"Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath; neither give place to the devil." This verse has perplexed many people. Some imagine that it is always wrong to be angry. However, there are circumstances under which it would be very wrong not to be angry. Our blessed Lord, who was absolutely perfect in His humanity, was angry on more than one occasion. He saw the pretentious Pharisees going in and out of the temple of God with a great air of sanctity, and yet He knew some of them held mortgages on widows’ homes, and when occasion arose they foreclosed on them and turned them out into the streets because they could not meet their obligations. Our Lord’s indignation was aroused, His anger flamed up, and He said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer:therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation" (Matt. 23:14). If my spirit would not be stirred to indignation by anything of the kind today, I am not the sort of Christian I ought to be. If I were to see a great brute of a fellow abusing a little child and were to pass by with a sweet, simpering smile that says, "Oh, well, everything will be okay, all things work together for good," and would not be stirred to anger, I would be a cad and not a Christian. There is an anger that is righteous. We read that our Lord Jesus on one occasion "looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." How, then, am I to be angry and sin not? One has put it this way:"I am determined so to be angry as not to sin, therefore to be angry at nothing but sin."

The moment self comes in, my anger is sinful. You do me a wrong and I flare with anger. That is sin. But you blaspheme the name of my Saviour and if I am not stirred to anger, that is sin. If I am wholly reconciled as I should be, it will arouse my indignation when I hear His name blasphemed, or see the truth dragged in the dust. But so far as offenses against myself are concerned, I am to suffer all things, I am to endure all things. Men may count me as the off scouring of the earth, they may do the worst they can against me, but if I become angry, I sin, for self is the object there.

Who is there then that is sinless? No one. That is why He says, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." If you are stirred to sinful anger, if you flare up, see then that you do not retire to your bed at night before you confess your sin. If you have given vent to indignation before another, see that you confess it to him. Many people have said to me, "I have such a bad temper. I have tried so hard to overcome it, but I get angry and say things that I regret afterwards, and I make up my mind never to do it again, but I am sure to fail." I usually ask this question, "Do you make it a practice, when you have given utterance to angry exclamation, to go to the person before whom you have sinned and confess it?" Sometimes I get this answer, "No, I never cherish anything; I flare up, and then it is all over." Yes, but the memory is not all over. The other person remembers it. If every time you sin through anger you would go immediately to the one sinned against, and confess and ask forgiveness, you would soon get tired of going so often and you would put a check upon yourself. It would not be so easy to fly off the handle. But as long as you can flare up and pay no attention to it, or, while you may confess it to God you do not do so to your brother, you will find the habit growing on you.

This expression, "Be ye angry, and sin not," is a direct quotation from the Septuagint translation of Psalm 4:4. Our English version reads, "Stand in awe, and sin not; commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." The Hebrew word translated "stand in awe" is a word that means "tremble," and our translators made it, "Stand in awe"_tremble at the presence of God. But that is not necessarily all that it means. The Septuagint made it read, "Be ye angry, and sin not." These words were probably recorded at the time that David was fleeing from Absalom, his own son, and his heart was stirred as he thought of the unfilial character of his son’s behavior. That son for whom he had so often prayed was bringing dishonor upon the name of the Lord, and it moved his heart to indignation. But he said, "I am not going to sleep tonight until all that indignation is quieted down. I am angry, but will not sin; I will commune with my own heart upon my bed and be still." So just get quietly into the presence of God and then you will be able to look at things from a right standpoint. As you think of your own failures, of the many, many times that God in grace has had to forgive you, it will make you very lenient as you think of the failures of others. Instead of getting up on the judgment seat and judging another believer, it will lead you to self-judgment and that will bring you blessing, whereas the other is only harmful to your own spiritual life.

"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; neither give place to the devil." Why? Because anger cherished becomes malice, and Satan works through a malicious spirit. He seeks to get control of Christians and have them act in malice toward fellow-believers. All this grieves the Holy Spirit of God. These are searching things, and we each have to take them for ourselves. "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). Let us not avoid it but face it honestly.

(From Ephesians.)

The Holy Scriptures tell us of two ways of provoking or being provoked:having a provoked spirit and provoking one another unto love and to good works.

We may learn from what is recorded of Moses how displeasing a provoked spirit is to the Lord. Moses was the meekest man on earth, and when Israel had turned to idolatry and the Lord was prepared to destroy them and raise up of Moses a people for His name, Moses made that lovely plea for them, "If Thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book" (Exod. 32:32).

Yet when the Lord’s people were about to enter the promised land, the crowning glory of Moses’ life_to lead them into that land_was denied him. He could not enter the promised land because on one occasion he was provoked in spirit and spoke unadvisedly with his lips (Psa. 106:33). He called them "rebels." God will not allow any charge against His people.

When Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, the false prophet had to acknowledge, "How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? . . . He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel" (Num. 23:8,21).

As with Israel then, so it is with the Lord’s people today. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?" (Rom. 8:33,34).

There will never be a provoked spirit while the love of God constrains us, for love suffers long and is kind, is not easily provoked (1 Cor. 13:4,5). If our spirit is not provoked, we are free to provoke in a much more positive, profitable way:"Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" (Heb. 10:24). How shall we provoke unto love? By loving, for love begets love; and doing good works encourages others to do the same.

The testimony of Scripture is as distinct as possible. It never speaks of God’s being reconciled to us. "If, when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10). It does not say that God was reconciled to us. The death of Christ was essential to the reconciliation; but man was the enemy of God and needed to be reconciled. So we read, in Colossians 1:21, "And you who were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled." The ground of this is stated in the previous verse to be "the blood of His cross." So also, in 2 Corinthians 5, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." It does not say "reconciling Himself to the world."

Thus, to anyone who bows to Scripture, the truth is as clear as a sunbeam. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him." It is of the utmost importance to maintain the true aspect of God’s nature and character in the presentation of the gospel. To say that "Christ died to reconcile the Father to us" is to falsify the divine character as seen in the mission and death of His Son. God was not man’s enemy but his friend. True, sin had to be condemned; God’s truth, holiness, and majesty had to be vindicated. All this was accomplished, in a divine way, in the cross where we see at the same time God’s hatred of sin and His love to the sinner. Atonement is the necessary basis of reconciliation; but it is of very great importance to see that it is God who reconciles us to Himself. This He does, blessed be His name, at no less a cost than "the death of His Son." Such was His love to man_His kindness, His goodness, His deep compassion_that, when there was no other way possible, sin being in question, in which man, the guilty and enemy and rebel could be reconciled to Him, He gave His Son from His bosom, and bruised Him on Calvary’s cursed tree. Eternal and universal praise to His name!

(From Short Papers, Vol. 2.)

"It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, who were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight" (Col. 1:19-22).

Man, in his natural state, was utterly hostile, alienated from God, dead. No moral glory even of the Godhead in Christ could win him back. A deeper work was needed:"Having made peace by the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." All creation was ruined in the fall; and here we have the vast plan of God first sketched before us, the reconciliation of all things, not of men but of things. It was the good pleasure of the Godhead to reconcile all things unto God. Even the Word made flesh, even all the fullness dwelling in Him, failed to reach the desperate case. There was rebellion, there was war. Peace must be made, and it could only be made by the blood of Christ’s cross. In a word, reconciliation is not the fruit of the Incarnation, most blessed as it is; the Incarnation by itself was altogether powerless, as far as reconciliation is concerned. The life of Christ on earth brings before us grace and truth in Christ_God Himself in the most precious display of holy love. Nothing is in itself more important than for a person who has found Christ to delight in and dwell upon Him and His moral ways here below. Everything was in exquisite harmony in Him; matchless grace shone out wherever He moved. All was perfect; yet it all would have been fruitless, for man was as the barren sand.

Therefore we have another and wholly distinct step:"By Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." It was the continual delight of the whole Godhead to dwell in Christ as Man. But so far gone was man that this could not deliver him; sin cannot be thus set aside or taken care of. Even God Himself coming down to earth in Christ’s Person, His unselfish goodness, His unwearied, patient love, could not dispel sin or righteously recover the sinner. Therefore it became manifestly a question of reconciliation "through the blood of His cross."

All things, then, are to be reconciled; peace has been made "by the blood of His cross." It is sweet and assuring to think that all has been done to secure the gathering of all things around Christ. It is merely now a question of the time suited in God’s wisdom for the manifestation of Christ at the head of all. As far as the efficacious work is concerned, nothing more is to be done. Meanwhile, God is calling in the saints who are to share all along with Christ. As it is said in Romans 8, all creation groans, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. They are the first fruits. All was subjected to vanity by sin; but now He who came down, God manifest in the flesh, has taken upon Himself the burden of sin, and has made peace by the blood of His cross. Thus He has done all that is needed for God and man. Morally, all is done, the price is paid, the work is accepted. God would be now justified in purging from the face of creation every trace of misery and decay; if He waits, it is but to save more souls. His longsuffering is salvation. The darkness and the weakness will disappear when our Lord comes with His saints. For the world, His appearing with them in glory is the critical time. The revelation of Christ and the Church from heaven is not the epoch of the rapture, which comes first. The revelation is the manifestation of the Bridegroom and the bride then glorified before the world.

