Ananias and Sapphira's lie

1) Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2) With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.

After they saw the great generosity of Barnabas, and how well he was respected, they decided they wanted some of the same respect.

So, they sold the possession, and gave only a portion to the church, while implying that they had sacrificially given it all to the church.  The word for kept back is nosphizomai, which means "to misappropriate"; the same word was used of Achan's theft, and in its only other New Testament use, it means to steal (Titus 2:10). "The story of Ananias is to the book of Acts what the story of Achan is to the book of Joshua. In both narratives an act of deceit interrupts the victorious progress of the people of God."

Notice that both husband and wife were in on the deception.  "There may indeed be the further implication that Ananias and Sapphira had vowed to give the whole proceeds of the sale to God, but then changed their mind and handed over only part."  "Once the love of money takes possession of a person, there is no evil that he cannot or will not do."

Peter confronts Ananias

3) Then Peter said, "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 to men but to God."
5) When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6) Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

God apparently gave Peter supernatural insight into what Ananias had done; this spiritual gift, called the word of knowledge, is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8. Ananias was expecting praise for his spectacular gift, but was rebuked instead.

Notice that Peter did not accuse Ananias of lying to the church, or to the apostles, but to the Holy Spirit Himself.

Peter freely acknowledges that the land and its value belonged to Ananias alone; he was completely free to do with it what he wanted. His crime was not withholding the money, but in deceptively implying that he was giving it all. Of course, his sin was greed (in keeping the money); but his greater sin was pride, in wanting everyone to consider him so spiritual that he "gave it all."  It wasn't that Ananias' gift wasn't big enough, but that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 15:8). The spirit of Ananias is alive and well in the church today; far too many want to be considered "spiritual" while refusing to pay any kind of price in their service to God.

Their sin was so unnecessary: While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Ananias was free to use the money for whatever he wanted - except as a means to inflate his own spiritual pride.

Satan had filled the heart of Ananias; yet Peter could ask why he had conceived this thing in your heart. Satan can influence the life of a believer, even a spirit-filled believer. But he can't do your sinning for you.

"Observe that Peter said no word to Ananias about his death. The sentence was not calling down upon a man of a curse at the caprice of an ecclesiastical official. The death of Ananias was the act of God."

Peter was probably more surprised than anyone when Ananias fell down dead!

God struck Ananias dead for his offense; doesn't this seem rather harsh?

The greater wonder is that God delays His righteous judgment in virtually all other cases; Ananias received exactly what he deserved; he simply could not live in the atmosphere of purity which marked the church at that time. The physical means by which Ananias died was probably a heart attack; Ananias lived in a time, and among a people, who really believed there was a God in heaven that we must all answer to. It frightened him to have his sin exposed, and to know he was accountable before God for it. Too many today would yawn or debate if confronted with sin like this!

What Ananias did also must be seen in the context of its time; this was a critical juncture for the early church, and such impurity, sin, scandal and satanic infiltration could have corrupted the entire church at its root. Why don't we see God judge the same way now? In part, because the church has so many "branches"; even if the entire body of Christ in the United States were to become corrupt through scandal or sin, there is plenty of strength in other parts of the "tree". "The Church's administration to-day is not what it was, or there might be many dead men and women at the end of some services."

The shock of being exposed was too much for Ananias; for many Christians in compromise, their greatest fear is being found out.

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 be there. God's purpose was accomplished in the church at large: So great fear came upon all those who heard these things (one of the great understatements of the Bible)

Sapphira is confronted by Peter

 7) About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8) Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
"Yes," she said, "that is the price."
9) Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
10) At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Sapphira was a knowing and willing participant in the sin, as well as the blatant cover-up; her judgment is as righteous as Ananias's.

Married couples in the Lord have a responsibility to keep each other from sin, and to refuse to participate in sin together, for God will hold each accountable. The concept of submission does not extend to submitting unto sin.

Verse 11 is the first use of the term church in Acts. "The Greek word has both a Gentile and a Jewish background. In its Gentile sense it denotes chiefly the citizen-assembly of a Greek city . . . but it is its Jewish usage that underlies its use to denote the community of believers in Jesus. In the Septuagint it is one of the words used to denote the people of Israel in their religious character as Yahweh's 'assembly.'"

