(“… Not Given To Outbursts Of Anger”)

I Corinthians 13:1-8a

(I Corinthians 13:5c)

This morning we are returning to our series on Love – and so our Scripture lesson comes once again from First Corinthians chapter thirteen – and once again we will be reading verses one through the first part of verse eight.

Remember that the immediate context of this well-known passage is a three-chapter discourse on the proper use of spiritual gifts within Christ’s church – and that the larger context has to do with how Christians ought to treat each other at all times – namely, by practicing the “more excellent way” (c.f. I Corinthians 12:31b) of love.

Remember, too, that the Greek word for love used throughout First Corinthians chapter thirteen is “agape”, which has to do with selfless sacrifice – and that while agape-love is not devoid of emotion, it is not dependent on emotion in order to be effective.

Finally, remember that in the Gospel of John Jesus said this kind of love for one another – this agape-love – this selfless, sacrificial love – the same kind of love our Savior has for those He died to save – this love described in First Corinthians chapter thirteen is what will distinguish us (or set us apart) as Christ’s disciples more than anything else (c.f. John 13:34-35).

So, with those things in mind let’s read our Scripture lesson from First Corinthians chapter thirteen, starting at verse one, down through the first part of verse eight.

(A) A SKUNK IN THE BASEMENT

(1) For the most part he was as kind and mild-mannered a person as you would ever want to meet – a faithful husband and dedicated father who made a decent living, and was active in the worship and work of his church. But every once in a while, as his teenager daughter put it, he would simply “lose it” – meaning he would get so frustrated with something or someone that he would erupt in an explosion of anger.¹

For example, one day he came home after a full and difficult day at work, only to find that his nine-year-old son had left his bicycle lying in the driveway. He had told his son time and again not to do that – but, like most children, the boy forgot.¹ Seeing that bike pushed him over the edge – and he “lost it”. He sat in his car and laid on the horn for nearly half a minute – but the only response he got was a strange look from one of the neighbors. Seething with anger, he threw his car into reverse, backed up five feet, screeched his brakes, and left the car in a huff. He then proceeded to pick up the bike and hurl it angrily into the yard.²

When he got into the house, he walked briskly past his wife, who by this time was hanging up from her phone conversation, having seen the whole scene unfold from the kitchen window. “What’s going on?” she asked cautiously – but he said nothing. He just kept walking – stomping actually – into the den, slamming the door behind him. A few minutes later, his wife knocked softly on the door, and heard him grumble a reply to enter. She stuck her head around the door and gently reminded him their son needed a ride to his scout meeting, and that he had a church board meeting in an hour. He sheepishly nodded his answer, and the evening progressed (at least outwardly) as if nothing had ever happened.²

(2) This morning’s text reminds us that agape-love “is not provoked” (c.f. I Corinthians 13:5c). The Greek word used here means to arouse to anger, and is the basis of our English word “paroxysm” which refers to a convulsive eruption of emotion or action. Hence, the idea is that Christian love guards against sudden outbursts of anger – that Christ-like love doesn’t give vent to volcanic feelings of irritation, aggravation, agitation or exasperation that are often stirred up by what other people do or say³ – nor does it try to stir up those emotions or actions in others.

Many people are familiar with the Old King James version of our text which says love “is not easily provoked” (c.f. I Corinthians 13:5c, KJV) (the NIV actually says the same thing). However, the word “easily” doesn’t actually appear in the Greek text – rather, it was supplied by the translators in an attempt to clarify the phrase.

The point is, that since the word isn’t in the text, the idea is NOT that love doesn’t allow itself to be “easily provoked” into sudden outbursts of anger – but that by Christ’s enabling grace, agape-love doesn’t allow itself to be “provoked” into ANY outbursts of anger! To put it another way, it’s not that love can be goaded into anger, but only after being “provoked” mercilessly over a long period of time – it’s that by Christ’s enabling grace, agape-love doesn’t let itself be “provoked” into any uncontrollable outbursts of anger at all!

(3) Not all anger is sinful – indeed, there is such a thing as righteous anger. God’s anger is always righteous – which means, in part, that it’s always just, and always controlled – that it’s never explosive because God became emotionally unstable, or because He just “lost it”. On the contrary, Scripture repeatedly says He is “compassionate and gracious, (and) slow to anger” (c.f. Psalm 103:8). Hence, when God DOES display His anger, it’s always justified – always appropriate to the offense – and always in keeping with other attributes like His holiness, omniscience and His patience.

