1. "Be ye angry and sin not,..."

Anger in the Greek is the word 'orge' (Strongs 3709), the strongest of all passions, it is an active and violent emotion lending itself toward vengeance.

The word translated here as angry is the Greek verb 'orgizo' (Strongs 3710) meaning to provoke, to become exasperated, to arouse to anger, to enrage.

The first part of this Ephesians verse refers to an anger that is permissible and is not sinful: a righteous anger.

The Apostle Paul here is quoting Psalm 4:4: "Stand in awe and sin not." What is translated as the English word 'awe', is the Hebrew 'ragaz' (Strongs 7264) a primary root word meaning to quiver with rage and violent emotion, to be wroth.

We can be angry and not sin when our anger has arisen from a true zeal for righteousness. When our anger arises against unrighteousness and injustice and when we are angry against sin, but not against persons, then we can be said to have a 'righteous anger'.

Example:

When Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the sabbath day, the scribes and Pharisees challenged Him by bringing a man with a withered hand before Him to see whether our Lord would heal him on the sabbath, that they might accuse Him of breaking the 'shabat', the strict laws regarding activity on the sabbath day. (Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 6)

Mark records in 3:5 that Jesus looked upon them "with anger" and was "grieved for the hardness [blindness] of their hearts." This anger of Jesus reflects His hatred and disapproval of unrighteousness and injustice -- (that the Pharisees would use the crippled man in such a lowly way without compassion, twisting the plan and purposes of God for their own petty pride.)

As Christians we must totally resist 'unrighteous anger' that which is driven by sinful lusts. (Galatians 5:20, Colosians 3:8) However, it is thoroughly Christ-like to be angry at evil, and is evidence of the believer placing himself on the side of God against unrighteousness and injustice.

In the opening verses of the book of Hebrews it is said of Jesus, "You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows." (Hebrews 1:9)

We see this clearly in Jesus' devotion to righteousness and His hatred of iniquity and sin. (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 3:1-6, Luke 19:41-48, John 8) Jesus loved the sinner, but clearly hated the sin and taught that the performance of sin and the tolerance of sin are both equally immoral and against the will of the Father. Jesus' faithfulness to the Father while on earth was demonstrated by His love of righteousness and his hatred of wickedness. This is the basis for God's anointing. (Psalm 45:7)

It is not enough for us as Christians to love righteousness, we must also hate evil, "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." (Romans 12:9) "Rejoice not in iniquity, but rejoice in the truth." (1 Corinthians 12:6) When we share Christ's love of righteousness (to be in continual right-standing with God)and resistance to evil only then can we expect the outpouring of the Holy Spirit anointing in our lives.

2. "...don't let the sun go down upon your wrath."

Wrath is 'parorgismos' (Strongs 3950). This word is a strengthened form of 'orge' (Strongs 3709) and is pointing toward provocation for anger. This is a justifiable cause or a 'righteous anger', as in Psalm 4:4. This kind of wrath is an aroused rage which can easily be provoked into vengeance, even though a believer has justifiable cause for his 'rigtheous anger'.

The Bible is telling us that it is critically important to let go of even our justifiable, 'righteous anger', before the end of the day. If it is this important to let go of 'righteous anger' before another day begins, then we know that it is vital to let go of sinful anger even quicker.

When the heat of day is over, the heat of anger should also be ended. In Hebrew culture the setting of the sun marked the time of evening prayer and the beginning of the new day. We must not let our anger linger so that it interferes and hinders our prayers. We must not go to bed with even our 'righteous anger' on our mind. We must not harbor it, cherish it, dwell upon it -- lest it grow.

In this respect we need to be like our God, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy...neither will he keep His anger forever." (Psalm 103:8,9)

This is the context in which the next verse, Ephesians 4:27, follows, "Neither give place to the devil."

