Motivational Anger, the Angry Mood, Bitterness, & Operational Anger, Eph 4:26, 31; Gracious Acts, v. 32; Civil Disobedience of the Silversmiths, Acts 19:29

Ephesians 4:31 -	All bitterness [ pikrÒj, pikros ], both operational anger [ qumÒj, thumos ] and motivational anger [ Ñrg», orgē ], both brawling and slander, must be removed from all of you along with all evil.
v. 32 -	But become kind, performing gracious acts toward each other, and compassionate, and keep forgiving each other just as God also by means of Christ has forgiven us.
1.	Bitterness—pikros— is a chronic sin that lies hidden inside the soul.  It is much like the smoldering embers of a fire covered by a thin layer of ash.
2.	The fire may appear to be out but woe to the person who unknowingly touches one of the embers.
3.	You touch an ember when you unwittingly provide the fuel which ignites an explosion of thumos.
4.	Bitterness thus lies smoldering, hidden from the casual observer but very much alive in the soul of the fragmented believer.
5.	Other chronic sins which develop in association with this are vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, revenge motivation, and revenge function.
6.	The counterbalance to this digression into reversionism is to rebound and “become kind,” the opening mandate of Ephesians 4:32, is found in the present active imperative of the verb g…nomai, ginomai:
present:	Customary: action that may be reasonably expected to occur when a believer recovers from reversionism.  The “becoming” process involves not only rebound but the subsequent development of the problem-solving techniques typical of the sophisticated spiritual life.
active:	Believers who accomplish this recovery process produce the action by becoming grace oriented.
imperative:	Positive: a command to execute this recovery process.
7.	This verb is accompanied by the adjective that describes the end result of this recovery process: crhstÒj, chrēstos: “kind,” a word that is best understood in light of:
Luke 6:35 -	Unconditionally love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back [ no interest ]; then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; because He Himself is kind [ crhstÒj, chrēstos ] to ungrateful and evil people.
 8.	The concept is that the same kindness and forgiveness manifest to us by God should be practiced by believers toward one another, a behavior that is only possible through the filling of the Holy Spirit and application of unconditional love.
9.	The process for becoming kind must begin with a biblically developed mental attitude.  The presence of chrēstos in the soul is the result of facilitated wheel-tracks of righteousness.
10.	What we have in Ephesians 4:32 is a command to advance to spiritual adulthood to the point of utilizing all ten of the problem-solving devices.
11.	As God has been the source of repeated gracious acts toward us we are to use that as a motivation for the execution of repeated acts of grace toward others.
12.	Therefore, our translation should be expanded to read, “Become kind, performing gracious acts toward each other.”
13.	The mob mentality of the union workers and businessmen of Ephesus is not grace oriented and thus not in the mood to “perform gracious acts” toward Paul.
14.	Instead they begin to repeatedly shout a slogan that is intended to crystallize the mentality of the group in order to achieve a mutual agenda.
15.	Whenever mobs begin to shout slogans, the slogan is the tool used to achieve an objective.  Here the effort is to elevate Artemis to the rarified atmosphere of Delphi in order to justify the banishment of Paul from the city.
16.	Do these men really believe their shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” is actually true?  Probably.   But, at least for some, possibly not.  The objective and the agenda are to shore up the market for Artemis’s bric-a-brac which Paul’s teachings have diminished.
17.	The uproar they cause results in general confusion throughout the city:
Acts 19:29 -	The city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.
1.	Public confusion is the result of civil disobedience.  Paul’s preaching of the gospel and his teaching of doctrine were not against the law in Ephesus.
2.	Calling an assembly of the citizens of Ephesus to discuss passing a law that would prevent preaching anything other than Artemis as the one true goddess was bypassed for mob action.
3.	Paul is the alleged culprit, yet he is not the one apprehended by the aroused rabble but rather two of Paul’s associates from Macedonia, Gaius \gā′‑yus\ from Derbe \der′‑bē\ and Aristarchus \ă‑ris‑tär′‑kus\ ('Ar…starcoj, Aristarchos) from Thessalonica.
4.	The mob knew that Aristarchus was Paul’s companion and fellow traveler and wanted to interrogate him about Paul and his whereabouts.
5.	Paul happened to be quite ill at the time and was staying at the home of Prisca and Aquilla, Jewish refugees and tent-makers living in Corinth who Paul had evangelized while working with them (Acts 18:1-3).
6.	When Paul left Corinth for Ephesus, Prisca and Aquilla went with him and secured a residence in the city.  When Paul fell ill he was taken in by this loyal couple to convalesce.
7.	When the riot broke out, news reached the home of Prisca and Aquilla informing them of the si’versmiths' anger over Paul’s preaching.  It is possible that the report included the capture of Aristarchus and Gaius.
8.	Although suffering from a serious illness, Paul insisted on going to the theater to address the mob with the gospel of Christ.
9.	The proper rationale for Paul should have been, “Why am I sick and in bed at this particular time?”
10.	It was God’s perfect timing to debilitate Paul so that he would not expose himself to danger, possible injury, and even death at the hands of an anger-wrought throng of men motivated by monetary lust and religious fanaticism.
11.	Consequently, we read in:
Acts 19:30 -	And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him.