“Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, and don’t give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Ephesians 4:26-32 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, and don’t give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
Parallel Translations
-
“Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,
and don’t give place to the devil.
Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
-
Be angrye but synne not let not the sonne go doune apon your wrathe
nether geue place vnto the backbyter.
Let him that stole steale no moare but let him rather laboure with his hondes some good thinge that he maye have to geve vnto him that nedeth.
Let no filthy communicacion procede out of youre mouthes: but that whych is good to edefye with all when nede ys: that it maye have faveour with the hearers.
And greve not the holy sprete of God by whome ye are sealed vnto the daye of redempcion.
Let all bitternes fearsnes and wrath rorynge and cursyd speakynge be put awaye from you with all maliciousnes.
Be ye courteouse one to another and mercifull forgevynge one another even as god for Christes sake forgave you.
Show all 3 translations
-
Bee angrie, but sinne not: let not the sunne goe downe vpon your wrath,
Neither giue place to the deuill.
Let him that stole, steale no more: but let him rather labour, and worke with his handes the thing which is good, that hee may haue to giue vnto him that needeth.
Let no corrupt comunication proceed out of your mouths: but that which is good, to ye vse of edifying, that it may minister grace vnto the hearers.
And grieue not the holy Spirit of God, by whom ye are sealed vnto ye day of redemption.
Let all bitternesse, and anger, and wrath, crying, and euill speaking be put away from you, with all maliciousnesse.
Be ye courteous one to another, and tender hearted, freely forgiuing one another, euen as God for Christes sake, freely forgaue you.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (200)
- Colossians 4:6 (v29) Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (v29) Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.
- Colossians 3:12-13 (v32) Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing…
- Ecclesiastes 10:12 (v29) The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips.
- Matthew 6:14-15 (v32) “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses,…
Show all 100 cross-references
- James 1:19 (vv26, 31) So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Proverbs 15:7 (v29) The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.
- Colossians 3:8-9 (v29) but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth. Don’t lie to one another,…
- Mark 11:25 (v32) Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your…
- Psalms 4:4 (v26) Stand in awe, and don’t sin. Search your own heart on your bed, and be still.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (v30) Don’t quench the Spirit.
- 1 Peter 3:8-9 (v32) Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or insult for…
- Psalms 37:8 (v26) Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.
- Matthew 12:34-37 (v29) You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man…
- Proverbs 25:11-12 (v29) A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise…
- Psalms 37:30-31 (v29) The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom. His tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.
- Colossians 3:8 (v31) but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
- 2 Corinthians 2:10 (v32) Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the…
- Isaiah 63:10 (v30) But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
- Ephesians 4:31-32 (v26) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted,…
- James 4:7 (v27) Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Ephesians 5:1 (v32) Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
- Ecclesiastes 7:9 (vv26, 31) Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
- Luke 6:35 (v32) But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most…
- Luke 6:37 (v32) Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free.
- Ephesians 1:13-14 (v30) In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with…
- Proverbs 14:29 (v26) He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
- Proverbs 19:11 (v26) The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger. It is his glory to overlook an offense.
- James 3:2-8 (v29) For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also. Indeed, we…
- Proverbs 15:2-4 (v29) The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly. Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil…
- Matthew 6:12 (v32) Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
- Romans 12:19-21 (v26) Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the…
- Matthew 5:22 (v26) But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment. Whoever says to his brother,…
- Luke 17:4 (v32) If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
- Colossians 3:16-17 (v29) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,…
- 1 Corinthians 13:4 (v32) Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
- Psalms 145:9 (v32) Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.
- Ephesians 5:3-4 (v29) But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor…
- Ephesians 6:16 (v27) above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.
- 1 Peter 5:8 (v27) Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Acts 7:51 (v30) “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Genesis 6:6 (v30) Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
- Matthew 5:16 (v29) Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
- Romans 12:10 (v32) In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;
- Romans 12:20-21 (v32) Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his…
- Titus 3:2-3 (v31) to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men. For we were also once foolish,…
- 1 John 2:12 (v32) I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
- Ephesians 6:11 (v27) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
- Proverbs 12:13 (v29) An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.
- Proverbs 16:21 (v29) The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.
- Psalms 112:4-5 (v32) Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He…
- Isaiah 50:4 (v29) The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He awakens…
- Matthew 18:21-35 (v32) Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” Jesus said to…
- 1 Peter 2:1 (v31) Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
- 1 John 1:9 (v32) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- Proverbs 10:31-32 (v29) The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but…
- 2 Corinthians 2:7 (v32) so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his…
- Genesis 50:17-18 (v32) ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please…
- 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 (v27) Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the…
- James 5:11 (v32) Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the…
- Proverbs 19:22 (v32) That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. A poor man is better than a liar.
- Luke 1:78 (v32) because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the dawn from on high will visit us,
- Luke 4:22 (v29) All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
- Ruth 2:20 (v32) Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by Yahweh, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi…
- Psalms 112:9 (v32) He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.
- Proverbs 12:10 (v32) A righteous man respects the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
- Proverbs 15:23 (v29) Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth. How good is a word at the right time!
- Luke 11:4 (v32) Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the…
- Romans 8:23 (v30) Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption,…
- 2 Corinthians 6:6 (v32) in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,
- 1 Peter 2:12 (v29) having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they…
- Psalms 52:2 (v29) Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Isaiah 57:1 (v32) The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from…
- Acts 28:2 (v32) The natives showed us uncommon kindness; for they kindled a fire and received us all, because of the present rain and because of the cold.
- Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (v29) These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of…
- Romans 8:11 (v30) But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life…
- 1 Timothy 6:18 (v28) that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share;
- 2 Peter 1:7 (v32) and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love.
- Mark 3:5 (vv26, 30) When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”…
- Exodus 32:21-22 (v26) Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?” Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my…
- Numbers 20:10-13 (v26) Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of…
- Nehemiah 5:6-13 (v26) I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and…
- Psalms 5:9 (v29) For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- Acts 5:3 (v27) But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?
- Romans 3:13-14 (v29) “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full…
- Galatians 6:10 (v28) So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 (v28) and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we…
- Numbers 20:24 (v26) “Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you…
- 1 Corinthians 15:32-33 (v29) If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for…
- 1 Peter 3:1 (v29) In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of…
- Proverbs 25:23 (vv26, 31) The north wind produces rain; so a backbiting tongue brings an angry face.
- Exodus 20:15 (v28) “You shall not steal.
- Psalms 71:17-18 (v29) God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t…
- Psalms 78:40 (v30) How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
- Isaiah 43:24 (v30) You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your…
- Genesis 6:3 (v30) Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”
- Psalms 106:30-33 (v26) Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to…
- Malachi 3:16-18 (v29) Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those…
- Mark 10:14 (v26) But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for…
- Ephesians 4:12 (v29) for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (200 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv26–32 26. Be ye angry, and sin not. Whether or…
26. Be ye angry, and sin not. Whether or not the apostle had in his eye a part of the fourth Psalm is uncertain. The words used by him (᾿Οργίζεσθε καὶ υὴ ἁμαρτάνετε) occur in the Greek translation, though the word ὀργίζεσθε, which is translated, be ye angry, is considered by some to mean tremble. The Hebrew verb רגז (ragaz) signifies either to be agitated by anger, or, to tremble. As to the passage of the Psalm, the idea of trembling will be quite appropriate. “Do not choose to resemble madmen, who rush fearlessly in any direction, but let the dread of being accounted foolhardy keep you in awe.” The word sometimes signifies to strive or quarrel, as, in that instance, (Genesis 45:24,) “See that ye fall not out by the way;” and accordingly, the Psalmist adds, “Commune with your own heart, and be still,” — abstain from furious encounters.
In my opinion, Paul merely alludes to the passage with the following view. There are three faults by which we offend God in being angry. The first is, when our anger arises from slight causes, and often from no cause whatever, or at least from private injuries or offenses. The second is, when we go beyond the proper bounds, and are hurried into intemperate excesses. The third is, when our anger, which ought to have been directed against ourselves or against sins, is turned against our brethren. Most appropriately, therefore, did Paul, when he wished to describe the proper limitation of anger, employ the well-known passage, Be ye angry, and sin not. We comply with this injunction, if the objects of our anger are sought, not in others, but in ourselves, — if we pour out our indignation against our own faults. With respect to others, we ought to be angry, not at their persons, but at their faults; nor ought we to be excited to anger by private offenses, but by zeal for the glory of the Lord. Lastly, our anger, after a reasonable time, ought to be allowed to subside, without mixing itself with the violence of carnal passions.
Read full note →
Let not the sun go down. It is scarcely possible, however, but that we shall sometimes give way to improper and sinful passion, — so strong is the tendency of the human mind to what is evil. Paul therefore suggests a second remedy, that we shall quickly suppress our anger, and not suffer it to gather strength by continuance. The first remedy was, Be ye angry, and sin not; but, as the great weakness of human nature renders this exceedingly difficult, the next is — not to cherish wrath too long in our minds, or allow it sufficient time to become strong. He enjoins accordingly, let not the sun go down upon your wrath. If at any time we happen to be angry, let us endeavor to be appeased before the sun has set.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 32 He teacheth us to bridle our anger in such…
He teacheth us to bridle our anger in such sort, that although it be not, yet that it break not out, and that it be straightway quenched before we sleep, lest Satan taking occasion to give us evil counsel through the wicked counselor, destroy us.
If it so fall out, that you be angry, yet sin not: that is, bridle your anger, and do not wickedly put that in execution, which you have wickedly conceived.
Read full note →
Let not the night come upon you in your anger, that is, make atonement quickly for all matters.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26–32 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not…
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Ver. 26. Be angry and sin not] The easiest charge under the hardest condition that can be. Anger is a tender virtue, and must be warily managed. He that will be angry and not sin, let him be angry at nothing but sin.
