A teaching elder made a few comments in a message earlier this week about how he regretted making friends with an angry man (Prov 22:24). Wonder why a ‘mid-Acts-er’ would be applying a proverb not written by Paul? They tell YOU not to go 'outside of Paul' for instruction, but THEY do when THEY want to.
Paul did not instruct believers not to BE angry .... but not to sin with it, and not to mull in it:
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
A bishop was not told not to BE angry .... but not to be hasty in anger nor quick-tempered:
Titus 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
We are not to hold on to anger or nurse it .... quite the contrary:
Eph 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
We should make the choice to lay aside anger and not clothe ourselves with it:
Col 3:8-11 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
The same Greek word translated ‘anger’ 3 times, is also translated ‘wrath’ 31 times, and ‘vengeance’ 1 time, and ‘indignation’ 1 time. James wrote about anger like Paul. He did not teach that it is wrong to be angry .... but that anger ought not be thoughtless or speedy:
James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
The same anger management principle shows throughout the scripture:
Ecc 5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
Jesus spoke of God’s judgment toward one who is angry with his brother ‘without a cause’ (Matt 5:22).
The teaching elder said, "If a brother is a railer -- someone that speaks harshly" .... that you should not eat with him .... then he admitted that he was guilty of not obeying that. Let’s compare what HE said with what THE VERSE actually says. He said, "If a brother IS a railer," .... but the scripture reads .... "if any man that is called a brother":
1 Cor 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
Well, I will also make a confession. I was guilty of putting ‘confidence in an unfaithful man’ (Prov 25:19).
Of himself, or Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), Paul wrote:
1 Cor 4:1-2 Let a man so account of us,
as of the ministers of Christ,
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
For preachers to make a big issue of being KJV .... and even further, ‘Pauline’ .... and then DENY the KJV word of the office they hold, which God through Paul said was ‘a good work’ .... I speak this to their shame:
1 Tim 3:1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Earlier we read to, ‘Be angry, and sin not,’ .... here we should ‘Awake to righteousness, and sin not.’ God spoke to the shame of saints:
1 Cor 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
God has reason and direction for His holy anger:
Psa 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
This is David Dowell, saying, "Think about it!"
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