¹⁹This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; ²⁰for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

When Moses descended from Mount Sinai and saw the people worshiping a golden calf statue, his “anger burned” (Ex. 32:19) as he smashed the stone tablets of the law he had just received from the Lord. They had already turned back to the idol worship of Egypt, and so soon after being liberated from slavery! Moses was beside himself, and who could blame him? But God’s ways and character are not ours. The Lord brought him back up Mount Sinai and proclaimed His divine essence, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ex. 34:6; see also Ps. 86:15, Joel 2:13).

If Moses was going to lead Israel, he needed to learn more about God’s ways. Although he was a man who strived for the righteousness of God (see Rom. 10:5), his knee-jerk reactions would not achieve that goal. We would not be far off the mark to assert that most of us struggle with anger to some degree. As Christians, we are not free of this difficulty, and we must be careful with dismissing our emotional outbursts or holding grudges as “righteous anger.”

James calls his readers “my beloved brethren,” that is, believers. Fifteen times he uses the word “brethren,” and most commentators understand this to mean his fellow Jewish believers in Jesus. His affinity with them went beyond their shared Jewish heritage because of their embrace of Jesus as Messiah. But his teaching extends to all believers, for indeed, we all need to hear about anger.

Fundamental to the character of righteousness and godliness is controlling one’s anger. Nothing could be more explicit in Scripture. James puts it concisely, poignantly, and redundantly; three sides to one triangle, he emits in staccato form. We must be 1) quick to hear, 2) slow to speak, and 3) slow to anger—woven together seamlessly. We must overcome our innate desire to be understood and seek to give others what we want for ourselves. Complementary to this, we must control our desire to be understood. That means slowing our mouths down. These are themes James comes back to again (e.g., controlling the tongue in chapter 2). These first two are essential to the third, slowing down our anger. To do anything else, no matter our excuses, will accomplish nothing more than giving us relief to the impulses of our flesh. Yes, anger can be controlled, difficult though it may be. We must not give ourselves any slack on this if we truly want to live in the righteousness of God.

Lord, I confess that I do at times let my anger take over instead of controlling it.