Read full note →
Let not the sun go down] If ye have overshot in passion, let it not rest or roost in you, lest it become malice. Plutarch writeth that it was the custom of Pythagoras’ scholars, however they had been at odds, jarring and jangling in their disputations, yet before the sun set to kiss and shake hands as they departed out of the school. {a} How many are there that professing themselves the scholars of Christ, do yet nevertheless not only let the sun go down, but go round his whole course, and can find no time from one end of the year to the other to compose and lay aside their discords! How should this fire be raked up when the curfew bell rings! William the Conqueror commanded that cover-few (curfew) bell. It were well that some were admonished every night to cover the fire of their passions, that their wrath might not be memor ira, unforgetable wrath, as Virgil hath it, and αειμνηστος, as that of the Athenians, who hated all barbarians, for the Persians’ sake, and forbade them their sacrifices, as they used to do murderers. (Rous’s Arch. Attic.) Leontius Patritius was one day extremely and unreasonably angry with John, Patriarch of Alexandria: at evening, the patriarch sent a servant to him with this message; "Sir, the sun is set;" upon which Patritius reflecting, and the grace of God making the impression deep, he threw away his anger, and became wholly subject to the counsel of the patriarch. (Taylor’s Life and Death of Christ.)
{a} Plut. lib. περι φιλαδελφ.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Be ye angry and sin not: by way of…
Be ye angry and sin not: by way of concession, rather than by way of command: q.d. If the case be such that ye must be angry, yet see it be without sin.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; if your anger is excessive, (for so this word signifies, being different from the former), yet let it not be lasting; be reconciled ere the sun go down.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 31 Some understand these words only as a cautionary direction,…
Some understand these words only as a cautionary direction, and sense them thus: If ye be angry at any time, take heed that ye sin not, by exceeding due bounds; and if at any time it doth so, suppress it speedily, before the sun go down. This was a practice even amongst the heathen; before the sun went down, they would shake hands and embrace one another; to the shame of Christians, who gave place to the devil, according to the known proverb, Contubernalem habet diabolum, qui lectum petit iratus. "He that goes angry to bed, has the devil for his chamber-fellow;" yea, for his bed-fellow! nay, he lies not only in his bed, but in his bosom.
Others understand the words as a precept and command: Be angry, but take heed of sinful anger. Now the way to be angry and not sin, is to be angry at nothing but at sin; it is our duty to be angry when we see others depart from their duty. Meek Moses, who was cool enough in his own cause, was not so in God’s; he has no zeal for God, that is not moved when he sees or hears God dishonoured.
Read full note →
Learn hence, 1. That anger being an affection implanted by God in the human nature, is not in itself evil or sinful, but in some cases a necessary duty.
Learn hence, 2. That there is an easy and ready passage from what is lawful to what is sinful, Be angry, and sin not; implying, that it is a very easy matter to sin in our anger, and no easy matter to be angry and not to sin.
Learn, 3. That it is very difficult, if not impossible, to avoid sin in our anger, if we let anger hang upon our spirits, and continue with us; anger may pass through the heart of a wise man, but rests in the bosom of fools: anger against sin must continue, but continuance in anger will be sinful.
To prevent the sin of immoderate anger, these rules will be useful:
1. Desire not to hear what others say of thee, lest you want patience to bear what you hear; many tear themselves with anger, when they hear themselves torn with slander; we had better be in the dark concerning our own wrongs, than by knowing of them wrong ourselves by passion or desire of revenge.
2. What you do hear said of you, interpret always in the most favourable sense; call it an infirmity, and distinguish between what is spoken and the intent of the speaker.
3. In and under all provocations, cast your eye upward, look up to God; and cast your eye inward, and see what you have deserved; though not at your neighbour’s hand, yet at God’s hand. Shimel gave David provocation to boil up his anger to the height of fury, 2Sa 16:5,but by eyeing God, how calm and meek was his spirit! Thus, be angry, and sin not.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,....…
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,.... As unsavoury speech, foolish talking, light and frothy language, that which is filthy, unprofitable, noxious, and nauseous, and all that is sinful; such as profane oaths, curses, and imprecations, unchaste words, angry ones, proud, haughty, and arrogant expressions, lies, perjury, &c. which may be called corrupt, because such communication springs from a corrupt heart; is an evidence of the corruption of it; the subject matter of it is corrupt; and it conveys corruption to others, it corrupts good manners; and is the cause of men's going down to the pit of corruption: wherefore a restraint should be laid upon the lips of men; men have not a right to say what they please; good men will be cautious what they say, otherwise their religion is in vain; and conscious of their own weakness, they will pray to God to set a watch before their mouth, and to keep the door of their lips, and not suffer anything to come out,
but that which is good for the use of edifying: or "for edification", as the Syriac version renders it; the Arabic version reads, "for the edification of all"; that is, that hear; and the Vulgate Latin version and Claromontane exemplar, "for the edification of faith": for the building up of saints on their most holy faith, and for the encouragement and increase of the grace of faith: in the Greek text it is literally, "for the edification of use"; for useful edification, or what is useful for edification; and is suited to the present want or opportunity, as the word is by some rendered: and that must be "good", which answers such an end; meaning not that the language should be formally and grammatically good, though to speak with propriety is useful and serviceable, and tends the more to instruction and edification; but that which is materially good, or the subject of it is good; that which is true, pure, pleasant, and profitable:
Read full note →
that it may minister grace unto the hearers; may be grateful and acceptable to them, or may minister the grace of God to them; that is, the doctrine of grace, the Gospel of the grace of God; and be a means of conveying the principle of grace into the hearts of the hearers, and of drawing it forth into exercise where it is; and such speech or communication which springs from a gracious heart, and from a principle of grace in the heart, and is upon the subject of the grace of God, is most likely to be thus useful and edifying: agreeably to all this are some sayings of the Jews (h),
"says R. Joshua ben Levi, for ever let not a man suffer any thing "that is filthy", or unseemly, to proceed out of his mouth; says R. Ishmael, for ever let a man discourse , "in a pure language";''
not corrupt.
(h) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 3. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Be ye angry, and sin not - That is,…
Be ye angry, and sin not - That is, if ye are angry, take heed ye sin not. Anger at sin is not evil; but we should feel only pity to the sinner. If we are angry at the person, as well as the fault, we sin. And how hardly do we avoid it. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath - Reprove your brother, and be reconciled immediately. Lose not one day. A clear, express command. Reader, do you keep it?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Verse 26. Be ye angry, and sin not] οργιζεσθε,…
Verse 26. Be ye angry, and sin not] οργιζεσθε, here, is the same as ει μεν οργιζεσθε, IF YE be angry, do not sin. We can never suppose that the apostle delivers this as a precept, if we take the words as they stand in our version. Perhaps the sense is, Take heed that ye be not angry, lest ye sin; for it would be very difficult, even for an apostle himself, to be angry and not sin. If we consider anger as implying displeasure simply, then there are a multitude of cases in which a man may be innocently, yea, laudably angry; for he should be displeased with every thing which is not for the glory of God, and the good of mankind. But, in any other sense, I do not see how the words can be safely taken.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath] That is: If you do get angry with any one, see that the fire be cast with the utmost speed out of your bosom. Do not go to sleep with any unkind or unbrotherly feeling; anger, continued in, may produce malice and revenge. No temper of this kind can consist with peace of conscience, and the approbation of God's Spirit in the soul.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 31 Eph 4:28. Let him that stole — While he…
Eph 4:28. Let him that stole — While he was in his heathen condition of ignorance and vice; steal no more — Under a conviction that God is the avenger of all such injuries, 1Th 4:6. Stealing, as Macknight justly observes, “is a vice most pernicious to the thief himself. For finding it more easy to supply his necessities by stealing than by working, he falls into a habit of idleness, which, among the lower classes of mankind, is an inlet to all manner of wickedness. Next, the ease with which the thief gets, disposes him to squander thoughtlessly his unjust gain in the gratification of his lusts. Hence such persons are commonly addicted to lewdness and drunkenness.” But rather let him labour — In some honest calling; working with his hands — Which he formerly employed in stealing; the thing which is good — And creditable. The same command the apostle gave to the Thessalonians, 2Th 3:11-12; that he may have to give to him that needeth — May be able even to spare something out of what he gains by industry in his calling, for the relief of such as stand in need of it; and so may be no longer a burden and a nuisance, but a blessing to his neighbours. Thus every one who has sinned in any kind, ought the more zealously to practise the opposite virtue.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Be ye angry and sin not - It has…
Be ye angry and sin not - It has been remarked that the direction here is conformable to the usage of the Pythagoreans, who were bound, when there were any differences among them, to furnish some token of reconciliation before the sun set. Burder, in Ros. Alt. u. neu. Morgenland, in loc. It is implied here:
(1) That there “may” be anger without sin; and,
Read full note →
(2) That there is special danger in all cases where there is anger that it will be accompanied with sin. “Anger” is a passion too common to need any description. It is an excitement or agitation of mind, of more or less violence, produced by the reception of a real or supposed injury, and attended commonly with a desire or purpose of revenge. The desire of revenge, however, is not essential to the existence of the passion, though it is probably always attended with a disposition to express displeasure, to chide, rebuke, or punish; compare Mar 3:5. To a great extent the sudden excitement on the reception of an injury is involuntary, and consequently innocent. Anger is excited when a horse kicks us; when a serpent hisses; when we dash our foot against a stone - and so when a man raises his hand to strike us. The “object or final cause” of implanting this passion in the mind of man is, to rouse him to an immediate defense of himself when suddenly attacked, and before his reason would, have time to suggest the proper means of defense. It prompts at once to self-protection; and when that is done its proper office ceases. If persevered in; it becomes sinful malignity. or revenge - always wrong. Anger may be excited against a “thing” as well as a “person;” as well against an act as a “man.” We are suddenly excited by a wrong “thing,” without any malignancy against the “man;” we may wish to rebuke or chide “that,” without injuring “him.” Anger is sinful in the following circumstances:
(1) When it is excited without any sufficient cause - when we are in no danger, and do not need it for a protection. We should be safe without it.
(2) When it transcends the cause, if any cause really exists. All that is beyond the necessity of immediate self-protection, is apart from its design, and is wrong.
(3) When it is against “the person” rather than the “offence.” The object is not to injure another; it is to protect ourselves.
(4) When it is attended with the desire of “revenge.” That is always wrong; Rom 12:17, Rom 12:19.
