James 1:20
in James 1for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
KJV
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
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This verse in James 1
Commentary
15 notes on this verseFor whereas the agitated mind works up to harshness the decision of its reasoning faculty, all that rage suggests, it accounts to be right.
This site's exposition
Everyone should be quick to listen
on James 1:19-21
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger turns to practice. Anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. The hearer is to get rid of all moral filth and humbly accept the word planted in you, emphutos, which can save your souls.
This site's exposition
the righteousness that God desires
Matthew Henry answers the man who defends God in anger, holding that God's cause is better served by meekness. Gregory warns that an agitated mind counts whatever rage suggests as right. So James asks everyone to be slow to anger.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Therefore, my beloved brothers, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. What James says is not referred to mere hearing, but to vigorous action in work and …
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
Macarius said also, 'If you are stirred to anger when you want to reprove someone, you are gratifying your own passions. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.'
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
[Hyperichius] also said, 'The monk who cannot control his tongue when he is angry, will not control his passions at other times.'
The Medieval Church2 voices
Righteousness is a property of the soul that renders to each his due, and: "wrath destroys even the prudent" (Prov. 15:1). How then can it, darkening the mind in its passionate excess, constitute the virtue that judiciously renders to each his due? Note also that …
For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. The meaning is clear, because whoever rashly subjects himself to the sin of anger, even if he appears just to men, is not yet perfectly just in the divine judgment. But it can …
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. This is so far from engaging persons to do that which is right and acceptable in the sight of God, that it puts them upon doing that which is evil. The Alexandrian copy reads, "with the wrath of men do not work the righteousness of God"; do not attend upon the word and ordinances of God with a wrathful spirit. Compare, with this, 1Ti 2:8.
It is as if the apostle had said, "Whereas men often pretend zeal for God and his glory, in their heat and passion, let them know that God needs not the passions of any man; his cause is better served by mildness and meekness than by wrath and fury." Solomon says, The words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools, Eccl. ix.
And every perfect gift - Whatever tends to glory. Descendeth from the Father of lights - The appellation of Father is here used with peculiar propriety. It follows, "he begat us." He is the Father of all light, material or spiritual, in the kingdom of grace and of glory.
The character by which our author desires to be known: James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was a prime-minister in Christ's kingdom, yet he styles himself only a servant. Note hence, Those who are highest in office or attainments in the church of Christ are but servants.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Man's angry zeal in debating, as if jealous for the honor of God's righteousness, is far from working that which is really righteousness in God's sight. True "righteousness is sown in peace," not in wrath (Jas 3:18).
The wrath of man - A furious zeal in matters of religion is detestable in the sight of God; he will have no sacrifice that is not consumed by fire from his own altar. The zeal that made the Papists persecute and burn the Protestants, was kindled in hell. This was the wrath of man, and did not work any righteous act for God; nor was it the means of working righteousness in others; the bad fruit of a bad tree. And do they still vindicate these cruelties?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God - Does not produce in the life that righteousness which God requires. Its tendency is not to incline us to keep the law, but to break it; not to induce us to embrace the truth, but the opposite. The meaning of this passage is not that our wrath will make God either more or less righteous; but that its tendency is not to produce that upright course of life, and love of truth, which God requires. A man is never sure of doing right under the influence of excited feelings; he may do that which is in the highest sense wrong, and which he will regret all his life. The particular meaning of this passage is, that wrath in the mind of man will not have any tendency to make him righteous. It is only that candid state of mind which will lead him to embrace the truth which can be hoped to have such an effect.
The words behind it
7 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὀργὴ | orge | [the] anger | G3709 → | |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| ἀνδρὸς | andros | of man | G435 → | 216 times |
| δικαιοσύνην | dikaiosunen | [the] righteousness | G1343 → | 92 times |
| θεοῦ | theou | of God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἐργάζεται. | ergazetai | works. | G2038 → |
ὀργὴ[the] anger
orgeG3709 →
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
ἀνδρὸςof man
androsG435 →216 times
δικαιοσύνην[the] righteousness
dikaiosunenG1343 →92 times
θεοῦof God
theouG2316 →1312 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἐργάζεται.works.
ergazetaiG2038 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:26“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,
it leads to
- James 1:19
My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
- Psalms 4:4
Be angry, yet do not sin; on your bed, search your heart and be still. Selah
- Psalms 37:8
Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret—it can only bring harm.
- Ephesians 4:31–32
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.
- Ecclesiastes 7:9
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
- James 1:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies31
On this verse
About James
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job 5.78; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on James and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on James.