What the Bible says about Ananias and Sapphira
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Leviticus 23:15

This verse teaches how to count Pentecost, but it also reveals who should count Pentecost. Who is the "you" in verse 15? In verse 6, "you" is the person who is to eat unleavened bread. So, this "you" is each one of us. The addition of "for yourselves" makes it even more emphatic that we are to do the counting. It is not done by a calendar, not by the ministry, but "for yourselves." Just as the ministry does not eat unleavened bread for us because it says you are to eat it, it follows that they are not to count Pentecost for us either. We eat unleavened bread every year, so we should also count Pentecost for ourselves every year.

Does this counting seem to be a small thing? Yes, it does seem inconsequential, but we are to live by every word, not most of the words, that God gives to us. Notice a paragraph from John W. Ritenbaugh's article "Countdown to Pentecost 2001," in the December 2000 Forerunner:

We are to live by every word of God. However, I have learned through this Pentecost-counting test that has come upon the church that people consider certain areas as "little" and thus of no account. They dismiss them as not worthy of serious consideration. One might be tempted to think that all the points discussed so far are minor ones that God could easily overlook because Israel had such a sincere attitude at that point in their relationship with Him. Perhaps it is good to be reminded of God's reactions in other instances when people have set aside seemingly "minor points" in favor of some other way of doing things.

The article recounts examples that show what God thinks of those who dismiss the little things. Based on one flaw, God rejects Cain's offering. In Leviticus 10:1-3, two sons of Aaron are instantaneously struck dead when they ignore one simple instruction about incense. David transports the ark in the wrong manner, and when Uzzah, probably involuntarily, touches it to keep it from hitting the ground, God strikes him dead. Both Ananias and Sapphira fudge a bit by not telling Peter the whole truth, and God strikes them dead, too. We should soberly consider these examples because they reveal the importance God places on His "minor" instructions. Yes, we are to live by every word God gives to us.

Why would God have each of us count Pentecost rather than just look at a holy day calendar—the way most people determine the day? At a glance, it does not make much sense to count, does it? But that is irrelevant. What is relevant is that we do what God commands us to do.

Should we not consider that God must have a special reason for determining Pentecost by a method different from all the other holy days? For all the others, God gives a specific date, so we have to look at a calendar to know when to observe them. But Pentecost must be counted, and as Leviticus 23:15 commands, each of us must do the counting.

We really do not know why this difference exists. How many centuries did ancient Israel, and after them, the Jews, keep the holy days? Yet, to this day, they still do not know the most important reasons behind them.

Each of us counting Pentecost for ourselves each year does seem like a little thing and unnecessary because, after all, there are calendars, the Internet, etc. Even so, in Matthew 25:21, Christ gives a glimpse into our future and what that future hinges on: "You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much" (Revised Standard Version).

As noted earlier, people died because they ignored God's "minor" instructions—everything matters. How careful are we about God's "minor" instructions? History shows that the answer could one day be the difference between life and death.

Pat Higgins
Count for Yourselves

Psalm 92:11

The psalmist encourages us to thank God for His justice upon His and our enemies. Is it right that we should be thankful for God's judgment and punishment upon them? We certainly should not gloat over their fate (Proverbs 24:17-18). However, we would be wise to remember the just punishments of Nadab and Abihu, of Eli's sons, of Uzzah, and of Ananias and Sapphira. We must beware of thinking of God as harsh or rash in His judgments. God's enemies are our enemies too, and His punishment of them is for our good (and ultimately theirs).

Staff
Thanksgiving

Malachi 1:11-14

Israel profaned God's name by giving offerings in a lying and deceitful attitude, as Ananias and Sapphira did (Acts 5:1-11). They kept the best animals for themselves while offering blemished ones to God. We fear God's name, not only by keeping all of God's law—including the statutes and judgments (Deuteronomy 28:58)—but also by giving God our best effort in doing His will.

Martin G. Collins
The Third Commandment

Matthew 6:21-24

This passage contains metaphorical usages of the heart, the eyes, and light and darkness, teaching us about spiritual blindness. Jesus' basic theme is our focus—the things we set our eyes or hearts on or the thoughts to which our minds continually return.

We should understand the word “mammon” broadly and not limit it just to money. Because Jesus presents only two options here, we can define mammon as “anything other than God”! Mammon can be anything “under the sun” and thus include countless things that we cannot necessarily hold in our hands yet are still of the flesh. We may feel good about ourselves for being content with a middle-class lifestyle and not pursuing wealth. However, if our hearts pursue praise, popularity, position, power, or prestige, we are still serving mammon. These are still cares of the physical life rather than the conduct of the new life.