(5) When it is cherished and heightened by reflection. And,
(6) When there is an unforgiving spirit; a determination to exact the utmost satisfaction for the injury which has been done. If people were perfectly holy, that sudden “arousing of the mind” in danger, or on the reception of an injury; which would serve to prompt us to save ourselves from danger, would exist, and would be an important principle of our nature. As it is now, it is violent; excessive; incontrollable; persevered in - and is almost always wrong. If people were holy, this excitement of the mind would obey the first injunctions of “reasons,” and be wholly under its control; as it is now, it seldom obeys reason at all - and is wholly wrong. Moreover, if all people were holy; if there were none “disposed” to do an injury, it would exist only in the form of a sudden arousing of the mind against immediate danger - which would all be right. Now, it is excited not only in view of “physical” dangers, but in view of the “wrongs” done by others - and hence it terminates on the “person” and not the “thing,” and becomes often wholly evil.
Let not the sun go down - Do not cherish anger. Do not sleep upon it. Do not harbor a purpose of revenge; do not cherish ill-will against another. “When the sun sets on a man’s anger, he may be sure it is wrong.” The meaning of the whole of this verse then is, “If you be angry, which may be the case, and which may be unavoidable, see that the sudden excitement does not become sin. Do not let it overleap its proper bounds; do not cherish it; do not let it remain in your bosom even to the setting of the sun. Though the sun be sinking in the west, let not the passion linger in the bosom, but let his last rays find you always peaceful and calm.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv26, 29, 30 Be angry, and sin not, as it is said…
Be angry, and sin not, as it is said Psalm iv. 5. Anger, as a passion of the mind, may proceed from a good motive and be guided by reason; as our Saviour, Christ, (Mark iii. 5.) is said to have looked about at the Jews with anger, i.e. with a zeal against their blindness and malice. --- Let not the sun go down upon your anger. If moved to anger, return without delay to a calmness of mind and temper. (Witham) --- Be angry when reason or necessity compels you; but even then, so restrain your anger that you neither offend God nor scandalize your neighbour. Moreover, lay it aside as soon as you are able, so that the sun go not down upon your anger. (Jansenius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Be ye angry, and sin not--So the Septuagint, Psa…
Be ye angry, and sin not--So the Septuagint, Psa 4:4. Should circumstances arise to call for anger on your part, let it be as Christ's "anger" (Mar 3:5), without sin. Our natural feelings are not wrong when directed to their legitimate object, and when not exceeding due bounds. As in the future literal, so in the present spiritual, resurrection, no essential constituent is annihilated, but all that is a perversion of the original design is removed. Thus indignation at dishonor done to God, and wrong to man, is justifiable anger. Passion is sinful (derived from "passio," suffering: implying that amidst seeming energy, a man is really passive, the slave of his anger, instead of ruling it).
let not the sun go down upon your wrath--"wrath" is absolutely forbidden; "anger" not so, though, like poison sometimes used as medicine, it is to be used with extreme caution. The sense is not, Your anger shall not be imputed to you if you put it away before nightfall; but "let no wrath (that is, as the Greek, personal 'irritation' or 'exasperation') mingle with your 'anger,' even though, the latter be righteous, [TRENCH, Greek Synonyms of the New Testament]. "Put it away before sunset" (when the Jewish day began), is proverbial for put it away at once before another day begin (Deu 24:15); also before you part with your brother for the night, perhaps never in this world to meet again. So JONA, "Let not night and anger against anyone sleep with you, but go and conciliate the other party, though he have been the first to commit the offense." Let not your "anger" at another's wickedness verge into hatred, or contempt, or revenge [VATABLUS].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv26–32 26. Be… angry… sin not—And if there be no…
26. Be… angry… sin not—And if there be no sinless anger, this forbids all anger. They are welcome to any anger which violates not this proviso. And no doubt there is a sinless anger. For anger is all adverse emotion in view of any wrong done to ourself or against any law of right, and often suggesting the due punishment of the wrongdoer. The emotion is, in itself, right; is consistent with uninterrupted love; may be proportioned to the object; and it may not break the clear self-possession or Christian serenity of the man. If this be not the case there is reason to suspect sin. If there be a fierce flash of the eye, a loud and forcible utterance, and an unfitting violence of words, very likely the sin not problem has not been well worked out.
Sun… wrath—Let the tranquillizing shades of evening compose the excitement of the emotion, even though it be your duty to see that the wrong be righted. When the excitement and the sun have gone down, you will have time to revise and settle if there be not some mistake; and your decisions in view of the fact that you desire to commit yourself into the hands of God in slumber, will be passionless and pure in the sight of God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–32 26. Be ye angry, and sin not] Another inference…
26. Be ye angry, and sin not] Another inference from co-membership in the Lord. Anger, as the mere expression of wounded personality, is sinful; for it means that self is in command. Anger, as the pure expression of repugnance to wrong in loyalty to God, is sinless, where there is true occasion for it. The Apostle practically says, let anger, when you feel it, be never from the former motive, always from the latter. “Ebullitions of temper,” alike the greatest and smallest, the seen and unseen, are wholly forbidden here.
The words are verbatim the LXX. version of Psa_4:4. The lit. Hebrew there is, “tremble, and sin not.” And the verb rendered “tremble” may denote the tremor of grief, awe, or anger indifferently. The question of interpretation thus becomes one of context, and it has been suggested (by Dr Kay) that the reference is to the temptation to David’s followers, during Absalom’s rebellion, to give way to unholy wrath against the rebels. Dean Perowne, though saying that the LXX. Gr. is “certainly a possible rendering,” refers the words to the tremor of awe before God. And he remarks that St Paul here gives the Gr. version “not in the way of direct citation.” This last remark is important. The N.T. does not necessarily endorse a certain version of the O.T. by adopting its wording for a special purpose, without the decisive formula “it is written,” or the like. Still, the suggestion of Dr Kay is noteworthy in itself, and its adoption would give a peculiar point and force to the words here.
Read full note →
let not the sun go down] Wetstein quotes a curious parallel from Plutarch, (De Fraterno Amore, p. 488 b.), who says of the Pythagoreans that it was their rule, if betrayed into angry reviling, to shake hands before the sun set.—It is possible that we have Psalms 4 still in view here; “commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” As if to say, “if you have sinned in the way here forbidden, see that at least the sin is reversed and renounced before night calls you to bid your brother farewell and to meet your God in solitude.”
your wrath] Better, perhaps, your provocation, as R.V. margin. The Gr. denotes an occasion of anger, rather than the feeling. See further on the cognate verb, Eph_6:4. The reasons, as well as the acts, of quarrel were to be done with by set of sun.—The Gr. word is one often used by the LXX. of the provocation of God by His unfaithful people.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–32 (26) Be ye angry, and sin not.—A quotation from…
(26) Be ye angry, and sin not.—A quotation from the LXX. version of Psa_4:4. Anger itself is not sin, for our Lord Himself felt it (Mar_3:5) at the “hardness of men’s hearts;” and it is again and again attributed to God Himself, in language no doubt of human accommodation, but, of course, accommodation to what is sinless in humanity. In the form of resentment, and above all of the resentment of righteous indignation, it performs (as Butler has shown in his sermon on “Resentment”) a stimulating and inspiring function in the strife against evil. But it is a dangerous and exceptional weapon: and hence the exhortation “sin not,” and the practical enforcement of that exhortation in the next clause.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.—In this command (for which a Pythagorean parallel may be found) St. Paul gives a two-fold safeguard against abuse of even righteous anger. (1) It is not to be prolonged beyond the sunset—beyond the sleep which ends the old day and leads in the freshness of the new, and which by any godly man must be prepared for in commendation of himself to God, and in prayer for His forgiveness, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (2) It is not to be brooded over and stimulated; for the word “wrath” is properly self-exasperation, being similar to the “contention” of Act_15:30, described as alien to the spirit of love in 1Co_13:5. It is that “nursing of wrath to keep it warm,” which can be checked even by those who cannot control the first outburst, and which constantly corrupts righteous indignation into selfish personal anger, if not into malignity.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Be ye angry, and sin not. Quotation from the…
Be ye angry, and sin not. Quotation from the Septuagint version of Psa_4:5. Anger, the feeling and expression of displeasure, is not wholly forbidden, but is guarded by two checks. Our Lord did not make anger a breach of the sixth commandment, but being angry with a brother without cause. The first check is to beware of sinning; to keep your anger clear of bitterness, spite, malevolence, and all such evil feelings. The second is, Let not the sun go down on your irritation; examine yourself in the evening, and see that you are tranquil. Eadie quotes Thomas Fuller: "St. Paul saith, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath," to carry news to the antipodes in another world of thy revengeful nature. Yet let us take the apostle"s meaning rather than his words with all possible speed to depose our passion; not understanding him so literally that we may take leave to be angry till sunset; then might our wrath lengthen with the days, and men in Greenland, where day lasts above a quarter of a year, have plentiful scope of revenge. And as the English, by command of William the Conqueror, always raked up their fire, and put out their candles when the curfew bell was rung, let us then also quench all sparks of anger and heat of passion." It is especially becoming in men, when about to sleep the sleep of death, to see that they are in peace and charity with all men; it were seemly always to fall asleep in the same temper.
Vers. 26, 27.
Read full note →
Restraints upon anger
The apostle teaches that we are not to allow the irritations or exasperations of life to become the occasion of sin, that we are not to cherish anger, and that we are not to give scope to Satan by temper which may open the heart to those passions of hatred and revenge that are identified with his operations. The passage teaches
I TEXT THERE IS AN ANGER THAT IS NOT SINFUL. This affection is, indeed, implanted in our nature for righteous ends. It arms the passions quickly against evil, and operates with the force and effectiveness of an instinct. If it is mingled with malice, it becomes sinful; but if it is associated with a holy disposition, it is safe and good. Jesus regarded the conduct of the Jews "with anger". (Mar_3:5) Anger is often attributed to God himself, (Psa_7:11) but it can have no sinful elements in the Divine mind. It is, in fact, with anger as it is with hatred. It is a shallow prejudice to shrink from the name and the thing which it signifies, as if it were all and only evil. Jesus hated as well as loved. The two emotions hang for their life upon each other. Love cannot be unless a hearty hate of evil lie beneath. They are but the two sides of one sublime emotion which turns life, so often insipid and dull, into a vivid, balanced, and joyful activity. So it is with anger. Under the inspiration of a holy nature, it may flash forth with a marvelous power against wickedness, untruth, and dishonor.
