Ephesians 4:26

Be ye angry, and sin not Another inference from co-membership in the Lord. Anger, as the mere expression of wounded personality, is sinful; for it means that self is in command. Anger, as the pure expression of repugnance to wrong in loyalty to God, is sinless, where there is true occasion for it. The Apostle practically says, let anger, when you feel it, be neverfrom the former motive, always from the latter. "Ebullitions of temper," alike the greatest and smallest, the seen and unseen, are wholly forbidden here.

The words are verbatim the LXX. version of Psalms 4:4. The lit. Hebrew there is, "tremble, and sin not." And the verb rendered "tremble" may denote the tremor of grief, awe, or anger indifferently. The question of interpretation thus becomes one of context, and it has been suggested (by Dr Kay) that the reference is to the temptation to David's followers, during Absalom's rebellion, to give way to unholy wrath against the rebels. Dean Perowne, though saying that the LXX. Gr. is "certainly a possible rendering," refers the words to the tremor of awe before God. And he remarks that St Paul here gives the Gr. version "not in the way of direct citation." This last remark is important. The N.T. does not necessarily endorse a certain version of the O.T. by adopting its wording for a special purpose, withoutthe decisive formula "it is written," or the like. Still, the suggestion of Dr Kay is noteworthy in itself, and its adoption would give a peculiar point and force to the words here.

let not the sun go down Wetstein quotes a curious parallel from Plutarch, (De Fraterno Amore, p. 488 b.), who says of the Pythagoreans that it was their rule, if betrayed into angry reviling, to shake hands before the sun set. It is possible that we have Psalms 4 still in view here; "commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." As if to say, "if you havesinned in the way here forbidden, see that at least the sin is reversed and renounced before night calls you to bid your brother farewell and to meet your God in solitude."

your wrath Better, perhaps, your provocation, as R.V. margin. The Gr. denotes an occasion of anger, rather than the feeling. See further on the cognate verb, Ephesians 6:4. The reasons, as well as the acts, of quarrel were to be done with by set of sun. The Gr. word is one often used by the LXX. of the provocation of God by His unfaithful people.