A Study of Acts: Ananias and Sapphira
A Study of Acts: Ananias and Sapphira
Acts 5:1-11; Joshua 7 - God hates sin and hypocrisy; you can’t hide from Him or test Him. Discipline is for believers!
“But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.”
Acts 5:1-11 NASB1995
Not that long ago in my devotionals (It was during the analysis of 1 John), I wrote about the cautionary tale of Ananias and Sapphira when we talked about the sin leading to death. Now we have reached this story again in my exploration of Acts.
Acts chapter 4 ends with an introduction to the “Son of Encouragement” Barnabas, who sold land and gave the proceeds to the church and was lauded for his actions, as were others who were eager to help the church. The offerings were laid at the feet of the apostles and other members of the church were likely observers of these public actions. Chapter 5 begins as a follow-on to the story of Barnabas, to illustrate a case of hypocrisy and actual lying to the Holy Spirit and the consequences of those actions.
Enduring Word has excellent commentary on verses 1 & 2:
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession: After they saw the great generosity of Barnabas and how well he was respected (Acts 4:36-37), Ananias and Sapphira decided they wanted to receive the same respect.
He kept back part of the proceeds: They sold the possession, and gave only a portion to the church, while implying that they sacrificially gave it all to the church.
The ancient Greek word for kept back is nosphizomai, which means “to misappropriate.” The same word was used of Achan’s theft in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Joshua 7:21). The only other time nosphizomai is used in the New Testament, 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.” (F.F. Bruce)
His wife also being aware of it: Clearly, both husband and wife were partners in the deception. They both wanted the image of great generosity, without actually being remarkably generous.
“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.” (F.F. Bruce)
“Once the love of money takes possession of a person, there is no evil that he cannot or will not do.” (Stanley Horton)
According to Calvin, these are the “evils packed under” the sin of Ananias, beyond the mere attempt to deceive God and the church:
The contempt of God.
Sacrilegious defrauding.
Perverse vanity and ambition.
Lack of faith.
The corrupting of a good and holy order.
Hypocrisy.
So what is the story in Joshua 7 about Achan? The entire chapter is included at the end of this devotional for reference. To make a long story short, Achan sinned against God by taking some things that were under a ban after the city of Jericho was taken by the Israelis and destroyed. In Joshua 6, God commanded that all of the things of value in that city were His and the Israelis were to protect Rahab the prostitute and her family because she helped them. The treasures were added to the treasury. The city was burned.
Achan took some of these items under the ban for himself. This sin against God led to the defeat of the Israelis against the Amorites. The perpetrator is found and confesses his sin, but he and his family are stoned and everything they own is burned along with their bodies. Pretty serious punishment, if you ask me, but God will not stand for contempt of His commandments and deceit from believers, just like in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, knows exactly what Ananias and Sapphira have done. He asks Ananias why Satan has filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. The property and money were theirs - they could have done as much or as little with it as they wanted to, but they chose to pretend that they were giving it all, when they actually held back some for themselves in “secret” (nothing is secret from God).
I found this commentary in Precept Austin from J. Vernon McGee that has something to ponder:
It is obvious that they [Ananias and Sapphira] were imitating Barnabas. They saw that he got a certain amount of publicity, and they thought it would be nice if they could get that kind of publicity, too. They wanted it. I have found that there are people who will give in order to be noticed. I recall a meeting with businessmen in Pasadena when I was a pastor there. We were planning to start a youth organization, and we were asking these men to give donations for the founding of this movement. It was decided that donations would not be made public.
I was informed that one of these men would contribute very little if he were not given the opportunity to speak out publicly to let everybody know how much he was giving. It is quite interesting that he contributed a small amount. After the meeting he confided in one of the men that he had intended to give about ten times that amount, but he had expected to be able to stand up or at least raise his hand to indicate how much he had given. You see pride is still in human nature today. That was the condition of Ananias and Sapphira....I don’t like to have people sing the song that talks about putting “my all” on the altar. Unfortunately, that makes liars out of the people who are singing. We need to be very careful about the songs we sing. A vow to the Lord should never be made lightly.