II THAT THERE IS AN EASY PASSAGE FROM WHAT IS RIGHT TO WHAT IS WRONG IN THE INDULGENCE OF ANGER. "Be ye angry and sin not." This command implies that it is an easy matter to sin in our anger, and a hard thing to be angry and not to sin. The path of duty affords firm footing to those who keep it; but it is very narrow, and there are dangerous pitfalls on either side. Anger is, therefore, not an operation to be rashly or lightly performed, even when it is a very evil thing against which our displeasure is directed. If it comes often and comes easily, you may suspect the danger that lurks in it. Take care, above all things, that the zeal for righteousness may not plunge you into hatred of your neighbors. If a glass bottle be full of clean water, though it be stirred there ariseth no mud; but if mud arise when it is stirred, the water was foul in the bottom: so is the spirit of a man foul within that, being stirred, showeth distemper." "Be angry and sin not." You cannot be angry and suffer not. Just as a cannon when discharged recoils heated and begrimed within by the fiery blast that issued from its mouth, the spirit of man is similarly affected even by those discharges of anger that are directed against the most wicked deeds.
III THAT IT IS HARD TO AVOID SIN IN OUR ANGER IF WE INDULGE IT FOR AN UNDUE LENGTH OF TIME. "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Anger may flash suddenly out from the lips of a good man, but it resteth in the bosom of fools". (Ecc_7:9) There is a limit even to righteous anger; not that we are not to have a continual anger against sin; but we are not to carry our anger against a brother into the next day. We are not to harbor resentment or keep it rankling in our bosom, lest it should change into downright hatred or revenge.
IV THAT SATAN TAKES ADVANTAGE OF OUR ANGER TO DO US GREAT HURT. There is an old Latin proverb, "He who goes angry to bed has the devil for a bedfellow." Anger, if cherished, supplies a motive to yield to his evil suggestions. The devil is in full sympathy with a resentful spirit. Yet, though he wields the resources of this world as its god; though he is incarnate in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; he has no power to enter any heart except with the will of its owner. Let not Christians, then, allow that heart, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, to be opened, in a moment of holy anger, to the intrusive suggestions of the evil one. The counsel of the apostle is well calculated to promote the comfort and the usefulness of life. Let Christians take care that their anger is not without cause, or without measure, or without justice, and that it should not be so inconsistent with love that we cannot pray for those against whom it is directed. T.C.
Anger.
I ANGER IS A DUTY.
1. It is natural. The man who is never angry is lacking in moral fiber. Christ was sometimes angry. (Mar_3:5) God is angry with the wicked. (Psa_7:11)
1. It is just. We cannot rightly rebuke evil without anger. Lies and cruelty should not be treated mildly. Christ would not have been faithful to righteousness if he had not shown indignation in response to hypocrisy.
2. It is useful. We may save a man by first being angry with him. A mild complacency may be the greatest cruelty to a bad man. Even when we cannot rouse the conscience of the guilty by anger we may protect the weak and wronged who claim our first sympathy.
II ANGER BRINGS A DANGER. It is the most perilous of duties even when it is obligatory.
1. It is in danger of being indulged for our own satisfaction instead of the resistance and checking of moral evil. Personal revenge is likely to usurp the place of righteous indignation.
2. It is in danger of running into excess. It is a passion, and every passion tends to irrational extravagance. The angry man must beware of losing his temper.
III THE LIMITS OF RIGHTEOUS ANGER SHOULD BE CAREFULLY MARKED.
1. We must avoid the mingling of wicked feelings with necessary anger. While angry with our brother we must not cease to love him. We may be most angry with those we love most. But when anger provokes us to wish harm to any one, it degenerates to hatred and becomes a great sin.
2. We must not cherish anger for long. The mercy of God is everlasting; his wrath is for a season. (Psa_103:9) It is the devil only whose habitual mood is anger. Men may do fearful harm by the sudden ebullition of a hasty temper harm which may be repented of in vain for long years. Nevertheless, the sullen persistence of ill-feeling for weeks and longer that some people practice is in itself more culpable. It would be well to remember every night that we cannot have God"s forgiveness of our sins of the day unless we have first forgiven those who have sinned against us.
3. We must not lose self-control in anger. "Neither give place to the devil.
IV THE CHRISTIAN SAFEGUARD AGAINST THE ABUSE OF ANGER IS LOVE. NO man can be safely angry with his brother unless he first love him. It is only they that love much who can make a wise use of the furious weapon of anger. If we are "kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other," we shall be able to show righteous anger without lowering ourselves to personal spite. Then our anger will be a pain to us and we shall long to abandon it for more congenial feelings. So shall we be like God, whose wrath is sinless, because he loves his children through all the anger their sin has called forth. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv26–31 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the…
Eph_4:26
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Read full note →
Dissuasive from anger
I. A general principle. It must keep clear of sin be ye angry, and sin not.
1. Unjust anger is clearly wrong.
2. Excessive anger comes under the same condemnation.
3. Personal anger is scarcely ever without sin; yet this is the character of the greater number of cases. We are angry with the person, rather than with his misconduct.
4. Selfish anger may always be suspected of sin.
II. A special rule. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
III. An awful motive. Neither give place to the devil. There are two characters which the devil sustains towards us: he is our accuser, and our tempter. In both these characters he gains an advantage over us by means of sinful anger.
1. It furnishes him with a charge against us. Dream not that angry words are mere idle breath: By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
2. It assists his temptations of us. Everyone must know what a pitiable creature he is, who gives way to unbridled anger. Only work on his passion, and you may make him believe anything--say anything--do anything. And the man unconsciously gives place to his enemy. While proudly resolving not to give way to a fellow creature, whose ill-will could do him little injury, and might have been disarmed by gentleness or yielding: he throws himself into the arms of one who seizes the occasion for promoting the destruction of both body and soul in hell. (J. Jowett, M. A.)
Anger not to be sinfully indulged
I. Anger kept within its due bounds. I shall consider this as in holy anger. And there is in it--
1. A commotion of the spirit, which ariseth from the apprehension of a real injury; for if it be only imaginary it is sinful. This is necessary to stir up a mans desire to see the wrong rectified.
2. There is hatred in it, not at the persons but at their sins, whether they be our own sins or others. In this respect it is called indignation (2Co_7:11). This is most desirable, when it is kept purely on this object. That is not the part where we are in hazard of excess, seeing we are commanded to abhor that which is evil.
3. There is grief in it (Mar_3:5). This naturally follows on hatred of the thing, which likewise ariseth from a just apprehension of the evil of it in a gracious soul. And from both ariseth--
4. A desire of the vindication of the right and honour of the party injured.
II. Sinful anger condemned. We are to consider it in its rise, and the passion transgressing due bounds, which makes it sinful, however short, while it lasts. Now, for clearing of what this sinful anger is, we must consider the due boundary of holy and just anger, and what is beyond these is sinful.
1. The grounds of holy anger are just and weighty, such as Gods dishonour by our own sins, and the sins of others (2Co_7:11; Exo_22:9). It must, then, be sinful anger, when it is without a just ground.
2. The degree of holy anger is proportioned to the fault. When the anger, then, in respect of degrees, exceeds the measure of the offence, and men are carried so far beside themselves, as to turn about the cart wheel on the cummin that might be beat out with the rod, then it is sinful anger.
3. The end of holy anger which it is directed, is the glory of God and the good of our neighbour (Pro_13:24; Joh_2:16-17). Sinful, then, it must be, when it is a fire lighting on others, to make them sacrifices to cursed self, to satisfy the desires of a proud heart (Pro_27:25), which will never think it gets enough from others.
4. The effects of holy anger, directly and indirectly, are just and good, for the man has rule over his own spirit, and no holy affection is inconsistent with another. It fits him for his duty to God and men, as may be seen in the case of Moses praying for the people (Exodus
3. The anger, then, must be sinful when its effects are hellish, as when it breaks out in clamour and evil speaking (Eph_4:31).
III. The reason why the sinful passion is condemned. Neither give place to the devil. That is, and give not place to the devil. It refers--
1. To the rise of sinful anger. To give place to it is to admit the devil.
2. It refers to the progress and continuance of it. The more it is harboured, the devil is the farther admitted. He loves to fish in muddy water. When he has got the fire kindled, he employs his bellows to blow it up, and always to make the flame greater and greater, to the destruction of ourselves and others.
Doctrine
I. Men not only may, but ought to be angry where there is just ground for it. We know no just ground for anger but the things which are sinful. Reasons.
1. Because in that case, the love and respect which we owe to God, who is dishonoured, require it.
2. The love which we owe to ourselves or others who are injured, requires it.
Doctrine
II. Men should beware that the fire of sinful auger kindle not in their breasts. Reasons.
1. Because it is evil in itself, and dishonourable to God; being the vomit of a proud heart and an unmeekened spirit.
2. Because it is not only evil, but a mother of evil; and is not only an inlet to many mischiefs to ourselves and others, put drives men to them to act with vigour. An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
Doctrine
III. If sinful anger do enter our breasts, we must endeavour to extinguish it quickly, and beware of nourishing it.
Doctrine
IV. That the admitting and lodging of sinful anger in our hearts is a giving place to the devil. For remedies--
1. Let us consider our own vileness and unworthiness, and how often we are provoking the Lord, and so turn our anger against ourselves.
2. Let us consider these things with which we are so ready to be hurried away, are the trials of our patience, and we are on our trial for heaven.
3. Let us propose to ourselves the example of the meek and lowly Jesus. He suffered, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. Lastly--Out of a sense of our utter inability to resist the least temptation, look to Jesus for strength, and by faith draw strength from Him. (T. Boston, D. D.)
A dissuasive from violent passion
I. Some rules to distinguish the nature and the degree of anger when it becomes criminal.
1. Man having been created susceptible of anger, to enable him to repel with courage the evil which encompasses, or to surmount with activity the calamity which threatens him, it is evident that whoever unnecessarily provokes him is to a certain degree culpable.
2. Since every impulse should be proportionate to the power of the motives which produce it, it is no less evident that all anger, and every emotion carried to excess--that is, which exceed the bounds prescribed by reason, are criminal.
3. It will also be hateful in the sight of God, when through indulgence it degenerates into hatred or malice, into resentment or a desire of revenge.
4. Anger becomes a sin of more aggravated nature, when by continual indulgence it resumes, as it were, a constitutional property.
