Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 5:1

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

1. But a certain man ] It is not by way of contrast that the story of Ananias is put side by side with that of Barnabas, therefore much stress is not to be laid on the word But. Act 5:36 of the last chapter begins, in the original, with the same conjunction, and it is often employed in narratives where only a simple connection of clauses is intended. Thus, Act 8:1-3, the same conjunction occurs four times over without any adversative sense.

named Ananias ] The name was common. See Act 9:10-17; Act 23:2; Act 24:1. It is the same as Hananiah, Jer 28:1; Dan 1:6-7, &c., where it is the Hebrew name of Shadrach. which is spelt Ananias in the “ Benedicite,” and that form of the name is found Tob 5:12 . It signifies “one to whom Jehovah has been gracious.”

with Sapphira his wife ] A name probably derived from the name of the precious stone sapphire, which word is found both in Hebrew and Greek.

sold a possession ] The word may signify either lands, or buildings, or any kind of property. It is the word used of the young man who went away sorrowful from Jesus “for he had great possessions,” Mat 19:22; Mar 10:22. The LXX. use it of vineyards (Hos 2:15).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Act 5:1-11. Account of Ananias and Sapphira

The narrative with which this chapter commences is one which none but a veracious narrator would have inserted where it stands. The last chapter concludes with a description of the unity of heart and soul which prevailed among the brethren, and expressly notices that all were filled with the Holy Ghost. But as among the twelve Apostles there was a Judas, so into the infant Church there had intruded two at least whose professions were not sincere, and who were unworthy of the gifts of grace which, with the rest, they had received. The offence of Ananias and Sapphira shewed contempt for God, vanity and ambition in the offenders, and utter disregard of the corruption which they were bringing into the society. Such sin, committed in despite of the light which they possessed, called for a special mark of Divine indignation, and to those who, likewise filled with the Spirit, knew all that had been done and why it was done, there is no shock produced by the terrible doom of the sinners, nor any language employed in the narration but the simplest and plainest. A late-compiled story would have enlarged and spoken apologetically on the reasons for such a judgment, and would not have presented us with a bare recital of facts without comment.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

But a certain man – In the previous chapter the historian had given an account of the eminent liberality and sincerity of the mass of early Christians, in being willing to give up their property to provide for the poor, and had mentioned the case of Barnabas as worthy of special attention. In this chapter he proceeds to mention a case, quite as striking, of insincerity, and hypocrisy, and of the just judgment of God on those who were guilty of it. The case is a remarkable instance of the nature of hypocrisy, and goes to illustrate the art and cunning of the enemy of souls in attempting to corrupt the church, and to pervert the religion of the gospel. Hypocrisy consists in an attempt to imitate the people of God, or to assume the appearance of religion, in whatever form it may be manifested. In this case religion had been manifested by great self-denial and benevolence. The hypocrisy of Ananias consisted in attempting to imitate this in appearance, and to impose in this way on the early Christians and on God.

With Sapphira his wife – With her concurrence or consent. It was a matter of agreement between them, Act 5:2, Act 5:9.

Sold a possession – The word used here ktema does not indicate whether this was land or some other property. In Act 5:3, however, we learn that it was land that was sold; and the word here translated possession is translated in the Syriac, Arabic, and the Latin Vulgate as land. The pretence for which this was sold was doubtless to have the appearance of religion. That it was sold could be easily known by the Christian society, but it might not be so easily known for how much it was sold. Hence, the attempt to impose on the apostles. It is clear that they were not under obligation to sell their property. But, having sold it for the purposes of religion, it became their duty, if they professed to devote the avails of it to God, to do it entirely, and without any reservation.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 5:1-11

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.

Ananias and Sapphira

The word Ananias means grace of God; and the word Sapphira signifies just a sapphire, the familiar jewel of brilliance and beauty. We should suppose these two people had an unusually bright prospect in the outset. Somebody there was who loved them enough to give them very fine names when they were little. Ananias lied; then it was that the grace of God went out of him for ever. Sapphira lied; when a woman loses the truth, it is as if the last light went out of a sapphire. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Ananias and Sapphira

Hitherto all has been progress and triumph. Faith has become enthusiasm. Earth caught the colouring, yea, the very life of heaven. Private ownership was swallowed up by social beneficence, and little restrictions and classifications were swept away by a generosity akin to the love of God. Now we come upon another aspect of affairs. We find a twist in the golden thread. The whole thing must come to a stop until this be rectified. Think of the Church standing still, though glowing with the enthusiasm of love, until judgment be satisfied! Why not treat the offence as a trifling one? Why not pass it over without notice? Because the Church is called unto holiness, and sin must ever bring down the anger and judgment of God. From the conduct of these people we see–

I. The vital difference between the spirit and the fashion of Christianity. We might say between a principle and a mere rule. Ananias tried to be a Christian from the outside. He put the hands of the clock to the right time, but left the mainspring broken and the pendulum still

1. We may imitate Christ, and yet not know Him after the spirit.

2. We may mingle with Christians, and yet know nothing of the spiritual power of Christianity. The incident says, Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

II. The fatal temptation to give the part as the whole. Observe not the part instead of the whole: not to give the part distinctly and avowedly as the part; but to give it as if it were really all. This is illustrated–

1. In speaking half-heartedly as if sincerely.

2. In giving a small contribution as if it exhausted our resources. I cannot afford more, is the chief lie of the Church.

3. In concealing our convictions by using words with various meanings.

4. In having outward associations which do not express the whole tendency and trust of the heart.

5. In modifying vows according to changes in circumstances–young man dedicating himself to the ministry: young tradesman vowing to consecrate his property: young Christian vowing to offer a solemn testimony for Christ.

III. The concealed sin as well as the public iniquity will be followed by the judgment of God. Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?

1. There is vet to be a reading of hearts.

2. Not only what we have done, but what we have left undone is to be judged.

3. Sins which apparently do no harm to society are to be punished. The voice of the judgment is, The wages of sin is death.

Application—

1. The Church is to be holy.

2. Though hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished.

3. Discipline is of greater consequence than numbers.

4. The Christian power which heals one man destroys another. Contrast the cripple with Ananias. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Ananias and Sapphira

The apostolic Church had been welded into a remarkable unity of experience and purpose. All hours and places seemed filled with the presence of God. Men had forgotten their selfishness, and lived for each other and their Lord. Pentecost and millennium were apparently but a little way and a short time apart; and then suddenly, like lightning from a clear sky, came the crime of Ananias and Sapphira. The Church was the Church militant, and not triumphant, after all. The Judas among the apostles had, and was to continue to have, his descendants. The Church in the world was to be crippled and compromised by the world in the Church. The transaction was typical and the narrative suggestive. Notice, then–

I. The character of the sin. It was not simple falsehood. Misrepresentation, deceit, lying, in the ordinary affairs of life, are evils of incalculable magnitude; but this sin was the attempt to deceive and defraud God. In the fervour of their new-born faith and experience, men were parting with their property, and consecrating the price of it to Christ and His Church. Ananias and Sapphira had seen enough of the new religion to wish to be numbered among its followers; so they plotted to buy discipleship at a cheaper rate than their neighbours. In this they thought that they were measuring their business capacity against the business ignorance of Peter; in fact, they were trying to deceive the eyes that look through eternity. Many a man since has ventured upon the same experiment, In every community there are some who are convinced of the worth of religion, and outwardly unite with the Church. Neither their conduct nor their neglect is such as to subject them to discipline; and yet they are far from having made a complete surrender of themselves to God. Their religious life is a compromise. The bulk of their time and energy is devoted to self and the world; the dust and sweepings are offered to God. Fingers that glisten with diamonds drop dimes into the contribution-box. Luxuries are cheerfully paid for; but poverty and prudence are urged as excuses for mere pittances towards the cause of God. Ananias in broadcloth and Sapphira in silk Sit in the churches every sabbath, trying to cheapen the bargain with God, and cheating as well, by offering less than complete surrender.

II. The origin of the sin. In general it was due to an evil heart, but its specific root was the love of money.

1. Ananias and Sapphira, while they were not averse to the reputation of having made great sacrifices for the gospel, could not give up the pleasure of feeling that they had property; and so, as avaricious people, they kept back part of the price.

2. Perhaps they desired to have the means of purchasing more luxuries than were enjoyed by those who had all things in common; and so, as selfish people, they kept back part of the price.

3. Not impossibly, they were uncertain as to the permanence of this new faith, whose collapse would leave them without means of support; and so, as prudent people, they kept back part of the price. In our day, when men are called to choose between piety and property, there are many who prevaricate, and end with a compromise. The great aggressive enterprises of the Church are crippled for lack of financial support, and yet a very considerable portion of the wealth of Christian lands is in the hands of professed disciples. They are prodigal in their prayers and hymns and exhortations, but close-handed with their money. Like the tree in the ancient legend, which uttered a moan and bled whenever a twig was broken off, they writhe when forced to give for the glory of God and the salvation of men. The old poison of avarice is still in the veins of the Church; and Christ is dishonoured, and thousands perish, because so many, who call themselves His followers, keep back part of the price.

III. The discovery of the sin. It seemed unlikely that the transaction would be made public. The land was probably sold to some one outside the company. Ananias and Sapphira would not circulate the story of what they had done. But there was an uncalculated factor in the equation. It affected the kingdom of God, as well as the real estate market. It was fair dealing as between man and man; as between man and God it was fraud, and so it was sure to be discovered. It is a truth which men are slow to learn, that there is a Divine detective system in the universe. It is easy to deceive the world. Men may consider us generous, when in reality we are pinched in our charities; they may call us self-sacrificing, when in fact self-pleasing is the sovereign motive of our lives; they may esteem us devout, when we are cold and formal: but what is our trickery worth, so long as there is One that knows us altogether? Dionysius constructed a prison, so that he could hear all that was said by the prisoners, and so made them self-accusers in the day of their trial. To God this world is one vast whispering-gallery, and every sin which men commit reports itself to Him. What a wonderful day that will be when the secrets of all hearts are made known! Men ought always to live as in the light of the Great White Throne.

IV. The punishment of the sin.

1. It was startling and severe. One moment Ananias and Sapphira stood before the apostle in the flush of life and health, with the lie upon their lips; She next they were in eternity, beginning the experience of its unchanging awards. The penalty might be judged extreme for a single sin: but

(1) At the outset of the Christian Church it was important to emphasise the fact that the liberty of the gospel was not license.

(2) More than that, the sin itself was significant. As the single blossom is evidence whether the stock is weed or flower, so this action was proof of a heart alienated from God. Grace is ample in its provisions, but strict in its conditions. The Redeemer will have the whole of men, or He will have none of them. Every branch that beareth not fruit, He taketh away.

2. It was anticipative and representative. The judgment continues to be executed. Men now who attempt to defraud God are not beaten down as with a lightning-stroke; but, all the same, they die spiritually. (Monday Club Sermons.)

Deception exposed and punished

I. Impious deception.

1. The possession devoted. Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession (Act 4:34; Act 5:1; Lev 27:28; Ecc 5:4).

2. The part kept back (Mal 3:8; Jos 7:11; Joh 12:6; 1Ti 6:10).

3. Counterfeit benevolence. Lessons:

(1) Has as its motive the praise of men rather than the approval of God.

(2) Aims chiefly at making a big impression upon people.

(3) Aims to give in such a way as shall most advertise the donor.

(4) Always tries to get credit for giving more than it actually does.

II. Immediate detection.

1. The source of the sin (Act 5:3; Joh 13:27; Eph 4:27; Jam 4:7).

2. The inexcusableness of the sin (Act 5:4; Lev 1:3; Exo 25:2; 2Co 9:7).

3. The nature of the sin. Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Psa 51:4; Gen 39:9; Luk 15:21). Lessons:

(1) Sin is suggested by Satan.

(2) No sin is unavoidable–Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie?

(3) Sin is inexcusable–no one can plead compulsion.

(4) Sin is never concealed from the eyes of God.

(5) Sin is not so much a trespass against men, as a trespass against God.

III. Instant death.

1. Ananias.

(1) The judgment. Fell down and gave up the ghost (chap. 13:11; Num 16:32; 2Ki 1:12).

(2) The effect. Great fear (Lev 10:3; Num 16:34; Deu 13:11).

(3) The burial (Lev 10:5; 2Sa 18:17; Joh 19:40).

2. Sapphira.

(1) Her examination (Rev 2:21; 2Pe 3:9).

(2) Her sin pointed out (Pro 11:21; Exo 17:7; 1Co 10:9).

(3) Her sentence (Pro 19:9; Psa 55:23; Job 31:3; Pro 29:1).

3. The great fear (Psa 111:10; Mat 10:28; Php 2:12). Lessons:

(1) Judgment may tarry, but it is sure to come at the last as a lightning stroke.

(2) In the day of judgment all hypocrites will be exposed.

(3) Judgment is not pronounced until opportunity for repentance is given.

(4) Judgment upon one or two often is mercy to the many.

(5) The judgments of God upon iniquity should cause a wholesome fear of the Lord.

(6) The judgments of God are to be feared by the workers of iniquity. There are limits even to His forbearance. (Sunday School Times.)

Ananias and Sapphira

I. The sin. It was of no common magnitude. If we consider the circumstances we shall find–

1. That this falsehood was an imposition on the society with which Ananias was himself connected.

2. That it was designed to defraud the apostles and the whole Church.

3. That he could plead no appearance of external temptation.

4. That his purpose was veiled under the pretence of religious principles.

5. That his sin was deliberately and presumptuously directed against tim Holy Spirit of God.

II. The punishment.

1. It was death.

2. It was inflicted without warning.

3. It immediately followed the presumptuous transgression.

4. It produced great fear upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard of it.

III. Reflections.

1. That men may enjoy high advantages, may make a fair profession of religion, and may obtain admission to its most sacred external privileges, and yet may remain slaves to vicious dispositions, and strangers to the fear of God. Other examples we have in Cain, Esau, and Judas.

2. That men may travel far in the journey of lifE before they meet with those peculiar circumstances which are fitted to discover and display their true characters. So it was with Balaam, Hazael, and Judas.

3. How corrupting, enslaving, debasing is the spirit of avarice (Pro 21:26; 1Ti 6:9-10).

4. The encroaching nature of sinful principles and dispositions. Covetousness led to deliberate, aggravated falsehood and fraud, and to impiety so presumptuous as to provoke the immediate judgment of God. One transgression of the Divine law renders others in some degree necessary, and at the same time renders the mind blind to the sad consequences that must result from them.

5. The odious nature and pernicious tendency of the vices of lying, fraud, and hypocrisy (Pro 6:16; Pro 6:19; Hab 2:9; Jer 22:13; Mal 1:14).

Conclusion: The fearful punishment of these two false disciples leads to the consideration of–

1. The omniscience of God. No human eye saw Cain murder his brother. Gehazi flattered himself that he was perfectly secure from detection. Ananias and Sapphira had no doubt prepared their plan with all possible secrecy; but they all forgot that all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

2. How tremendous is the power of God over His creatures! He can bestow life, and He can withdraw it at His pleasure (Deu 32:39). (H. Thomson, D. D.)

Ananias and Sapphira

The sin and punishment of this pair of hypocrites present the first trace of a shade on the bright form of the young Church. As in Eden the enemy could not assert his evil sway in his proper form, so in his efforts in the Church he assumed a guise suited to effect his purpose–the guise of goodness. K foe within is more to be dreaded than a foe without. But no sooner did evil reveal itself within the Christian circle than the Spirit detected and judged it. The word but put the conduct of Ananias and his wife in sharp contrast with that of Barnabas. Matthew Henry calls it the melancholy but. We pass suddenly from the warm sunshine of the son of consolation to the gloom of hypocrisy and fraud. Evil is often a close neighbour to good. The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. How near to each other are chaff and wheat! but the chaff is not wheat, and is finally separated from it. Teaching by opposites is an impressive method of instruction.

I. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Lying unto the Holy Ghost. In verses 3 and 4 the personality and deity of the Spirit are asserted in an incidental way. Peter varies the charge of lying to the Spirit in the third verse to lying to God in the fourth. It is noteworthy that a similar exchange of expression occurs in Psa 78:36 –lied unto Him, and verse 41, tempted God. Num 14:1-45. clearly show that the righteous judgment which Israels lying to God and tempting Him provoked was quite analogous to this of Ananias and Sapphira. Their case was aggravated far beyond that of Simon Magus or of Elymas. It resembles more closely that of Nadab and Abihu, of Achan and of Gehazi (Lev 10:1-20.; Jos 7:1-26.; 2Ki 5:20-27), but was more criminal, because committed against greater light and intensified by a more preferred hypocrisy. Let us note some of its aggravations.

1. Their act was gratuitous.

2. It was marked by covetousness.

3. Unbelief also entered into their guilt.

(1) They distrusted God. Suppose this community of goods should become exhausted, what then?

(2) There was the feeling that they would not and could not be detected in their deed.

4. The sin was preconcerted. They agreed together to deceive the Church and the Spirit in the Church. The plan was concocted deliberately and dispassionately.

5. The devils agency in the sin. The question why implies that resistance to Satans influence had been possible. Ananias is addressed, not as a helpless creature whom the enemy had made his tool, but as one who had made him his partner and abettor. Filled thine heart means something more than to suggest or to encourage; it means affections engrossed and will dominated.

II. Their punishment. It was instantaneous. As their sin challenged both the omniscience and justice of God, He at once vindicated the holiness and majesty of His character. But why were these persons so swiftly and severely judged? Have not men lied to God since? Let these points be noted–

1. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was peculiarly heinous and odious.

2. At their death great fear came upon all. To produce this was doubtless one of the objects intended. It was important also as a permanent testimony against similar offences in every age of the Church.

3. This judgment connects with Gods dispensational ways. At the opening of an economy a standard is established designed to characterise the entire period. At the beginning any gross departure is immediately punished. The first sabbath-breaker, the trespass of Nadab and Abihu at the first founding of the priesthood, and that of Achan at the first entrance into Canaan, were punished with death. Such inflictions are at the start the exhibition of Gods thoughts as to what the economy should be. Nothing false, hypocritical, or presumptuous is to be tolerated in it.

III. The lessons.

1. The Divine abhorrence of prevarication. If falsehood kindle among men the deepest resentment, what must be Gods feelings toward the hypocrite?

2. The certainty of the exposure of hypocrisy. All that is required is some pressure. Be sure your sin will find you out

3. Religious enthusiasm without grace is dangerous. People run fearful risks when they profess more than their spiritual strength can carry. In times of great religious excitement men pledge themselves to what they cannot fulfil. Or remarkable experiences are claimed; then trials are encountered, and failure succeeds. Pride forbids the acknowledgment of failure; professions are as loud as ever. And for all this there is no basis in fact–it is a mere mask to hide the true state of the heart. How much safer and nobler is the honest confession of a breakdown than such loud and hollow protestations! (W. G. Moorehead, D. D.)

Ananias and Sapphira–the enormity of religious pretension

I. The sin generating-power of avarice. The love of money is the root of all evil.

II. An undue attention to public sentiment. Ananias and Sapphira, without any heart sympathy with the community of goods, professed to adopt it because it was popular. They wished to appear as good as others, and did outwardly that for which they had no real respect.

III. A spiritual connection with the evil one. He is a liar and the father of it.

IV. Religious contributions regarded as crime (verse 4). There was no necessity for them to give it. God does not want our property except as it expresses our loving loyalty. Better far to hold money as a miser than to give it if the heart does not go with it. Gifts to pacify conscience or for display, or to get it back with interest, is an insult to Omniscience. Great contributions may be great sins.

V. A deliberate attmept to impose upon God and His Church (verse 9).

VI. A solemn display of Divine displeasure. Conclusion:

1. Social benevolence is the law of Christianity.

2. The tendency to depravity is to counterfeit goodness.

3. Satans influence is no palliation of mans crime.

4. Hypocrisy must one day be unmasked and punished. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The sin and the doom of Ananias and Sapphira

Note–

I. A particular state of things occasioned by peculiar and temporary circumstances. Many who were strangers in Jerusalem would wish to remain; many would be detained longer than they anticipated; there might be serious consequences to some of them in relation to the synagogue, and they might be in danger of the confiscation of their goods; and perhaps there was an impression that the time was nigh when Christ would come, and when all property would cease. But, along with that, there was the gush of new feeling filling their hearts under the influence of their new faith. And so they clung to one another as really members one of another; and they showed it in this way. But–

1. It was never laid down by the apostles as a principle of the Church. This is distinctly stated by Peter. It was necessary, however, for money to be got. The most spiritual society and plans cannot go on without money. Here were many who at this time, and as public men, could not be doing anything, and many who were likely to be drawn into difficulty through their new faith; and the easiest and simplest way, to men who were not political economists, was just to throw the money into a common fund, and to live upon that as long as they could. But it is evident from the Epistles that it never was taught as a part of Christianity, for they recognise differences of rank and circumstance, and they do not call upon the rich to throw everything into a common fund. They prescribe appropriate duties to rich and poor, but they do not say that these distinctions are to be done away. Christianity is not so absurd a thing. If it were a matter of positive obligation upon a Christian to part with private property because wrong in itself, terrible consequences would follow. If it is wrong in me to have house or land, it is wrong for me to sell it to anybody else. True, indeed, you may come in with the idea that it is wrong for a Christian to have these things, and that a Christian (or a church) is to sell house and land. But are you going to doom a part of the earth to be eternally the world–unbelievers, to whom you will sell these things? Let us remember that the gospel is intended to be universal, and that you are not to lay down as a positive duty of the Church anything which all men cannot do. And all men cannot do this. As long as the earth lasts, there will be the land and fields and houses and private possessions; and if Christianity is to be a thing filling the earth, depend upon it, it never can do that if all people are to part with their possessions. Why, if Christianity is to be universal, the time will come when there will be nobody to buy. I do not think, therefore, that this is laid down as an obligation, or intended to be permanent, or that it involves in it a fixed principle that can become universal

2. It should, however, be remembered that a strong religious faith will bring Divine and eternal things very close to a man; and under its deep influence he will learn to hold cheaply the possessions of time, feeling that he knows not at what hour the Son of Man may come, when he must pass away from these things if they do not pass away from him.

3. Christians are to feel that they are members one of another, and that if one member suffers others must sympathise. But then the principle should be carried out fully; all men should remember that they are called upon to do this. And in this way the operation and influence of institutions and laws and habits are to be looked at and regarded, and everything which will operate with any crushing power upon a part of society; and the principle of pure humanity and Christian feeling should lead men to take out of the way what will injure a brother, and to impart of their substance and their sympathy for the promotion of universal happiness and tranquillity and comfort.

4. There are extraordinary times and circumstances when very extraordinary things may be required. There may be times when a peculiar and extraordinary call shall be made upon the liberality of the Church. And men in the Church may feel themselves called to a peculiar vocation; they may feel that God is urging them by His providence to the fulfilment of a mission for which they must free themselves from any entanglement. Barnabas had land, and he sold it, and he stood from that time forth a poor man, resting upon the Church; but then he was free to go anywhere–and he did go, fulfilling a mission to mankind. But you cannot make that universal with respect to all men.

II. This state of things became a snare to Ananias and Sapphira, and led them into sin. I daresay a public opinion sprung up among Christians, and perhaps they might look rather coldly upon those that did not do what others were doing. I daresay there was some kind of distinction thrown about those who were conspicuous for sympathy of this sort. And it made Ananias and his wife wish for the distinction without being willing to pay the price for it. And so they agreed to sell their property, and to lay down a part of the price, pretending it was the whole, and then to stand there as if they had stripped themselves, and to be claimants upon the common fund. This sin had some tremendous aggravations. Note–

1. The hypocrisy of the whole procedure. They were pretending, of course, to be moved by a Divine influence; to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit; pretending to give a sacred thing, Corban, given up for the service of God and of His people–and yet they were not doing it. And it was to get an odour of sanctity.

2. The deliberateness of it. It was not a thing done upon sudden temptation. They had their object; they formed their plan; they determined upon it, and went about its execution. When they met again, could they pray? Oh! what an extinction there must be of everything like personal and conjugal piety when they rose up to do this thing! Ah! when men agree together to do a great sin, all religious exercises, religious intercourse are gone.

3. The public lie to the apostles in the presence of such of the Church as might be standing round, to the apostles as the ministers of God, to God Himself in the apostles by His Holy Spirit. There was the determination thus to tell this lie, and there was the performance of it up to the last point.

4. The dishonesty that would be involved in the after conduct of this man, in his taking (as he would) his share from the common fund, as if he had given up all, and yet he had secreted this something upon which he could fall back. The man had no faith; he could not trust God, nor the Church, nor the apostles of God; and yet he pretended to do it.

5. The source of the sin, which was his giving way to the suggestions of the devil. Why hath Satan filled thine heart? And there was the consummation of Satanic suggestion–his presenting the fruit of it to the Church as if it was the result and work of the Spirit of God; for he stood there, not as doing a common act, but as doing a thing which was pre-eminently the fruit of the Spirit, and yet it was the fruit and the suggestion of the devil–as he might have known.

III. The punishment.

1. It was extreme and instantaneous. It was not a moderate act of discipline; the extreme penalty was inflicted in a moment. He was not put away–afforded time for confession and prayer, repentance and return, but he was struck dead as with lightning from heaven. A terrible thing this must have been. Only think of the members of the Church gathered about the apostles, and Ananias coming in with this money in his hand. Perhaps it might have been a considerable sum. Think of the feeling with which he was looked at by the poor and afflicted members of the Church; how they were gazing upon him, and thinking what an act of munificence it was, what a trophy to Divine grace, what a glorious manifestation of the power of faith and of religion and of God upon this mans heart; and in a moment Peter strips him, and God strikes him dead.

2. Observe that Peter merely charges him with the sin, accuses him, puts it to his conscience, and the-man trembles and falls. Peter did not inflict the punishment; Peter had no more power to strike him dead than I have to strike any of you dead. The apostles were not so put in possession of omnipotence. In every instance where omnipotence was put forth, it was not man that wielded it; it was God. The volition of the Divine Mind went through the man, and that did it. It was not the man Peter–aye, and it was not the priest Peter (as some would be disposed to think). We will leave to other priests the pretension to this power; we will leave to the Pope the pretension that he makes to employ the secular sword because Peter did it. We say it was not Peter that did it; it was God employing Peter. Let us see it so done again; and if the Pope with a glance of his eye can strike a man dead, let him do it if he likes; but no priest, no pope is to claim secular power if all that they can do is to fulminate their curses or to put us into gaol. When Sapphira comes, Peter goes further, and he tells her that she shall die, which he had not told her husband. I think the difference results from this–that Peter himself had had a revelation made to him.

3. There is every reason to fear that this outward visible punishment was but the prelude of utter separation from God–the condemnation of both. We can hardly suppose that there was an act of forgiveness at the very same moment with this act of indignation, and that while these persons were sinking down dead under the expression of the Divine anger their souls were in that state that they could be received to the Divine bosom–meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

4. Things like these should make us very careful how we push short, general statements too far and erect too much upon a particular statement. It is said, The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Ananias and Sapphira were a part of that multitude. Was this the one heart and one soul that was diffused through them all? God forbid. It is said, The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. He added these; is this a specimen? They were either converted, or they were not. If they were really converted, and added to the Church, this is the issue; a dreadful fall. Or they were not converted, and yet added by an outward profession; and then they were not in that state in which they could be ultimately saved. Let us not build too much upon a single expression. They might as a whole be of one heart and of one soul, but there might be many exceptions; the mass of those that were added to the Church might be truly converted, but there might be exceptions.

5. The intention of such a punishment as this.

(1) It was a strong manifestation of Gods condemnation of hypocrisy in religion–saying one thing and meaning another–religious pretence, profession, without religion in the heart. God can do without your money, but He cannot do without your heart. If you profess to be His, you must be a reality.

(2) Perhaps it might be intended also as a kind of guard and protection to the Church, to keep the Church from being increased and enlarged under the influence of motives that might arise from the temporary state of things in it–motives which might be connected with the casting of themselves upon the fund of the Church. God would rather keep the Church small, if it might be kept pure, than enlarge it by those who might come in from questionable motives and with questionable intents.

(3) Another thing would be to produce a salutary awe upon the minds of the Church. Great fear came upon all the Church. At the beginning of that He came forth with this majestic demonstration of His presence in order to make them feel how holy He was, and how purely and spiritually He was to be worshipped.

Lessons:

1. While extraordinary proceedings in the ancient Church cannot be literally precedents to us, there may be a principle in them worth following. The conduct of the Church is not a precedent to us with respect to property, but yet there is a principle in it, showing how Christians ought to feel with respect to being members one of another. So with respect to the conduct of the apostle, and the manner in which God interfered through him; that cannot be literally imitated, but that is no reason why there should not be discipline and an anxiety to preserve the fellowship of the faithful such as a Christian fellowship ought to be.

2. The seriousness that there is about a religious profession. I suppose none of you would like to be denied the name of Christian. Now I do not ask you what you are giving or professing to give to God, but I wish you to ask yourselves what you are keeping back. Some of you give your bodily attendance–your ear, eye, attention. Where is your heart? Are you keeping that back? and will this be acceptable? Some of you are giving your intellect; are you keeping back your affections? Some of you are professing publicly, like Ananias and Sapphira, to give up all by the manner in which you are associated with the Christian Church. What are you keeping back? Those of you that are rich in this world–what are you keeping back of that which the Church needs? In a world like this, in the movements of the Church, this great missionary institution (and that is the proper idea of the Church, moving onward until it embrace the world), money must be had. God must have your money. How much are you keeping back? What driblets are the donations connected with religious societies compared to what some of them might be! And God has His eye upon that which is kept back as well as that which is given. Ah! there are some rich men in the Church who might dread indeed if Jesus Christ were to say, I will come unto you; if He were to come with the purpose of going over all their documents, and looking at all their books, and examining all their accounts, and seeing the actual state of their affairs, and marking and pointing out how accumulation was going on after accumulation, and if He were to look them in the face, and say, Well, now, after all this, what is it you do for Me? I give you all this; it is all Mine; by a waive of My hand I could deprive you of it to-morrow–every bit of it; and I entrust it to you; you are My steward; do you keep anything back?

3. Even the honours, distinctions, reputation, that may be to be possessed or acquired in Gods Church are things that are to be jealously watched lest they become temptations to sin.

4. The perfect confidence that Peter must have had in his own honesty when he acted in this way. If he did not thoroughly believe the resurrection, then he was a false witness for God, and the apostle, standing up and accusing these persons of lying to the Holy Ghost, would himself be the great incarnation of a far worse lie. I think that impossible.

5. The devil cannot fill your heart and lead you into sin unless you let him. (T. Binney.)

The beacon–Ananias

1. The case of Barnabas and that of Ananias sprang from the same movement and illustrate the same principles, yet they are reciprocally opposites. It is as necessary to moor a buoy over a rock or sand-bank as to show a light in a line with the safe entrance to the harbour. Barnabas is a light at the pier head; Ananias buoys a rock where many have perished, and warns the mariner from the place of doom. Both examples are useful. We may reap profit alike from the truth of the true and from the lie of the false. When our Lord taught His disciples how to pray, He placed near the humble suppliant of mercy a solemn hypocrite. When He taught the blessedness of pressing in while the door was open, He taught also how dreadful it is to be, even by a little, too late. This dual method is adopted everywhere in Scripture to enforce moral lessons. In morals as well as in physics you exert greater power when you apply an attraction on one side and a pressure on the other.