Thus having brought in the universal reconciliation of created things, the apostle turns to that with which it was so intimately connected:"And you who were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled." I do not doubt there is an intended contrast. The reconciliation of all things is not yet accomplished. The foundation for all is laid, but it is not applied. But meanwhile it is applied to us who believe. Us who were in this fearful condition, "now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death." Again, observe, the body of His flesh, the incarnation in itself, did not, could not avail; nor could all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily. For guilty man it must be "through death." It was not through Christ’s birth or living energy, but "through death"_not by His doing, divinely blessed as it all was, but by His suffering. "The blood of His cross" brings in much more the idea of a price paid for peace. His "death" seems to be more suitable as the ground of our reconciliation. At any rate, "in the body of His flesh through death" contradicts the notion that incarnation was the means of reconciliation. This brings in moral considerations and shows the most solemn vindication of God, the righteous basis for our remission and peace, and clearance from all charge and consequence of sin.

(From Lectures on Colossians.)

The second commandment in the set that deals with man’s relationships with his fellowman is, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exod. 20:13). Insight into the meaning of this commandment is found in connection with the instruction concerning the cities of refuge (Num. 35:9-34). Refuge was provided for one guilty of manslaughter, that is, one who killed "any person unawares" (verse 15) or by accident. However, no refuge was available to one who killed a person on purpose:"The murderer shall surely be put to death; . . . the revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer" (verses 16-21).

Further insights are found in Exod. 21. "He that smiteth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death" (verse 15). This refers to purposeful striking of one’s parents, without death necessarily resulting from it. The penalty is much more severe for smiting parents than for smiting_but not killing_another person (verses 18,19). God seems to emphasize here, as He did in the fifth commandment, the honor and respect that should be given to one’s parents, by declaring that one who smites his parents must be put to death. It is a grievous offense, akin to murder as we can see from the context of this verse. Nor is the offense limited to physical smiting, but includes verbal smiting as well. "He that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death" (verse 17). This word "curse" means to revile or speak lightly or disparagingly of others. This should serve as a solemn warning to young people today. No laws, in western nations at least, cover such an offense, but God takes notice and is not mocked (Gal. 6:7).

"He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death" (verse 16). Here we find that taking away another person’s freedom_selling him into slavery_is akin to murder. Causing another person to lose his/her freedom by falsely accusing of a crime would seem to fall into the same category.

"If an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, . . . [and] if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death" (verses 28,29). This indicates that we are responsible not only for our own behavior but for the behavior of our animals, and, no doubt, for the condition of other property of ours (such as icy sidewalks) that could, through our carelessness, cause injury to others.

So, the intent of this sixth commandment is not simply to keep us from going out and murdering another in cold blood, but to impress upon us not to be negligent with our animals and other property in ways that might cause a person to be hurt, not to physically or verbally abuse our parents, and not to take away another person’s freedom.

The intent of this commandment is further elaborated on and explained by the Lord Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount:"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire" (Matt. 5:21,22). The Pharisees may have prided themselves in never having committed the physical acts of murder, adultery, stealing, etc. But Jesus points out here that the mental attitude and emotional feelings that usually precede the outward physical act, and often are present without the physical culmination, are just as offensive in God’s eyes as the act itself. Here the emotion of anger, the attitude, "I could just kill that man for what he did to me," is condemned as much as is murder itself.

But what about that little clause, "without a cause"? "When I get angry there is always good reason for it," you might say. Is there?? "And besides, Jesus got angry sometimes, so why shouldn’t I?" Yes, indeed He did. In fact, if we want to find out what are acceptable reasons and just causes for getting angry, we do well to review those episodes in Jesus’ life. The first is found in Mark 3:1-5:"And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the sabbath day, that they might accuse Him. . . . And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other." Here Jesus got angry when He saw the hardness of heart of the people, and their tendency to find fault and accuse when He was doing His Father’s will and manifesting divine power. For a second example of Jesus’ anger, we read:"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves" (Matt. 21:12,13; John 2:14-16). Here Jesus manifested anger because the people had defiled His Father’s house. "Ye have made it a den of thieves" (Matt. 21:13); "Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise" (John 2:16). Perhaps a third example of the anger of Christ is found in his pronouncement of an eight-fold "woe" upon the scribes and Pharisees because of their hypocrisy.

Now, let us ask ourselves honestly, in the presence of God:"Are these the types of reasons I have for becoming angry?" Is it because of our grief for how our heavenly Father is being mistreated by others that we get angry? Would that this were more often the case! Are not the chief reasons for our anger rather that our pride has been wounded, our feelings have been hurt, our (supposed) rights have been violated, our dignity has been trampled on, our judgment has been questioned, our opinion has been mocked?