5. Anger is always criminal, when, either in its nature or attendant circumstances, it, in any manner, is injurious to reason and religion, or involves, in its consequences, either ourselves or other men in trouble.
II. I now proceed, under the second head, to propose some considerations to engage you to regulate this passion.
1. Nothing is more indecent, disgraceful, and contemptible than the character of a passionate and violent man. Rage always supposes weakness; hence children, sick people, and women, are the most subject to it.
2. blot only is the anger of which I am speaking contemptible, odious, and criminal in itself, but it is also melancholy and criminal in its effects and consequences. A man, by frequent transports of rage, impairs his health. Add to this, that a man who is master of himself has, in all circumstances of life, an infinite advantage over a violent person. At every turn he gives some advantage to his adversary.
3. Besides, a man of an outrageous temper is almost always unhappy; he is always exposed to chagrin, occasioned by his own irritability. Rage is to the soul what fever is to the body: as a fever throws the whole animal economy into disorder, rage, in like manner, so agitates the soul as to bereave it of peace. (P. Bertrand.)
Godlike anger
I. What is the sort of anger here allowed or enjoined? Evidently it must be anger of such a sort as shall be in keeping and in harmony with the sphere in which it works, viz., the sphere of the truth as it is in Jesus, in contrast to the deceit or lie of which the devil is the father. The anger of the new man is, in one word, sympathy with God; intelligent, confiding, loving sympathy with God.
II. What are the conditions annexed to the allowance or injunction?
1. It must be sinless. Remember that anger too readily allies itself to that self-love in you which is the real root and ground, the source and spring, of the anger of the old man, which is altogether sinful, and of whatever is sinful in the anger of the new man. Gods anger, on the contrary, is absolutely holy. For He is never angry on His own account, or for injury done to Him. What makes Him angry, however it may be opposed to His nature and will, does not really touch His essential glory and blessedness.
2. It must be short. If a moment suffice for the anger of God, surely a day may be more than enough for yours. If His righteous and holy wrath endureth but for a moment, yours may well subside ere sundown. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)
The warning against anger
We ought to mind this warning against anger, because if we give way to angry feelings, it will have a bad effect upon us in three ways.
I. If we give way to anger, it will interfere with our comfort. An angry man can never feel comfortable. Anger in our hearts or minds is just like a storm at sea. That storm, while it lasts, disturbs everything. As long as that storm continues it interferes, most seriously, with the comfort of all on board the vessel, which is exposed to it. Most of the passengers will be made seasick, and be obliged to go to bed, and their comfort will be wonderfully interfered with while that storm lasts. And just as a storm at sea acts on a vessel that is exposed to it, so anger acts on the soul where its influence is felt. It upsets and disturbs all our thoughts and feelings, and interferes entirely with our comfort.
II. The second reason for minding this warning against anger is because it will interfere with our duty. Suppose I should wake up some morning, and on looking at my watch to see what time it was, should find that it had stopped, and was keeping time no longer. The mainspring is not broken. It was not run down, for I wound it up last night before I went to bed. But still the watch has stopped. It will not keep time. I cannot tell what is the matter with it. After breakfast I take it to the watchmaker, and ask him to examine it, and find out what the trouble is. He opens the watch, and putting on one of his magnifying glasses, he looks carefully into it. Presently he lays it down, and says, I see what the trouble is. A little grain of sand has got in among the works, some how or other, and that interferes with the working of the watch and makes it stop. Then he goes to work and removes that grain of sand, and after this is done the watch goes on keeping time as usual. Now, our souls are like watches in some respects. Our thoughts, and feelings, and desires are very much like the wheels, or works of a watch. While our feelings and tempers are all right, the wheels will go on, and the watch will keep good time. But, if we give way to a wrong feeling or temper, like anger, it will be like the grain of sand in the works of the watch. It will stop them from going on, and the watch will not be able to keep time. When George IV was King of England he desired one day to receive the sacrament of the Lords Supper, and he sent for the Bishop of Winchester to come and administer it to him. The messenger who was sent on this errand was very slow in his movements, and loitered along the way. This caused a long delay before the arrival of the bishop, and the king got very impatient about it. When the bishop came he stated that he started immediately on getting the message, but that the servant had been very slow in coming to him. This made the king angry. He rang the bell and called for the messenger. When he entered the room the king reproved him very sharply, dismissed him from his service, and told him to leave the palace at once. As soon as he was gone the king turned to the bishop, and said, Now, my lord, we will go on with our service. But the bishop, with great mildness, and yet very firmly, said, Please your majesty, I cannot do that. The temper just displayed is not a fit preparation for this solemn service. The king saw that he had done wrong, and made a suitable apology to the bishop. Then he sent for his servant, asked his pardon for speaking so angrily to him, and told him, in the pleasantest possible way, that he should keep his position in the kings employ.
III. And the third reason for minding this warning against anger is, that it will interfere with our safety. If we do what we know is wrong; if we let the sun go down upon our wrath, and give way to anger, then we are doing that which will interfere with our safety. Our shield and armour will be taken away, and we shall be exposed to all sorts of dangers. (Dr. Newton.)
The damager of anger
The angry man is compared to a ship sent into the sea, which hath the devil for its pilot. (T. Adams.)
Description of anger
Anger sets the house on fire, and all the spirits are busy upon trouble, and intend propulsion and defence, displeasure and revenge; it is a short madness, and an eternal enemy to discourse, and sober counsels, and fair conversation; it is a fever in the heart, and a calenture in the head, and a fire in the face, and a sword in the hand, and a fury all over. It hath in it the trouble of sorrow, and the heats of lust, and the disease of revenge, and the bodings of a fever, and the rashness of precipitancy, and the disturbance of persecution. If it proceed from a great cause, it turns to fury; if from a small cause, it is peevishness; and so it is always terrible or ridiculous. It makes a mans body deformed and contemptible, the voice horrid, the eyes cruel, the face pale or fiery, the gait fierce. It is neither manly nor ingenuous, and is a passion fitter for flies and wasps than for persons professing nobleness and bounty. It is a confluence of all the irregular passions. There is in it envy and scorn, fear and sorrow, pride and prejudice, rashness and inconsideration, rejoicing in evil, and a desire to inflict it. (Bp. Jeremy Taylor.)
Foolishness of anger
To be angry is to revenge the fault of others upon ourselves. (Pope.)
To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and Divine. (Dr. Watts.)
Short continuance of anger
The English, by command of William the Conqueror, always raked up their fires and put out their candles when the curfew bell was rung; some part of which laudable custom of those times remaineth yet, in the ringing of our eight or nine oclock bell. Let it then mind us thus much, that the sun go not down upon our wrath; let it not carry news to the antipodes in another world of our revengeful nature, but rather quench all sparks of anger, rake up all heat of passion that may arise within us. (Spencer.)
Anger--without sin
One of the late Dr. Spencers parishioners in Brooklyn, New York, met him hurriedly urging his way down the street one day; his lip was set, and there was something strange in that gray eye. How are you today, doctor? he said, pleasantly. He waked as from a dream, and replied, soberly, I am mad! It was a new word for a mild, true-hearted Christian; but he waited, and with a deep, earnest voice went on. I found a widow standing by her goods thrown in the street; she could not pay the months rent; the landlord turned her out; and one of her children is going to die; and that man is a member of the Church! I told her to take her things back again. I am on my way to see him!
Be angry and sin not
The easiest charge under the hardest condition that can be. He that will be angry and not sin, let him be angry at nothing but sin. (J. Trapp.)
Anger must be brief
Plutarch writeth that it was the custom of Pythagoras scholars, however they had been jarring and jangling in their disputations, yet, before the sun set, to kiss and shake hands before they departed out of the school. Leontias Patricius was one day extremely and unreasonably angry with John, Patriarch of Alexandria. At evening the patriarch sent a servant to him with this message: Sir, the sun is set, upon which Patricius reflecting, and the grace of God making the impression deep, he threw away his anger, and became wholly subject to the counsel of the patriarch. (J. Trapp.)
Anger hinders religious duties
My grandfather, who was a very affectionate, but a passionate man, one Friday fell out with his brother, and both went home in a rage. Toward evening (the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath), his wife made her preparations for keeping holy time, but noticed that he did not light the customary lamp. She addressed him, but he paced the room in silence and evident distress of mind. See, said my grandmother at length, the stars are already in the Lords firmament, and our Sabbath lamp is still dark. My grandfather then took his hat and staff, and with visible perturbation hurried out of the house; but in a few minutes he returned with tears of joy in his eyes. Now, my beloved Rebecca, cries he, now I am ready. He offered up the prayer, and with evident feelings of delight kindled the lamp. He afterwards made known his dispute in the morning, adding, it was not possible for me to offer up the prayer and light the lamp before I was reconciled with Isaac (that was his brothers name). But how came it to pass that you returned so quickly? Why, said he, Isaac, like me, could not rear--it was with him as it was with me--he also could not enter upon the Sabbath without being reconciled. We met each other in the street--he was coming to me, I was going to him--we fell into each others arms, weeping. (Dr. Capadose.)
Anger to be speedily got rid of
If we have eaten poison, we seek forthwith to vomit it up again with all speed; and if we be fallen into any disease, we use the means we can to provide a remedy; so, likewise, when we feel any unruly motions of anger, and the fiery flames thereof be once kindled in our hearts, we must be careful to repress them, as we would be to quench the fire in our houses. (Cawdray.)
Silent anger
If anger arises in thy breast, instantly seal up thy lips, and let it not go forth; for, like fire when it wants vent, it will suppress itself. It is good in a fever to have a tender and smooth tongue; but it is better that it be in anger; for if it be rough and distempered, there it is an ill sign, but here it is an ill cause. Angry passion is a fire, and angry words like breath to fan them together; they are like steel and flint, sending out fire by mutual collision. (Bp. Jeremy Taylor.)
Anger kept too long
Anger in itself is no sin, but it has a tendency to become so rapidly if it be harboured too long. Like the manna, it corrupts and breeds worms if kept over night in the close chamber of the heart. Then it will appear in the morbid shapes of spite, malice, revenge. The Christian rule is to throw it all away before the fermentation commences. (Dean Goulburn.)
The folly of anger
The choleric man is like one that dwells in a thatched house, who, being rich in the morning, by a sudden fire is a beggar before night. How foolish is the bee that loses her life and her sting together. She puts another to a little pain, but how dearly does she pay for it. (T. Adams.)