Anger on your mind:

In the King James Bible version, the colon (:) has significance in that it is a continuation of the sentence, usually as an example. When reading the KJV, you can often translate a colon into the phrase "so that".

In paraphrase, this would be: "Be you angry, and sin not: [so that] [you] don't let the sun go down [even] upon your [righteous, justifiable] wrath: [so that] [you] don't give place to the devil." (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Paraphrase 2: "In the event you have cause to be justifiably angry, do not do anything that would cause you to commit sin AND let go of that righteous anger quickly, before sundown, SO THAT the devil cannot use it as a device against you."

Paraphrase 3: "Justifiable, righteous anger is not sin, however, dwelling upon it and enlarging it to the point of enduring wrath allows it to become a device for the devil to use against you."

"Neither give place to the devil." is discussed in greater depth in Item 9A: The Way It Is. What is vitally important to understand is that not letting go of our anger becomes the place in our mind we have relinquished to the devil now lending itself toward stronghold building and struggle with our spirit. (we'll get to that later)

Letting go:

Either anger 'righteous' or unrighteous (which is sin), can lead believers into tangled webs of trouble. By getting angry and staying angry without quenching the fire of our anger as soon as possible with a true decision of letting go, the person may dream about retaliation. The next morning the anger awakens as a festering sore.

Anger which persists rewrites history and creates accounts, words and feelings more intense then the original transgression. Recounting, harboring, thinking, meditating, rehashing the situation often leads to blowing the initial reason totally out of proportion to the actual truth (exaggerating).

The anger in our mind then persists, without letting go it seeks to build a stronghold. When that stronghold is built, let's face it, you can create really dumb and delusional persecutions.

For instance, because of anger without letting go (even in just one event), we can create in our mind an intense distrust and hatred against a race, against red-heads, even against people named Bob.

(The reason we mention these three examples specifically is because we are familiar with three individuals who had exactly these intense hates in their minds. Each hate example developed from an anger with just one person and blew up into great intensity, until they finally let go. Sorry to say that one of them still distrusts all red-heads.)

The true decision of 'letting go':

Letting go of our anger is answered with only one word: "forgiveness" .

"Then said Jesus, Father forgive them for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

Jesus instructed us that we should have an attitude of forgiveness about us and He takes it one step further.

You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" (Matthew 5:43-44)

This is the exact opposite of what we learn in our popular culture every day (through Hollywood), teaching us to seek revenge and our own self-righteous justice.

As Christians we are the most FORGIVEN people in the world, we should also be the most FORGIVING people in the world. However, it is often very difficult for us to forgive others genuinely and completely. We often find ourselves practicing a form of forgiveness that is not Biblical and that does not therefore bring healing.

We hear people say,

"I forgive him -- I just don't want to have anything to do with him ever again!"

-OR-

"I'll forgive -- but I'll never forget!"

Beginning in Matthew 6:5, Jesus is teaching His disciples the template of prayer, "after this manner", which is extensively used, widely and reverently sung, lovingly titled 'The Our Father' or 'The Lords Prayer', often memorized and said by rote but without truly understanding the teaching.

Within the 'Lord's Prayer' Jesus says in v.12, "Forgive us our debts [trespasses], as we forgive our debtors [those who trespass against us]."

What would happen if God forgave us and dealt with us the same way that we forgive others? Our personal level of forgiveness determines God's forgiveness level toward us.

What if God said, "I forgive your sins, but I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore."? Would we feel forgiven? Yet these and other popular cliche's on forgiveness have infiltrated the Christian mind, keeping us from reaping our harvest, and hurting our spirit. (we'll get to that later)

Teaching on forgiveness is a key topic in Jesus' ministry. Paul spends a great deal of time as well teaching what the Christian attitude should be.

