Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. [James 1:19-20, ESV]
Anybody who knows me will know that one of the biggest issues that I have worked on throughout my life is my temper. While I am human, and I will always fall short of the glory of God, I will always seek to better myself, so that I can obey the Lord. I have seen a dramatic change in the way I react to things, and said change has happened within a few years, as a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in me. Galatians 5 tells us that our desires are opposed to the desires of God, and that we can only resist our sinful desires when we walk in the Spirit. It is only through the power of God that we are able to overcome our sinful ways.
Since I have fully surrendered myself to Christ, I have seen my heart and mind change in ways that never cease to amaze me. I went from being angry, depressed, and feeling like nothing mattered, to being joyful, peaceful, and incredibly grateful for every day that God allows me to be alive. The person I am today is not the person that I was before, and God is the One who took the old me and turned him into the man I am today.
I explained all of that because I can confirm that anger does not produce the righteousness of God. My realization that anger had been preventing me from truly knowing God and His righteousness is the reason why James 1:20 has been one of my favorite verses for a long time now. The book of Proverbs tells us, over and over again, that we should overlook offenses, that we should restrain ourselves from saying too much, that hatred and anger stir up strife, and that love covers all offenses. As we learned when we went over James 1:16-17, all good things come from God. There is a major difference between the idea that all that comes from God is good, and all that is good being from God. The former (while true) means that God only creates good things, while the latter means that all that is good comes from God. The latter is what James asserts in verses 16 and 17, which makes the former correct as well.
Considering that all good comes from God, that anger is bad, that the fruit of the Spirit is shown in us as we walk in the Spirit, and that our desires are opposed to the desires of God, we can conclude that what James says in verse 20 is true. If we want to see the righteousness of God being demonstrated in us, we must seek Him and keep His commandments. If we hold onto anger (or any sinful desire), we cannot expect to see God’s righteousness being shown in and through us.
Verse 19 gives us a great description of the way Christians are supposed to behave, and I believe that the pair of verses that we will examine in this essay are incredibly helpful in understanding what God expects of us.
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear,...
As he did in verses 2 and 16, James addresses the people to whom he is writing as his brothers. By referring to his audience as his brothers, James is showing that he loves the people that he is writing to, and that is seeking to correct and educate them in love.
The meaning of “quick to”, in this context, is that we should listen before we speak. We should “be quick to hear”, in that we should seek to hear others speak before we speak. Our first response to hearing others speak should be to listen to what they are saying. By allowing others to speak, we give ourselves the opportunity to show grace, the opportunity to show that we care, and the opportunity to respond to others in a way that adheres to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
…slow to speak,
Continuing from the previous portion of verse 19, James tells us to refrain from speaking immediately. Regardless of the situation, regardless of the parties to whom we are speaking, we can always benefit from restraining ourselves from speaking too quickly. It is wise to control our emotions, our desire to be the first to speak, and the tone that we use to convey our thoughts. Take a moment, then speak.
…slow to anger;
Finishing off verse 19, James tells us to be slow to anger. As opposed to what James says about how we should be quick to hear, we are told to be slow to anger. Hearing should be what we do before anything else, while anger should be the last thing that we do. James tells us to be slow to speak before he tells us to be slow to anger, and I believe that the order in which he speaks is incredibly important to the purpose of what he is saying. By telling us to be slow to speak before he tells us to be slow to anger, we know that our speech should come before our anger. While we must be slow to speak, we must be even slower to anger.
…for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
As for why we must be slow to anger, James explains that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. In the introduction for this essay, I explained how we cannot expect to see the fruit of the Spirit when we entertain the desires of the flesh, and Paul mentions “fits of anger” [Galatians 5:20, ESV] as being one of the works of the flesh. The works of the flesh come from the desires of the flesh, and the fruit of the Spirit comes from the desires of the Spirit. The desires of the flesh are opposed to the desires of the Spirit, so in order to see the fruit of the Spirit, we must seek the desires of the Spirit. When we resist our anger and we seek God, we will see the fruit of the Spirit, which includes “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” [Galatians 5:22-23, ESV]. God is righteous, therefore the fruit of the Holy Spirit is righteous, and in order to see the fruit of the Spirit, we must seek the desires of the Spirit. Anger will prevent us from seeing God work in us in the way He otherwise would.
In conclusion, James 1:19-20 tells us about how our anger will prevent us from seeing the righteousness of God, and that we must seek to hear first, refrain from speaking immediately, and resist anger. If we obey God’s Word, we will be blessed, and we will see God work in us like never before. By resisting our sinful emotions, we will see God bless us and show us His righteousness.
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