Jesus teaches that our clarity of vision depends on our focus—on what gets our attention. Whether healthy or diseased, our spiritual eyesight is directly related to what we treasure and whom or what we serve. Having the wrong treasure or serving the wrong master equates to having a bad eye and walking in darkness. His illustrations mean that blinding ourselves can be as simple as letting God slip from our view or not retaining God in our knowledge, as Romans 1 mentions.

We stumble and sin when we lose our focus on God and what matters to Him. Then, our understanding begins to regress, if only a little. We may start down that pervasive path of sinning, further damaging our understanding, and sinning again.

Perhaps this scenario seems overblown or excessively dire. However, it seems so only because we think of it like a sped-up, time-lapse video of a seed that germinates, grows, blossoms, and fades in a matter of seconds. In real life, this process of darkening our own eyes may take substantially longer, during which time we face many opportunities to choose differently.

Jesus' brother, the apostle James, also describes this process quite simply, beginning with an enticement or desire (James 1:13-15). The temptation is the equivalent of the earthly treasure, the mammon, taking one's eyes off God. He writes, when “desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (verse 15).

This process sounds like it progresses rapidly, and in some relatively rare instances, like with Ananias and Sapphira, death can result in a matter of hours. In other cases, as with Judas, that wrong focus—a form of blindness—may persist for years before the internal suppression of truth breaks out in an act that God may allow to happen as a judgment. That does not mean we are lost, unlike Judas. It means we could have taken a better road and kept ourselves—and maybe others—from extra grief and regret.

David C. Grabbe
Spiritual Blindness (Part Three): Choosing a Curse

Matthew 24:36

Even though we look forward to Jesus Christ's return with tremendous anticipation, we do not know when it will be. We also do not know the date of our own deaths, at which time our preparation ends. How much time do we, as individuals, have to prepare? Stephen was martyred by an angry mob shortly after the death of Christ and the founding of the New Testament church (Acts 7:57-60). While his age is never mentioned—perhaps he was called in his advanced years—he plainly had not lived many years in the truth, like the rest of the church at that time, before his time of preparation ended.

On the negative side, Ananias and Sapphira—who also would not have known the truth for long—had their time of preparation cut short by a foolish sin (Acts 5:1-11). Regardless of how near or far Christ's return is on the horizon, our lives could end at any point. Who is to say whether we have twenty more years—or one? The prophetic parables of Matthew 24 and 25 instruct us that "the end"—whether of this age or of this life—is entirely beyond our knowledge, so the wise will be setting their hands to the priorities of life while there is time.

In the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21), Jesus describes a man caught up in the affairs of this life, enjoying the fruit of his labors, and telling himself to "take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry" (verse 19). God's response? "Fool! This night your soul [life] will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?" This man was entirely focused on the present, without any thought of preparation for the next life—or how long he had to live the present one.

Similarly, God says through the prophet Haggai, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" (Haggai 1:4) Having a house—even a very nice house—is not the problem. God's rebuke comes in response to misplaced priorities. The peoples' focus was on their own comfort, while they neglected God's Temple. This question is distinctly relevant to us now, for, in the New Testament, God's Temple can represent either the entire body of Christ (Ephesians 2:21) or the individual Christian (I Corinthians 3:16-17). If we apply this admonition to today, it implies that the spiritual condition of the church as a whole, as well as our individual spiritual state, are higher priorities than our material situation. The "cares, riches, and pleasures of life" are what choke out the truth of God (Luke 8:11, 14).

While we may have a general understanding of the future through the prophecies, the timing is a substantial variable that we cannot know until it is upon us. Even more uncertain is how long we each have to live. But by turning our focus to our spiritual condition—for we are the Temple of God's Spirit—and to strengthening the Body of Christ wherever possible, our priorities can be in alignment with God's. Whether or not we live to witness the return of Jesus Christ is inconsequential in the sense that we will be prepared either way.

David C. Grabbe
Our End Time

Acts 2:44

While some try to see a biblical basis for socialism in the experience of the early church, the overwhelming perspective of the Bible upholds private property rights. As early as Abraham (Genesis 23:17-18), God's people are shown buying and selling all manner of property. Moreover, the laws God gave to Israel concerning property assume individual ownership - indeed, one could say that the tenth commandment (Exodus 20:17: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house," etc.) makes property ownership a sacred right. Each person is to be satisfied with what God has blessed him and not crave what his neighbor owns.

Bits of biblical property law appear throughout the Old Testament, as in Deuteronomy 19:14: "You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land. . . ." Simply put, each individual or family owned specific plots of land whose boundaries were not to be violated. God later promises terrible retribution on Judah for doing just this: "The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out My wrath on them like water" (Hosea 5:10).