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."(Ephesians 4:32)

"As Christ forgave you, so also do you." (Colossians 3:13)

As you can see from these scriptures God has given us a very high standard of forgiveness to live up to. This is because the effects of unforgiveness are so powerful in our lives that it hinders every part of our Christian walk --

Unforgiveness is a detriment to our walk in the anointing with the power and presence of God. (Matthew 5:23-24)

Unforgiveness interferes with our faith, with our prayers, with our giving and receiving, with being forgiven by God. (Mark 11:25-26)

Forgiveness, though freely given of God to repentant sinners, is conditional according to individual willingness to forgive his fellow man. In other words, one may forfeit the forgiveness of God by maintaining a bitter and unforgiving heart. (Matthew 6:14-15, 18:32-35, Hebrews 12:15, James 3:14)

"Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of [fall from] the grace of God; lest any root [planted and germinating seed] of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled... Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, lest us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:14-15, 28-29)

(These verses refer to teachings 1A, 6A, 8A and 10A, bringinf together some of the conditions of God for eternal life.)

Yes, God holds us to high standards of forgiveness, but He also gives us the power to enable us to do it!

To understand what forgiveness is, we must first see what it is NOT:

.....First, forgiveness is NOT a feeling.

Forgiveness is an act of the will. It involves a decision not to think or talk about what someone has done, not to hold it against them. God calls us to act this way regardless of our feelings. How we feel has nothing to do with it. Just like with all spiritual things, the flesh doesn't count, it has no say in it -- we command our flesh by an act of our will, to line up our free will, with the will of God, and to follow the commands of God (God's Word), regardless of how we feel about it. That's the first step.

What represents forgiveness?

An act of the will not to hold grudges, not to talk about the person or transgression, not to let it interfere with your relationship in any way. Once we make forgiveness an active part of our own will, A DECISION, it begins to work a remarkable change, starting in the spirit. (we'll get to that later)

.....Secondly, forgiveness is NOT forgetting.

To forget is a PASSIVE process in which something just fades from our memory over time. But forgiving is an ACTIVE process: it is a conscious choice and a deliberate course of action. Let's look at how God deals with this Himself.

"I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25)

God is not saying that He CANNOT remember our sins (PASSIVE response), God is promising that HE WILL NOT remember them. Forgiveness is an act of His will, that when He forgives us, He will not bring it up again, He won't mention it, won't recount it, remind us about it or think about our sins anymore. He has forgiven us.

"He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:10-12) And since east never meets up with west, God has removed our transgressions from us pretty far, indeed.

We need to be the same way. When we forgive we must consciously decide not to think or talk about what others have done to hurt us. This may require some effort on our part, especially if the hurt is still fresh in our mind, BUT, once we focus our will to put it out of our thoughts and stop dwelling on it, aligning our will with God's will, God empowers us to overcome it.

If we keep REMEMBERING it, we keep RE-LIVING it, like it just happened all over again, we are hurt by it all over again, and Biblical forgiveness is impossible, because we are staying in the realm of the flesh and not in the realm of the spirit. (we'll get to that later)

.....Finally, forgiveness is NOT excusing.

Excusing says, "That's ok", and it implies that what the other person did wasn't really wrong, or didn't really hurt, or says that they couldn't help it, or had a valid reason to do what they did. Oh no! FORGIVENESS is just the opposite of excusing. The very fact that forgiveness is needed says that what the other person did was INEXCUSABLE -- WITHOUT EXCUSE.

Forgiveness says, "We both know that there is no good reason for what you did, no excuse. But since God has forgiven me, I forgive you, and we put it behind us."

Because forgiveness deals HONESTLY with sin and transgressions it brings freedom. Excuses don't do that. Covering up an offense, or trying to bury it, trying to hide your feelings about it, doesn't deal honestly with it. But when forgiveness becomes an active part of the will, A DECISION, then both sides can deal with it openly and overcome the problem honestly.

In Matthew 6:12-14 and Mark 11:25-26, Jesus uses the Greek word 'aphiemi' (Strongs 863)for forgive. It means to let go, release, or remit. It often refers to debts that have been paid or canceled in full.