2. But a certain man. The little word but is the hinge on which great issues turn, e.g., The righteous is cast away in his iniquity, but the righteous hath trope in his death. The door that swings on this sharp pivot opens and shuts the way of life. Sometimes, as here, it turns from light to darkness, and sometimes from darkness to light.

3. The deep, sad cause of the conduct before us was the stirring of the religious emotions without a corresponding quickening of the moral sense. There may be much devotion of a certain kind where honesty, truth, or purity is feebly rooted and liable to die out. It is often said in certain quarters that a non-professor is more trustworthy than a professor, the common fallacy of magnifying a few glaring examples into a general law. If those who count that all piety is a mask worn to gain an end would only think, they would find that their theory destroys itself. Because honest men seem to be religious people trust them. But if it were the common rule that religious men were dishonest, they would cease to obtain credit; it would not pay a villain to assume religion, and when it ceased to pay he would cease to assume it. So the argument goes to prove that pious men, as a rule, are honest; and yet there is truth in the calumny, and because of this it lives. Apart from conscious scoundrels there are those who, although moved in a period of religious fervour, have not acquired a proper sense of the binding character of the Ten Commandments. The Anti-nomian is not a dried fossil in tomes of polemical theology; he is a living species. But true believers need not faint. Tares grow up with the wheat, but the wheat prevails even here, and at the end the separation will be complete and eternal. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

Ananias and Sapphira–Lessons of the narrative

I. It is vain to expect that in this world the Church will ever be perfectly pure. I mean not only that imperfections will always adhere to the members of the Church because there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not, but farther, that hypocrites will be found intermixed with the saints. The wheat and the chaff lie together on the barn floor. No precautions, however strict, can prevent their admission; no discipline, however vigorous, no doctrine, however faithful, will be able to expel them.

II. We ought to guard against the predominance of any sinful passion, whether it be avarice, ambition, sensuality, envy, pride, or any other lust of the flesh or of the spirit. As one sinner destroys much good, so one sin reigning in the heart counteracts the efficacy of the best means, and may carry us to a very great length in depravity. If the restraints of providence be removed, and a strong temptation be presented in favourable circumstances, it will precipitate us into such excesses as shall dishonour us in the eyes of men, and provoke God to pour out upon us the fury of His wrath.

III. Impenitent sinners are always in danger of perishing by the vengeance of heaven. Judgment, indeed, is Gods strange work, but it is a work which a regard to His glory sometimes calls upon Him to perform. And when one victim falls, it is impossible to tell who shall be the next. A sentence of death is passed upon all unbelievers, the execution of which is delayed only by the long-suffering and patience of God. Let not men presume upon His patience, for, although Divine, it has its limits, beyond which it will not extend (Isa 33:14).

IV. Let us, above all things, study to be sincere in religion. What will hypocrisy avail? Can our artifice impose upon God? (Heb 4:13). In vain did Ananias and Sapphira secretly concert their plan and assume the confidence of conscious integrity to quash any ,suspicion of their baseness. A good name, the esteem and friendly offices of Christians, and even worldly advantages, may be the recompense of dissimulation in this world, but what awaits it in the next? (Job 27:8). (J. Dick, A. M.)

The first sin

There is an old saying, The corruption of the best is worst. The better a thing is, the worse is its spoiling. The greater the elevation, the greater the fall. And this is true both of profession and of reality. When a man who has talked loudly is at length unmasked as an impostor, his exposure is more terrible than if he had never affected great virtue. And when a man who has felt the truth and power of religion is overtaken by the enemy, it is sometimes found that he gives himself over more entirely to the grasp of evil than one who had never known what it was to serve another master. We look upon this scene almost as we look upon mans original fall; we seem to be reading of a paradise regained, when we are suddenly shocked and startled by the narrative of a paradise for the second time forfeited. Observe from the narrative–

I. That there is such a thing as acting a falsehood.

1. Ananias did not expressly say that the sum was the whole price. It was his wife who told an express falsehood. Ananias only gave it to be understood. We have to do with a God of truth, and where truth is not, there in His sight is falsehood. We often think that, if we can avoid saying the exact opposite of the truth, it is enough. Learn, then, that wherever deception is, there is falsehood. And how many of our words are an attempt to steer dexterously between the truth and a lie!

2. But, even beyond this, there may be an acted falsehood. Ananias, witnessing the honest self-devotion of others. He, too, will seem to have counted all things but loss for Christ. Just as Barnabas brought the profits of his sale of land, so does Ananias bring his. Every one gives him credit, and he intends that they should do so, for a devotion which thinks only of things above, and a self-forgetfulness which cannot enjoy so long as others suffer. No word, it may be, is spoken, but the act itself says all this, and the doer intends that all this should be understood. Alas! how much of the conduct of many of us is indeed no better than an acted lie! How much is done to throw dust into the eyes of others as to our real motive, our real self! Even apart from the positive purpose of deceiving, how impossible it is to give others a true and just idea of us as we are! How does confession itself turn upon our lips into self-parade and boasting! It is so, perhaps, in mercy to others. We might draw others downwards if they saw how low are our own attainments; we might tempt them to acquiesce in imperfections against which God would have them struggle on in hope. God save us all from the falsehood of the tongue, and from the falsehood of the life, from the lie acted as well as from the lie spoken!

II. What an illustration have we here of the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. What made Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Ghost? Was the lust of money the wish to save something out of the surrender of their all to Christ? Thus it was that they lost both worlds, even by trying to gain both! What is it but the love of money which creates some of the most characteristic evils of society? I speak not now of that honourable industry in the business of a lawful calling, which is as much the duty as it ever can be the interest of a Christian. I speak of those precarious, adventurous, idle methods of gaining, upon which Gods blessing cannot be asked, and upon which Gods curse almost visibly rests. I speak of wants created by an expenditure habitually exceeding income, and supplied by the exorbitant profits of a single week in the year. I speak of examples set to the young of unlawful ventures, by which many a life has been drawn astray from the beginning, and many a hopeful career cut short by crime and infamy. I speak of a love of gain, which has made sons indifferent to a fathers command and a mothers happiness, reckless in destroying the inheritance of sisters, and at last regardless even of a countrys laws and the terrors of a wrath to come. Earnestly and affectionately would I warn the young of the fearful risks run by the first step into the region of chance.

III. What a responsibility is involved in being brought near to God as members of His Church! Well may this be recorded as the consequence of the fate of Ananias, that great fear came upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard these things. Yes, there is a reality in our connection with Christ which must tell upon us for good or for evil. These means of grace, these opportunities of worship, have a meaning, whether we will or no, and we ourselves are fearfully and wonderfully concerned in it. We must spend our lives, think our thoughts, speak our words, and do our acts, in the sight and hearing of God.

IV. How to cast out the fear of one another by the stronger and more impressive fear of God. Ananias and Sapphira committed this great sin in the hope of purchasing to themselves the good opinion of the Christian congregation to which they belonged. And they would have succeeded in this endeavour but for one consideration which they left out of sight. They would have succeeded in winning the esteem of man if they could only have kept God silent. And we also are daily tempted to live for the honour which comes to us from one another, and not for that honour which is of God only. When shall we give up this fatal habit of asking at each turn, What does the world say? what does the world do?–my world, I mean–the world of my family, my friends, my neighbourhood, and inquire rather, Is this right? Does Christ approve? Let me look up to Christ for direction. Let the whisper of His Spirit be my voice of admonition. And let me in all things thank the Lord for giving me warning. (Dean Vaughan.)

The first tare among the wheat

I. How the wicked one sows it.

II. How the Lord of the field plucks it out. (K. Gerok.)

Hypocrites appear after revivals

After a refreshing shower which has made all the flowers to smile till the teardrops of joy stand in their eyes, you will see your garden-paths spotted over with slugs and snails. These creatures lay concealed till the genial rain called them forth to make their slimy way towards, whatsoever they might devour. After this fashion revivals, of necessity, develop hypocrites; yet who would deplore the shower because of the snails, and who would rail at times of refreshing because mere pretenders are excited to make a base profession of a grace to which they are strangers? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Divine judgment on duplicity

The Church may defy the malice of her foes, but cannot afford to pass over faithlessness of professed friends. The Jews are borne with; hypocritical pretenders are visited with Divine vengeance. The sin here consisted in false pretence and misrepresentation.

I. The Church is not a pure, unmixed society of perfected believers. Members of the Apostolic Church fell into gross sin. Perfection is not to be looked for in the nursery or school. The Church is a training-ground of the immature, and yet men unreasonably expect perfection.

II. There is no absolute safety in the Church. There is danger necessarily involved in the weakness of all undeveloped life. The Church is not shielded from temptation. Wilfulness may lead to shipwreck of faith. New conditions of life involve new dangers. Let him that thinketh he standeth, etc.

III. Moral dangers may be increased by those who are nearest to us in the relationships of life. A man and his wife joined together in this sin. The perversion of family and social life to the degradation of spirits is not enough considered. If a husband induce his wife or a master his servant to violate conscience, neither need be surprised at reaping bitter fruit.

IV. Wilful sin persisted in by members of the Church involves them in dire and awful calamities. Whose fan is in His hand. (W. H. Davison.)

Ananias and Sapphira

Eden hardly puts forth its flowers before sin enters to cast a blight over everything. The Church is hardly founded before punishment falls on two of its members for their crimes. The fate of Ananias and Sapphira may seem hard. Their sin was not so heinous as some others that went unpunished.

I. Some considerations which serve to mitigate the seeming severity of the punishment.

1. The Church was in its infancy. Influences brought to bear upon it at that time were more effective than later on, when its character was more fixed. A sin was more consequential then. To have permitted Ananias and Sapphira to do wrong with impunity would have soon resulted in the corruption of the whole Church. An example must be made to deter others from repeating the sin.

2. The complete character of the sin is undescribed. Peter twice refers to it as a sin against the Holy Sprat (verses 3 and 9). This would suggest that the main element of the sin lay not in the external act, but in the condition of heart back of it. Sins are like icebergs–the larger part of them is unseen. We must not estimate the sinfulness of Ananias sin by its external impression upon us.

3. The Apostle Peter, in his relations with these unfortunate people, was under the immediate direction of the Holy Spirit. There was nothing of spitefulness or malice in Peters conduct. The will he obeyed was the will of another: The outcome was therefore due wholly to the immediate interposition of God.

4. All life is Gods, who gave it, and who may take it back to Himself whenever and in whatever manner He pleases without doing any injustice to any rights of the creature. That He took the lives of Ananias and Sapphira would have involved no injustice even if they had not sinned.

5. The loss of two lives was a means of saving many more. Others were deterred from sin.

II. The sin itself.

1. The action which turned out to be so wrong originated in a praiseworthy motive. To give up ones property in part or in whole for the helping of the other Christians was a noble sacrifice. The act was praiseworthy.

2. We are led to suspect, however, that their whole hearts were not set on this disinterested view of the matter. They felt the force of others example. The approbation of the Church which followed such gifts was worth securing. There was a considerable enthusiasm aroused in their hearts. They could anticipate the happiness of hearing others praise their noble giving. But their hearts were not truly in the gift. The act conveyed the idea of a higher type of feeling than they really had.

3. The difference of extent between his good feeling and the larger deed was at once filled up by another feeling, a bad feeling. How often in producing good actions are two quantities of diverse kinds thus at work!

4. In the heart of Ananias selfishness grew until it predominated, and correspondingly unselfishness diminished until it was outweighed. The formal act of benevolence of Ananias was a good act, but it was made bad by the preponderance of vanity among the feelings which led to it. He wanted to seem more generous than he truly was. There was more of vanity than benevolence in his gift. He sinned really, therefore, in doing what was formally good.

5. For his act was a falsehood. The two persons were not brought to death for telling a falsehood so much as for acting a falsehood. They pretended to be giving a whole estate when they were giving but a part of it.

6. Their act was purely voluntary. True, Peter recognises the agency of Satan in the matter (verse 3), but this is to be recognised in every sin. He is the tempter. He cannot compel us to sin; he can only suggest. Sin is null and void until of our own volition we affix our sign-manual to it.

7. Hence we are not surprised to find that Ananias and Sapphira were perfectly deliberate in their wrong-doing. Peter said to her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? (verse 9). That word agreed points to a plan. This is not an instance of a mans yielding to a furious onslaught of temptation when he has let himself be caught unprepared by it. Ananias and Sapphira show a fox-like shrewdness in their sinning. They planned it deliberately, and they carried out their plan. Their sin was not as light as it seems before we analyse it.

III. The bearings of their sin.

1. It immediately affected men. Ananias defrauded his fellows. By not doing as he declared he intended to do he was defrauding others of that which, to be sure, had once been his, but had now, by his own voluntary profession, passed out of his ownership. He virtually acted the part of a thief.

2. His sin was also against God. He lied to the Holy Ghost (verse 3); he tempted the Spirit of the Lord (verse 9). His soul was in a certain relation to God, and every sin of whatever character was a violation of that relation. We owe obedience to God. Duty is obligation heavenward. Sin, whatever it be in act, has its determining element in the heart. It is the hearts rebellion against its obligation to do the will of God. It is an offence against the sovereign Lord.

3. The two are identified; sin against man is sin against God. Ananias lied to the apostles; they were acting under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit. Whatever he did toward them he did toward the Spirit which was in them. A man who shoots a prince strikes at a kingdom. Whoever sins against a fellow-man aims a blow at God. Lying, stealing, adultery, murder, are sins against men, but at the same moment they are sins against God. God hides Himself, as it were, in humanity, so that what we do to men we do to God.

4. Ananias sin affected the Church. The importance of Ananias sin is raised to a higher power by the fact that it concerned the welfare of the Church of Christ. His punishment is interpreted by this special bearing of his sin. Sin is thus reduplicated. Every man has special functions and relations, and every sin committed against him passes on and has an unlimited reach in these relations. One man shoots another. He sins against that man. But he does more. He makes a wife a widow; he makes children fatherless; he bereaves parents, relatives, and friends; he removes a man from the community who has a special function in it; he offends against the whole commonwealth, against all humanity indeed. Oh, the awful reach of sin! No man liveth to himself, and no man sinneth to himself.

5. The sin returned upon Ananias and his wife, who connived with him, in terrible retribution. Its wages were paid to the last farthing. As these unfortunate people were carried out to burial how impressive the reply to the hearts question, Does sin pay?

6. Yet this affliction was made to bear good fruit under the providence of God. The effect on the Church was salutary. There were no more Ananiases.

IV. The inferences from this study.

1. Mans accountability for sin. Satan suggests it, but man accepts his suggestion and is responsible for the result.

2. The folly of sin. As we look at Ananias and his wife, with their silly vanity, they seem almost irrational. To sin is truly, according to the plain-spokenness of the Book of Proverbs, to be a fool. To escape it we must be made wise by God.

3. Sin reaches to God. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight, says the most heart-searching confession of sin ever penned.

4. The consequences of sin are more than we can anticipate–more as they develop after we have planted them in the field of the worlds life, more as they come back to us in the harvest of retribution.

5. Lying is an especially bad sin. So bad is it, that among sins which specifically exclude from heaven lying is particularly named. God is truth Himself. We are made to be like Him. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

Ananias and Sapphira

The question may be asked, Was not this punishment of Ananias and Sapphira too severe? No time was given for repentance; no opportunity was offered for them to consider their transgression, and to cry unto God for pardon. We may find answer to this inquiry, I think, in the following suggestions:–

1. Their sin was an aggravated one. Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God, were Peters words to Ananias. The peculiar enormity of their sin consisted in its being committed against the Holy Ghost. They knew of the Pentecostal gift; and now they come with a definitely settled purpose to deceive the Spirit of God in the persons of Gods chosen ones, thinking Him to be such a one as themselves. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that Ananias was not an ordinary believer, but a minister, and one that had received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the hundred and twenty. Yet he dared thus by dissembling to belie and shame that gift.

