Acts 5 - The Judgment of Ananias and Sapphira - The Apostles Teach, Heal, Deliver and Many Are Added to the Church!

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Ananias and Sapphira

This is one of the more frightening stories in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, we see plenty of instanced of God's fearsome judgment but not many in the New Testament. Yesterday, we talked about how the believers shared all of their possessions in common, and some when they sold property but gave it to the apostles to do what they thought best. But, in this case a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, sold their property took some of it and gave the rest to the apostles. 

But Peter somehow knew what they had done through the discernment of the Holy Spirit. Peter called him out saying, 

Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

Note the key thing is that Ananias and Sapphira made it look like they were giving everything to the apostles even when they were not. By lying to the community it says they also lied to the Holy Spirit. Remember the Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity. When we lie to the Holy Spirit, we grieve the Holy Spirit. 

Sapphira, his wife, did the same thing. 

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord?

Again you can see the focus is not necessarily on what they did but the fact that they "conspired to test the Spirit of the Lord!"

With all that being said their swift and immediate judgment seems extreme. So what are we to make of this? My reflection is integrity in the body of Christ is hugely important core value. When we make a claim, or say we are going to do something, we need to keep our promises. We probably won't fall over dead, but it is still a warning for us today. 

Secondly, we see how dangerous it is for us to "grieve" or "lie to" the Holy Spirit. I know at times I have been "sloppy" with my words or intentions that I am going to do this or that for the Lord. This passage reminds me for my "yes" to be "yes", and my "no" to be "no"! 

As much as anything, the lesson of Ananias and Sapphira is that we presume greatly on God when we assume that there is always time to repent, time to get right with God, time to get honest with Him. Any such time given by God is an undeserved gift that He owes no one; we should never assume it will always be there. - Guzik

The Apostles Heal Many

Jesus had told the apostles they would do even greater things that he did, since he was going to the Father and would send to them the Holy Spirit. The "greater things" represented the range and scope of their work in the kingdom. We see that being fulfilled in this passage. We could say they were, "a dangerous group". 

No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.

I think part of that could have been from the Ananias and Sapphira incident, but also because of the miracles they were doing. We also see that many continued to become believers and the church was growing exponentially. Crowds gathered and brought all who were sick and demon possessed in the hope that even "Peter's shadow" might fall on them. That is some power!

What did that mean? 

It may sound crazy that one could be healed by the touch of a shadow, but we know a touch of Jesus’ clothing healed a woman (Luke 8:44). There wasn’t anything magical in the garment, but it was a way that her faith was released. In the same, there was no power in Peter’s shadow itself, but there was power when a person believed in Jesus to heal them, and the passing of Peter’s shadow may have helped some to believe.

Bottom line, the Holy Spirit so filled Peter, His tangible presence emanated from him. 

The Apostles Persecuted

Not only did Jesus promise they would do greater things than he did, he also predicted they would be persecuted like he was. Like with Jesus, the Jewish leaders were jealous of the following the apostles were getting, so they arrested them and put them in jail. But an angel came in the middle of the night and freed them supernaturally. As important as their being freed was, it was even more what they angel asked them to do,

Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

They were freed to preach. Importantly, they did just as the angel had asked. I am sure they knew they would be persecuted even more if they continued to preach. Then, the Jewish leaders went to the jail to find the apostles and they were gone. The guards had no clue as to what had happened. Then someone remarked, 

“Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people."

The leaders arrested them again and brought them in. When asked to give an account for their continued preaching they said, 

“We must obey God rather than human beings

Though we are usually called to obey the authorities who govern us, if obeying them were to disobey God, our first allegiance is to God. This can put Christians in some pretty challenging dilemmas. There are the obvious occasions like when Dietrich Bonhoeffer resisted Hitler and participated in an assassination attempt on his life. Though we may never be called on to do that, what modern day situations might put us in a situation to obey God rather than earthly rulers. 

I can think of a number of them and I am sure you can as well. We know our culture has strayed far from Christian principles and laws. It can be fearful to stand up for those principles in a society that consistently ridicules Christian values. I know I often don't stand up as much as I should. 

The apostles’ response to the council was not a defense, nor was it a plea for mercy; it was a simple explanation of action. In general, the New Testament teaches that we should submit to those in authority over us. Yet submission on the human level is never absolute, and never is more important than submission to God. - Guzik 

Importantly it was the Holy Spirit that gave the apostles the courage to do what they did. But they also OBEYED the Holy Spirit. 

Where is the Holy Spirit calling you to obey him even though it is counter cultural? Can you say with the apostles, "I must obey God rather than man!"