Temper

A person's usual character or temporary frame of mind. The term often refers to a temporary state of anger, which Scripture insists must be brief and controlled.

General references to good temper

Proverbs 16:32 See also Proverbs 15:1; Matthew 5:39; Ephesians 4:2; 1 Timothy 3:2–3; 2 Timothy 2:24; James 3:17

He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.

People who kept their temper under provocation

Joseph

Genesis 50:15–21

David

2 Samuel 16:5–13

Jesus Christ

Luke 23:33–34

Stephen

Acts 7:59–60

General references to bad temper

Proverbs 14:17; Matthew 5:22 See also Psalm 37:8; Proverbs 19:11; Ecclesiastes 7:8–9; Galatians 5:19–20

A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, and a devious man is hated.

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.

People who lost their temper

Cain

Genesis 4:5

but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

King Saul

1 Samuel 20:30 See also 1 Samuel 18:8, 1 Samuel 19:9–10

Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?

Nabal

1 Samuel 25:14–17

Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them. Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them. They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

Naaman

2 Kings 5:11–12

But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure my leprosy. Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

The people in the synagogue at Nazareth

Luke 4:28–29

On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.

The Pharisees

Luke 6:11

But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The people of Ephesus

See also Acts 19:28–29

Others

1 Kings 21:4; 2 Chronicles 16:10; Esther 3:5, Esther 3:6; Daniel 3:19; Amos 1:11; Acts 7:57–58, Acts 22:22–23

Christians must do all they can to control their temper

Proverbs 22:24–25; Ephesians 4:26–27 See also Philippians 4:8; James 1:19–20; 1 Peter 1:13; 2 Peter 1:5–7

Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, and do not give the devil a foothold.

God enables Christians to control their temper

Galatians 5:16–18, Galatians 5:22–23 See also Philippians 2:12–13; 2 Timothy 1:7

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.