A main feature of the Jubilee was the repossession of land by its original owner, even if he had been forced to sell it due to debt in the intervening years (Leviticus 25:13-17). God set down rather strict rules regarding the sale and purchase of family lands so that Israelite society would have its base in individually owned properties that remained within families through inheritance. For example, when Ahab pressures Naboth to give him his vineyard, the Jezreelite responds, "The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!" (I Kings 21:3). After Naboth is dead through Jezebel's machinations, and Ahab has taken possession of the vineyard, God harshly condemns their blatant abuse of authority, cursing them to ignominious deaths (verses 17-24).

In the New Testament account of Ananias and Sapphira's sin, Peter voices the basic, biblical principle of private property ownership: "While it [their land] remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it [the profit] not in your own control?" (Acts 5:4). Even while the brethren "had all things in common" (Acts 4:32), private property rights were not set aside. The entire New Testament operates under this view, to the point that the Mark of the Beast involves abolishing true Christians' right to buy and sell (Revelation 13:17).

God believes in ownership: "For the world is Mine, and all its fullness" (Psalm 50:12). He allows us to own things under Him to teach us wonderful lessons pertaining to stewardship and authority so that we can learn to be more like Him and eventually exercise great responsibility in His Kingdom (see the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:11-27). Sadly, the ever-weakening right to property in this nation is another state of affairs that exposes just how far America has drifted from God and biblical principles.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Obsolescing Right

Acts 5:1-11

God frowns upon poor-quality offerings. In Genesis 4, Cain gives a poor-quality offering and pays the penalty. The quality of an offering does not necessarily depend on the monetary amount. The poor widow of Luke 21:1-4 will be eternally remembered for her tiny offering, whereas Ananias and Sapphira, although giving a sizable amount from the proceeds of a real estate sale, offer it in a lying attitude and become immortalized as negative examples.

The number of dollars is not important. What is important are the attitude, thought, effort, and preparation that go into our offerings. As Peter says, Ananias and Sapphira had total control over how much of the proceeds of the sale of their land went to the church. Their sin lay in misrepresenting to both God and the apostles that they were giving the entire amount. They wanted everyone to think they were sacrificing when, in truth, they were not.

Staff
Quality Holy Day Offerings

Acts 5:1-5

These two church members apparently did not take Satan into consideration. They listened to a lie and were divided, first, from God's church and then from life itself. What did Satan do? He moved them toward self-satisfaction to the point (the actual sin) that they lied to take credit for a greater sacrifice than they actually made.

The sad part of this is that no one asked them to donate the entire sale price of the piece of land. What happened was they committed themselves to it and then undoubtedly began to feel put on. "Hey, Sapphira, that's too much money." Maybe they began to think, "We didn't expect we'd get so much money from the sale of this, and it is too much to donate." They began to think, undoubtedly, of other uses that they could put the money to. "We could buy new clothes. We could improve the house. We could buy another piece of land as an investment and make even more from it."

They had apparently already told those who were in charge of the collection that they would contribute the entire amount of the sale, and when the time came to give the contribution, they gave only a part of it but let on as if it was the entire sale price. They kept the difference for themselves.

Who led them to dare to lie? Satan has a modus operandi. He will always move us in the direction of self-satisfaction at the expense of obedience to God, service to God, or service to others, so that we elevate ourselves over the others.

Is that not what Satan did originally? In his own mind, his vanity elevated him higher than the position God had given to him, and it then began to work on his mind so that he had to do something about it. This process repeats itself over and over again.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Satan (Part 4)

Acts 5:1-10

We can perceive a mixed bag of Ananias and Sapphira's sins involved in this tragedy. Acts 4:36-37 informs us of Barnabas' sacrificial gift for the well-being of the newly formed church. Pride and desire for acclaim motivated the couple to give a gift but without the honesty or sacrifice exhibited by Barnabas and others.

"Why has Satan filled your heart" (verse 3) is the equivalent of "Why have you dared?" They were free to give whatever percentage they set, for Peter says that the entire property sale price was under their control. Their sin lay in deceitfully alleging that the amount they gave was the whole of the sale price, when it was actually only a part. They deviously exaggerated their offering.

Some think this judgment was harsh, but Peter did not. He spoke of the sin as inspired of Satan, and the passage makes clear that both Ananias and Sapphira were fully aware of what they were doing (verses 2, 9). Conscious deceit is spiritually disastrous because trust is completely violated. They should have known better.

God interpreted their action as tempting Him, seeing how much they could get away with. Their way of reaching their goals is so opposed to the gospel that God could not allow it to go unchallenged; it would have set the whole mission of the church off course. Honesty and integrity are the standard of God's way of life. Sin is no light thing with God.

These people were living behind a deceptive façade, one similar to the idea that, if one keeps the front windows clean, it does not matter how dirty the back ones are. They allowed themselves to become tools working to destroy the family relationship of trust within the church. God forcibly reminded them and us that He will not abide that.