2. It was a deliberate sin. It was not committed as the result of a sudden temptation; but these two had consulted together about it, and had entered into a mutual agreement to work this deception upon the apostles and the Church. It was cold-blooded in every respect. There was apparently no necessity laid upon them by outward circumstances. Ananias shows himself to have been by deliberate choice a hypocrite.

3. Sin must have become the settled purpose of their lives. God does not pronounce condemnation unto death for an initial sin or for a series of sins. It is only when the soul becomes saturated with sin, when there is no longer hope of the mans bearing fruit unto righteousness, that God casts him off. It must have been a crisis in their inner lives marking the determination of their souls–a crisis not apparent to men, but open and plain to the eye of God.

4. The severity of this punishment may have been due in a measure to the conditions surrounding the Church at that early period. The Church was in its infancy. We may further learn from this lesson–

(1)That those who presume upon security and impunity in any sinful course are reckoning ignorantly and foolishly. Be sure your Sin will find you out.

(2) It is useless to bring half of self to God in consecration.

(3) The wheat and the tares ever grow together in the earthly Church. (G. C. Osgood.)

Ananias and Sapphira

I. The sins of Ananias and Sapphira. No sin stands alone.

1. There was love of praise.

2. There was covetousness, an inordinate love of money. They clung to their gold.

3. There was lying.

4. There was hypocrisy, the pretence of godliness where none existed.

II. The revelation of Gods character. Every Divine act is a revelation of God. What does this event show?

1. Gods omniscience. He saw the sin, though it was secret.

2. Gods impartiality. He deals with His followers no more leniently than with His enemies when they do wrong.

3. Gods justice.

4. Gods power.

III. The teachings concerning the Church.

1. Its high moral standard. The power of the Church is in its purity. The Church must be better than the world if it is to save the world.

2. Its human imperfection. Let us not expect all the people in the earthly Church to be perfect.

3. Its responsibility. The Church is held to a high account for its members, and must put away every branch which is known to be dead.

Ananias and Sapphira

A well-matched pair, alike in ambition and in falsehood, Ananias and Sapphira. There are thousands of ways of telling a lie. A mans whole life may be a falsehood, and yet never with his lips may he falsify once. There is a falsehood by look, by manner, as well as by lip. There are persons who are guilty of dishonesty of speech, and then afterward say may be, call it a white lie, when no lie is that colour. The whitest lie ever told was as black as perdition. There are those so given to dishonesty of speech that they do not know when they are lying. With some it is an acquired sin, and with others it is a natural infirmity. There are those whom you will recognise as born liars. Misrepresentation and prevarication are as natural to them as the infantile diseases, and are a sort of moral croup or spiritual scarlatina. Then there are those who in after-life have opportunities of developing this evil, and they go from deception to deception, and from class to class, until they are regularly graduated liars.

I. First of all, i speak of aguricultural falsehoods. There is something in the presence of natural objects that has a tendency to make one pure. The trees never issue false stock. The wheat-fields are always honest. Rye and oats never move out in the night, not paying for the place they occupy. Corn shocks never make false assignments. Mountain brooks are always current. The gold of the wheat-fields is never counterfeit. But, while the tendency of agricultural life is to make one honest, honesty is not the characteristic of all who come to the city markets from the country districts. You hear the creaking of the dishonest farm waggon in almost every street of our great cities, a farm waggon in which there is not one honest spoke or one truthful rivet from tongue to tailboard. The tendency in all rural districts is to suppose that sins and transgressions cluster in our great cities; but citizens and merchants long ago learned that it is not safe to calculate from the character of the apples on the top of the farmers barrel what is the character of the apples all the way down toward the bottom. Milk-cans are not always honest. The producer sometimes practically says to the merchant, You get your money easily, anyhow. Does he get it easily? Let those who get their living in the quiet farm and barn take the place of one of our city merchants, and see whether it is so easy. It is hard enough to have the hands blistered with outdoor work, but it is harder with mental anxieties to have the brain consumed. God help the merchants! And do not let those who live in country life come to the conclusion that all the dishonesties belong to city life.

II. I pass on to consider commercial lies. There are those who apologise for deviation from the right and for practical deception by saying it is commercial custom. In other words, a lie by multiplication becomes a virtue. There are large fortunes gathered in which there is not one drop of the sweat of unrequited toil, and not one spark of bad temper flashes from the bronze bracket, and there is not one drop of needlewomans hearts blood on the crimson plush; while there are other fortunes about which it may be said that on every door-knob, and on every figure of the carpet, and on every wall, there is the mark of dishonour. There are large fortunes upon which Gods favour comes down, and it is just as honest and just as Christian to be affluent as it is to be poor. In many a house there is a blessing on every pictured wall, and on every scroll, and on every traceried window, and the joy that flashes in the lights, and that showers in the music, and that dances in the quick feet of the children pattering through the hall has in it the favour of God and the approval of man. But you and I know that there are in commercial life those who are guilty of great dishonesties of speech. A merchant says, I am selling these goods at less than cost. Is he getting for these goods a price inferior to that which he paid for them? Then he has spoken the truth. Is he getting more? Then he lies. But there are just as many falsehoods before the counter as there are behind the counter. A customer comes in and asks, How much is this article? It is five dollars. I can get that for four somewhere else. Can he get it for four somewhere else, or did he say that just for the purpose of getting it cheap by depreciating the value of the goods? If so, he lied. Who would take the responsibility of saying how many falsehoods were yesterday told by hardware men, and clothiers, and lumbermen, and tobacconists, and jewellers, and importers, and shippers, and dealers in furniture, and dealers in coal, and dealers in groceries?

III. I pass on to speak of mechanical falsehoods. Among the artisans are those upon whom we are dependent for the houses in which we live, the garments we wear, the cars in which we ride. The vast majority of them are, so far as I know them, men who speak the truth. I am speaking now of those who promise to do that which they know they will not be able to do. They say they will come on Monday; they do not come until Wednesday. They say they will have the job done in ten days; they do not get it done before thirty. So in all styles of work there are those who are not worthy of their work.

IV. I pass on to speak of social lies. How much of society is insincere! You hardly know what to believe. They send their regards; you do not exactly know whether it is an expression of the heart or an external civility. They ask you to come to their house; you hardly know whether they really want you to come. We are all accustomed to take a discount from what we hear. Social life is struck through with insincerity. They apologise for the fact that the furnace is out; they have not had any fire in it all the winter. They apologise for the fare on their table; they never live any better. They decry their most luxurious entertainment to win a shower of approval from you. On small incomes we want the world to believe we are affluent, and society to-day is struck through with cheat and counterfeit and sham. How few people are natural!

V. I pass on to speak of ecclesistical lies, those which are told for the advancement or retarding of a church or sect. It is hardly worth your while to ask an extreme Calvinist what an Arminian believes. He will tell you an Arminian believes that a man can save himself. An Arminian believes no such thing. It is hardly worth your while to ask an extreme Arminian what a Calvinist believes. He will tell you that a Calvinist believes that God made some men just to damn them. A Calvinist believes no such thing. Then how often is it that there are misrepresentations on the part of individual churches in regard to other churches, especially if a church comes to great prosperity.

VI. Let us in all departments of life stand back from deception. Oh! says some one, the deception that I practise is so small it dont amount to anything. Ah! my friends, it does amount to a great deal. Oh! you say, when I deceive, it is only about a case of needles, or a box of buttons, or a row of pins. The article may be so small you can put it in your vest pocket; but the sin is as big as the Pyramids, and the echo of your dishonour will reverberate through the mountains of eternity. There is no such thing as a small sin. They are all vast and stupendous, because they will have to come under inspection in the day of judgment. My friends, let us make our life correspond to what we are. Let us banish all deception from our behaviour. Let us remember that the time comes when God will demonstrate before an assembled universe just what we are. The secret will come out. We may hide it while we live, but we cannot hide it when we die. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

Privileged with the gospel, but not improved by it

In a room glazed with yellow glass the photographer would get heat and light from the sunshine, but he could not produce a photograph because yellow glass, while it lets in the light and heat of the sun, keeps out the chemical or actinic ray necessary to produce a portrait. And so it is true of many that, while they live in the free light and warmth of the gospel day, while the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world shines upon and all round them, they are not savingly changed, they are not transformed by the light into the image of God. So in the case of Gehazi, Judas, and Ananias, covetousness prevented the shining of the example of those around from converting and blessing the heart.

Hypocrites in the Church

An ingenious attempt to defraud was detected at the United States Mint recently. A package purporting to contain gold grains was delivered there by express from Little Rock. The general appearance of the grains was much like that daily received, and they also bore successfully the acid test. Subsequently a careful analysis was made to ascertain what the article really was and of what it was composed. The result was astonishing, revealing an ingenious device for the deception of parties dealing in gold bullion. The grains were found to be nothing more nor less than steel filings, and to give them the appearance of grains of the precious metal they were covered with fine gold, which was made to adhere by the use of a composition of turpentine. The Church and the world are often similarly imposed upon. Hypocrites are often able to pick up a coating of cant phrases and wear a sanctimonious appearance who are really base metal. Though the deception may succeed here, and for a time, ultimate detection is inevitable.

Fraudulent benevolence

Christians say that they will give a tenth of their incomes, or more, to the work of Christ; and then comes a hard year of tightening in the market. They now think to themselves with a sweet caution, I must retrench in benevolence this season. Sometimes Christians make a show of contribution, but adroitly manage to get back a fair percentage.

The hardship of hypocrisy

Now, half the trouble which many people take to be smooth and worthless impostors in religion would make them genuine Christians. A lie is a great deal harder to tell than the truth. It is actually harder to be a successful hypocrite than to be a successful Christian. In the one case God is continually helping us. In the other case God is hindering us, and all the time is exposing us to detection and disgrace. It is really easier to possess a sincere heart-piety, and to let that inward light shine out naturally from the countenance and the conduct, than it is to go through life wearing the mask of false profession. To be a true Christian is a constant joy. To seem to be one when we are not is to wear a hateful galling yoke of bondage. In order to keep up appearances an insincere professor is incessantly obliged to do many things which are exceedingly distasteful and even loathsome. He must utter many a solemn falsehood which sticks in his throat. He must forfeit all self-respect. He must perform many a penance, and call it a pleasure. He lives in the constant dread that his mask may slip aside and reveal his real character. For no man ever went through a whole false life of professed piety without awakening occasional suspicion of his godly sincerity. Sometimes a sudden emergency jerks the mask aside and exposes the dissembler. Oh! what a wretched life is led by him who, in trying to keep afloat before his fellow-creatures, is constantly striving to caulk up those fatal leaks which he knows are sending him to the bottom! (H. W. Beecher.)

Dangers within the early Church

We have here the first great danger that arose from within the Christian Church. In the foregoing chapter a serious danger arose from without. Two of the apostles were cast into prison. This was the first storm of human rage that broke upon the infant Church, and it passed away, like many a storm of wind upon the tender plants of nature, without doing serious damage. But dangers from within are more to be dreaded. One traitor in the camp is more terrible than a host of enemies. One little worm in the heart of a plant is more destructive than the wildest tempest. Many a noble youth and many a young congregation have been sadly injured by worldly-mindedness. Note–

I. Peter detecting hypocrisy. The sin of these people was the common crime of great profession with little principle and less practice. They wished to be counted generous, while they were really selfish; and seeming to care little for the world, they were intensely ambitious, and anxious to get as much as possible of human praise and worldly commendation. This is an evil against which we have need to watch. Liberality is now fashionable in the Church. A man was famous in ancient times as he laid his axe upon the thick trees of Lebanon, and brought them clown to build the Jewish temple. A man is famous at the present day when he is able to give ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand pounds, for the support of public charities or the extension of the gospel. These are noble deeds, which we cordially commend, but it is not impossible that in accordance with the generous fashions of our period many a large gift may be laid upon the altar of benevolence from no higher motive, and with no better purpose, than to stand well in public estimation. When Ananias and Sapphira came into the presence of Peter with their hypocrisy they were detected. Most likely the good Spirit endowed him with the power of discerning evil spirits. Certain it is that God is able to read the heart and motive of every man; and though we may succeed in imposing upon men, we must remember that God looks, with perfect eye, into all our professions, and thoroughly tests their sincerity. Be not deceived; God is not mocked.

II. Peter exposing falsehood. Be sure thy sin will find thee out, is written on one page of Gods Bible and on many pages of Gods providence. The efforts made to conceal a fault enhance its crime, and make the consequences more serious. Sin is often more than doubled before it is detected or checked or punished. He that does one fault at first, and lies to hide it, makes it two. The two or the two thousand faults spring from one. There was a first fault with the man who complained that his iniquities were more than the hairs upon his head.

1. The apostle calls the sin by its proper name, and traces it to its evil source. Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie? Falsehood for the sake of worldly gain is one of the coolest and meanest crimes which a man is able to commit. The man smiles, and smiles again, to do his villainy. He is not only Satan-taught when his heart is filled to lie, but Satan-like, for every movement is crooked and cunning as the motions of a serpent. We read of Satan, in the days of Job, presenting himself, like an angel of light, with an air of piety, among the sons of God. He told our first parents (Gen 3:5) great lies, which have their counterpart in those which men utter, by speech or action, when they wish their heartless worship to be taken for true devotion; put on a fair robe of friendship to cover the worst of enmity; or condescend to the meanness of a base transaction, as if it were a royal road to wealth, fame, and happiness.

2. Peter also exposed the essence of the crime. It was a daring offence against high Heaven–unto God. These words must have had a startling effect upon the transgressor. We have seen a child suffused with crimson shame and tears of bitter sorrow when caught and, checked in the utterance of falsehood. We have seen a man grow pale as a winding-sheet, struck silent as the dumb, and unable for a time to breathe a word of apology or a prayer for pardon when shown that he had been uttering a list of untruths. You can fancy what a person must feel in an open court, before a crowd of people, when a letter is produced in his own handwriting to show that he has spoken and sworn deceitfully. The man who sows handfuls of falsehood may be expected to reap sheaves of shame and sorrow and suffering. All liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

III. Peter condemning the guilty. His words embodied a severe reproof–Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? The question is sharper than any two-edged sword, and must have cut the guilty man most deeply. He was, no doubt, expecting great praise for his liberality. It was a meeting of the Church, where the apostles were waiting to receive the Christian offerings for the common treasury. Ananias stepped forward with an air of peculiar importance, and when he told of selling the estate and laid down the money he would look for a hearty commendation from Peter and a round of applause from the people. But what is this? Peter looks oppressed with sorrow and displeasure; the people are silent and still. And when the apostle proceeded to describe the sin and curse of falsehood, his condemnation would fall upon the soul of Ananias like a thunderbolt. It did so fall, not from the hand of Peter, but the hand of God, and the deceiver was laid prostrate in the stillness of death. His wife, three hours afterwards, appeared at the place of meeting with similar expectations to those of her husband. She anticipated many tender and hearty greetings from the assembled disciples; but when she entered all was solemnity and sorrow. The poor woman looked round in vain for a smile or sign of approbation. Her husband, too, was absent: none had dared to whisper to her that he was away to his grave; and when Peter asked about the land and its price she was ready to repeat and confirm her husbands falsehood. Foolhardy presumption! Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished. Like Ananias, she must be carried to a dishonoured grave; and in an instant she fell down and yielded up the ghost. Such was the first great danger within the Christian Church. The early Church was delivered by a stroke of judgment that must have clothed every member in sackcloth. We read that when Achan was taken from his tent and stoned for stealing the spoils of Jericho the impression made upon the Israelites was so profound that the scene of execution was named the Valley of Achor; or, the Vale of Sorrow. And here we have the Achor of the Christian Church; for assuredly the apostles and their people would retire from this awful meeting with bitter tears and bleeding hearts to mourn the terrible doom of Ananias and Sapphira. (J. Thompson, A. M.)