Pride drives so much sin!! There are also so many hymns and contemporary worship songs that talk about giving your “all”. We do not give our “all” unless we die on the spot as a martyr and should never make vows to the Lord that we have no possibility of keeping in this lifetime. Those songs make us liars. I’m going to remember that admonition and sit out those songs when I hear them - we must be careful about what we vow, even when we’re droning along with the words of a song on Sunday!!
Also, do you tithe, give or do volunteer activities just to be noticed? I recall in my working days we were encouraged to give to United Way (I’m not going to discuss the relative merits of that organization, but you could designate funds to a specific charity if you were concerned about some of the recipient organizations). Those who gave more than a certain amount were invited to an event (usually a breakfast) every year and their names were listed in a program, along with their giving level. That makes me cringe so much thinking about it now. Pride compels the desire to see your name in a program or when you eagerly compare your volunteer time with others.
Enduring Word has some good commentary, too:
While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Peter freely acknowledged 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 in withholding the money, but in deceptively implying that he gave 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” – when he had not.
Their sin is imitated in many ways today. We can create or allow the impression that we are people of Bible reading or prayer when we are not. We can create or allow the impression that we have it all together when we do not. We can exaggerate our spiritual accomplishments or effectiveness to appear something we are not. It is too easy to be happy with the image of spirituality without the reality of spiritual life.
Their great sin was rooted in pride. Pride corrupts the church more quickly than anything else.
While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? This shows how unnecessary their sin was. Ananias was free to use the money for whatever he wanted, except as a way to inflate his spiritual image and pride.
Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? 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. Ananias had to conceive it in his heart.
Good stuff! Are you happy with presenting the image of spirituality without the reality of spiritual life? Also, Satan can lead you to the “water” of sin, but you have to be the one to agree to drink that “water” and proceed to sin. Don’t let Satan lead you to the temptations!
After Peter speaks to Ananias and tells him he has lied to God, Ananias immediately falls down and dies. I think it would be fascinating to see Peter’s reaction to Ananias falling down dead. Peter probably expected a repentance or an argument, but the power of God was manifested in this event to teach a powerful lesson about hypocrisy to the young church. More commentary from Enduring Word:
Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last: Peter did not pronounce a death sentence on Ananias. He simply confronted him with his sin and Ananias fell down dead. It isn’t the business of the church to pronounce a death sentence on anyone.
Peter was probably more surprised than anyone else when Ananias fell down dead. “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.” (G. Campbell Morgan).
Fell down and breathed his last: This was a harsh penalty for a sin that seems to be common today. Some wonder if God was not excessively harsh against Ananias.
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 that marked the church at that time.
The physical means for the death of Ananias was perhaps a heart attack caused by sudden shock or terror. He lived in a time and among a people who really believed there was a God in heaven we must all answer to. It frightened him to have his sin exposed and to know he was accountable before God for it. He didn’t yawn or debate when confronted with his sin; he fell down and breathed his last.
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. “The Church has never been harmed or hindered by opposition from without; it has been perpetually harmed and hindered by perils from within.” (G. Campbell Morgan)
We can surmise that one reason we don’t see the same remarkable judgment of God in this way today is because God’s church has so many branches. Even if the entire body of Christ in the United States was 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.” (G. Campbell Morgan)
Fell down and breathed his last: The shock of being exposed was too much for Ananias. For many Christians in compromise, their greatest fear is not in sinning itself, but in 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 always be there.
“We must not infer from the rarity of such judgments in this word, or from their solitariness, that God’s mind has changed as to the exceeding sinfulness and hatefulness and ill desert of the sin he has thus rebuked. The solitary example must stand as a lasting and terrible monument of what God thinks of that sin.” (Arthur Pierson)
Are you afraid of being found out? God knows everything that you think and do. This lesson is one that should strike true fear into the hearts of believers. Instead, we have mainstream denominations freely giving communion to every unrepentant sinner that comes through the door. We have the love of Jesus preached (yes, a wonderful thing) overshadowing the righteousness and holiness of God. We have churches that have sold indulgences as a way to buy your salvation so that you can purportedly rest easy in your sin. But God is a consuming fire and a righteous judge.