We must treat one another with fairness and loving kindness, or we will not be in His Family. Ananias and Sapphira are shocking reminders to us that we will not get away with deceitfully cheating or taking advantage of our brethren. God may not appear to be in the picture, but only the faithless have this blindness. The penalty will be paid—unless repented of, it is only a matter of time. Ananias and Sapphira paid quickly as a lesson to us.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Presumption and Divine Justice (Part Two)

Acts 5:1-11

The narrative of Ananias and Sapphira provides a dramatic illustration of the fact that God will not accept duplicity in His church. Partial commitment to the truth is not enough. In the case of this ancient couple, He judged “the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” without delay, stopping the lie literally dead in its tracks.

Although unstated in the account, Ananias and Sapphira likely coveted the status and reputation they would receive if God's people came to believe they were “big” contributors. With Satan's prodding (verse 3), they (Sapphira is fully complicit; verse 2) hatched the deceitful plan to sell some property and donate part of the proceeds for the use of the brethren. In reality, they conspire to mislead the church leadership (and ultimately, the brethren at large) into thinking that their generous gift comprised the entire sale price of the land, when in fact they had surreptitiously “kept back” a portion of the proceeds for their personal use. Their level of sacrifice for the needs of the church was not what they led others to believe.

Had God not intervened to abort their plan, they would have lived lives of hypocrisy for who knows how long, daily “practicing” the lie (Revelation 22:15) that they had “given all” to God. Without question, they would have lived the same sort of burdensome lives endured by Joseph's brothers for decades after their clandestine treachery toward their younger brother (see Genesis 37:23-36), as they feared serendipity every moment—a slip of the tongue, the development of an unwelcome and unforeseen circumstance, the vengeance of God, anything which might suddenly reveal the truth to their father, exposing them as the rogues they really were. Theirs was a skulking lifestyle—the way of life of any hypocrite, analogous to perpetually wearing a mask or a disguise to hide the real self, pretending to be one person, all the while being another.

But that is only half of the nasty story. Sir Walter Scott well wrote, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, / When first we practice to deceive.” The hypocrite, enjoying the benefits of his duplicity (such as wealth, status, etc.) becomes desperately committed to maintaining the façade at any cost, doing all that becomes necessary to keep the charade going, lest he suffer financial, social, or emotional losses that his carnality could not accept. The cause of perpetuating the lie comes to enmesh his spirit. The myth becomes master.

Luke does not specify the amount of money Ananias and Sapphira held back. Was it 5% of the sales price or 20% or 50%? We do not know, and it does not matter! A lie is a lie. There are no “little white lies.” A life of duplicity can develop around any lie, big or little. It will always bear the same fruit, however.

Charles Whitaker
Unity and Division: The Blessing and the Curse (Part Five)

Acts 5:3

Trinitarians presumptuously use Peter's question as "proof" that the Holy Spirit is a divine being. They say, "One cannot sin against an attribute. One cannot lie to something that is not sentient. Thus, the Holy Spirit must be a personality within the Godhead." But in their attempt to find "proof" for their theory, they ignore the plain meaning of Peter's words and the overwhelming evidence of other scriptures.

When writing about the Holy Spirit, the apostles had no reservations about interchangeably using verbs associated with things rather than people. For example, Paul tells Timothy "to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear . . ." (II Timothy 1:6-7). We usually stir liquids and mixtures, not people. Several writers use the verb "pour" to describe God's use of the Spirit (see Proverbs 1:23; Isaiah 32:15; 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; Zechariah 12:10; Acts 2:17-18, 33). A person cannot be poured.

On the other hand, many verses show that the Holy Spirit "speaks," "tells," "declares," "convicts," "guides," "hears," and others. By themselves, these verbs can give us no conclusive proof that the Holy Spirit is or is not a divine being.

To understand what Peter meant by "to lie to the Holy Spirit," we must see if the context explains what he meant. At the end of Acts 5:4, Peter makes a parallel accusation: "You have not lied to men but to God." "God" is translated from theos, the general Greek word for deity. In the broadest sense, Peter accuses Ananias of sinning against God (see Genesis 20:6; 39:9; Leviticus 6:2; Psalm 51:4).

When he speaks to Sapphira later on in the scene, Peter repeats the accusation in a slightly different way: "How is it that you have agreed together to test [tempt, KJV] the Spirit of the Lord?" (Acts 5:9). Here, Peter uses "Lord" from the Greek kurios, meaning "master" or "lord." In this verse the Holy Spirit is shown to be the possession of God.

Thus in these three parallel verses, Peter clarifies what he meant: Ananias and Sapphira had tried to deceive God, who was present in them and in the apostles by the power of His Spirit. Did they not realize, Peter asks, that through His Spirit God knew not only what they were doing, but also their hearts?

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Lying to the Holy Spirit


 

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