A broken vow

I. The character of Ananias and Sapphira.

1. Like ourselves, they belonged to a nation greatly blessed by God.

2. Like us, the heirs of religious memories and influences.

3. Like all of us, believers in the doctrines of Christianity; not infidels.

4. Like many of us, Church members–members of the Jerusalem, pentecostal Church–the Church of James, Barnabas, and Philip, noted for its orthodoxy, faith, and good works.

5. Like many of us, they did not go to the prayer meeting (compare Act 4:31 with Act 5:3). They missed the blessing and exposed themselves to temptation.

6. Like most of us, probably neither very rich nor very poor (Agurs prayer).

7. A harmonious couple (Act 5:9).

(1) Are you helping your husband or wife to heaven or hell?

(2) Marry only in the Lord.

8. On the whole they were very reputable and highly-esteemed disciples.

II. Their temptation.

1. Temptation common to all. Its uses.

2. The particular temptation–a desire to gain popularity without losing their property.

III. Their sin.

1. Lying without speaking; giving a part of the worship of God for the whole.

2. Its essence a broken vow, aggravated by–

(1) Lying;

(2) Irreverence. The guilt of our broken vows aggravated by–

(3) Greater light, and–

(4) Greater mercies.

IV. Their punishment.

1. Sudden death a mercy to those prepared.

2. A blessing to Ananias and Sapphira, because it saved them from a long life of lying and hypocrisy.

3. Why, then, were they slain? Not because their guilt was greater, but–

4. As an example to us: like Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-3), and Uzzah (2Sa 6:1-23.l-9).

Application. Our broken vows.

1. Unpaid subscriptions.

2. As Church officers.

3. As Church members.

4. At baptism.

5. At the Communion table.

6. To dying friends.

7. In sickness. (J. B. Converse.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER V.

The hypocrisy of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, and their

awful death, 1-11.

The apostles work many miracles, and the Church of God is

increased, 12-16.

The high priest and the Sadducees, being incensed against the

apostles, seize and put them in prison, 17, 18.

The angel of God delivers them, and commands them to go to the

temple, and proclaim the Gospel, 19, 20.

The high priest, having gathered the council together in the

morning, sends to the prison to have the apostles brought

before him, 21.

The offers return, and report that they found the prison shut,

and the watch set, but that the men had got out, 22, 23.

A messenger arrives in the meanwhile, and says that the

apostles are preaching in the temple, 24, 25.

The captain and officers go and bring than before the council,

who expostulate with them, 26-28.

The apostles defend themselves, and charge the council with the

murder of Christ; and assert his resurrection from the dead

and ascension to the right hand of God, 29-32.

The council are confounded, and purpose to slay the apostles,

33.

Gamaliel gives them seasonable and prudent advice, 34-39.

The council agree to it, but, before they discharge the

apostles, beat them, and command them not to teach in the name

of Jesus, 40.

They depart rejoicing in their persecution, and continue to

preach Jesus Christ, 41, 42.

NOTES ON CHAP. V.

Verse 1. But a certain man named Ananias] Of these unhappy people we have no farther account than what is recorded here. In reference to birth, connections, &c., their names are written in the dust. The import of his name, chananiyah, the grace or mercy of the Lord, agrees very ill with his conduct.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A dreadful instance of Gods indignation against hypocrisy and sacrilege, which we have an infallible testimony of; which is the more remarkable, because such sins escape punishment from men, either as not known, or not disliked; yet the damnation of such as are guilty of them slumbereth not, 2Pe 2:3, it being the glory of God to search out matters further than men can, or list to do.

A possession; an estate, house, or farm.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

But a certain man named Ananias,…. A name common among the Jews, the same with Hananiah, Jer 28:1 it signifies not the humility of the Lord, or the affliction of the Lord, or the answer of the Lord, as say some, as if it was derived from ; but the grace of the Lord, or the Lord’s gracious one, coming from : there is no dependence on names; though this man’s name signified one that was in the grace and favour of God; he was not so, but a graceless person, as appears by what follows. It is very likely he was a minister of the word, since the account of him follows upon that of Barnabas, and is opposed to it; it may be he was one of the hundred and twenty, on whom the Holy Ghost fell on the day of Pentecost; and yet, though he had great gifts, had no grace. This shows there are hypocrites among men of the greatest names and characters, and in the purest churches; this first and pure church, which, in the preceding chapter, has such large encomiums, was not free from them:

with Sapphira his wife; whether this is the same name with “Shiphrah”, Ex 1:15 or “Zipporah”, Ex 2:21 both which are by the Septuagint called “Sephora”, or whether another, and may signify “beautiful”, is not very material. Jerom c says, in the Syriac language this name signifies “beautiful”; though he first gives other explanations of it, as “narrantem, literatam, sive librariam”, as though it was derived from the Hebrew word . The precious stone called sapphire seems to come from the same root as this, and to be so called because of its beautiful azure colour. The name “Sappho”, which was the name of a famous poetess, the inventress of a kind of verse called “Sapphic” verse, is said to be the diminutive of this name “Sapphira”. Drusius observes, it may be read , “Tzephira”; which comes near to “Zipporah”, and among other things signifies a “she goat”; and it was usual to give women names taken from such creatures. So “Rachel”, a “sheep”, and “Tabitha”, or “Dorcas”, a “doe”. But whatever her name or person were, her actions were disagreeable:

sold a possession; which was their own. So the Arabic and Syriac versions read, “their own field”, or “farm”; find the Ethiopic version, “their own vineyard”: it might be his wife’s dowry or jointure, and so her consent was necessary; or they might be jointly concerned in this sale, to show not only their concord and harmony among themselves; but that they agreed in their devotion and religious actions, and that being both filled with zeal for God, and love to the brethren, sold their estate to support the common cause.

c De Nominibus Hebraicis, fol. 106. C.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Case of Ananias and Sapphira.

      1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,   2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.   3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?   4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.   5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.   6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.   7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.   8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.   9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.   10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.   11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

      The chapter begins with a melancholy but, which puts a stop to the pleasant and agreeable prospect of things which we had in the foregoing chapters; as every man, so every church, in its best state has its but. 1. The disciples were very holy, and heavenly, and seemed to be all exceedingly good; but there were hypocrites among them, whose hearts were not right in the sight of God, who, when they were baptized, and took upon them the form of godliness, denied the power of godliness, and stopped short of that. There is a mixture of bad with good in the best societies on this side heaven; tares will grow among the wheat until the harvest. 2. It was the praise of the disciples that they came up to that perfection which Christ recommended to the rich young man–they sold what they had, and gave to the poor; but even that proved a cloak and cover of hypocrisy which was thought the greatest proof and evidence of sincerity. 3. The signs and wonders which the apostles wrought were hitherto miracles of mercy; but now comes in a miracle of judgment, and here is an instance of severity following the instances of goodness, that God may be both loved and feared. Observe here,

      I. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira his wife. It is good to see husband and wife joining together in that which is good, but to be confederate in evil is to be like Adam and Eve, when they agreed to eat the forbidden fruit, and were one in their disobedience. Now their sin was, 1. That they were ambitious of being thought eminent disciples, and of the first rank, when really they were not true disciples; they would pass for some of the most fruitful trees in Christ’s vineyard, when really the root of the matter was not found in them. They sold a possession, and brought the money (as Barnabas did) to the apostles’ feet, that they might not seem to be behind the very chief of believers, but might be applauded and cried up, and stand so much the fairer for preferment in the church, which perhaps they thought would shortly shine in secular pomp and grandeur. Note, It is possible that hypocrites may deny themselves in one thing, but then it is to serve themselves in another; they may forego their secular advantage in one instance, with a prospect of finding their account in something else. Ananias and Sapphira would take upon them a profession of Christianity, and make a fair show in the flesh with it, and so would mock God, and deceive others, when they knew they could not go through with the Christian profession. It was commendable, and so far it was right, in that rich young man, that he would not pretend to follow Christ, when, if it should come to a pinch, he knew he could not come up to his terms, but he went away sorrowful. Ananias and Sapphira pretended they could come up to the terms, that they might have the credit of being disciples, when really they could not, and so were a discredit to discipleship. Note, It is often of fatal consequence for people to go a greater length in profession than their inward principle will admit of. 2. That they were covetous of the wealth of the world, and distrustful of God and his providence: They sold their land, and perhaps then, in a pang of zeal, designed no other than to dedicate the whole of the purchase-money to pious uses, and made a vow, or at least conceived a full purpose, to do so; but, when the money was received, their heart failed them, and they kept back part of the price, (v. 2), because they loved the money, and thought it was too much to part with at once, and to trust in the apostles’ hands, and because they knew not but they might want it themselves; though now all things were common, yet it would not be so long, and what should they do in a time of need, if they should leave themselves nothing to take to? They could not take God’s word that they should be provided for, but thought they would play a wiser part than the rest had done, and lay up for a rainy day. Thus they thought to serve both God and mammon–God, by bringing part of the money to the apostles’ feet, and mammon, by keeping the other part in their own pockets; as if there were not an all-sufficiency in God to make up the whole to them, except they retained some in their own hands by way of caution-money. Their hearts were divided, so they were found faulty, Hos. x. 2. They halted between two; if they had been thorough-paced worldlings, they would not have sold their possession; and, if they had been thorough-paced Christians, they would not have detained part of the price. 3. That they thought to deceive the apostles, and make them believe they brought the whole purchase-money, when really it was but a part. They came with as good an assurance, and as great a show of piety and devotion, as any of them, and laid the money at the apostles’ feet, as if it were their all. They dissembled with God and his Spirit, with Christ and his church and ministers; and this was their sin.

      II. The indictment of Ananias, which proved both his condemnation and execution for this sin. When he brought the money, and expected to be commended and encouraged, as others were, Peter took him to task about it, He, without any enquiry or examination of witnesses concerning it, charges him peremptorily with the crime, and aggravates it, and lays a load upon him for it, showing it to him in its own colour, Act 5:3; Act 5:4. The Spirit of God in Peter not only discovered the fact without any information (when perhaps no man in the world knew it but the man and his wife themselves), but likewise discerned the principle of reigning infidelity in the heart of Ananias, which was at the bottom of it, and therefore proceeded against him so suddenly. Had it been a sin of infirmity, through the surprise of a temptation, Peter would have taken Ananias aside, and have bidden him go home, and fetch the rest of the money, and repent of his folly in attempting to put this cheat upon them; but he knew that his heart was fully set in him to do this evil, and therefore allowed him not space to repent. He here showed him,

      1. The origin of his sin: Satan filled his heart; he not only suggested it to him, and put it into his head, but hurried him on with resolution to do it. Whatever is contrary to the good Spirit proceeds from the evil spirit, and those hearts are filled by Satan in which worldliness reigns, and has the ascendant. Some think that Ananias was one of those that had received the Holy Ghost, and was filled with his gifts, but, having provoked the Spirit to withdraw from him, now Satan filled his heart; as, when the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, an evil spirit from God troubled him. Satan is a lying spirit; he was so in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets, and so he was in the mouth of Ananias, and by this made it appear that he filled his heart.

      2. The sin itself: He lied to the Holy Ghost; a sin of such a heinous nature that he could not have been guilty of it if Satan had not filled his heart.

      (1.) The phrase which we render lying to the Holy Ghost, pseusasthai se to pneuma to hagion, some read, to belie the Holy Ghost, which may be taken two ways: [1.] That he belied the Holy Ghost in himself; so Dr. Lightfoot takes it, and supposes that Ananias was not an ordinary believer, but a minister, and one that had received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the hundred and twenty (for mention is made of him immediately after Barnabas); yet he durst thus, by dissembling, belie and shame that gift. Or thus; Those who had sold their estates, and laid the money at the apostles’ feet, did it by the special impulse of the Holy Ghost, enabling them to do an act so very great and generous; and Ananias pretended that he was moved by the Holy Ghost to do what he did, as others were; whereas it appeared by his baseness that he was not under the influence of the good Spirit at all; for, had it been his work, it would have been perfect. [2.] That he belied the Holy Ghost in the apostles, to whom he brought the money; he misrepresented the Spirit they were actuated by, either by a suspicion that they would not faithfully distribute what they were entrusted with (which was a base suggestion, as if they were false to the trust reposed in them), or by an assurance that they could not discover the fraud. He belied the Holy Ghost when by what he did he would have it thought that those who are endued with the gifts of the Holy Ghost might as easily be imposed upon as other men; like Gehazi, whom his master convicted of his error by that word, Went not my heart with thee? 2 Kings v. 26. It is charged upon the house of Israel and Judah, when, like Ananias here, they dealt very treacherously, that they belied the Lord, saying, It is not he,Jer 5:11; Jer 5:12. Thus Ananias thought the apostles were altogether such as himself, and this was belying the Holy Ghost in them, as if he were not in them a discerner of spirits, whereas they had all the gifts of the Spirit in them, which to others were divided severally. See 1 Cor. xii. 8-11. Those that pretend to an inspiration of the Spirit, in imposing upon the church their own fancies, either in opinion or practice–that say they are moved from above when they are carried on by their pride, covetousness, or affectation of dominion, belie the Holy Ghost.

      (2.) But we read it, to lie unto the Holy Ghost, which reading is countenanced by v. 4, Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. [1.] Ananias told a lie, a deliberate lie, and with a purpose to deceive; he told Peter that he had sold a possession (house or lands) and this was the purchase-money. Perhaps he expressed himself in words that were capable of a double meaning, used some equivocations about it, which he thought might palliate the matter a little, and save him from the guilt of a downright lie: or perhaps he said nothing; but it was all one, he did as the rest did who brought the whole price, and would be thought to do so, and expected the praise those had that did so, and the same privilege and access to the common stock as they had; and therefore it was an implicit protestation that he brought the whole price, as they did; and this was a lie, for he kept back part. Note, Many are brought to gross lying by reigning pride, and affectation of the applause of men, particularly in works of charity to the poor. That therefore we may not be found boasting of a false gift given to us, or given by us (Prov. xxv. 14), we must not boast even of a true gift, which is the meaning of our Saviour’s caution in works of charity, Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. Those that boast of good works they never did, or promise good works they never do, or make the good works they do more or better than really they are, come under the guilt of Ananias’s lie, which it concerns us all to dread the thought of. [2.] He told this lie to the Holy Ghost. It was not so much to the apostles as to the Holy Ghost in them that the money was brought, and that was said which was said, v. 4, Thou hast not lied unto men (not to men only, not to men chiefly, though the apostles be but men), but thou hast lied unto God. Hence it is justly inferred that the Holy Ghost is God; for he that lieth to the Holy Ghost lieth to God. “Those that lied to the apostles, actuated and acting by the Spirit of God, are said to lie to God, because the apostles acted by the power and authority of God, whence it follows (as Dr. Whitby well observes) that the power and authority of the Spirit must be the power and authority of God.” And, as he further argues, “Ananias is said to lie to God, because he lied to that Spirit in the apostles which enabled them to discern the secrets of men’s hearts and actions, which being the property of God alone, he that lies to him must therefore lie to God, because he lies to one who has the incommunicable property of God, and consequently the divine essence.”

