὶ ὀργὴ καὶ κραυγὴ καὶ βλασφημία ἀρθήτω ἀφ’ ὑμῶν σὺν πάσῃ κακίᾳ. (THGNT)

(See also the similar instruction in Colossians 3:8.) Men in particular need to be concerned about controlling their anger (1 Timothy 2:8) –

“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling…” (ESV)

Βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμοῦ· (THGNT)

So, if, as a rule, wrathful anger must be removed from God’s people, generally, then how much more should it be absent among its leaders?

We have only looked at a few instances of orgay. Our word orgilos is also clearly related to the main verb that is used to describe becoming angry / being angry, namely orgizesthai (ὀργίζεσθαι). There are just eight instances of it.

Jesus says that we are not to be angry at our brothers. One who is angry like this is in great danger (Matthew 5:22) –

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (ESV)

ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὀργιζόμενος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ἔνοχος ἔσται τῇ κρίσει· ὃς δ’ ἂν εἴπῃ τῷἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ· ῥακά, ἔνοχος ἔσται τῷ συνεδρίῳ· ὃς δ’ ἂν εἴπῃ· μωρέ, ἔνοχος ἔσται εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός. (THGNT)

It would seem that Jesus is describing the ongoing status (or perhaps the character) of a person as one who is angry (o orgizomenos – ὁ ὀργιζόμενος). There are, of course, appropriate times for anger, as we have seen above, with Jesus’ anger. And we will look at more examples, later. But let’s continue looking at inappropriate anger, for the moment.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the older brother is not at all pleased when his younger brother returns. He does not share in his father’s joy upon the prodigal son’s return. Rather, he gets angry (Luke 15:28) —

“But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him…” (ESV)

ὠργίσθη δὲ καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν εἰσελθεῖν. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐξελθὼν παρεκάλει αὐτόν (THGNT).

When we place a false sense of confidence in our would-be faithfulness to God, we may become embittered when those who have lived profligate lives are embraced by our Father God and given great gifts (such as spiritual gifts) and even honour. When we consider ourselves righteous in ourselves, it is easy to judge others, compare ourselves favorably against them and then become angry when God opens doors for them and shows them favor that we did not experience ourselves yet or even expect to experience. Such anger is not from God. We must guard an against it. The best guard is humility, an awareness that everything that we have, too, is from the Father. We should keep conspicuously before us that we are not the authors of the blessings that we have received. But for Christ, we all deserve God’s righteous wrath.

Today in the western world, we live in a culture of godless wrath. People commonly explode in anger against those they disagree with or are offended by. In fact, those supporting their views may even applaud individuals who vocalize such wrath. The call from God for all Christians – especially church leaders – is to abandon that aspect of modern culture.

There are appropriate times, of course, to be angry. On the one hand, we are told explicitly that, when we become angry, we are not to sin (Ephesians 4:26) —

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger…” (ESV)

ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε· ὁ ἥλιος μὴ ἐπιδυέτω ἐπὶ παροργισμῷ ὑμῶν· (THGNT)

So, the idea is clear: we will become angry. And becoming angry is not necessarily sin. It may or may not be. It depends. Regardless, in anger, we have need of extra caution against sin (see also Psalm 4:5, in ancient Greek). (By the way, also the noun here for “anger” – parorgismos, παροργισμός – is related to our word, orgay.) This scripture tells us that we are not to stay angry, harboring bitterness, once a new day begins. Remember that according to biblical reckoning a day begins at sunset.

What are appropriate causes for anger? Seeing the hardness of hearts of others, as Jesus’ did, is one such cause. This lamentable condition comes after years of disobeying God’s word or otherwise going against one’s conscience. Anger naturally comes to someone when seeing this condition in another. One might also become angry at particularly grievous words or deeds (e.g. Matt 18:34). I will not belabour the point, as it may take us too far afield.

Learning when anger is fitting is one thing. Learning how to express it appropriately is another. One’s legitimate anger may, nevertheless, find expression in over-the-top ways. Physical violence or cursing or other abusive responses, as outward workings of anger, are out of line. Many such examples are in the Scriptures. King Saul, an angry man, often lashed out, even trying to kill David with a spear. (Possibly, his anger was characteristically inappropriate.) The young David, legitimately angry because of Nabal’s insolence, despite David’s kindness in protecting his sheep, led him to seek revenge. Abigail, Nabal’s wife, dissuaded David from doing something untoward (1 Samuel 25). Such human outworking of anger does not actually bring about the righteousness in the other person that God is looking for, as James says. (Though it might bring about compliance, an outward appearance of righteousness.) And we are to leave place for God to bring deliverance, in his anger, as indicated in Romans 12, as we’ve noted.

Living as an angry person can have severe consequences, especially if you are a leader. A great leader, who even offered his eternal destiny on behalf of the people he was serving, had his intercession accepted by God. Just a little before, however, he became so angry at the people that he destroyed the very gift that God had commissioned him to bring to them, namely the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. I’m talking about none other than Moses (Exod 32–33). God had to rewrite the Commandments on new tablets. (In the ancient Greek translation of Exodus 32:19, where Moses gets red-hot angry, we find orgizesthai.)

Moses’ anger resurfaced again, later in his career, as the people of Israel were poised to enter into the promised land. Here he also disobeyed God, striking instead of speaking to a stone to produce water. In this action, Moses also misrepresented God as a quickly angered God, not a compassionate and gentle Lord. Further, Moses, along with Aaron, accused the people, calling them “rebels.” And they presented themselves as though working in coordination with God, rather than as God’s servants (they say “…shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” – Numbers 20:10). This was costly. As a consequence, God forbade Moses entry into the promised land — so he forfeited a great task that he was originally commissioned to do.

So, there is an additional challenge here – especially for church leaders. It is easy enough to cloak the frustration that one has to deal with a particular difficult character (or even an offense at something he may have done to us personally) with the air of having anger for God’s sake. But we have to ask honestly: Am I angry that this person is destroying his own life, hurting others and rebelling against his loving Creator? Or am I mostly angry that he does not respect me or listen to me or that I have to deal with him. A leader may also ask: am I angry he won’t come and fellowship in our congregation and hear God’s Word – or that he won’t help fill up the seats (put money in the offering plate) and be a part of my audience?

Dear Christian leader, this is no joke. If you struggle with anger, you need to focus on this now. The Lord is merciful. Come to him like a child. Ask the Lord to powerfully remove every root of bitterness and wrath from you. Confess your sin to the leaders around you in your local church and, if necessary, the whole congregation. Humble yourself. Invite others to pray for you. Don’t go it alone. The Lord promises to heal your physical ailments as well, as you confess your sins and are prayed for (James 5:16). (Alternatively, if you cannot - are not willing to - get your anger under control, you should step down for a time. It would be better to step down now, then to continue on and make a mistake, in a blowup of anger, that may turn out to be much more costly than you anticipate.)

Brothers, let us allow the Holy Spirit to purge us of all inclinations toward anger. Let us become peaceful and merciful.