Another thought from this commentary that is so jarring is that we presume that we will have time to get right with God. When I look at my life, wandering in the wilderness of disbelief for so many years, I can only fall down on my knees in utter gratitude and relief that we came back to God before being taken out in an untimely accident.
Well, as you know from the story, Sapphira comes back after three hours and is confronted by Peter and she, too, falls down dead at his feet. Peter accuses her of putting the Spirit to the test, she dies and is buried with her husband. Everyone is quite fearful after this happens. One of the big questions that you can ask after all of this is if these two were saved. They were obviously believers, being part of the early church. I touched on that theme when analyzing 1 John. I’m probably repeating this commentary, but Gotquestions.org has a good summary of this cautionary tale:
God’s reasons for bringing about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira involve His abhorrence of sin, the hypocrisy of the couple, and the lesson for the rest of the church, both then and now. It can be easy today to gloss over the holiness of God, to forget that He is righteous and pure and that He hates sin wholeheartedly. This particular sin of hypocrisy in the church was dealt with swiftly and decisively.
Were Ananias and Sapphira saved? We believe they probably were. Their story is told in the context of the actions of “all the believers” (Acts 4:32). They knew of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3), and Ananias’s lie could have been an earlier promise that he would give the whole amount of the sale to the Lord. But the best evidence that they were children of God may be that they received discipline: “If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all” (Hebrews 12:8; see also 1 Corinthians 5:12). Ananias and his wife had conspired to garner the accolades of the church; but their conspiracy led to the sin unto death.
The case of Ananias and Sapphira illustrates the fact that even believers can be led into bold, flagrant sin. It was Satan that had filled their hearts to lie in this way (Acts 5:3) and “to test the Spirit of the Lord” (verse 9). Covetousness, hypocrisy, and a desire for the praise of men all played a part in their demise.
The sudden, dramatic deaths of Ananias and Sapphira served to purify and warn the church. “Great fear seized the whole church” (Acts 5:11). Right away, in the church’s infancy, God made it plain that hypocrisy and dissimulation were not going to be tolerated, and His judgment of Ananias and Sapphira helped guard the church against future pretense. God laid the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira in the path of every hypocrite who would seek to enter the church.
Furthermore, the incident involving Ananias and Sapphira helped to establish the apostles’ authority in the church. The sinners had fallen dead at Peter’s feet. It was Peter who had known of the secret sin and had the authority to pronounce judgment in the church (see Matthew 16:19). If the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira had succeeded in fooling Peter, it would have severely damaged the apostles’ authority.
The sad story of Ananias and Sapphira is not some obscure incident from the Old Testament regarding a violation of Mosaic Law. This occurred in the first-century church to believers in Jesus Christ. The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a reminder to us today that God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), that He hates sin, and that He is concerned for the purity of His church (1 Corinthians 11; 1 John 5). As Jesus told the compromising church in Thyatira, “All the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds” (Revelation 2:23).
My next devotional examines Acts 5:12-16 - Expectations of Signs and Wonders.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - The story of Ananias and Sapphira and their hypocrisy creates fear and wonder in my heart. Please help me to know when I am making a vow that I cannot keep, through prayer or worship music. Please help me to be fearful, yet confident, in my salvation and to avoid testing the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Joshua Chapter 7:
“But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.”
So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”
So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.
Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, “There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.” In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come near man by man. It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ”
So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”
So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.” So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord.
Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.”
Joshua 7:1-26 NASB1995
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Precept Austin was accessed on 8/27/2024 to review commentary for Acts 5:1-11.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 8/27/2024 to answer the question, “Who were Ananias and Sapphira?”.