John Chrysostom

He does not dismiss anger, note, for it is useful, nor does he eliminate wrath, this too proving helpful, after all, in dealing with wrongdoers and the negligent. Instead, he speaks of wrongful anger, irrational wrath.… In other words, it is all right to be angry for good reason, as Paul too was angry with Elymas, and Peter with Sapphira. Yet I would not class that as anger pure and simple but as right thinking, solicitude, good management. A father too is angry with his son, but out of care for him. In the former case the one settling scores gives way to anger rashly, whereas in the latter case the one who sets at right anothers' behavior is the mildest person of all. Because God, too, whenever he is said to be angry, is angry not to take personal vengeance but to correct us. Let us also, accordingly, imitate this. Taking action against people in this way, after all, is divine, whereas the other way is human. God differs from us, however, not only in being angry for good reason but in the fact that anger in God is not a passion.So let us too not be angry rashly. Anger, you see, has been instilled in us for a reason, not for sinning but for checking others in their sin, not for it to become a passion and an affliction but for it to prove a remedy for passions.… This is the kind of thing anger is, a useful instrument for stirring up our tardy spirits, for imparting energy to the soul, for rendering us more concerned in our reaction to the fate of the wronged, for moving us to action against conspirators. This is precisely the reason he says, "Be angry, and do not sin."