My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, ²⁰ for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. ²¹ Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

1) How are listening, speaking, and anger related?
Cross references are incredibly helpful tools for students of the Bible. Others have already done all the hard work to connect the same word or same usage of that word to other similar usages/phrases in the Bible. The cross-references for “anger” in verse 21 lead us to several passages; consider this one from Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 or here from Proverbs 4:23-27. Both of these references (and many more) teach that our outward actions, words, and emotions are rooted directly to our hearts. How we listen and how we speak, are barometers for the condition of our hearts. Jesus talks about this in Luke 6:45 saying, “…out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” The book of James as a whole is about training in the disciplines of godly living that honors God with our whole life. One of these is the discipline of the tongue. To safeguard against anger, James teaches us to train our tongue as well as our ears. Slow. Slow. Slow. Slow to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger will do much for our training in godliness.  See also James 3:1-12 for more on this disciplined training!

2) Is human anger different from God’s anger?
So Much Yes! James makes a clear distinction here to help us see the difference. Man’s anger doesn’t bring about the righteousness of God, and the opposite is true as well. God’s anger does bring about His righteousness. When we become angry and let it spew unbridled from our tongue, and when, because of anger, we stop listening, only jumping in to defend ourselves, we will never bring about God’s righteousness in our relationships. Instead, relationships are broken and we recklessly hurt others with our words (Proverbs 12:18). God’s anger is a righteous anger over sin in the lives of His beloved children. His anger is purposeful with a heart of love behind it, a love that is pursuing a relationship of intimacy with us. Our anger? It rarely comes from a heart of love for the other person. Though, sometimes our anger can indeed have pure motives, but Paul warns us, “In your anger, do not sin.” (Ephesians 4:26)

3) What produces the righteousness of God?
In verse 21, we see “therefore”, which should be read “in light of” or “because our anger doesn’t produce God’s righteousness, and we are called to holy, righteous living, combat that anger with these”: “put away all filthiness, all rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word.” That “word” is the freeing gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing that we were helpless to create righteousness on our own, Jesus became righteousness for us on our behalf! (2 Corinthians 5:21) None of this discipline training is possible without this full-hearted embrace of the freeing gospel! But James is quick to insist, “be doers of the word and not just hearers only.” Embrace the word of the free gospel, but link arms with “Faith” and “Obedience” and follow closely as you train in godliness.

1) How are listening, speaking, and anger related?
In our culture, we spend a lot of time disciplining our bodies and training them to excel at the best with food and fitness. Have you ever considered what it would look like to train and discipline our hearts? After all, it’s only our souls that will last into eternity, not our bodies. Consider beginning some heart-training for godliness in the arena of your ears, your tongue, and the anger inside. Ask the Holy Spirit for His help to grow you and to help you reach for grace instead of anger. When we listen, let’s be intentional and slow down to really hear (not distracted hearing). When we choose to speak, let’s choose our words carefully and slowly. When in doubt, give the benefit of the doubt! Don’t think the worst of the other person, instead, extend grace and ask for clarification. It’s hard! Don’t be discouraged, training and discipline is hard work with great reward! When in doubt, give the benefit of the doubt! Don’t think the worst of the other person, instead, extend grace and ask for clarification.

2) Is human anger different from God’s anger?
When we’re speaking with non-believers, we want to share His love. Our words and actions need to be in alignment to do that effectively. The listener will not receive our words well if we are shouting at them about how wrong they are or even how much they annoy us; they will only walk out of our lives. Keeping our anger in check allows for even more conversation with our sisters to transpire. Reflecting on God’s holy anger over our sin can be a source of encouragement to be broken over the sin in our life instead of turning a blind eye to that sin.

3) What produces the righteousness of God?
If we put our faith in the King of Kings, the Mighty One, the Prince of Peace, our lives will be changed forever. The Holy Spirit is in the business of transforming lives by leading us into things that sharpen us and let us reflect the Son even better. After experiencing that initial transformation, we have begun to produce the righteousness of God in our lives. As that takes root and begins to bear fruit, our faith is deepened and God’s righteousness is on display even brighter. It throws us into a beautiful cycle, for His glory on display for the world to see!

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*Written by Michelle Promise and Rebecca Adams

We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources.  Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom! It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

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