The folly of meeting anger with anger
Like as if a man join fire to fire, he maketh the flame the greater; even so, if a man think to suppress another mans anger by being angry himself, he shall both lose his labour, and rather increase the other mans anger. (Cawdray.)
A mad dog that bites another makes him as mad as himself; so, usually the injuries and reproaches of others foster up our revenge, and then there is no difference between us. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Forgiveness before sundown
Forgiveness before sundown! He who never feels the throb of indignation is imbecile. He who can walk among the injustices of the world inflicted upon himself and others, without flush of cheek, or flash of eye, or agitation of nature, is either in sympathy with wrong or semi-idiotic. It all depends on what you are angry at, and how long the feeling lasts, whether anger is right or wrong. Life is full of exasperations. Saul after David, Succoth after Gideon, Korah after Moses, the Pasquins after Augustus, the Pharisees after Christ, and everyone has had his pursuers, and we are swindled, or belied, or misrepresented, or persecuted, or in some way wronged, and the danger is that healthful indignation shall become baleful spite, and that our feelings settle down into a prolonged outpouring of temper displeasing to God and ruinous to ourselves, and hence the important injunction of the text, Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. No, no; I think of five reasons why we should not let the sun set before our temper sets.
1. Because twelve hours is long enough to be cross about any wrong inflicted upon us. Nothing is so exhausting to physical health or mental faculty as a protracted indulgence of ill-humour. It racks the nervous system. It hurts the digestion. It heats the blood in brain and heart until the whole body is first overheated and then depressed. Besides that, it sours the disposition, turns one aside from his legitimate work, expends energies that ought to be better employed, and does us more harm than it does our antagonist. Paul gives us good, wide allowance of time for legitimate denunciation, from six oclock to six oclock, but says: Stop there! Watch the descending orb of day, and when it reaches the horizon, take a reef in your disposition. Unloose your collar and cool off. Change the subject to something delightfully pleasant. Aye, you will not postpone till sundown forgiveness of enemies if you can realize that their behaviour towards you may be put into the catalogue of the all things that work together for good to those that love God. Suppose, instead of waiting until this evening, when the sun will set, you transact this glorious work of forgiveness before meridian.
2. We ought not to let the sun go down on our wrath, because we will sleep better if we are at peace with everybody. Insomnia is getting to be one of the most prevalent of disorders. To relieve this disorder all narcotics, and sedatives, and chloral, and bromide of potassium, and cocaine and intoxicants are used, but nothing is more important than a quiet spirit if we would win somnolence. How is a man going to sleep when he is in mind pursuing an enemy? Why not put a boundary to your animosity? Why let your foes come into the sanctities of your dormitory? Why let those slanderers who have already torn your reputation to pieces or injured your business, bend over your midnight pillow and drive from you one of the greatest blessings that God can offer--sweet, refreshing, all-invigorating sleep. Why not fence out your enemies by the golden bars of the sunset?
3. We ought not to allow the sun to set before forgiveness takes place, because we might not live to see another day. The majority of people depart this life in the night. Between eleven oclock p.m. and three oclock a.m. there is something in the atmosphere which relaxes the grip which the body has on the soul, and most people enter the next world through the shadows of this world. Perhaps God may have arranged it in that way, so as to make the contrast the more glorious. I have seen sunshiny days in this world that must have been almost like the radiance of heaven. Shall we then leap over the roseate bank of sunset into the favourite hunting ground of disease and death, carrying our animosities with us?
4. We ought not to allow the passage of the sunset hour before the dismissal of all our affronts, because we may associate the sublimest action of the soul with the sublimest spectacle in nature. It is a most delightful thing to have our personal experiences allied with certain subjects. There is a tree or river bank where God first answered your prayer. Some of you have pleasant memories connected with the evening star, or the moon in its first quarter, or with the sunrise. Because you saw it just as you were arriving at harbour after a tempestuous voyage. Forever and forever. Oh, hearer, associate the sunset with your magnanimous, out-and-out, unlimited renunciation of all hatreds and forgiveness of all foes. I admit it; is the most difficult of all graces to practise, and at the start you may make a complete failure; but keep on in the attempt to practise it. Shakespeare wrote ten dramas before he reached Hamlet, and seventeen before he reached the Merchant of Venice, and twenty-eight before he reached Macbeth. And gradually you will come from the easier graces to the most difficult. Besides that, it is not a matter of personal determination so much as the laying hold of the Almighty arm of God, who will help us to do anything we ought to do. Remember that in all personal controversies the one least to blame will have to take the first step at pacification, if it is ever effective. The contest between AEschines and his rival resounds through history, but his rival, who was least to blame, went to AEschines and said: Shall we not agree to be friends before we make ourselves the laughing stock of the whole country? And AEschines said: Thou art a far better man than I, for I began the quarrel, but thou hast been the first in healing the breach, and they were always friends afterwards. So let the one of you that is least to blame take the first step towards conciliation. The one most in the wrong will never take it. We talk about the Italian sunsets, and sunset amid the Apennines, and sunset amid the Cordilleras, but I will tell you how you may see a grander sunset than any mere lover of nature ever beheld; that is, by flinging into it all your hatreds and animosities, and let the horses of fire trample them, and the chariots of fire roll over them, and the spearmen of fire stab them, and the beach of fire consume them, and the billows of fire overwhelm them.
5. We should not let the sun go down on our wrath, because it is of little importance what the world says of you or does to you when you have the affluent God of the sunset as your provider and defender. People talk as though it were a fixed spectacle of nature and always the same. But no one ever saw two sunsets alike, and if the world has existed six thousand years, there have been about two million one hundred and ninety thousand sunsets, each of them as distinct from all the other pictures in the gallery of the sky as Titians Last Supper, Rubens Descent from the Cross, Raphaels Transfiguration, and Michael Angelos Last Judgment are distinct from each other. If that God of such infinite resources that He can put on the wall of the sky each night more than the Louvre and the Luxembourg galleries all in one, is my God and your God, our Provider and Protector, what is the use of our worrying about any human antagonism? If we are misinterpreted, the God of the many coloured sunset can put the right colour on our action. (Dr. Talmage.)
Sundown
There was a very holy patriarch of Alexandria, called John. The Governor of Alexandria had imposed a tax on the city which fell with peculiar severity on the poor, whilst the rich got off with comparative ease. The patriarch went to the Governor, whose name was Nicetas, and remonstrated with him. Nicetas was furious. He stormed against the bishop, and pursued him to his own house and inner chamber, using fierce abuse. He had completely lost control over himself, so great was his anger at the prelates interference. John was much agitated and distressed. He waited all the afternoon, praying for a reconciliation, but not another word had he with the Governor. As the evening drew on, he became still more uneasy. He felt he could not sleep with bitterness subsisting between them. So he wrote on a slip of parchment the words, The sun is setting, and sent it to Nicetas, who, recalling the maxim of St. Paul, was moved to regret his violence, and he hasted to the patriarchs residence, asked his pardon, and their broken friendship was restored. (S. Baring Gould, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv26–31 26. Be ye angry, and sin not. Quoted from…
26. Be ye angry, and sin not. Quoted from Psalm 4:4, Septuagint Version. Do not sin through anger is the thought. If circumstances arouse your indignation, do not be led astray. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Let there be no long continuance of your wrathful mind.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v26 26. “Be ye angry, and sin not; let not…
ARGUMENT 21
PRACTICAL HOLINESS
Read full note →
26. “Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down on your provocation.” The Greek word translated angry, is the same we have in Luke, who says our Savior “looked on them with anger, being grieved on account of the hardness of their hearts,” revealing our Savior’s holy grief as the definition of orgidzoo, anger.
Hence, we see that if you get angry, and sin not — i.e., have no sin in it — there will be nothing indulged but holy grief in contemplation of wrong; i.e., you will simply be angry in the sense in which God is angry. God sees all the evil in the world, and is infinitely grieved over it. The more holy we become, the more acutely we discern, disapprove, and grieve over all evil; i.e., we are angry, but sin not; i.e., there is no sin in our anger. The sun is going down every moment on some meridian of the earth.
Hence, the going down of the sun signifies the daily current events of life, involving the idea that we are to receive no provocation at any time, lest the sun go down onit. Wicked men and devils are constantly offering us provocation. But entire sanctification is the investiture of true wisdom, incessantly fortifying us against the reception of evil, though ever so alluringly and importunately enforced on us by human and demoniacal agencies. An insult is a filthy, loathing stench in the nostrils of purity. Shall I be gumpish enough to receive it? God forbid!
28. The man who cheats or defrauds in any way, or endeavors to acquire ill-gotten gains, is a thief in the sight of God. If you cheat a man out of a dollar, God condemns you for stealing the dollar. The little rogues steal in the night,, and expiate their crimes in the penitentiary.
The big rogues steal while looking you in the face. Then you honor them with a place on the judicial bench, where they condemn the little thieves. If a man can steal enough to become very rich, you will promote him to high offices of honor in Church and State. We see from this Scripture that a man is not justifiable for idleness because he is rich. It is his duty to labor with his own hands, that he may have to give to the needy.
29. Your mouth belongs to God. Hence, you can not let the devil use it for obscene, vain, trifling, or foolish utterances with impunity.
30. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you have been sealed unto the day of redemption.” In regeneration, the Holy Spirit writes you up, and sends you into the world God’s letter, to be read by all men. (2 Corinthians 3) In sanctification, the letter is sealed by the Holy Ghost, securing the contents against robbery. If this is not done, Satan will steal away your letter, leaving you the old, empty envelope to meet the “Judge of all the earth.” “Redemption” is the glorious transfiguration of your body,. when “this mortal shall put on immortality, and death shall be swallowed up of life.” The day of “redemption” is the great day of all days when our glorious Lord shall return and call his saints to meet him in the air. The sealing of the Holy Ghost — i.e. entire sanctification — is the qualification for the momentous ordeal of meeting our descending Lord. Has the Holy Ghost written you into a letter of God to the world, and sealed you against all the intrigues of the devil?
31. Here we have a black catalogue of ugly things, which forever depart with the exit of sin and the ingress of the Holy Ghost. Lord, help us all to verify this commandment!