      3. The aggravations of the sin (v. 4): While it remained, was it not thine own? And, after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Which may be understood two ways:– (1.) “Thou wast under no temptation to keep back part of the price; before it was sold it was thy own, and not mortgaged nor encumbered, nor any way engaged for debt; and when it was sold it was in thy own power to dispose of the money at thy pleasure; so that thou mightest as well have brought the whole as a part. Thou hadst no debts to pay, perhaps no children to provide for; so that thou wast not under the influence of any particular inducement to keep back part of the price. Thou was a transgressor without a cause.” Or, (2.) “Thou wast under no necessity of selling thy land at all, nor bringing any of the money to the apostles’ feet. Thou mightest have kept the money, if thou hadst pleased, and the land too, and never have pretended to this piece of perfection.” This rule of charity the apostle gives, that people be not pressed, and that it be not urged as of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. ix. 7), and Philemon must do a good work, not as it were of necessity, but willingly, Philem. 14. As it is better not to vow than to vow and not to pay, so better had it been for him not to have sold his land at all than thus to keep back part of the price; not to have pretended to do the good work than thus to do it by the halves. “When it was sold, it was in thine own power; but it was not so when it was vowed: thou hadst then opened thy mouth to the Lord, and couldst not go back.” Thus, in giving our hearts to God, we are not admitted to divide them. Satan, like the mother whose own the child was not, would take up with a half; but God will have all or none.

      4. All this guilt, thus aggravated, is charged upon him: Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Observe, Though Satan filled his heart to do it, yet he is said to have conceived it in his own heart, which shows that we cannot extenuate our sins by laying the fault of them upon the devil; he tempts, but he cannot force; it is of our own lusts that we are drawn away and enticed. The evil thing, whatever it is, that is said or done, the sinner has conceived it in his own heart; and therefore, if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. The close of the charge is very high, but very just: Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. What emphasis does the prophet lay upon that of Ahaz, not wearying men only, but wearying my God also! Isa. vii. 13. And Moses upon that of Israel, Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord! Exod. xvi. 8. So here, Thou mightest have imposed upon us, who are men like thyself; but, be not deceived, God is not mocked. If we think to put a cheat upon God, we shall prove in the end to have put a fatal cheat upon our own souls.

      III. The death and burial of Ananias, Act 5:5; Act 5:6.

      1. He died upon the spot: Ananias, hearing these words, was speechless, in the same sense that he was who was charged with intruding into the wedding feast without a wedding garment: he had nothing to say for himself; but this was not all: he was struck speechless with a witness, for he was struck dead: He fell down, and gave up the ghost. It does not appear whether Peter designed and expected that this would follow upon what he said to him; it is probable that he did, for to Sapphira his wife Peter particularly spoke death, v. 9. Some think that an angel struck him, that he died, as Herod, ch. xii. 23. Or, his own conscience smote him with such horror and amazement at the sense of his guilt, that he sunk and died away under the load of it. And perhaps, when he was convicted of lying to the Holy Ghost, he remembered the unpardonableness of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which struck him like a dagger to the heart. See the power of the word of God in the mouth of the apostles. As it was to some a savour of life unto life, so it was to others a savour of death unto death. As there are those whom the gospel justifies, so there are those whom it condemns. This punishment of Ananias may seem severe, but we are sure it was just. (1.) It was designed to maintain the honour of the Holy Ghost as now lately poured out upon the apostles, in order to the setting up of the gospel kingdom. It was a great affront which Ananias put upon the Holy Ghost, as if he could be imposed upon: and it had a direct tendency to invalidate the apostles’ testimony; for, if they could not by the Spirit discover this fraud, how could they by this Spirit discover the deep things of God, which they were to reveal to the children of men? It was therefore necessary that the credit of the apostles’ gifts and powers should be supported, though it was at this expense. (2.) It was designed to deter others from the like presumptions, now at the beginning of this dispensation. Simon Magus afterwards was not thus punished, nor Elymas; but Ananias was made an example now at first, that, with the sensible proofs given what a comfortable thing it is to receive the Spirit, there might be also sensible proofs given what a dangerous thing it is to resist the Spirit, and do despite to him. How severely was the worshipping of the golden calf punished, and the gathering of sticks on the sabbath-day, when the laws of the second and fourth commandments were now newly given! So was the offering of strange fire by Nadab and Abihu, and the mutiny of Korah and his company, when the fire from heaven was now newly given, and the authority of Moses and Aaron now newly established. The doing of this by the ministry of Peter, who himself with a lie denied his Master but a little while ago, intimates that it was not the resentment of a wrong done to himself; for then he, who had himself been faulty, would have had charity for those that offended; and he, who himself had repented and been forgiven, would have forgiven this affront, and endeavoured to bring this offender to repentance; but it was the act of the Spirit of God in Peter: to him the indignity was done, and by him the punishment was inflicted.

      2. He was buried immediately, for this was the manner of the Jews (v. 6): The young men, who it is probable were appointed to that office in the church of burying the dead, as among the Romans the libitinarii and polinctores; or the young men that attended the apostles, and waited on them, they wound up the dead body in grave-clothes, carried it out of the city, and buried it decently, though he died in sin, and by an immediate stroke of divine vengeance.

      IV. The reckoning with Sapphira, the wife of Ananias, who perhaps was first in the transgression, and tempted her husband to eat this forbidden fruit. She came in to the place where the apostles were, which, as it should seem, was Solomon’s porch, for there we find them (v. 12), a part of the temple where Christ used to walk, John x. 23. She came in about three hours after, expecting to share in the thanks of the house for her coming in, and consenting to the sale of the land, of which perhaps she was entitled to her dower or thirds; for she knew not what had been done. It was strange that nobody ran to tell her of the sudden death of her husband, that she might keep away; perhaps some one did, and she was not at home; and so when she came to present herself before the apostles, as a benefactor to the fund she met with a breach instead of a blessing.

      1. She was found guilty of sharing with her husband in his sin, by a question that Peter asked her (v. 8): Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? naming the sum which Ananias had brought and laid at the apostles’ feet. “Was this all you received for the sale of the land, and had you no more for it?” “No,” saith she, “we had no more, but that was every farthing we received.” Ananias and his wife agreed to tell the same story, and the bargain being private, and by consent kept to themselves, nobody could disprove them, and therefore they thought they might safely stand in the lie, and should gain credit to it. It is sad to see those relations who should quicken one another to that which is good harden one another in that which is evil.

      2. Sentence was passed upon her, that she should partake in her husband’s doom, v. 9.

      (1.) Her sin is opened: How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Before he passes sentence, he makes her to know her abominations, and shows her the evil of her sin. Observe, [1.] That they tempted the Spirit of the Lord; as Israel tempted God in the desert, when they said, Is the Lord among us, or is he not? after they had seen so many miraculous proofs of his power; and not only his presence, but his presidency, when they said, Can God furnish a table? So here, “Can the Spirit in the apostles discover this fraud? Can they discern that this is but a part of the price, when we tell them it is the whole?” Can he judge through this dark cloud? Job xxii. 13. They saw that the apostles had the gift of tongues; but had they the gift of discerning spirits? Those that presume upon security and impunity in sin tempt the Spirit of God; they tempt God as if he were altogether such a one as themselves. [2.] That they agreed together to do it, making the bond of their relation to each other (which by the divine institution is a sacred tie) to become a bond of iniquity. It is hard to say which is worse between yoke-fellows and other relations–a discord in good or concord in evil. It seems to intimate that their agreeing together to do it was a further tempting of the Spirit; as if, when they had engaged to keep one another’s counsel in this matter, even the Spirit of the Lord himself could not discover them. Thus they digged deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, but were made to know it is in vain. “How is it that you are thus infatuated? What strange stupidity has seized you, that you would venture to make trial of that which is past dispute? How is it that you, who are baptized Christians, do not understand yourselves better? How durst you run so great a risk?”

      (2.) Her doom is read: Behold, the feet of those who have buried thy husband are at the door (perhaps he heard them coming, or knew that they could not be long): and they shall carry thee out. As Adam and Eve, who agreed to eat the forbidden fruit, were turned together out of paradise, so Ananias and Sapphira, who agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, were together chased out of the world.

      3. The sentence executed itself. There needed no executioner, a killing power went along with Peter’s word, as sometimes a healing power did; for the God in whose name he spoke kills and makes alive; and out of his mouth (and Peter was now his mouth) both evil and good proceed (v. 10): Then fell she down straightway at his feet. Some sinners God makes quick work with, while others he bears long with; for which difference, doubtless, there are good reasons; but he is not accountable to us for them. She heard not till now that her husband was dead, the notice of which, with the discovery of her sin, and the sentence of death passed upon her, struck her as a thunderbolt and took her away as with a whirlwind. And many instances there are of sudden deaths which are not to be looked upon as the punishment of some gross sin, like this. We must not think that all who die suddenly are sinners above others; perhaps it is in favour to them, that they have a quick passage: however, it is forewarning to all to be always ready. But here it is plain that it was in judgment. Some put the question concerning the eternal state of Ananias and Sapphira, and incline to think that the destruction of the flesh was that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And I should go in with that charitable opinion if there had been any space given them to repent, as there was to the incestuous Corinthian. But secret things belong not to us. It is said, She fell down at Peter’s feet; there, where she should have laid the whole price and did not, she was herself laid, as it were to make up the deficiency. The young men that had the care of funerals coming in found her dead; and it is not said, They wound her up, as they did Ananias, but, They carried her out as she was, and buried her by her husband; and probably an inscription was set over their graves, intimating that they were joint-monuments of divine wrath against those that lie to the Holy Ghost. Some ask whether the apostles kept the money which they did bring, and concerning which they lied? I am apt to think they did; they had not the superstition of those who said, It is not lawful for us to put it into the treasury: for unto the pure all things are pure. What they brought was not polluted to those to whom they brought it; but what they kept back was polluted to those that kept it back. Use was made of the censers of Korah’s mutineers.

      V. The impression that this made upon the people. Notice is taken of this in the midst of the story (v. 5): Great fear came upon all that heard these things, that heard what Peter said, and saw what followed; or upon all that heard the story of it; for, no doubt, it was all the talk of the city. And again (v. 11), Great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 1. Those that had joined themselves to the church were thereby struck with an awe of God and of his judgments, and with a greater veneration for this dispensation of the Spirit which they were now under. It was not a damp or check to their holy joy, but it taught them to be serious in it, and to rejoice with trembling. All that laid their money at the apostles’ feet after this were afraid of keeping back any part of the price. 2. All that heard it were put into a consternation by it, and were ready to say, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God and his Spirit in the apostles? As 1 Sam. vi. 20.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Sold (). Aorist active indicative again, for a single case.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The Sin and Shocking Death of Ananias and Sapphira V. 1-10

1) “But a certain man named Ananias,” (aner de tis Hananias onamati) “Subsequently a responsible man (male) named Ananias;” In direct contrast with what Barnabas did with the proceeds of his land sale, this story of attempted deceit is unfolded, confirming the Biblical axiom or rule, “be sure your sin will find you out,” or overtake you, Num 32:23.

2) “With Sapphira his wife,” (sun Saphore te gunaiki autou) “In colleague with his wife Sapphira,” with joint ownership and joint collusion in what they proposed to do with the proceeds of their property. “No man liveth or dieth to himself” alone; and how much more nearly real is this truth concerning husbands and wives in joint action, Rom 14:7.

3) “Sold a possession,” (epoiesen ktema) Sold a possession,” a piece of jointly owned property – – perhaps land with a building, Act 5:3.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Those things which Luke hath reported hitherto did show that that company, which was gathered together under the name of Christ, was rather a company of angels than of men, Moreover, that was incredible virtue, that the rich men did despoil themselves of their own accord, not only of their money, but also of their land, that they might relieve the poor. But now he showeth that Satan had invented a shift to get into that holy company, and that under color of such excellent virtue; for he hath wonderful wiles of hypocrisy to insinuate himself. This way doth Satan assault the Church, when as he cannot prevail by open war. But we must specially in this place have respect unto the drift of the Holy Ghost. For in this history he meant to declare, first, how acceptable singleness of heart is to God, and what an abomination hypocrisy is in his sight; secondly, how greatly he alloweth [approves] the holy and pure policy and govermnent of his Church. For this is the principal point, the punishment wherewith punished Ananias and his wife. As the greatness thereof did at that time terrify them all, so it is unto us a testimony that God cannot abide this unfaithfulness, when as bearing a show of holiness where there is none, we do mock him contemptibly. For if, having weighed all the circumstances, we be desirous to know the sum, Luke condemneth no other fault in Ananias than this, that he meant to deceive God and the Church with a reigned offering. Yet there were more evils packed under this dissimulation: the contempt of God, whom he feareth not, though he knew his wickedness; sacrilegious defrauding, because he keepeth back part of that which he professeth to be holy to God; perverse vanity and ambition, because he vaunteth himself in the presence of men, without having any respect unto God’s judgment; want of faith, because he would never have gone this way to work, unless he had mistrusted God; the corrupting of a godly and holy order; furthermore, the hypocrisy itself was a great offense of itself. (237) The fact of Ananias did bear a goodly show, (238) although he had given only the half of his land. Neither is this a small virtue, for a rich man to bestow the half of his goods upon the poor; but the sacrifices of the ungodly are an abomination to God, (Pro 15:8😉 neither can any thing please him where the singleness of heart is wanting. For this cause is it that Christ maketh more account of the two mites offered by the widow, than of the great sums of others, who of their great heaps gave some part, (Luk 21:2.) This is the cause why God doth show an example of such sharp punishment in Ananias. Now, let us note every point by itself. He laid it at the feet of the apostles. Lo, what ambition doth! Ananias is ashamed not to be accounted one of the best; therefore, although he be greedy of money, yet to the end he may purchase a name amongst men, he depriveth himself of some part of his riches. In the meanwhile, he doth not consider that he lieth and deceiveth in the sight of God, and that God will punish this lie. So it is, that he honoreth the apostles’ feet more than God’s eyes. Wherefore, we must take good heed, that when we do well, we do not seek to be praised of the bystanders; (239) and it is not without cause that Christ saith, that it is profitable for us when we give our alms, to have the left hand ignorant of that which the right hand doth.

(237) “ Accedit huc quoque obstinata mentiendi audacia,” to this was also added an obstinate audacity in lying, omitted.

(238) “ Praeclarum in speciem et memorabile,” in appearance noble and memorable.

(239) “ Theatri plausum appetamus,” long for the plaudits of a theatre.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

DIVERSE POWERS IN THE CHURCH

Act 4:32 to Act 5:16.

WHEN we concluded our last discourse, the disciples were at prayer and the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the Word of God with boldness. These are conditions producing always such consequences as we find recorded (Act 4:32-33).

The remaining portion of this story illustrates some great truths, and truths that as surely need emphasis today as they could have needed it in the first century.

Herein we find The Unifying Power of the Holy Spirit, The Destroying Power of Self-Deception, and The Evangelizing Power of Divine Healing.

THE UNIFYING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all (Act 4:32-33).

What a marvelous presentation of the fact that an overshadowing and indwelling Holy Spirit produces unity in devotional spirit, unity in doctrinal expression, and unity in sacrificial distribution!

Unity in the devotional spirit! They were of one heart and soul. In this day, when men are at variance one with another, liberalists are fond of reminding us that diversity characterizes the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and they often appeal to two chapters of Scripture in support of that theory Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12. But a more careful study of these Scriptures will show that they do not present diversity of opinion as the expression of the indwelling Holy Ghost. In Romans, Paul is writing of the gifts of grace as they are administered by the Spirit, but he presents none that are antagonistic or even lacking in harmony with the rest. In I Corinthians he is writing of spiritual gifts, but he affirms their unification as the Spirit administers them. All these, the one and selfsame Spirit worketh. Inharmony of sentiment within the professed body, the Church, is never the work of the Holy Spirit, but a sign of His absence from some hearts. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning the tongues movement, he put certain of them under condemnation because of confusion. How is it then brethren, when ye come together each with a song, with a teaching, with a tongue, with a revelation, with an interpretation? Let all things be done unto edifying. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be two, or at the most three, and that in turn and let one interpret (1Co 14:26-27, R. V.) a plain intimation of the fact that they were babbling, producing a confusion of noise and inharmony of sentiment. On the other hand, when he wrote to the Ephesians, he describes those filled with the Spirit as speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. In the first instance there was inharmony, no Holy Ghost; in the second, the filling of the Spirit assured a perfect harmony of sentiment. One could quote a passage, another sing a hymn, but the order was perfect; the same sentiment dominated both.

