“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Mt 5:21–22)

We live at a time when sinful depravity is celebrated as virtue and godliness is treated as vice. Those who seek to uphold all that is right and good according to Scripture are seen as evil, people to be hated and shunned from society. As such, it is all too easy to cultivate a heart of unjust anger and even hatred, toward “those who call evil good and good evil” (Isa. 5:20). This is not to say that Christians cannot feel hurt, frustrated, and dismay over those who seek to persecute the church for preaching the truth about sin and its inevitable consequences. It would be irrational to expect Christians not to have a reasonable emotional response to evil in the world, especially that which is directed at the church. However, our emotions must not lead our thinking. Our biblically informed mind must guide and control our emotional state.

Jesus taught His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount that Christians will face persecution (Mt 5:10-12). It is not a question of if but when we will face the wrath of the world for standing with Christ. We may feel inclined to be angry at those who demand our acquiescence to their sin or their threats of persecution against us. However, Christ teaches His followers an altogether different reaction. When facing the onslaught of a wicked culture, Jesus taught, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Mt 5:12). Rather than be consumed by anger and hatred toward their persecutors, the followers of Christ are to count themselves as blessed to be counted among the prophets who came before them, those who paid the ultimate price for trusting in God. Christ commands us to fix our thinking on Him and His promises that we might be joyful even in the midst of the worst kind of affliction.

As Christians, we know that the world is dead in trespasses and sin. This is the default state of every human being outside of Jesus Christ. While God, in His common grace, restrains much of humanity from expressing just how evil it can be, we know that no one is capable of obeying and honoring God apart from being made a new creation in the Holy Spirit. It should not surprise us that the world will not only embrace sin but will demand we join them in their depraved celebration of it. So blinded are they by the passions of their sin, that they will attack and malign Christians who refuse to take part with them (see 1 Peter 4:4). It is when we lose sight of this biblical truth that we begin to succumb to a sense of shock and dismay as we watch the world enraptured with sinful abandon. This is not to say that sin should not grieve us deeply. It must do so for what else drives us to proclaim the gospel to those enslaved to sin? Yet, when we allow our emotions to override our understanding of God’s truth, grief over sin can change to distress, anxiousness, anger, and even hatred. Instead of being driven to compassion to proclaim the truth to sinners, we can be led to treat them as an enemy to be vanquished.

When we allow our emotions to lead our thinking, unjust anger and hatred for sinners can lead us to justify the mistreatment of the very persons who should be our mission field. Rather than preaching the truth in love – warning people of the wrath of God for sin and calling them to repentance and faith in Christ – we may find ourselves mocking, deriding, and cursing sinners. Instead of leading them to the path of salvation, we verbally assault those who stand opposed to God, attempting to drive them from public view. It is not compassion and love that drive us but animosity and anger. Furthermore, we will begin to justify our behavior, claiming that we are acting as the prophets and Jesus did when they stood against the world. Our emotional drift leads us to believe that our personal sense of offense that sinners actually sin can be categorized as righteous indignation rather than self-righteous anger. Once we allow ourselves to believe such behavior is acceptable, we turn a blind eye to Christ’s warning against unjust anger.

Christ’s sermon reveals that God’s law was not only about action but also the thoughts and intents of the heart. Adultery was not just the act of fornication with someone you are not married to but also the lustful thoughts of the heart and mind. Murder, one of the most heinous sins one can commit, was not just the act of taking a life but also the evil emotional state of hatred against that human being. God’s law demands complete perfection in thought, word, and deed. There is no means by which we can justify sins of the mind and heart. Even if never acted upon, the sins of our hearts, which no one may ever see, are enough to condemn us eternally. Therefore, when Christ preaches against unjust anger and verbal mockery, it should be a stark warning to all Christians everywhere. If we are called to live holy lives, that is not limited to how we act, but how we think and speak as well. When the Apostle John warns us that hatred of a brother places one in darkness (1 John 2:11) and even marks that person as a murderer in the eyes of God (3:15). And before we think we have found a loophole, it is no shield to say that sinners are not our brothers. Before we were redeemed in Christ, we were His enemies. Yet, while we were yet these wicked and vile rebels, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).

Christians must be wary of their hearts which so easily lead us to believe we can justify anger and hatred because sinners are evil. Indeed, they are, just as once we were. But Christ in his mercy sent compassionate, grace-filled believers to seek us out and proclaim the truth of the gospel to us. Yes, Christians must have a hatred for sin. We must so hate it that we seek to continuously repent of that which caused our Savior to die in our place. We must so inform our minds with God’s word that we recognize sins of unjust anger and hatred in our hearts and turn from them. We need to control the passions of our emotions by leaning heavily into the promises of Christ, knowing that any wickedness we face for His sake will be our blessing in eternity. Then, we must so despise sin in the world that we desperately call sinners around us to turn from it and turn to Christ who is the only hope of salvation.

NOTE: This article was also published on X.com.