The Combustible Man and the Peacemaker Text: Proverbs 15:18
Introduction: Two Kinds of Men, Two Kinds of Worlds
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It does not give us abstract platitudes for decorating throw pillows. It gives us the divine wisdom for navigating the world as it actually is. And in this world, there are fundamentally two kinds of people, the wise and the foolish. They build two different kinds of families, two different kinds of churches, and two different kinds of civilizations. This proverb boils it all down to a matter of emotional temperature. It presents us with two men who represent two entirely different ways of being in the world. One is a human grenade, and the other is a fire extinguisher.
Our culture has a very confused relationship with anger. On the one hand, it is celebrated as a tool for social change, a righteous fuel for activism. We are told to get in touch with our anger, to express it, to let it all out. On the other hand, we are terrified of it, and we medicalize it, diagnosing it as a disorder that needs to be managed with therapy and medication. But the Bible cuts through all this confusion. It teaches that anger is not the problem. How you handle the anger is the problem. God Himself gets angry, and His anger is always perfectly righteous. Jesus was angry. But the anger of man, James tells us, does not produce the righteousness of God. And this proverb shows us why.
The issue here is not the presence of anger, but the speed of it. It is about self-control, which is a fruit of the Spirit. The man who is a slave to his temper is a fool, and he is a chaos agent. The man who rules his spirit is wise, and he is an agent of peace. This isn't about personality types. It's about character. It's about wisdom versus folly. And the stakes are not small. One man builds, and the other man demolishes. One man creates order, and the other man unleashes chaos. We need to ask ourselves which man we are, and which man we are training our sons to be.
The Text
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
But the slow to anger quiets a dispute.
(Proverbs 15:18 LSB)
The Human Arsonist (v. 18a)
The first half of the proverb gives us a character portrait of the fool.
"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife..." (Proverbs 15:18a)
The Hebrew for "hot-tempered man" is a man of heat, or a man of wrath. This is a man with a short fuse. He is easily provoked. He is a man whose ego is right out on the surface of his skin, and the slightest bump sets him off. He is thin-skinned, touchy, and always on the lookout for a slight. He interprets every inconvenience as a personal insult, every disagreement as a declaration of war.
And what does this man do? He "stirs up strife." The image is one of churning or agitating. He doesn't just stumble into conflict; he actively cultivates it. He is a strife-farmer. He is the man who throws gasoline on a smoldering disagreement. In a staff meeting, he is the one who takes a minor point of contention and escalates it into a full-blown crisis. In a marriage, he is the husband who cannot let a small irritation go, but must pick at it until the whole evening is ruined. On social media, he is the man who cannot simply disagree but must insult, mock, and question the motives of anyone who differs from him. He thrives on drama. Peace is boring to him; conflict is exciting. It makes him feel alive. It makes him feel important.
But we must see this for what it is. This is not strength. It is profound weakness. A man who cannot rule his own spirit is like a city with broken-down walls, Scripture says elsewhere (Prov. 25:28). He is defenseless. He is not in control; his passions are. He is a slave to his temper. And because he is a slave, he seeks to enslave others to his emotional turmoil. He uses his anger as a weapon to control his wife, to intimidate his children, and to bully his co-workers. His outbursts are a form of tyranny. Everyone around him learns to walk on eggshells, constantly trying to manage his mood. This is not leadership; it is abuse.
This man abounds in transgression (Prov. 29:22). His anger leads to foolish words, broken relationships, and a life littered with the wreckage of his own making. He is a human demolition crew, and he usually starts with his own house.
The Agent of Shalom (v. 18b)
In stark contrast, the second half of the verse presents the wise man.
"But the slow to anger quiets a dispute." (Proverbs 15:18b LSB)
The phrase "slow to anger" is a description of God Himself. The Lord is "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Psalm 103:8). This is not a description of a man who is a passionless stoic or a doormat. This is a man who has his passions on a leash. He has what the Puritans called "long-suffering." He is able to absorb an offense without immediately retaliating. He has discretion, and Proverbs says it is his glory to overlook a transgression (Prov. 19:11).
This man is not weak; he is powerful. It takes far more strength to rule your own spirit than to take a city (Prov. 16:32). The hot-tempered man is brittle; he shatters at the first sign of pressure. The slow-to-anger man is strong and resilient. He has what we might call a long emotional runway. He doesn't have to react instantly. He can wait. He can think. He can pray. He can choose his response rather than being driven by his impulses.
And what is the result of this character? He "quiets a dispute." The word for "quiets" means to appease, to pacify, to bring to a state of rest. He is a peacemaker. When he walks into a room full of tension, the temperature drops. He is the man who can listen to both sides of an argument and find a way forward. He absorbs the heat. He speaks a soft word that turns away wrath (Prov. 15:1). He brings clarity where there was confusion, and calm where there was chaos.
This is a picture of true, godly dominion. The combustible man creates chaos and calls it control. The wise man creates shalom, true peace and flourishing, and demonstrates what it means to be a son of God. This is the man who is a blessing to his family, a pillar in his church, and a source of stability in his community. He is not a man looking for a fight, but when righteousness is at stake, he knows how to fight with controlled, righteous anger, not with the wild flailing of a man ruled by his temper.
Conclusion: The Gospel for Hot Heads
These are two paths, two ways of life, set before us. One is the way of the flesh, which produces strife, fits of anger, and dissensions (Gal. 5:20). The other is the way of the Spirit, which produces peace, patience, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). You cannot simply decide to be the second man by pulling on your own bootstraps. A hot temper is not just a bad habit; it is a manifestation of a proud and rebellious heart.
The only solution for a hot head is a new heart. The gospel is the good news that God can take a man who is a slave to his anger and make him a new creation. The ultimate hot-tempered man is every son of Adam, whose heart is full of enmity against God. And the ultimate expression of God's righteous anger was poured out not on us, but on His Son at the cross. Jesus, the truly slow to anger, the one who was reviled but did not revile in return, absorbed the full fury of God's wrath against our sin.
When God's wrath was quieted at the cross, He made it possible for us to become men who quiet disputes. He did not just give us an example to follow; He gave us His Spirit to empower us. Through repentance and faith in Christ, the hot-tempered man can be forgiven and transformed. God can break the chains of your anger. He can teach you to rule your spirit. He can make you an agent of His peace in a world that is tearing itself apart with strife.
Therefore, if you are the man in the first half of this proverb, do not despair, but do not make excuses either. Your anger is sin. Confess it as sin. Repent of it, and flee to Christ. Ask Him to crucify your temper and to fill you with His Spirit. Ask Him to make you a man who is slow to anger, a man who brings the peace of the gospel into every conflict, for the glory of God and the good of all those around you.