In other words, Luke chose a term that was used in his Bible to describe the people of God in the Old Testament - not the only term, but certainly a term. "The Christian ekklesia was both new and old - new, because of its relation and witness to Jesus as Lord and to the epoch-making events of his death exaltation and the sending of the Spirit; old, as the continuation of the 'congregation of the Lord' which had formerly been confined within the limits of one nation, but now, having died and risen with Christ, was to be open to all believers without distinction."

Observations:

Were Ananias and Sapphira saved? It is impossible to say for certain, for only God knows. But we can see that it is possible for a Christian to sin unto death (1 John 5:16-17), and we have New Testament examples of saved Christians being judged by being "brought home" (1 Corinthians 11:27-32).

Notice that their great sin was rooted in pride; pride will corrupt the church more quickly than anything else.

In noticing the comparison between the incident of Ananias and Sapphira and Achan, it is interesting also to look at the contrasts: in Joshua, God expected the people of God themselves to execute the judgment upon the offender; but in Acts, God takes this type of judgment out of the church's hand and executes it Himself. The church has no place in administering such punishment itself, or in having civil authorities do so for them.

Continuing power in the church

Power shown through miracles and unity

12) The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade.

Often, the fact that God's people are together all with one accord is a greater display of the power of the Holy Spirit than any sign or wonder.

We can wonder why at this time God chose to do these miracles through the hands of the apostles, and not mainly through others; but God sovereignty chooses which hands will bring a miracle.

Solomon's Porch: the second temple was a massive compound, with extensive collonades and covered areas. No doubt, the early Christians gathered together in a particular area of the temple complex, an area open to all.

The church's reputation and growth

13) No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

None of the rest dared join them: the community of Christians had a marvelous reputation for integrity, and everybody knew it was a serious thing to be a follower of Jesus. An Ananias and Sapphira incident would cut down on casual commitment!

Yet, the church kept growing; though people knew it was a serious thing to be a Christian, the Spirit of God kept moving with power.

Notice that new believers were added to: added to the Lord, not to a "church" or a person or even a movement, but to God Himself.

Miraculous expectation in the early church

15) As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16) Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

People were so convinced of the reality and power of what the Christians believed, they thought they could be healed by merely being touched by Peter's shadow. Our text does not specifically say people were healed by Peter's shadow; it merely tells us people thought it would. We don't know for sure if people were actually healed by this.

Assuming people were healed, apparently, even the shadow of Peter became a point of contact where people would release faith in Jesus as healer; it seems that people well understood what Peter was communicating in chapter 3: that Jesus heals, even if it is through His apostles.

It may sound crazy that one could be healed by the touch of a shadow; but we know one was healed by the touch of a garment, when the woman touched the hem of Jesus' garment (Luke 8:44). There wasn't anything magical in the garment, but it was a way her faith was released. "It may be significant that the verb episkiazo, which Luke chooses, meaning 'to overshadow', he has used twice in his Gospel of the overshadowing of God's presence." "The idea that shadows had magical powers, both beneficent and malevolent, was current in the ancient world and explains the motivation of the people."

"From what we know of physicians, even in those days, we cannot assume that Luke would gullibly accept stories of 'miraculous healing' without investigating them."

We shouldn't miss the connection between the purity preserved in the first part of the chapter and the power displayed here.

When we see that a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, we see that people are coming from afar to the apostles, instead of the apostles going to them.

The apostles are imprisoned by the Jewish rulers

The arrest and imprisonment of the apostles

17) Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18) They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

They, like Jesus before them, are persecuted because their good works and popularity are a threat to those who have an interest in the status quo of religious and moral darkness.

Angelic intervention frees the apostles

19) But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20) "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."

They are not only set free, but they are set free for a purpose - that they may Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. Isn't this a pattern for our own life? We are set free so that we may proclaim all the words of this life, instead of being set free for our own pleasure and comfort.

It is possible that they only understood this was an angel in retrospect; angels often come in human appearance (Luke 24:3-7; Hebrews 13:2).

