If Christine regarded anger as normal and acceptable, she would be able to own her feelings better, and to express them appropriately to her coworkers before she lost control. When we look beyond the Sermon on the Mount, however, we find other New Testament passages which show that negative emotions can occur without sin being present. Paul clearly indicates that we can feel angry without sinning. Scripture, though, never makes this distinction, which ignores the nature of human motivation. Pride and hurt feelings can run as deep in righteous indignation as they do in any other type of anger.
Anger is the same emotion, whether evoked by a righteous concern or a dishonorable one.
Here it's important to note what Jesus says and what he doesn't. He doesn't say that one who is angry is being judged as sinful but that this person is liable to judgement. But this is different from saying that this person is sinning simply by feeling angry. He can scarcely mean . . . No, He is reminding us, rather, of what can happen if an angry feeling is allowed to fester in our minds. . . .