We get angry at our children. Why? Is it not generally because they have inconvenienced us, broken or messed up something of ours, or caused us embarrassment? It is well to remember that Jesus reserved His anger for hardness of heart_an established pattern of rejection of His deity and God’s authority in His life; for their dishonor of His Father; and for their hypocrisy_pretending to be godly but living anything but godly lives.

Jonah "was very angry" (Jon. 4:1). Why? Because "God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them"; He did not destroy Nineveh after all. Jonah was also angry when the plant that sheltered him from the sun withered away. The Lord had to ask Jonah twice, "Doest thou well to be angry?" (4:4,9). Jonah had a selfish heart. He was happy for God’s grace to himself but not for God’s grace to others. He became angry when things didn’t go the way he wanted them to, even though others were blessed thereby. Jonah was all backward_with his eyes focused on himself rather than on God_in his anger. Much of the time it is the same with us.

The Lord Jesus never became angry because of the way He, personally, was treated by others. We are, in fact, invited to "follow His steps. . .who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously" (1 Pet. 2:21-23). On the occasion of Christ’s greatest sufferings at the hands of man_falsely accused, unjustly convicted and sentenced, betrayed by one disciple, denied by another, and forsaken by all of them, shamefully mocked and reproached, cruelly tortured, made a public spectacle, and joined in crucifixion with real criminals_do we hear the slightest hint of anger on His part? Does He complain, "They are treating me like a common thief"? Does He threaten, "I’ll get even with you for this"? No, rather, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). He was true to that which He had enjoined upon us, His disciples:"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you" (Matt. 5:44). As we grow to be more like Christ, we should seek to be changed along these lines, and thus find ourselves less often becoming angry "without a cause."

Along with getting angry, calling one’s brother "Raca" (empty-headed or intellectually worthless), or, even worse, "fool" (morally worthless) are offenses classed in the same category as murder. It is not physical murder but rather the destroying of another’s self-esteem or reputation that is in question here. Man (men, women, and children) has been created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26,27); each individual is very important to God and highly esteemed by God. We are to recognize this by placing a high value upon each and every one of our fellow men, women, and children_ be they our relatives, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our fellow workers, our neighbors, or even our enemies. The apostle Paul sums up this topic well by enjoining, "Let each esteem other better than themselves" (Phil. 2:3).

What if I am already alienated from a brother or a neighbor because of anger or some other offense on my part?

The Lord Jesus concludes this section of His sermon by enjoining quick reconciliation of those who are alienated. If it is a brother in Christ (Matt. 5:23,24), we should seek to be reconciled before engaging in any public act of worship, seeing that, as we learn more later in Paul’s Epistles, our public worship of God involves our communion with the other members of the body of Christ, the Church. Thus, I cannot properly join with my brother in worshipping God if we are alienated from each other. Another reason given for our quickly seeking reconciliation (this time more likely involving one who is not a brother in Christ), is that if we don’t, we may end up in a court of law and have a severe penalty to pay (verses 25,26).

Let us each take time now to take inventory of our relationships with others. Are there any with whom we are not on speaking terms, or whom we carefully avoid at all costs because of an unconfessed hurt or offense or angry blowup? If so, let us first confess our wrong_both our initial offense and our pride in not confessing it sooner_to the Lord and receive His forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Then, with our pride properly judged, let us confess our wrong to the one whom we have offended. It will not be easy. But think of Christ who paid a great price_"the blood of His cross … to reconcile all things unto Himself" (Col. 1:20). We may have to pay a different kind of price_the giving up of our pride and self-defense and self-justification (all terribly important to one’s natural self)_in order to achieve reconciliation. But once having done it, we will be able to look back with joy and satisfaction on what we have done.

Lord willing, we will continue our study of the sixth commandment in the next issue by considering what the Scriptures have to say on a number of special topics of relevance today, including abortion, suicide, capital punishment, serving in the armed forces, and protecting ourselves and our loved ones from attackers.

FRAGMENT An old Maori woman had won the name of "Warrior Brown" because of her fighting qualities. She was converted, and gave her testimony to a group gathered in her old haunts of sin, when some foolish person hit her a nasty blow with a potato. "Warrior" picked up the potato without a word and carried it home. When the harvest festival came, "Warrior" brought a little sack of potatoes and explained that she had cut up and planted the insulting potato, and was now presenting the Lord with the increase.

FRAGMENT One foot may strike the other, the tooth sometimes bites the tongue, and many a person has put his finger in his eye; and these things cause pain. But there is forgiveness, and each member has patience and sympathy for the other, or the body could not continue. There should also, therefore, among the children of God, be reconciliation, forgiveness, unity, love, and good will.