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The seven deadly sins
Wrath
Latin ira · Greek orgē · set against it: patience
The Bible does not call every anger a sin. “Be angry, yet do not sin,” writes Paul. “Do not let the sun set upon your anger” (Ephesians 4:26), and Mark tells that Jesus looked at his critics “with anger and sorrow” (Mark 3:5). What it warns against is anger that runs wild: “A fool vents all his anger, but a wise man holds it back” (Proverbs 29:11); “A gentle answer turns away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1); everyone should be “slow to anger” (James 1:19). Jesus set anger with a brother beside murder (Matthew 5:21–22). Cain’s anger ended in the first killing (Genesis 4:5–8), and Saul, furious at the women’s song, later hurled his spear at David (1 Samuel 18:10–11).
Gregory the Great told apart anger roused by zeal for what is right and anger that blinds. Patience was set against it. In the Psychomachia of the poet Prudentius, about 405, Anger hurls her spears at calm Patience, and when they fall harmless, she destroys herself in her fury. Dante’s wrathful walk through black, bitter smoke on the third terrace. Artists showed Wrath as an armed figure with a sword, sometimes riding a bear.
Key verses
“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.All verses on this topic
Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Anger; Patience; Cain (Person); Saul; Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job 31.45 (c. 578–595); Prudentius, Psychomachia (c. 405); Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio, cantos 10–27 (c. 1308–1320)
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
