Acts 5:1-11

Lying to the Holy Spirit

Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of land, but decided to only lay a portion of the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. Ash notes that the same word translated "kept back," is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Joshua 7:1 when describing the sin of Achan in taking of the accursed thing. Both instances seem to have arisen because of greed. Peter said Satan had filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Spirit. Because the apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit, pretending to give all the money from the sale of the land to the apostles was tantamount to lying to the Spirit. Coffman actually says this event threatened the credibility of the apostles' speech. Since they claimed to be speaking through the Spirit, failure to see through this ruse would have brought their word into question. The amount of the gift was not the problem, as Peter said, the land was theirs to do with as they pleased. The problem arose when they tried to deceive God as to the size of the gift. Ananias, upon hearing Peter's words, fell down dead. This resulted in great fear coming upon all who heard about the incident. Young men wrapped Ananias' body and took it out to be buried (Acts 5:1-6).

Three hours later, an unsuspecting Sapphira also came before Peter. He asked her if they had sold the land for the amount Ananias had laid at the apostles' feet. When she said that the amount named was correct, Peter knew they had conspired to deceive or, as he said, test the "Spirit of the Lord," who is also described in this story as the Holy Spirit and God (see Acts 5:3-4). He asked her why they had taken this action and told her the men who had buried her husband's body would also bury her. Sapphira fell down at Peter's feet, died and was carried out by the same young men to be buried beside her husband. This awe inspiring event moved the church, or called out, and any others who heard the report to fear. Not only the deaths, but also God's ability to know the intents of the hearts of the conspiring couple ought to cause anyone to think twice before trying to deceive God (Acts 5:7-11).

Acts 5:12-16

More Miracles

God continued to work miracles through the inspired apostles. The united church continued to assemble on Solomon's porch. Though those outside of the church had been moved to fear, they did not dare to join the number of believers. However, they did hold the Christians in high esteem and increasing numbers of those who believed on Jesus were added to the Lord. Significantly, those believers were both men and women. Remember, there is no difference between men and women in Christ, all can find salvation (Galatians 3:26-29).

People were so impressed with the way God worked through the apostles that they brought their sick out into the streets. In this way, Peter could see them and stop to heal them as he passed by, or, at least, his shadow would fall on them. Whether they were actually healed by the shadow of Peter passing over them, one cannot tell from the text. Others even came from surrounding towns bringing those who were sick or possessed by an evil spirit. All were healed by the power of God working through the apostles (Acts 5:12-16).