32. The saints of God are exceptions in the world for their goodness, kindness, and philanthropy, delighted with opportunities freely to forgive, and joyfully to confer benefactions. While Christ sitteth on the mediatorial throne, hidden beyond the glittering stars, his loving bride, exhibiting his image and likeness, still walks the earth, reflecting the loving kindness, tender mercies, and heavenly benefactions of her Divine Spouse.
1,2. Like our ascended Lord, we are to be a perpetual sacrifice on God’s altar, emitting the sweet savor of holiness to the Lord.
3. Here we see covetousness, the crying sin of the popular Churches of this day, and so magnetic as to escape exposition and condemnation from the pulpit, here catalogued with fornication and impurity, and interdicted so much as a mention among the saints.
4. “And scandal or foolish talking or indecent jesting, which are unbecoming, but rather the giving of thanks.” For many years a secular paper has not been permitted to enter my house, from the simple fact that they carry Satan’s carrion. You can not mention “scandal” with impunity. If you tamper with it, you will get polluted. You can not indulge in “foolish talk,” or even listen to it, without grieving the Holy Spirit; while “indecent jesting” is simply abominable in the sight of God and all good people. During the Confederate War, while General Grant was in his headquarters, surrounded by his military magnates, a Federal officer rushes in a great glee, looking around, says: “I believe there are no ladies present. I have something wonderfully good to tell.” At that moment the old General bluntly interjected, “But I will let you know there are gentlemen present.” The man took the hint, and never told the joke.
At that time General Grant did not profess Christianity, but his manly decorum revolted at the thought of hearing anything too obscene for repetition in the presence of ladies. It is scandalous, diabolical, and barbaric for men to indulge in conversation incompatible with the presence of women. This verse ought to be written up in a motto, and rendered conspicuous in every home, church, and business circle. Scandal, foolish talking, and indecent jesting among the laity, and even the ministry, cause wholesale backsliding, as it is impossible to indulge in these vices and frivolities without grieving the Holy Spirit. Inadvertent participation in these vanities will grieve away the Holy Spirit, and superinduce backsliding before you are aware. Thousands fall in this way, and wake up to find the Heavenly Dove mournfully absent, and wonder why he ever retreated away. Thomas a Kempis, the Roman Catholic confessor of entire sanctification, has written clearly and beautifully on this subject, especially warning the preachers.
5. Here again the Holy Ghost not only catalogues the covetous man right along with the fornicator and the debaucher, but he denominates him an idolater, certifying that he “has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” This argument will bear the most logical scrutiny, as the covetous man piling up his hoarded self does not need it for sustenance, it follows, as a legitimate sequence, that he worships the sordid gold, and is therefore as base an idolater as ever bowed at the shrine of Jupiter.
6. Let no one deceive you “with empty discourses; for through these things the wrath of God cometh on the sons of disobedience.” The sad verification of this warning everywhere nowadays proclaims the awful apostasy of the latter days. The gospel has well-nigh gone out of the popular Churches. Paul defines the gospel as (Rom 1:16), “the dynamite of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Hence, every discourse which is not charged with God’s dynamite to blow sin out of the heart, is “empty” and degospelized. Songs, prayers, testimonies, and sermons without the Holy Ghost are all “empty,” illusory, and susceptible of utilization by the devil, as greased planks on which to slide people into hell. No wonder our Savior forbade his own apostles to preach the gospel till after they received the Holy Ghost.
What a pity that every preacher does not lie prostrate before God till he fills him with the Holy Ghost, before he assumes the awful responsibility of standing between the living and the dead.
7-9. God is original light, perfectly free from darkness. Satan has not a solitary ray to cheer the black midnight of his hapless soul.
10,11. “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather convict them.” “Convict” is the verb form of elegchos, which is the verdict of the criminal judge against the accused, condemning him to his merited retribution. We are all custodians and exponents of God’s law, revealed in the Bible. Therefore, it is our province, like the criminal judge, to know no favorites, giving the gospel trumpet no uncertain sound, lifting high the glittering sword, cutting right and left without distinction or mercy, never softening what God has made hard, nor smoothing what God has made rough; but ringing out the truth fearlessly of men and devils, though it condemn the priest, the prophet, the king, and the potentate.
12-14. As the sun illuminates the material world, investing every substance with his light, which is reflected indiscriminately, thus rendering visible the material world; so the great Sun of righteousness transmits his light to all of his saints, which by them is reflected throughout the spiritual world. Hence, we are all walking luminaries in the providence of God, sent forth to irradiate the globe. “Therefore, he says, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon thee.” Regeneration is the glorious resurrection of the human soul from the dead, rising out of Satan’s dreary kingdom, where black darkness and death eternally reign; the soul sweeps into the kingdom of God, opening his eyes to contemplate the glorious light pouring on him from the effulgent Christ, revealing to him the splendors, mysteries, and beauties of the spiritual world, which he never saw before.
15. This verse, in harmony with the Bible, denominates the people walking straight into hell “foolish,” and those who travel the heavenly highway as “wise.”
16. “Buying in the opportunity, because the days are evil.” When bright den went into eclipse, Satan’s reign of darkness, sin, and death sadly supervened. It has swept along like a desolating avalanche, nearly six thousand years, during which the “saved are few;” only here and there a traveler on the King’s highway, while the pell-mell multitudes rush at racehorse speed into hell. Therefore, it stands us in hand wisely to snatch every fleeting moment, thus “buying in the opportunity” to rescue the perishing.
“
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v30
EPHESIANS
GRIEVING THE SPIRIT
Read full note →
Eph 4:30
The miracle of Christianity is the Incarnation. It is not a link in a chain, but a new beginning, the entrance into the cosmic order of a Divine Power. The sequel of Bethlehem and Calvary and Olivet is the upper room and the Pentecost. There is the issue of the whole mission and work of Christ-the planting in the heart of humanity of a new and divine life. All Christendom is professing to commemorate that fact to-day, [Preached on Whitsunday] but a large portion of us forget that it was but a transient sign of a perpetual reality. The rushing mighty wind has died down into a calm; the fiery tongues have ceased to flicker on the disciples’ heads, but the miracle, which is permanent, and is being repeated from day to day, in the experience of every believing soul, is the inrush of the very breath of God into their lives, and the plunging of them into a fiery baptism which melts their coldness and refines away their dross. Now, my text brings before us some very remarkable thoughts as to the permanent working of the Divine Spirit upon Christian souls, and upon this it bases a very tender and persuasive exhortation to conduct. And I desire simply to try to bring out the fourfold aspect in those words. There is, first, a wondrous revelation; second, a plain lesson as to what that Divine Spirit chiefly does; third, a solemn warning as to man’s power and freedom to thwart it; and, lastly, a tender motive for conduct. ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’
Now let us look briefly at these four thoughts: Here we have-
I. A wonderful revelation.
Wonderful to all, startling to some. If you can speak of grief, you must be speaking of a person. An influence cannot be sorry, whatever may happen to it. And that word of my text is no more violent metaphor or exaggeratedly strong way of suggesting a motive, but it keeps rigidly within the New Testament limits, in reference to that Divine Spirit, when to Him it attributes this personal emotion of sorrow with its correlation of possible joy.
Now, I do not need to dwell upon the thought here, but I do desire to emphasise it, especially in view of the strangely hazy and defective conceptions which so many Christian people have upon this matter. And I desire to remind you that the implied assumption of a personal Spirit, capable of being ‘grieved,’ which is in this text, is in accordance with all the rest of the New Testament teaching.
What did Jesus Christ mean when He spoke of one who ‘will guide you into all truth’; of one who ‘whatsoever He shall hear, those things shall He speak’? What does the book of the Acts mean when it says that the Spirit said to the believers in Antioch, ‘Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them’? What did Paul mean when he said, ‘In every city the Holy Ghost testifieth that bonds and afflictions await me’? What does the minister officiating in baptism mean when he says, ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’? That form presents, according to many interpretations, a Divine Person, a Man, and an Influence. Why are these bracketed together? And what do we mean when, at the end of every Christian service, we invoke ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’? A Man, and God, and an Influence-is that the interpretation? You cannot get rid from the New Testament teaching, whether you accept it or not-you cannot eliminate from it this, that the divine causality of our salvation is threefold and one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Now, brethren, I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that practically the average orthodox believer believes in a duality, and not a Trinity, in the divine nature. I do not care about the scholastic words, but what I would insist upon is that the course of Christian thinking has been roughly this. First of all, in the early Church, the question of the Divine nature came into play, mainly in reference to the relation of the Eternal Word to the Eternal Father, and of the Incarnation to both. And then, when that was roughly settled, there came down through many ages, and there still subsists, the endeavour to cast into complete and intelligible forms the doctrine, if I must use the word, of Christ’s nature and work. And now, as I believe, to a very large extent, the foremost and best thinking of the Christian Church is being occupied with that last problem, the nature and work of that Divine Spirit. I believe that we stand on the verge of a far clearer perception of, and of a far more fervent and realising faith in, the Spirit of God, than ever the Churches have seen before. And I pray you to remember that however much your Christian thought and Christian faith may be centred upon, and may be drawing its nourishment and its joy from, the work of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for our salvation, and lives to be our King and Defender, there is a gap-not only in your Christian Creed, but also in your Christian experiences and joys and power, unless you have risen to this thought, that the Divine Spirit is not only an influence, a wind, a fire, an oil, a dove, a dew, but a Divine Person. We have to go back to the old creed-’I believe in God the Father Almighty ... and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord ... I believe in the Holy Ghost.’
But further, this same revelation carries with it another, and to some of us a startling thought. ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit’: that Divine Person is capable of grief. I do not believe that is rhetorical exaggeration. Of course I know that we should think of God as the ever-blessed God, but we also in these last days begin to think more boldly, and I believe more truly, that if man is in the image of God, and there is a divine element in humanity, there must be a human element in divinity. And though I know that it is perilous to make affirmations about a matter so far beyond our possibility of verification by experience, I venture to think that perhaps the doctrine that God is lifted up high above all human weaknesses and emotions does not mean that there can be no shadow cast on the divine blessedness by the dark substance of human sin. I do not venture to assert: I only suggest; and this I know, that He who said to us, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,’ had His eyes filled with tears, even in His hour of triumph, as He looked across the valley and saw the city sparkling in the rays of the morning sun. May we venture to see there an unveiling of the divine heart? Love has an infinite capacity of sorrow as of joy. But I leave these perhaps too presumptuous and lofty thoughts, to turn to the other points involved in the words before us.