In Luke 7:41-43, Jesus uses the Greek word 'charizomai' (Strongs 5483) for forgave. This means to bestow favor freely, or unconditionally, to pardon. This word shows that forgiveness is undeserved and cannot be earned.

Both of these words show us that forgiveness can be costly. When you cancel a debt it does not simply disappear. Instead you absorb a liability that someone else deserves to pay.

When we forgive someone, it requires that we absorb certain effects of another persons sins, AND release that person from liability and punishment. This is precisely what Jesus accomplished on the cross at Calvary.

Remember the verse that we opened The true decision of 'letting go' with?

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

Jesus secured our forgiveness by taking on the full penalty of our sins.

"For even hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, [so] that you should follow His steps." (1 Peter 2:21-25)

Paul set forth this example to the Corinthian church in the matter of restoring a sinful brother. "To whom you forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ." (2 Corinthains 2:10)

Proverbs Amplified:

"Good sense makes a man restrain his anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression or an offense." (19:11)

"A fool's wrath is quickly and openly known, but a prudent man ignores an insult." (12:16)

"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger appeases contention." (15:18)

"It is an honor for a man to cease from strife and keep aloof from it, but every fool will quarrel." (20:3)

"The beginning of strife is as when water first trickles from a crack in a dam: therefore stop contention before it becomes worse and quarreling breaks out." (17:14)

"He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends." (17:9)

"Hatred stirs up contentions, but love covers all transgressions." (10:12)

We got to it: OUR SPIRIT

Our flesh eats and absorbs whatever we put into it. Our flesh can be trained to be addicted to repetitive stimuli anything from carbohydrates to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, to the very perverse extreme -- making our flesh weak and unhealthy.

Our flesh also eats and absorbs good food, vitamins and nutrition. Our flesh can be trained into habits, just like an addiction, toward exercise, sleep patterns, hygiene, martial arts, etc.

Our spirit works on the same principle. Whatever we feed it, our spirit absorbs, both the good and the bad.

Unfortunately, most of us feed our spirit with a steady diet of wordly influences, and the Word of God is ingested only as an occasional treat.Our spirit reacts accordingly absorbing what we feed it.

Because God gave us free will, the battlefield is in our mind. Our mind is the determining factor of what we feed our spirit as well as what we feed our body. EVERYTHING we see, hear, speak EVERYDAY affects our spirit (just like feeding our body) - once again - both good and bad.

"This I say then, Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would." (Galatians 5:16-17)

The word spirit 'pneuma' (Strongs 4151) can refer to either the spirit of man or the Holy Spirit. In the above verse, it refers only to the spirit of man.

Walking in the spirit means that we must walk consciously knowing that our actions and thoughts WILL, without a doubt, affect our spirit. If we walk in this manner, then we will become stronger and more resistant to the lusts of the flesh. The spirit and the flesh are contrary to the other, are on opposing sides, are at war, therefore, we cannot do any old thing we want to do -- and think we can get away with it. No, not in God's eyes.

Our relationship with God is affected by the condition of our spirit. If the ratio in proportion to our daily intake of the the Word of God is far less than our daily intake of the world's influence (violence, pornography, profanity, soap operas, gossip, murder, revenge, etc.,) our spirit is being fed God's word in a dessert cup while feasting on teachings which oppose God's Word.

Feeding our spirit in this way may eventually place our relationship with God in jeopardy, as we move further and further away from Him. Isn't that what happened to King Solomon?

What does the spirit vs. the flesh have to do with forgiveness?

Paraphrase 4: "Even if you have just cause, letting go of [forgiving] even your 'righteous anger' before the sun goes down is vital nourishment to your proper spiritual growth and continuing relationship with God."

To be a disciple, one who has disciplined himself to enter into the Kingdom of God and obey His will, all of our prayers, hopes and ministries hinge on the condition of our spirit.