(4) Jesus, who was God incarnate (c.f. John 1:14), and whom Scripture says never sinned (c.f. John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15), exemplified God’s righteous anger when He drove the money-changers from the temple,⁴ overturning tables and chairs in the process (c.f. Matthew 21:12-13). Despite how it may have looked to some, this was not a case of Jesus being provoked into a convulsive, out of control explosion of anger – rather, it was a deliberate act of righteous indignation based on the fact God’s house was being used for mercenary purposes instead of for worship and prayer.

(5) If human beings have been made in the image of God (and Scripture says we have!) (c.f. Genesis 1:26-27) – and if righteous anger is one of God’s attributes (which Scripture says it is!) (c.f. Psalm 92:15; 106:35-40) – then we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that God’s word tells Christians to “be angry, and yet do not sin” (c.f. Ephesians 4:26a). In that instance, however, the Greek word for “anger” is different from the one in our text – referring to a determined conviction against evil, rather than a sudden outburst of rage because of some perceived personal offense.⁵

Perhaps the difference can be illustrated in the life of Paul, who, unlike our Savior, was not sinless. For example, Scripture tells us that on one occasion Paul and Barnabas had such a “sharp disagreement” (“paroxusmos”, the Greek word used there is a variation of the one used in our text)⁶ they decided to go their separate ways (c.f. Acts 15:39). Apparently this breach was later healed (c.f. II Timothy 4:11) – but at the time, Paul and Barnabas were so provoked with each other they stopped working together!⁹

On the other hand, when Paul was in Athens the Scripture says, “his spirit was … provoked within him (same Greek word as the one used in our text) as he … observ(ed) the city full of idols” (c.f. Acts 17:16). In this case, Paul was “provoked” to a righteous anger, based on the First and Second Commandments, where God said: 3“You shall have no other gods before Me” – and, ^{4“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5You shall not worship them or serve them …”} (c.f. Exodus 20:3-5a). Nor did this provocation result in an unloving outburst of anger on Paul’s part – rather, it motivated him to evangelize (in part) by reasoning daily in the public market place with anyone who would listen (c.f. Acts 17:17) – which, in turn, eventually led to his sermon in the Areopagus based on the fact that the Athenians had an altar inscribed to “AN UNKNOWN GOD” (c.f. Acts 17:18-33), just to make sure they didn’t missed one. In that instance, Paul’s thesis was that he was going to make this “unknown God” known.

(6) The point is, not all anger is sinful – nor should all anger be classified as unloving. BUT, the anger to which our text refers is both. Indeed, it’s like a skunk in the basement, in this regard, that once its odiferous fumes have been sprayed, it takes a long time for the stink to go away. No matter how many windows you open – no matter how much perfume you use to try and mask the odor – the effects linger long after the act has been done.⁷

People who explode with anger when provoked are just being selfish – people who tend to “lose it” are only in love with one person – themselves. Hence, one writer said, when we try to mix love and self, we don’t get a combination plate of love and self, we just get self!⁸ – which is another way of saying we can’t love others and be given to outbursts of anger against them at the same time.

A person controlled by agape-love won’t be provoked into angry outbursts (c.f. I Corinthians 13:5c) – selfless, sacrificial love for others can’t be stirred into to a sudden, uncontrollable display of rage – Christ-like love for our Christian brothers and sisters doesn’t “lose it”, regardless of what they do or say to us.

(B) PUSHING OTHER PEOPLE’S BUTTON

(1) Today we talk about “pushing another person’s button” – which is figure of speech that means we know how to stir other people up – we know what makes them angry –we know what gets them riled. Moreover, some people enjoy “pushing other people’s buttons” – some people actually get a certain amount of malicious pleasure from being able to agitate or irritate others – some people like to provoke others to anger. However, it’s an unloving sport to say the least – and one in which no Christian ought to participate.

(2) On the contrary, in the one instance I know of where the Greek word in our text is used in a positive way, we’re told to “consider how to stimulate (“paroxusmos”)⁶ one another to love and good deeds” (c.f. Hebrews 10:24) – literally, we’re to “figure out how we can provoke one another to love and good deeds” (which is how the Old King James actually puts it). So if we want to “provoke” a brother or sister in Christ – if we want to “stir them up” in some way – if we want to see them erupt emotionally, let it be an eruption of love – if we want to see them “lose it” over something, let it be in the area of good deeds. To provoke others to do anything else is not an act of love – hence, it is not an act that becomes Christ’s disciples (c.f. John 13:34-35; I Corinthians 13:5a).