If the human body, dominated by a single mind, finds its various members in a cooperation as hearty as the organic union is perfect, so the Church of God, administered by the Spirit, will exercise diversities of gifts in unity of action being of one heart and soul.

The Unity in doctrinal expression. And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (Act 4:33). The very truth that is now the occasion of division in the professing church, was, under the Spirits administration, universally accepted; and testimonies concerning it knew no dissenter. More and more liberals tend to minimize doctrine and the New Theologian would have us believe that such a thing as unity of faith never existed with the Apostles, and is in no sense essential to twentieth century religion. From the beginning it was not so. Dr. Edwin W. Rice reminds us that three great creeds of the early days The Apostles, the Nicene and the Athanasian Creedstood for a Christian unity and teaching. And, he continues, some modern critics think they have found evidences of many types or forms of organization in the primitive church and have attempted to show that the early historical interpretation of the church by apostolic men was a mistaken one. In the view of these critics the New Testament in general and the Book of Acts, in particular, not only describe, but even sanction, by precept and example, divisions in the apostolic church, and the New Testament sets forth four or five distinct primitive types similar to the denominational divisions existing in Christendom. This view boldly flies in the face of all the ecumenical creeds and councils and of all ecclesiastical history in the first three centuries of the Christian era, for the first rudimentary forms of the church belief that preceded the perfected Apostles Creed recognize, with more or less clearness, the unity of Christians and the unity of the church. The profoundest thinkers and the acutest critics believe that the New Testament emphasizes Christian unity and deprecates schism. No less an authority than Prof. Chas. W. Shiels of Princeton, said, Christianity became a compact organization in the midst of pagan society, with its sacraments and its Scriptures, and it continued thus compact and undivided for some centuries afterward. In that one Catholic, apostolic church, we have an example and model of church unity, not only as consistent with Christian unity, but as expressing and maintaining it. Indeed, it is only in and through such church unity that Christian unity can find due and full expression. Without such unity it must remain as a vague ideal or crude sentiment, if it be not a mere pretext for schism and excuse for sectarianism.

This was even more true of doctrine than of organization. Only the superficial student has been able to find conflict of doctrinal teaching in the New Testament. Not an Apostle that ever doubted the Virgin Birth; that ever called into question the miracle working; that ever debated the resurrection of Jesus from the grave save Thomas, and he was soon cured; that ever taught else than the blood atonement, or entertained other expectation than the soon coming of Christ in power and glory to sit on Davids throne.

Diversities in doctrine are marks of modernism, the results of intellectual skepticism; and if it is to find defense, it must be outside of the Book we call the Bible.

The great commentators, Jamieson, Faucett and Brown, speak of the Spirit having rested upon the entire community in such a way as melting down all selfishness and absorbing even the feeling of individuality in an intense and glowing realization of Christian unity. Nor did they escape divergence of opinion by soft-pedaling their ideas and carefully working down each word lest it should strike with power. They were not engaged in the negative business of a series of tentative suggestions. In the language of Joseph Parker, They hurled it across the heavens; they uttered it with thunder; they spake it with the accent of the soul. They presented no apologies to anybody for their faith in the Deity of Jesus, nor did they try to make friends and fellow-laborers of those who denied His resurrection from the dead. God forbid that we, their successors in opportunity, should fail of their convictions and courage. If the Book be true, preach it without apology! If it be false, fling it from you! The hour has struckyea, the hour has always existed, when men should know the truth, for the truth alone can make men free. And truth is not a compromise! Truth is not a circle of debate! Truth is intolerant. It cannot compromise, and the truth is that Jesus is risen! Tell it out! Dying men need it. The day demands it.

But we have in this Scripture, also, the unity in sacrificial distribution.

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

And laid them down at the Apostles? feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need (Act 4:34-35).

Communism of goods? Yes! Socialism in practice? Never! There is not the slightest intimation in this text that any man was compelled to part with his personal possessions. There is not even an intimation that he was expected to do it. It was a purely voluntary actthe first-fruits of being filled with the Spirit. Christianity is volitional! Repentance is impossible apart from the consent of ones will. Regeneration never takes place without that consent. Apart from the same consent, the fruits of the Spirit are impossible. The man who unwillingly sold his possessions and gave them would not be accepted of God. His animating motive of pride, a good name, a reputation for charity, would all be offensive to the Holy Ghost. It might deceive men, but not God. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh an the hear.

…God abhors the sacrifice,Where not the heart is found.

The Lord loveth a cheerful giver, and we are told that the word in the original means the hilarious giverthe man who gives with joy; the woman who, with every sacrifice, has in her own soul a sweet content.

If the Spirit of God administered in the Church of God, the entire membership would know the meaning of unity in sacrificial service.

But, alas for the professing church, we have introduced immediately

THE DESTROYING POWER OF SELF-DECEPTION

Joses, who by the Apostles was surname d Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the Apostles feet (Act 4:36-37).

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the Apostles feet.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Act 5:1-4).

How full a suggestion! They succeeded in deceiving themselves; they attempted to deceive the Apostles; they provoked the Spirit to their own destruction.

They succeeded in deceiving themselves. One can easily imagine the process of reasoning that took place between this man and his wife. Barnabas has given his entire place. We are equally well off, perhaps better. If we sold ours and gave as much as he, we would have an equal reputation with him, would stand just as high in the affection of our fellow Christians, and we could do it and keep back a considerable part. It is our own affair. No one need be the wiser. Our gift will be generous and if we lead Peter and the rest of the Apostles to think it is our all, our reputations will be secure. What a profound pity that one cannot give without the devil getting in his suggestions of selfishness, pride, arrogance! Yea, one may not even pray without having Satan interjecting opposite thoughts!

From the beginning of the church, this Ananias and Sapphira event has troubled many souls, but it involves no enigmas. God did not continue to exercise discipline in His church as He wrought it this day. It was fully essential that the one Spirit-filled church of the world should be retained long enough to become an ensample before it was permitted to be defiled; hence the judgment against this lie. But while God has changed His custom, yielding as He always does to mercy as against judgment, man has not changed his. The experience of Ananias has not sufficed to teach us the scarlet of his guilt. We go on after the Ananias manner. More lies are told by men in the matter of their contributions to the church than almost any single subject of Christian conversation. More deceptions are wrought over the proportion of ones income which he is putting on the altar, and more self-deception is practiced in this matter than in almost any other of church experience. Hundreds of people think and openly avow that they are tithing and more, who would not dare to keep books with the Lord. I had a dear friend in the South, who in his early life earned a most modest income, and his wife continually quarrelled with every contribution he made, affirming he was impoverishing his house by paying into the church. He finally gained her consent to the keeping of a strict account and laying aside one-tenth of every dollar as holy unto the Lord. The result was that he gave far more than had been his custom.

His fortune grew, the favor and goodness of God begat repentance in his wifes heart, and the last report I had from them they were contributing thousands of dollars per year and were the happiest couple in Texas.

And this self-deception is not only practiced in the matter of giving of ones means, but also of his time and his energy. As Joseph Parker writes, No man has done all he can do, and as he confesses, I could have done ten times more; I could have prayed more; I could have preached more; I could have suffered more. And when a man stands up in my presence and says, I have done all I could and God knows it, he makes me afraid. I was told of persons who were supposed to be worth 5 and 20,000 pounds, and at the communion of the Lords table, never contribute a coin, but put in the communion card alone. Is it possible? Thy money perish with thee! Keep it! Keep it! Take it in the coffin with thee! Make a pillow of it! Make a footstool of it! Make a lining of it! Thou whited sepulcher! Ananias lied without speaking. That is the worst form of falsehood. The blundering speaker of a lie may be converted, but the actor of a lie can only be killed.

They attempted to deceive the Apostles. They brought a certain part and laid it at the Apostles feet. They would be thought well of by the leaders. It would be an interesting thing, in great world movements and so-called Christian drives, to know how many men are animated solely by the desire to stand well with the leaders. I have known men to favor every single progressive movement put up by leaders; to talk for it and grow eloquent about it, and contribute nothing toward it. Ananias would have made a good member of a State Board; in fact, I have met him there many a time. Practically every Board is made up of two classesBarnabas on the one side, who is an advocate of progression and is willing to make all reasonable sacrifices for the same, and Ananias, who is equally an advocate of progress but will forever keep his eye on the first chance. Jacob is dead, but his sons are a multitude; and Ananias is buried, but his successors are like the sands of the sea or the stars for number. The professing church has men who can deceive even the very elect, but this is not the end. When man and wife agree together on such a course the case is almost hopeless. Adam and Eve agreed in sin and it lost to them the Garden of Eden, and since that day thousands of couples have consulted to connive and found themselves driven beyond the gates of Paradise. I am not intimating at all that Adam and Eve went to hell, nor am I saying that such was the final experience of Ananias and Sapphira. I do not believe it. God chastens His own children rather than bastards and might be utterly justified in destroying the body of His own to save the soul. We can readily understand that a lie on the part of a sinner would never be so offensive to the Holy Ghost as the saints deception; the falsehood of strangers does not hurt the fathers heart as the faithlessness of his children.

They provoked the Spirit to their own destruction. Temporal death against sin is its very first sentence. Up to the present hour few men have escaped it, and yet, when it comes suddenly and immediately upon the commission of a sin, it strikes the world dumb and brings amazement to the Church of God.

In the early days of the Church God attempted to keep it clean, and when a member disgraced it, He removed the member; but when apostasy involves the majority He removes the Church instead. You will remember what He said to the Laodicean Church, Because thou art lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spue thee out of My mouth, and to the Church of Ephesus, Repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place. As one great preacher has said, It is vain to attempt to keep up the outward, when the inward has given way. Is there anything more ghastly to the religious eye and spiritual imagination than a church out of which God has gone? The building stands there, of undiminished magnitude, and undimmed beauty of form and color, and undiminished commodiousness, but God has gone! The Bible is read, and not read. It is not the Bible that the man mumbles, but a book which he has found somewhere, out of which the Spirit has been driven. The very selfsame old hymns are sung that fifty years ago caused the walls to vibrate as with conscious joy, and though the music is exact in technicality and well performed as to mere lip service, the old passion is not there, and the hymn rises to the ceiling, bruises itself against the beams of the roof and falls back, a service unrecognized in Heaven. This accounts for all the results of statistics as to attendance upon places of worship; for all the dilapidated husbandry of the church; for all the boundless provision of mere space and accommodation and machinery without eliciting the sympathy and consent of the great heart of man. We have lost the Spirit or we have forgotten that there is diversity of operation even under the same Spirit, and we have been trying to maintain old economy without new inspiration. What has to be done? Not to mend the outside, but fall to praying and to bring to bear upon Heaven the violence of our impatient necessity and the sacred ambition of men who have found by prolonged and bitter experience that all answers worth having are to be had from Heaven only.

Finally, and all too briefly, I must state it,

THE EVANGELIZING POWER OF DIVINE HEALING

And by the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomons porch.

And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.

And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;)

Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits; and they were healed every one (Act 5:12-16).

The miracle always attracts a multitude. It was when signs and wonders were wrought among the people that the crowds came. We talk of the reason the churches are empty now, and wonder why people no longer flock to them; why in great spacious auditoriums a feeble few gather and attempt a sleepy service of praise. But the reason is not far to seek. When there is no sign of Gods presence, the people will not continue to patronize. You have to take your choice then between a few souls who cannot cease from their forms and ceremonies, and putting on a sideshow that would do credit to a street in Cairo, or the presence of God. But when and where was a miracle ever wrought manifestly from God without the immediate coming together of a veritable concourse? Hundreds of times have the Papists started the story that God was working a miracle at some place, and every time the crowds set in that way, and Rome profits accordingly. Why? After all, there are weary hearts by the thousand and tens of thousand that want to find God. The man, therefore, who attempts to take the miracle out of religion, if he succeeds, will take the heart out of it; he will take hope out of it, because he will take God out of it. God, instead of being the Author of natural law and forever limited by the same, never moves His hand, His foot, His tongue, without a miracle. The true miracle is the sign, the insignia, the positive proof of Divine Presence.

The miracle commonly results in converts. It would be interesting to study the record in the New Testament of the instant results of every miracle wrought. This Book of Acts abundantly illustrates that fact. When in the second chapter the miracle of tongues appeared, the people thronged to the place. When in the third chapter, Peter, in the Name of the Lord, healed the man at the Gate Beautiful, the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomons. When in the fifth chapter the miracle of judgment was wrought against Ananias and Sapphira, believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. When in the ninth chapter, Dorcas was brought back from the burial shroud and it came to be known throughout Joppa, many believed on the Lord. When in the twelfth chapter, Herod is smitten by the hand of the Lord, the Word of God grew and multiplied.

The church that has God at work in it, manifesting His power by grace and by judgments, is the church upon which the people will attend and in which conversions will be accomplished. Little wonder that men doubt the experience of regeneration when they attend churches as complete in forms and ceremonies as they are destitute of God. If we would have the miracle of conversion come back, then we must bring back the Christ. His presence, His power, His work is always a wonder. Enthrone the Christ afresh and there will be no failure in the growth of the church.

Finally,

The immediate effect of the miracle is social service.

They brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one (Act 5:15-16).

Thousands of articles have been printed on How to Set the Churches to Work. Eloquent orations have been delivered on how to interest men in the bodies and souls of their fellows, or how to secure sacrificial endeavor for the sake of a needy world. It is all answered in one thought, Bring God in.

The moment His miraculous Presence is recognized and His miraculous, power is experienced, social service is sure. Men sometimes talk as if this social service propaganda were a novelty; as if the early church had no notion of doing ought than teach the great fundamentals. On the contrary, the fundamentals of Scripture, when properly apprehended and proclaimed, have never failed to produce the finest of social fruits. History is replete with illustrations of this fact. The apostolic commission and constitution are documents which throw much light upon this subject. No less an authority than Dr. Geo. T. Stokes says, These constitutions prove that the church in the third century was one mighty cooperative institution, and an important function of the bishop was the direction of that cooperation. The second chapter of the fourth book of the Apostolic Constitution lays down, Do you therefore, O bishops, be solicitous about the maintenance of orphans, being in nothing wanting to them, exhibiting to the orphans the care of parents; to the widows the care of husbands; to the artificer, work; to the stranger, an house; to the hungry, food; to the thirsty, drink; to the naked, clothing; to the sick, visitation; to the prisoners, assistance.

When once we give place in the church to the Holy Spirit, there will be no lack of social service. The spiritual church will forever be a serviceable church. Dear old Joseph Parker saw that fact gladly and said, The church can only do great social duties and continue with constancy in great social sacrifices in proportion as its heart is constantly inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act. 5:1. Ananias.Perhaps the same name as Ananiah (Neh. 3:23) or Hananiah (1Ch. 3:21; Jer. 28:1; Dan. 1:6), translated in the LXX. , and signifying the cloud or mercy of God. Sapphira.Possibly from the Greek , sapphire, or from the Syriac , beautiful.

Act. 5:2. Kept back part of the price.Lit. took away for himself from the price, as Achan did of the accursed thing (Jos. 7:1); compare Tit. 2:10. Privy to it.Conscious of it to herselfi.e., aware of the reservation.

