ACC ~ Ephesians 4 v26a

HOW THESE TWO PRECEPTS INTERRELATE. CHRYSOSTOM: Note Paul’s persistent wisdom. He speaks first to prevent our sinning. If we do not listen, he does not abandon us. His role as a spiritual father does not allow him to give up on us easily. It is like the doctor who tells the sick person what he must do. If the patient refuses to hear him, he does not write him off. Rather he continues to care for him by giving him further persuasive counsel. So too does Paul. He has already said, “Do not lie.” But suppose anger should arise from lying. He then deals with this. What does he say? “Be angry and do not sin.” It is better not to grow angry at all. But if one ever does fall into anger he should at least not be carried away by it toward something worse. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 14.4.25-27.

THE DOUBLE SENSE OF ANGER. JEROME: This is taken from the fourth psalm, as I am sure no one doubts. It may seem contrary to what is said of anger elsewhere, that we must put away all anger. … It is an oversimplified interpretation that does harm, especially when people imagine that the constraints against anger are being here relaxed. It is not only among us but among philosophers too that anger is spoken of in a double sense. Anger emerges first when we are understandably aroused by a natural stimulus after being wounded by an injury. Or it arises when, after the impulse has abated and our rage has been restrained, the mind is capable of judgment but nonetheless we find ourselves desiring vengeance upon the one who is thought to have inflicted the wound. In this [verse] Paul is speaking of the first kind of anger. He is allowing to us as vulnerable humans that in the face of some undeserved event we may be moved to some level of annoyance, as if a light breeze were disturbing the serenity of the mind. But on no account are we to be carried into swelling rapids by the impulse of rage. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.26.

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