(3) The Christians in Corinth knew how to provoke each other in the negative sense of that word – with the result that there were some pretty unloving things going on in that church.⁹

For example, in chapter one, Paul said there were “divisions” and “quarrels” among them (c.f. I Corinthians 1:10-12) – in chapter three he said, “there is jealousy and strife among you” (c.f. I Corinthians 3:3) – in chapter four he said, “some (of you) have become arrogant” (c.f. I Corinthians 4:18), a charge he repeats in chapter five (c.f. I Corinthians 5:2) – while in chapter six he rebuked them for filing “lawsuits” against one another (c.f. I Corinthians 6:1-8).

In addition to these things, there were disputes about marriage and divorce (c.f. I Corinthians 7) – whether it was sinful to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols (c.f. I Corinthians 8) – and the proper use of spiritual gifts during worship (c.f. I Corinthians 14). These people couldn’t even eat the Lord’s Supper without provoking one another (c.f. I Corinthians 11:23-34).

All these things were happening because they lacked agape-love for one another – because they put themselves first, instead of their brothers and sisters in Christ. And because they were always putting themselves first, they were easily provoked to anger – as one writer said: “the person who is intent on having his own way is easily provoked, easily angered”⁴ when he doesn’t get it.

(4) Christian counselor Larry Crabb used to say that anger is the result of a blocked goal.¹¹ The goal could be anything – personal recognition, a quiet evening at home, a clear driveway, not having to work week-ends – anything. When that goal gets blocked, we experience some form of anger (from a quiet resentment to explosive rage) – when something happens to prevent us from reaching our goal, we get provoked – when someone stands in our way we become exasperated, or irritated, or infuriated with them. The more important we perceive the goal to be, the angrier we’re apt to get when it’s blocked – or, the more a goal gets blocked, the angrier we’re apt to become, until we finally explode.

(5) People handle anger in different ways – not all of them biblical. For example, some deny or excuse their anger, saying they’re just tired, or overwhelmed, or confused. But to paraphrase William Shakespeare, “anger by any other name is still anger.”¹⁰

Others suppress their feelings of anger – reasoning that if they don’t talk about it, it will go away – or if they don’t admit it exists, then they can pretend it doesn’t. But as one writer has noted, “suppressed anger has a high resurrection rate”.¹⁰ Moreover, suppressed anger also has a high probability of exploding when it finally does comes boiling to the surface.

Still others spiritualize their anger, saying theirs is a righteous anger, like we talked about earlier. However, given the fact we’re fallen creatures living in a fallen world, we’re more likely to use the “righteous anger defense” to try and cover our unrighteous behavior.¹⁰

Finally, a growing number of people don’t try to hide anything – indeed, they actually flaunt their anger, saying something like: “This is the way God made me”, or “This is just the way I am, and I can’t help it; so don’t be surprised if I explode when you push me too far.”¹⁰

(6) If we’re honest, we all have to admit we’ve been provoked to anger at various times – that all of us have reached our proverbial “boiling point” and “lost it” – that all of us have erupted into outbursts of anger.¹⁰ Nor has it always been over something important like murder, or adultery, or abortion, or political corruption, or the state infringing on our religious freedoms. More often than not it’s been over something trivial, like a bike in the driveway, or an unwelcome intrusion on our day off, or someone telling us how to do our job.

(7) The only real preventative for these uncontrollable outbursts of anger is agape-love. The only sure defense against being provoked to some form of angry, resentful behavior is to have the “love of God … poured out within our hearts” (c.f. Romans 5:5) – which means, first of all, that we know Christ as our Savior (via the means of repentance and faith) – and then, by His enabling grace, begin to practice the same kind of love for each other that Christ showed us by saving us, and that He continues to show us by preserving us – by practicing a love that’s sacrificial and forgiving – by practicing a love that’s other-centered, instead of self-centered – by practicing a love that’s patient and long-suffering – by practicing a love that doesn’t act solely on emotion, but first and foremost of all on the truths found in God’s word.

(8) One writer said that by helping dethrone the obsession with self, agape-love also reduces our chances of being provoked to anger.¹² May the Lord help us love each other like that – with a love that does not provoke our brothers and sisters in Christ to anger – nor let what they say or do provoke us.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1Parrott: Love Is …; p. 53.

2IBID; p. 54.

3MacArthur: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary;

I Corinthians; p. 345.

4IBID; p. 346.

5MacArthur: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary;

Ephesians; p. 184.

6Bible Companion Series: Strong’s Concordance; Word

#3948, #3947.

7Miller: Love Walked Among Us; p. 119.

8IBID; p. 137.

9Kistemaker: New Testament Commentary; I Corinthians;

p. 460.

10Parrott: Ibid; p. 55.

11Crabb: Effective Biblical Counseling; p. 129.

12Parrott: Ibid; p. 56.