In To Heal or Harm: Scripture’s Use as Poison or Medicine for Abuse Survivors, Steven R. Tracy asks the question, “Is it acceptable for abuse victims to be angry?”

He observes, “Countless times, I have seen abuse survivors condemned by church leaders for being angry at their abusers or those who failed to protect them from their abusers.” They are indicted “for their ‘victim posturing’ and … ‘sinful anger and bitterness.'”

“Many argue that virtually all anger over what others have done to us is sinful.” As one author contends, “Ninety-nine percent of my anger is sinful; I don’t want to give tacit permission to my frustration by calling it righteous indignation. … If I am angry because of what someone did to me, I am always wrong.” Yet, while recognizing that we should be on guard against the potential dangers of anger—for instance, “Jesus condemned anger in Matthew 5:22;” likewise we are told to “refrain from anger (Ps 37:8), put it away (Col 3:8), and not make friends with someone given to anger (Prov 22:24)”—Tracy nonetheless poses the question, “Is it always sinful to be angry at injustices we suffer?” (emphasis mine). He answers,

“Biblical teaching on anger is quite robust and must be nuanced. Anger is not universally condemned, particularly in cases of grave injustice against oneself or others. Scripture calls us to ‘be angry and do not sin’ (Eph 4:26 ESV). Jesus condemned gratuitously insulting anger while modeling righteous anger (Mark 3:5). … In Mark 3:5, Jesus looked around at the Pharisees ‘in anger’ at their hard-heartedness. They were hard-hearted toward the disabled man whom Jesus wanted to heal, and toward Jesus himself. Their hard-heartedness was so great that we read in the following verse they were scheming to kill Jesus. This angered him! While Jesus’s anger is aroused when God or people are dishonored (Matt 21:12–14; Mark 10:13–14), he is also grieved and angered when people dishonor him. This is seen most clearly at the end of the age when Jesus pours out his wrath on his enemies (Rev 19:11–21).

Similarly, in the lament psalms, the writers express great anger toward their abusive enemies. This is particularly evident in the imprecatory psalms, in which the writers ask God to slay and consume their abusive adversaries. In the individual lament psalms, the writers, based on their own experience of mistreatment by evildoers, express their great anguish and anger over their oppressive and abusive mistreatment. These psalms refute [the] claim that anger at grave injustices that we experience is sinful. … I am convinced that [the imprecatory psalms] give us a model for responding to abuse. After all, they are inspired Scripture, are quoted repeatedly in the New Testament, and other New Testament passages issue similar imprecations against one’s enemies (Acts 13:9–11; Rev 6:6–11).”

Tracy further grounds this case for righteous anger in the character of God himself. If anger at injustice is inherently sinful, we would have to conclude that God himself sins. Instead, the biblical witness reveals that God’s anger is a necessary expression of his justice and love. 

“The anger or wrath of God is a dominant biblical theme found in hundreds of different passages. Two of the most frequent causes of God’s anger are dishonoring God our Creator (particularly through idolatry) and dishonoring humans made in God’s image (through abuse and oppression). … In Proverbs 6:16–19, we saw that five of the seven shortlisted sins God most hates involve some form of abuse. God declares his abhorrence of unrepentant abusers (Pss 5:6; 11:5). His raging anger toward spiritual leaders who abuse and rob people of their rights cannot be assuaged (Isa 10:1–4). God was furious when the Israelites practiced fatal child abuse as a form of perverted pagan worship (2 Kgs 17:17; Ezek 16:20–36). God’s ‘anger burns against’ spiritual leaders who don’t protect the vulnerable and instead allow them to be abused (Zech 10:3).”

This divine pattern, Tracy argues, should be reflected in God’s people. In fact, to be godly is necessarily to share God’s passionate opposition to injustice. When we are angry at abuse, we are reflecting God’s own response to evil.

“Godly people reflect God’s heart and values. They are angry at what makes God angry, particularly abuse and oppression (Exod 11:8; Neh 5:6). … Failing to be angry at abuse is ultimately a failure to love.”

So Tracy concludes,

“Abuse victims have every right to be angry at what was done to them, just as God is furious that they were abused. Spiritual leaders who point an accusatory finger at angry survivors, while failing to be angry that these survivors were abused, stand condemned. They utterly fail to model the values and passions of God.”

If I may add, to condemn victims of abuse for their anger at the abuse they suffered is to compound that suffering. It is to have them suffer their abuse and then blame them for a response to it that is not only natural and understandable but also morally appropriate. In so doing, it essentially treats them as a wrongdoer for what they suffered, additionally inflicting them with condemnation upon already devastating trauma. And, in some cases, when a victim heeds the illegitimate criticism, it is effectively to make them carry a false shame for what was done to them.