I said, in the second place, there was-
II. A plain lesson here, as to the great purpose for which the Divine Spirit has been lodged in the heart of humanity.
I find that in the two words of my text, ‘the Holy Spirit,’ and ‘ye were thereby sealed unto the day of redemption.’ If the central characteristic which it imports us to know and to keep in mind is that implied by the name, ‘the Holy Spirit’ then, of course, the great work that He has to perform upon earth is to make men like Himself. And that is further confirmed by the emblem of the seal which is here; for the seal comes in contact with the thing sealed, and leaves the impression of its own likeness there. And whatever else-and there is a great deal else that I cannot touch now-may be included in that great thought of the sealing by the Divine Spirit, these things are inseparably connected with, and suggested by it, viz. the actual contact of the Spirit of God with our spirits, which is expressed, as you may remember, in the other metaphors of being baptized in and anointed with, and yet more important, the result purposed by that contact being mainly to make us holy.
Now, I pray you to think of how different that is from all other notions of inspiration that the world has ever known, and how different it is from a great many ideas that have had influence within the Christian Church. People say there are not any miracles now, and say we are worse off than when there used to be. That Divine Spirit does not come to give gifts of healing, interpretations of tongues, and all the other abnormal and temporary results which attended the first manifestations. These, when they were given, were but means to an end, and the end subsists whilst the means are swept away. It is better to be made good than to be filled with all manner of miraculous power. ‘In this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.’ All the rest is transient. It is gone; let it go, we are not a bit the poorer for want of it. This remains-not tongues, nor gifts of healing, nor any other of these miraculous and extraordinary and external powers-but the continual operation of a divine influence, moulding men into its own likeness.
Christianity is intensely ethical, and it sets forth, as the ultimate result of all its machinery, changing men into the likeness of God. Holiness is that for which Christ died, that for which the Divine Spirit works. Unless we Christian people recognise the true perspective of the Spirit’s gifts, and put at the base the extraordinary, and higher than these, but still subordinate, the intellectual, and on top of all the spiritual and moral, we do not understand the meaning of the central gift and possible blessing of Christianity, to make us holy, or, if you do not like the theological word, let us put it into still plainer and more modern English, to make you and me good men and women, like God. That is the mightiest work of that Divine Spirit.
We have here-
III. A plain warning as to the possibility of thwarting these influences.
Nothing here about irresistible grace; nothing here about a power that lays hold upon a man, and makes him good, he lying passive in its hands like clay in the hands of the potter! You will not be made holy without the Divine Spirit, but you will not be made holy without your working along with it. There is a possibility of resisting, and there is a possibility of co-operating. Man is left free. God does not lay hold of any one by the hair of his head, and drag him into paths of righteousness whether he will or no. But whilst there is the necessity for co-operation, which involves the possibility of resistance, we must also remember that that new life which comes into a man, and moulds his will as well as the rest of his nature, is itself the gift of God. We do not get into a contradiction when we thus speak, we only touch the edge of a great ocean in which our plummets can find no bottom. The same unravellable knot as to the co-operation of the divine and the creatural is found in the natural world, as in the experiences of the Christian soul. You have to work, and your work largely consists in yielding yourselves to the work of God upon you. ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you.’ Brethren! If you and I are Christian people, we have put into our hearts and spirits the talent. It depends on us whether we wrap it in a napkin, and stow it away underground somewhere, or whether we use it, and fructify and increase it. If you wrap it in a napkin and put it away underground, when you come to take it out, and want to say, ‘Lo! there Thou hast that is Thine,’ you will find that it was not solid gold, which could not rust or diminish, but that it has been like some volatile essence, put away in an unventilated place, and imperfectly secured: the napkin is there, but the talent has vanished. We have to work with God, and we can resist. Ay, and there is a deeper and a sadder word than that applied by the same Apostle in another letter to the same subject. We can ‘quench’ the light and extinguish the fire.
What extinguishes it? Look at the catalogue of sins that lie side by side with this exhortation of my text! They are all small matters-bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil-speaking, malice, stealing, lying, and the like; very ‘homely’ transgressions, if I may so say. Yes, and if you pile enough of them upon the spark that is in your hearts you will smother it out. Sin, the wrenching of myself away from the influences, not attending to the whispers and suggestions, being blind to the teaching of the Spirit through the Word and through Providence: these are the things that ‘grieve the Holy Spirit of God.’
And so, lastly, we have here-
IV. A Tender Motive, a dissuasive from sin, a persuasive to yielding and to righteousness.
Many a man has been kept from doing wrong things by thinking of a sad pale face sitting at home waiting for him. Many a boy has been kept from youthful transgressions which war against his soul here, on the streets of Manchester, full as they are of temptations, by thinking that it would grieve the poor old mother in her cottage, away down in the country somewhere. We can bring that same motive to bear, with infinitely increased force, in regard to our conduct as Christian people. ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.’ A father feels a pang if he sees that his child makes no account of some precious gift that he has bestowed upon him, and leaves it lying about anywhere. A loving friend, standing on the margin of the stream, and calling to his friends in a boat when they are drifting to the rapids, turns away sad if they do not attend to his voice. That Divine Spirit pleads with us, and proffers its gifts to us, and turns away-I was going to use too strong a word, perhaps-sick at heart, not because of wounded authority, but because of wounded love and baffled desire to help, when we, in spite of It, will take our own way, neglect the call that warns us of our peril, and leave untouched the gifts that would have made us safe.
Dear brethren, surely such a dissuasive from evil, and such a persuasive to good, is mightier than all abstractions about duty and conscience and right, and the like. ‘Do it rightly’ says Paul, ‘and you will please Him that hath called you’; leave the evil thing undone, ‘and my heart shall be glad, even mine.’ You and I can grieve the Christ whose Spirit is given to us. You and I can add something to ‘the joy of our Lord.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv26, 29 Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
sin
Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v29 Of sins against Christian fellowship:
Of sins against Christian fellowship:
v. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Read full note →
v. 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
v. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice;
v. 32. and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for giving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
The apostle here again, as in v. 25, mentions sins of the tongue: Every corrupt speech, out of your mouth let it not proceed; but such as is good for the building up of the need, that it may give grace to the hearers. Christians should not be guilty of such speech, such utterance, such talk as is worthless, bad, rotten, putrid, foul. The inclination to this sin is present also in the Christian, as the Lord says Mat 15:19. But the believers must not permit this inclination to express itself in language of this nature. All their speech should rather have the object of serving their neighbor for good, for the edification applied to his need. As our neighbor stands in need, we should come to his aid with instruction, admonition, consolation, in order that he may be confirmed and furthered in faith and in every good thing. In this may we bring him a benefit, show him a kindness, impart a blessing to him. On the other hand, the apostle warns: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. With great solemnity he gives the full name of the third person of the Godhead, for the sin which he is discussing is a very serious matter. The Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of the believers as in His temple, and therefore the Christians should fear to offer Him an insult and thus to drive Him away. Foul talk of every kind is not to be thought of lightly, as a breath that the wind takes away, but it is heard by the Holy Spirit of God, who feels deeply grieved and insulted over such behavior. For in and by the Spirit we are sealed, made certain, of our salvation, and it is His intention that we reach our destination, the redemption of our souls. How can it be possible, then, for us to be so ungrateful as to inflict any insult or sorrow upon this Spirit of our salvation!
St. Paul now goes to the root of the matter when he writes: All bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and blasphemy, let it he put away from you, with all malice. It is this condition of the heart that brings out the foul and foolish talk: bitterness, resentfulness, harshness, when a person always walks around with a chip on his shoulder, ready to break forth at the slightest provocation; wrath, the sudden burst of fury, as well as anger, the steady, continued feeling of displeasure toward one’s neighbor which plans vengeance; blasphemy, scolding, maledictions. All these things should be removed from the Christian’s heart, together with all malice, all wickedness, all ill will in general. Paul does not name the climax of the sin whose first steps he describes, he does not speak of actual blows; for he is writing to Christians, who surely will not forget their position as children of God to such an extent as deliberately to indulge in fisticuffs. They will rather, as Paul writes, make it a practice to be kind to one another, show themselves benignant at all times; also tender-hearted, full of fellow-feeling and hearty compassion; forgiving one another, not unwillingly or grudgingly, but graciously and willingly, each one dealing with his neighbor as with himself. And all this with the great love of God and the inexpressible sacrifice of Christ before his eyes: Even as also God in Christ has graciously forgiven you. God’s grace and mercy was manifested in Christ, proved itself in Christ, who by His death accomplished the reconciliation of the world. Just as God in Christ showed us such immeasurable love, so we should show love toward our neighbor; the incomparable love of Christ toward us should be the motive and the strength of our love.
The apostle admonishes the Christians to keep the unity of the Spirit in peace, to serve one another with the gifts received from God, and thus to assist the growth of the Church, with special reference to the gifts of the ministry; he warns them to abstain from the vices of the Gentiles; he exhorts them to put down the old Adam, and to put on the new man with all Christian virtues, all for the promotion of Christian fellowship.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv28, 31 filthy talk
filthy talk
This refers to speech that is cruel or rude.
Read full note →
for building others up
"for encouraging others" or "for strengthening others"
their needs, that your words would be helpful to those who hear you
"their needs. In this way you will help those who hear you"
do not grieve
"do not distress" or "do not upset"
for it is by him that you were sealed for the day of redemption
The Holy Spirit assures believers that God will redeem them. Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as if he were a mark that God puts on believers to show that he owns them. AT: "for he is the seal that assures you that God will redeem you on the day of redemption" or "for he is the one who assures you that God will redeem you on the day of redemption" or (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
translationWords
Holy Spirit
God
redeem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 32 4:26-27 “don’t sin by letting anger control you” (literally…
4:26-27 “don’t sin by letting anger control you” (literally “be angry and do not sin”): This verse quotes Ps 4:4. The literal form of the quotation cannot be used to justify anger, for anger gives a foothold to the devil (cp. Jas 1:20). God’s people are to be gentle and gracious, not harsh or angry (see Eph 4:31-32). • Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry: Anger must quickly be resolved, not allowed to stew.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.