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Slow to Wrath

Sermon by  Thomas Thornhill Jr

Passage: James 1:19-20

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Sunday, June 29, 2025 pm

STUDIES IN JAMES (7)

Today we are continuing our study through James.  Because of travel plans, I am presenting this lesson a week earlier than normal.  James is a very practical book, likely written to Jewish converts who had been scattered away from Judea because of persecutions (cf. Acts 8:3-4).  We have addressed dealing with trials and temptations.  In our last lesson we addressed our need to be quick to hear and slow to speak.  Our conversations often get us into trouble, especially when we do not listen first.  This lesson is a follow-up in which we address being slow to wrath.

1. Be slow to wrath – Are you in control?
   1. The Bible has much to say about anger. It is a prime emotion that USUALLY gets us into trouble.  It promotes various unhealthy and ungodly attitudes. And it is often the result of words that have not been carefully weighed.  And the results can be devastating to relationships and opportunities.  It can cause divisions, lead to actions and words that are often immediately regretted, damage your health and produce an unpleasant disposition.  And it can do these things spiritually as well.   How much damage has been done by “angry words”?
   2. The word wrath (anger) means intense, burning anger that is not easily subdued, fury.
      1. In our text it is from the Greek ὀργή (orgē), a state of relatively strong displeasure which can be directed against wrongdoing (strong indignation) (BDAG). Bullinger describes it as anger with a desire for revenge.
      2. The word is found 36x in the NT (3x as anger and 1x as indignation). There are also other forms of the word that add to the count (e.g. ὀργίζω, orgizō – 8x, etc.).
      3. But the word includes the element of control when acting.
      4. There is another word for wrath that is even stronger, θυμός (thymos) which describes a intense burning anger, strong rage, fury. WHEN uncontrolled we find great damage
   3. In the NT, anger & wrath are usually a negative attitude – Luke 4:28, when Jesus taught in Nazareth that God would turn to Gentiles, they were filled with wrath. Acts 19:28 in Ephesus there was an uproar as Paul preached the one God and against Diana, etc.
   4. Ephesians 4:31, calls for us to not let wrath, bitterness or anger be found among us.  Colossians 3:8 repeats this.
   5. The proverbs consistently warn against anger and wrath
      1. Proverbs 22:24-25, Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.
      2. Proverbs 14:17, A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, And a man of wicked intentions is hated.
      3. Proverbs 19:19, A man of great wrath will suffer punishment; For if you rescue him, you will have to do it again.
      4. Proverbs 25:28, Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.
2. The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
   1. James is saying here that if we are acting with uncontrolled fury, God is NOT going to be demonstrated in us. How can we hope to teach someone if we are bitter and angry toward them?  How can we teach we our temper is out of control?
   2. Consider the damage that anger can do.
   3. But what about the wrath of God. Our text describes God as righteous, but we also find He is a God of wrath.
      1. Ephesians 5:6 speaks of His wrath coming upon the sons of disobedience;
      2. Romans 1:18 – His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness;
      3. Romans 2:5 – the hard and impenitent are treasuring up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath and revelation (judgment – cf 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8), etc.
      4. His wrath, will be punishment, but it will be righteous & just and directed against the wicked.
      5. God’s wrath will be just and controlled, though it will be strong. In the book of Revelation, the judgment of God is described as “thumos”, the even stronger word – e.g. Revelation 14:10, 19, etc. – the wrath of God.   Romans 2:8 those who obey unrighteousness will face His indignation and wrath.
   4. Slow to wrath? Is anger and wrath always sinful?
      1. There are times in scripture where we find “righteous indignation”.
      2. Be reminded of the passages just addressed about the wrath and anger of God. If He can be angry, we can be angry and not sin.
      3. For example, Jesus casting out the money changers and rebuking them – Matthew 21:13. John 2:13-17 records (what I believe to be) another occasion earlier in His ministry where He cleansed the temple.  John records that as He did this His disciples remember the text, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” (Psalm 69:9)
      4. Our text says to be “slow to wrath”. If wrath is justified, it must be controlled.
      5. Ephesians 4:26-27, Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. There is a time for anger.  But it MUST be controlled (not impulsive), both as a feeling and as a reaction.
      6. Proverbs 14:29, He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly.
      7. Proverbs 15:18, A wrathful man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger allays contention.
3. Angry words, O Let them never… (#394 – Hymns for Worship)
   1. From time to time we sing this song. It describes many of the things we have addressed in this lesson.
   2. 1 notes that angry words should NEVER slip from the tongue unbridled. (Be swift to hear, slow to speak).  Let the heart of righteousness be put into gear before we soil the lip.
   3. 2 addresses the preciousness of love and friendship. It reminds us that when we speak (or act) in anger, just a “moment’s reckless folly” can mar and desolate that love that we are to have.
   4. 3 describes some of the attributes of angry words: 1) They are lightly (thoughtlessly spoken); 2) They are (often) rooted in bitterness and rashness; & 3) They can extinguish the brightest of links in this life (sever relationships, etc.) – by a SINGLE angry word. It only takes ONE word rashly spoken to damage years of relationship, both with God and with others.
   5. The chorus calls for us to “Love one another” – that is the solution.

Much more could be said about each of these points, but it is my hope that we see the need to control what we say, even when we are provoked.  Because how you speak and respond reveals your heart and will have a bearing on your eternity.  Are you in control of what you hear and say?  Think about it!