Act 5:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | The two verses at the end of the previous chapter on Barnabas are an introduction to the history of Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias means ‘God is merciful’, but we learn here that God is also holy; Sapphira means ‘beautiful’, but we learn here that her heart is filthy because of sin. In the previous chapter the Spirit shows His power and authority outside the church, here He does it in the church, against evil. God cannot endure evil in the place where He dwells. Satan has always set out to exert his evil influence where God is at work and blesses. He always finds people who are willing to let themselves be used by him. What Ananias and Sapphira do is in great contrast with Barnabas’ way of acting. It seems that Ananias and Sapphira are jealous of Barnabas. Instigated by the generosity of Barnabas and others, Ananias doesn’t want to be remain behind. He consults with his wife to also sell a property and does so. Just as satan used man’s greed for money with Judas Iscariot, so he does with Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias talked to his wife about not bringing the whole amount of the sale, but only a part. Giving them the whole amount goes too far, but they want to give the impression that they are giving the whole amount. A person who may be a true Christian, but who gives the sinful flesh a chance to work in him, can come to this kind of behavior. They want to have the honor of the devotion that the Holy Spirit works, without denying themselves. Their greed is both for money and for honor. The sacrifice they want to make is beyond their spiritual state. They want to imitate the good deeds of others, without their heart being completely subject to the Lord. While man and wife should correct each other, Ananias and Sapphira affirm each other in evil. The wife here is not the help for her husband that God purposed her to be.

‏ Acts 5:1-3

The Deceit of Ananias and Sapphira

The two verses at the end of the previous chapter on Barnabas are an introduction to the history of Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias means ‘God is merciful’, but we learn here that God is also holy; Sapphira means ‘beautiful’, but we learn here that her heart is filthy because of sin.

In the previous chapter the Spirit shows His power and authority outside the church, here He does it in the church, against evil. God cannot endure evil in the place where He dwells. Satan has always set out to exert his evil influence where God is at work and blesses. He always finds people who are willing to let themselves be used by him.

What Ananias and Sapphira do is in great contrast with Barnabas’ way of acting. It seems that Ananias and Sapphira are jealous of Barnabas. Instigated by the generosity of Barnabas and others, Ananias doesn’t want to be remain behind. He consults with his wife to also sell a property and does so.

Just as satan used man’s greed for money with Judas Iscariot, so he does with Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias talked to his wife about not bringing the whole amount of the sale, but only a part. Giving them the whole amount goes too far, but they want to give the impression that they are giving the whole amount. A person who may be a true Christian, but who gives the sinful flesh a chance to work in him, can come to this kind of behavior.

They want to have the honor of the devotion that the Holy Spirit works, without denying themselves. Their greed is both for money and for honor. The sacrifice they want to make is beyond their spiritual state. They want to imitate the good deeds of others, without their heart being completely subject to the Lord. While man and wife should correct each other, Ananias and Sapphira affirm each other in evil. The wife here is not the help for her husband that God purposed her to be.

The Deceit of Ananias Judged

When Ananias comes to Peter with the money, he immediately denounces the deceit of Ananias without us hearing that Ananias is saying a word. The Holy Spirit can make it perfectly clear to Peter that here comes a man who is not sincere and lies to Him. Through the Holy Spirit, Peter can discern the spirit that is at work in Ananias (1Cor 12:10). Ananias does not act under the instigation of the Holy Spirit, but under the instigation of satan whom he has admitted into his heart and who has filled his whole heart. When satan fills the heart, man is capable of the most audacious hypocrisy, without realizing that God is much greater.

Peter unmasks the work of satan. Lying is the work of satan. Satan is the arch liar, the father of lies (Jn 8:44; Gen 3:4 ; 13). Ananias withheld something from the proceeds, nobody obliged him to give everything. But then he should not have pretended to give everything. That is to live in the lie and to deceive others with that lie. Peter makes it clear that Ananias had no obligation to sell the property (cf. 2Cor 9:7). If someone had become a Christian, he would not lose his property. Peter therefore says that after the sale the money remained his. There was no obligation to give it.

Peter asks it all in questioning form. He doesn’t do this because Ananias may be unfamiliar with the state of affairs in the church, but because he knows it well and because he consciously dealt with it in another way. Then he asks Ananias the question why he has planned this act in his heart. That can only be to create the appearance of complete loyalty to God and of complete trust in God, while in reality one relies on earthly possessions. This behavior is not lying to people, but lying to God.

It is lying to the Holy Spirit Who is emphatically called “God” by Peter. The Holy Spirit is God. Ananias and Sapphira wanted to bring lies into a place where God is present. They had forgotten His presence and that nothing is hidden from Him. God dwells in the midst of His people both in grace and in holiness. This is a fact of great importance!

We see the effect of this in the judgment that strikes Ananias and Sapphira. Without an opportunity for Ananias to speak a word in his defense or even of acknowledgment of sin, when he hears the words of Peter, he falls down and dies. We see here that sin in the church is a new occasion for the revelation of the power of God.

Immediately after Ananias’ death, “the young men” get up. They treat the body carefully and cover him up, after which they carry Ananias out and bury him. That they are young men indicates the fresh and powerful beginning of the church.

Although we know nothing more about Ananias and Sapphira than what we read about them here, much has been said and written about whether they are saved or lost. There is something to be said for the idea that we will see them back in heaven. They belonged to the company of the church. It does not seem that there were nominal Christians at this stage. The Lord Himself added to the church daily (Acts 2:47) and only true believers dared to join the church (Acts 5:13). The sin committed by Ananias and Sapphira was a sin to death (1Jn 5:16-17; cf. 1Cor 11:29-30). To the church is not only added, but there is also removed from it what does not belong to God: sin.

There is also something to be said in favor of the view that we are not dealing with true believers, but with false Christians. Peter speaks to Ananias in terms that give little hope that new life was present. His act was an extraordinarily brutal one. The deliberation he and his wife had, and which brought them to their act, shows nothing of any sense of God’s holiness. Peter says that satan filled his heart, which makes it difficult to assume that the Holy Spirit had room in his heart. Ananias does not get the opportunity to repent of his deed because it is not a sin out of ignorance, but an act of conscious rebellion against God.

We cannot say the last word on the question of whether or not Ananias and Sapphira are saved. God speaks that last word. What is important to us is that Ananias is a warning example that God’s holiness cannot be ignored. That is still true. The fact that no longer every such hypocrisy is punished with death shows how little the Holy Spirit can still work in the church. The power of the Holy Spirit is extremely limited by the secularization of the church.

We see several times in Scripture that every time God starts something new, man spoils it, and God’s holiness emerges in judgment. It already begins with Adam and Eve who let themselves be deceived by satan and as a result are driven out of paradise by God (Gen 3:6-7 ; 23). As God has foretold, death came into the world through their deed (Gen 2:17; Rom 5:12). Likewise, the priesthood is barely established or two of the first priests bring strange fire. God must bring His judgment on Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-2). When Israel had just entered the promised land, Achan is violating what was consecrated by the ban and must die (Jos 7:1 ; 25).