Part Two in a short series on Anger.

Part one in this series focused on J.I. Packer's definition that anger is "a state of disturbing and energizing passion in which strong negative emotion is triggered by a perception of wrong done to oneself or others or both.” In it, I highlighted anger as flowing from the heart and revealing what the heart treasures.  This help us to identify whether the anger is virtue  or vice.

Part two focuses briefly on circumstances for anger as a continuation of the discussion on anger as righteous or unrighteous. 

Circumstances for Anger

Circumstances for anger, like heart-level emotions, can be either righteous or unrighteous. Jesus’ anger at the moneylenders serves as an example of righteous anger. God was being robbed of worship and Gentiles were being kept from drawing near to observe worship of the One True God. Similar situations of righteous anger might include anger at the preaching of a false gospel, anger at abuse, anger at the celebration of sin or instances where sin is ignored, or anger at injustice. These are all instances where God is robbed of glory, harm is done to image-bearers, or both.

However, not all the motivations for our anger are righteous. Jonathan Edwards points out that this is anger that is primarily concerned with the hurt or offense done to ourselves. This, it can be argued, often stems from unmet expectations. Ash and Midgley refer to this as the “frustration of our desires” and go on to detail a few scenarios where unmet expectations result in man’s anger: 

"We want to be in control, but things spin annoyingly, maddeningly even, out of our grasp. We want to possess something, but our desire is frustrated— we can’t have what we want. We want sexual satisfaction, but the heat of passion morphs in a rather different direction when the answer is ‘not tonight.’ We want respect, admiration, and appreciation, but to our immense irritation the world doesn’t seem to share the high opinion we have of ourselves."

Ash and Midgley’s depiction of anger-producing circumstances serve as helpful categories within which additional situations can be observed. Anger may result from poor health, rebellious children, being passed over for a job promotion, loneliness, a spouse that never seems to acknowledge the other’s hard work, etc. There are many instances in our lives where what was hoped for does not come to fruition and the result is anger, but what is behind this anger? This is where Packer’s inclusion of the phrase “triggered by a perception of wrong” becomes important. 

The use of the term perception acknowledges that not all anger is warranted. We have been corrupted by sin and therefore our perception of events can be sinfully warped. This flows from the heart. We believe that we are being kept from what would give us maximum joy. Therefore, we conclude, we are having the highest good taken away from us. This points to why anger stemming from unmet expectations is particularly dangerous. It is an anger that ultimately leads to anger at God.

Part Three will focus on anger directed at God.