The apostles begin preaching again, and are arrested again by the Jewish rulers

21) At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
22) When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin--the full assembly of the elders of Israel--and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23) "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." 24) On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.
25) Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." 26) At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27) Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28) "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."

It would have been tempting for them to think that since they were miraculously released, that God would keep them from being arrested again, but that wasn't the case.

When the apostles went back into custody in verse 26, they did so knowing how easy it would be for God to release them again, if it pleased Him to do so. Significantly, the apostles do not appeal to popular opinion for protection against the Jewish rulers ("Are you going to let them take us away?!"); their trust is in God and God alone. A carnal solution to their problem was available, but they did not use it.

The officials are amazed at the miracle of how these men could be preaching while their prison cell gate was still securely locked.

The hearts of the Jewish rulers are again exposed; they do fear the people, but not God.

The accusation of the high priest is a wonderful testimony to the effectiveness of the message preached by the apostles; they have filled Jerusalem with [their] doctrine; and they wish to God that they could bring this Man's blood on the Jewish rulers! This Man: an obvious attempt to avoid saying the name "Jesus."

The resolution of their case before the Jewish rulers

The testimony of the apostles before the Sanhedrin

29) Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! 30) The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31) God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32) We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

A testimony of great boldness, in contrast to the Sanhedrin, who were more concerned about man's opinion than God's opinion. The apostles' response to the Sanhedrin is not a defense, nor is it a plea for mercy. It is a simple explanation of action. We should obey rulers, but not when they contradict God: "Therefore, if a father, being not content with his own estate, does essay to take from God the chief honor of a father, he is nothing else but a man. If a king, or ruler, or magistrate, do become so lofty that he diminishes the honor and authority of God, he is but a man. We must also thus think of pastors."

A testimony faithful to the foundation of the Christian faith: man's guilt, Jesus' death and resurrection, and our responsibility to respond.

Why does Peter refer to the cross as a tree? He is drawing an association from Deuteronomy 21:22-23, where it says that a person who is hanged from a tree is cursed by God. Peter is bringing attention to the magnitude of their rejection of Jesus, pointing out that they killed him in the worst way possible, both from a Roman (the cross) and a Jewish (the "tree" association) perspective. "While xylon [tree] was used in antiquity and in the LXX variously for 'a tree,' 'wood' of any kind, 'a pole,' and various objects made of wood, including 'a gallows,' it is also used in the NT for the cross of Jesus."

A testimony reliable, because it is based on eyewitness testimony, which is also confirmed by God!

Gamaliel's advice to the Sanhedrin

33) When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34) But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35) Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36) Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37) After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38) Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39) But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

Furious: "Luke graphically describes them as 'being sawn asunder (in heart).

Gamaliel was the grandson of the esteemed Hillel, the founder of Israel's strongest school of religion. Gamaliel was given the title Rabban ("our teacher"), which was a step above the title Rab ("teacher") or Rabbi ("my teacher"). The Mishnah says of Gamaliel: "Since Rabban Gamaliel the elder died there has been no more reverence for the law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time."

Significantly, Gamaliel was a Pharisee; it was politically foolish for the Sadducees to go for the death penalty without support from the Pharisees.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, does mention a Theudas who led a rebellion, but at a later point than this; it could be that Josephus had his dates mixed up, or that this was a different Theudas (a common name). Josephus does describe a Judas of Galilee (Antiquities, 18.1.1, 2, 6; 20.5.2) who may be the same one mentioned here.

Gamaliel was speaking for himself and not for God; there are many movements that are considered successful in the sight of man, but are against God's truth. Success is not the ultimate measure of truth. Gamaliel was really a fence sitter - what greater testimony did he need, beyond Jesus' resurrection and the apostle's miracles? Why does he adopt a "wait and see" attitude? More important than the test of time is the test of eternity.

The apostles are beaten, released, and they resume their preaching with joy

40) His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41) The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42) Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

They aren't rejoicing that they suffered, but that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Beaten can be also translated skinned; the beating they received stripped the skin off of their backs. Marshall on the beating they received: "It was no soft option; people were known to die from it, even if this was exceptional. It was meant to be a serious lesson to offenders."