Act. 5:3. Why hath Satan filled thine heart?Compare the influence exerted by this father of lies (Joh. 8:44) upon Judas (Luk. 22:3; Joh. 13:27). To lie to the Holy Ghost.Lit. that thou shouldst lie, as regards the Holy Ghosti.e., with intent to deceive Him, , with the accusative of the person deceived, as in Deu. 33:29; Isa. 57:11 (LXX.). Though the purpose was rather that of Satan who had filled Ananiass heart, than of Ananias himself, yet Ananiass freedom of will and power of resistance to the tempter is recognised in the question Why?

Act. 5:4. Was iti.e., the possessionnot thine own? should be, remaining (unsold) did it not remain to thee (as thy possession)? The language shows that the practice of selling private property and casting the proceeds into a common fund was not obligatory on the first Christians as a term of communion. Why? = = quid est quod = cur? Hast thou conceived.Lit. placed in thy heart; compare Dan. 1:8; Mal. 2:2. Satan suggested the lie, which Ananias ought to have repelled; instead of that he put it in his heart (Alford). Not unto men, but unto God.(Compare 1Th. 4:8.) A weighty testimony to the divinity, as well as personality of the Holy Spirit (compare Mat. 28:19).

Act. 5:5. Gave up the ghost.Expired, breathed out his life; used again only of Herod Agrippa (Act. 12:23). The phrase occurs frequently in the LXX. Great fear came on all them that hoard these things.Not merely upon all present (De Wette), but upon all to whom the report came.

Act. 5:6. The young, or younger men, were the more youthful members of the assembly (Neander, De Wette, Alford, Hackett, Zckler, and others) in distinction from the older. There is no need to suppose them a special class of assistants (Kuinoel, Meyer), or that presbyters had already been appointed (Olshausen), although on the ground of this natural distribution of work between the young and old in the common life of the Church, the later official distinction may have arisen (Holtzmann). Wound him up.. I.e., taking to be = (Eze. 29:5, LXX.; Jos., Ant., XVII. iii. 3), wrapping the body upe.g., in their own mantles (Alford, De Wette); or, perhapes better, adhering to the literal sense of the word, to place together, laying the body out, composing its limbs (Zckler, Holtzmann), and so making ready for burial. The speedy burial of the dead practised among the later Jews was unknown in earlier times. See Genesis 23. It was grounded on Num. 19:11 ff. The practice was to bury before sunset of the same day (Alford).

Act. 5:7. Three hours after allowed sufficient time for interment.

Act. 5:8. So much.Perhaps pointing to the gold still lying where it had been laid by Ananias.

Act. 5:9. To tempt the Spirit of the Lord.Compare 1Co. 10:9. Behold draws attention to the sound of approaching footsteps (Olshausen, Hackett, Holtzmann) although the whole clause may be only a lively or poetic manner of speech (Alford, Zckler).

Act. 5:10. Fell down straightway.That the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira were designed by the writer as supernatural occurrences cannot be doubted; and that they were so is shown by the impossibility of accounting for them by natural means, such as horror at detection and fear superinduced by Peters words. The idea that the story of Ananias and Sapphira, though having a basis in fact, is only a legend, corresponding to the Old Testament narratives of Achan (Joshua 7) and Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-8), and framed for the purpose of supporting the notion that he who is excommunicated must perish bodily (Weizscker) may be dismissed as without plausibility.

Act. 5:11. The Church, . Here used for the first time in the Acts to signify the body of believers who had been called out of the world.

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.Act. 5:1-11

The Story of Ananias and Sapphira; or, Hypocrisy unveiled

I. The character and standing of Ananias and Sapphira.

1. Husband and wife. They stood towards one another in the holiest of natural relations. Marriage is honourable in all (Heb. 13:4). Happy they in whom the sacred bond of wedlock is cemented by love and religion (Eph. 5:25). Had Ananias and Sapphira been like their names, finer names than Barnabas (Stier)he a vessel of the grace of God, and she clear and transparent like the sapphire (see Critical Remarks)all had been well. But, alas! their souls were not like their names (Stier), and in them the marriage union, having been perverted to unholy ends, what was meant for a blessing turned out to be a curse. Instead of being helpers of each others faith and joy (2Co. 1:24), and provoking one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:24), they became mutual tempters and confederates in sin. Adam and Eve, if they were the first married couple who conjointly went astray (Genesis 3), have, unhappily, not been the last: witness Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 12, 16); Ahab and Jezebel (1Ki. 16:29-33); Herod and Herodias (Mat. 14:3).

2. Of good social standing. This was obvious from the circumstance that they possessed a bit of land. Ownership of the soilwhether right or wronghas always been esteemed a mark of superior position (see Job. 22:8-9). The landless have ever been accounted mean, and not unfrequently treated as slaves and chattels. Nor have such ideas been confined to men of the world, but they have been suffered to penetrate even within the precincts of the Christian Church. 2. Of fair Christian profession. Without doubt, says Besser, the Holy Spirit had had His work upon them both. They were both believers, and embraced in the precious word spoken of the multitude of the faithful (Act. 4:32). Probably they had made themselves prominent above others through their beautiful gifts (of grace), had prayed with power, and been able boldly to despise the threatenings of the enemy. Whether this was so or not, unquestionably they belonged to the number of disciples. Having publicly professed their faith in Christ, they had been baptised and received into the Christian community. Whether their so-called conversion dated from the day of Pentecost, or the healing of the lame man, cannot be ascertained. But manifestly they were persons of repute in the congregation. They had a name to live (Rev. 3:1), whether it was deserved or not.

II. The project and sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

1. Their project.

(1) Its substance was goodto sell their property, retain part of the purchase money, bring the remainder into the Church, and lay it down at the apostles feet exactly as Joses had done. If they had a wish to emulate the man of Cyprus, there would still have been nothing reprehensible in what they proposed to do had they only let the truth be understood that they were contributing not the whole but only a part of their estate.
(2) Its motive was badto obtain credit for doing a handsome, generous, self-sacrificing deed of kindness without inflicting on themselves a total loss, to secure for themselves praise to which they were not entitledviz., for giving all, whereas they were only giving part of their patrimony. In other words, vanity and greed lay at the root of their procedure.
(3) Its execution was cleverthe scheme was carried out promptly, soon after it had been conceived, so that no space was left for hesitation which might lead to an alteration in their plans; faithfully, in exact accordance with the prearranged programme, so that little chance was left for miscarrying; conjointly, with the full concurrence of both partners, so that neither could cast the blame of failure upon the other; and publicly, with the knowledge and approbation of the Church, so that all might appear open and above board.
2. Their sin.

(1) In what it consisted. Not in selling the land or in contributing only a portion of the price to the common fund. They need not have sold the land unless they pleased. Nor were they obliged to surrender the whole or any portion of the realised price, if they chose to do otherwise. There was no law imposing payment and specifying amount (Binney). All was voluntary. Their transgression lay in pretending to contribute the whole when they were only devoting a part. Deception and hypocrisy were the faults with which they were chargeable.
(2) By whom it was instigated. The nearer motives have been explained. The power behind these was the Devil. Satan had filled their hearts with the desire of gaining reputation as generous and self-sacrificing givers without parting with too much of their property. To the promptings of the arch deceiver they had yielded. Having opened the gateways of their souls at his suggestion, they had soon sunk beneath his sway.

(3) Against whom it was directed. It was a sin against their own souls, against the apostles, against the Church, and even against Christ; but it was chiefly a sin against God and the Holy Ghost. This, according to Peter, formed its main aggravation. Yet it must not be confounded with what is specifically called the sin against the Holy Ghost (Mat. 12:32).

III. The detection and punishment of Ananias and Sapphira.

1. The detection.This was

(1) unexpected. By Ananias and Sapphira themselves, who, no doubt, never dreamt that any one, and least of all Peter, would get to know of their little plot; but hardly less by the congregation who, it may be imagined, never anticipated that any of their number would be guilty of such a miserable crime. The unexpected, however, is that which mostly happens; nor can evil doers count on a moment of security.
(2) Instantaneous. No preliminary suspicions, or strange surmises, or precognoscing of witnesses, or leading of evidence, was required. At once and on the spot, with the suddenness of a flash of lightning, the secret offence was laid bare. Ananias and Sapphira were hypocrites, and had lied unto the Holy Ghost.
(3) Complete. The whole story was divulged,the selling of the land, the keeping back part of the price, the concert between the two. Nothing remained concealed from the searching gaze of Peter, whose eyes had been inwardly illumined by the Holy Ghost.

(4) Public. The sin had been conceived in secret, but its exposure occurred in public, according to the saying of our Lord: There is nothing hid which shall not be manifested, etc. (Mar. 4:22).

2. The punishment.

(1) Sudden. Swift upon the heels of dection followed the infliction of retribution, as it did with our first parents (Gen. 3:8), with Cain (Gen. 4:9-12), with Judas, Joh. 1:18), with Herod (Act. 12:23), and as it often does in Providence still.

(2) Severe. Ananias, hearing Peters words, fell down and gave up the ghost and three hours after, Sapphira, entering the congregation, and learning what had happened to her husband, also fell down immediately at Peters feet. One after the other their bodies were composed for interment, wrapped up in linen, or perhaps in the young mens mantles, carried forth, and buried. Whether their souls perished with the dissolution of their bodies cannot be told. Charity would incline one to the belief of Augustine that this terrible doom was inflicted on their bodies that their spirits might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1Co. 5:5).

(3) Supernatural. The suggestion that Ananias and Sapphira died through shame and the detection of their crime, and fear of the consequences that might ensue to them on its getting known to the community, will not explain the double death in manner and circumstances so exactly alike. Besides, Peters language (Act. 5:9) shows that both of the deaths were miraculous. To dismiss the whole story as a legendary working up of some simple occurrence connected with Ananias and Sapphira is inadmissible.

(4) Solemnising. It profoundly impressed the whole Church and the outside public, so far as it became known. And no wonder. When Gods judgments are abroad the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isa. 26:9).

(5) Sanctioned. By right and justice. Though severe, it was not more severe than the sin deserved (Rom. 6:23), or the circumstances of the case demanded. It was needful to check hypocrisy on the threshold of the Church; and if the rigour of Divine vengeance has since then been relaxed, that is not because the sin of hypocrisy has become less hateful in Gods sight (Job. 13:13; Job. 13:16; Luk. 11:44), but because mercy has began to rejoice against judgment (Jas. 2:13).

Learn.

1. That two actions may be similar in mens eyes, and yet intrinsically different in Gods. Example: the actions of Barnabas and Ananias.
2. That God will accept no gift for either His Church or His poor of that which hypocrisy and greed leave over. Gods proper portion is the firstfruits.
3. That God still sits over against the treasury of the Church and jealously guards His honour from all reproach that may be cast upon it by His peoples gifts.
4. That no plot can be too secret to escape the all-seeing eye of God.
5. That, though hand join in hand, yet will not the sinner go unpunished.
6. That not a great and mixed multitude, but the holiness of His people, is pleasing to the Lord of His Church (Lechler).
7. That Christs people should guard themselves carefully against temptations to sin.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act. 5:1. Ananias and Sapphira; or, the Fearful Perversion of the Marriage State.This occurs when marriage is

I. A fellowship of goods and a business transaction, instead of a union of hearts in the Lord.

II. A union to the service of the flesh, the world, and the devil, instead of a pious resolution, As for me and my house.

III. A walking together to hell, instead of being helpers together of one anothers joy, and pilgrims towards heaven. Contrast Ananias and Sapphira with Zacharias and Elizabeth.Gerok.

Act. 5:1, with Act. 4:3-6. Barnabas and Ananias.

I. Compare.In being

1. Men;
2. Professors of Christianity;
3. Givers.

II. Contrast.In their

1. Characters. Barnabas, a good man and sincere Christian; Ananias, an insincere disciple and flagrant deceiver.

2. Gifts. That of Barnabas proceeding from Christian love and sympathy, and being complete as well as honest; that of Ananias being inspired by envy and selfishness as well as impaired in its extent, and deceitful in its mode of presentation.

3. Rewards. Barnabas being set upon a pedestal of immortal renown; Ananias being fixed on a pillory of undying shame. Barnabas being promoted to a position of usefulness in the Church; Ananias being punished with instantaneous destruction, and so held up as a warning to future ages.

III. Suggest.

1. That all who profess faith in Jesus Christ are not sincere disciples.
2. That all gifts to Christs treasury are not equally acceptable to Christ.
3. That different destinies await the true and the false professor of religion.

Act. 5:3. Mans Partnership with Satan in his Sins.

I. In connection with lies.He is a liar, and the forger of lies; the hater of truth and uprightness.

II. In connection with errors.
III. In connection with forms.
IV. In connection with unbelief.
V. In connection with his own original falsehood in Paradise.H. Bonar, D.D.

Act. 5:3-10. Satan and the Holy Ghost.

VII. Satan.

1. The existence and personality of Satan. Peter did not speak in allegory when he said, Why hath Satan filled thy heart?

2. The reality of Satanic influence on the human heart. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was traced back to the direct agency of the devil.

3. Satanic influence, though undeniable, does not destroy the responsibility of man. Satan can fill no mans heart against his will.

II. The Holy Ghost.

1. The divinity and personality of the Holy Ghost. The former implied in the fact that the Holy Ghost could be lied against and tempted; the latter in the title God ascribed to Him (Act. 5:4).

2. The access the Holy Spirit has to the human heart. Proved by the inward illumination of Peter as to the conduct of the guilty pair.

3. The perpetual inhabitation of the Church by the Holy Ghost. Ananias and Sapphira imagined they had only their fellow-Christians to hoodwink. Peter explained the aggravation of their sin to lie in this, that it had been committed against the Holy Ghost.

Act. 5:5-10 Sudden Deaths.

I. Possible occurrences.And may be either natural events or supernatural judgments.

II. Impressive spectacles.Calculated to arrest the careless and render the wicked thoughtful.

III. Solemn lessons.Teaching all

(1) the nearness of the end, and
(2) the wisdom of being ready.

Act. 5:5-11. Church Discipline.

I. Its necessity.Shown then by the case of Ananias and Sapphira; shown now by the admitted presence in the Church of those who walk disorderly.

II. Its authority.The example of Peter, supported by the teaching of Christ (Mat. 18:15-18), Paul (1Co. 5:2-7; 2Co. 2:6; 2Th. 3:6; Tit. 3:10), and John (2Jn. 1:10).

III. Its effect.When faithfully and lovingly administered mostly good; if not to the offending party salutary, to the Church and the world mostly impressive and instructive.

Act. 5:1-11. The Sevenfold Union of Ananias and Sapphira.

I. United in marriage.Husband and wife.

II. United in profession.Both members of the Church.

III. United in liberality.Both agreed to give a contribution to the Church fund.

IV. United in sin.Their plot was devised and acted on in concert with each other.

V. United in detection.Both were found out at the same time and by the same apostle.

VI. United in punishment.Both were visited with death.

V. United in infamy.Both serve as a memorial and warning to future ages.

The Love of Money, as exemplified in Ananias and Sapphira.

I. It impaired their Christian characters.Assuming them to have been genuine disciples, it certainly prevented them from rising to any height in the religious life, if it did not utterly extinguish grace within their hearts. Alongside of the love of Mammon the love of God cannot thrive (Mat. 6:24).

II. It maintained its hold upon them, notwithstanding their privileges.They had probably witnessed the wonders of Pentecost, beheld the healing of the lame man, listened to Peters sermons, enjoyed the fellowship of the disciples, perhaps themselves led the prayers of the congregation; and yet this deeply seated vice, the passion for money, kept its ground.

III. It impelled them to a course of heinous sin.To avarice, to deception, to hypocrisy, to vainglory, to lies, to pretence and ostentationa pitiable crop of evil to come to harvest in Christian souls. The love of money is the root of every kind of evil (1Ti. 6:10).

IV. It involved them in an awful doom.Detection, exposure, death, infamy. They that will be rich, etc. (1Ti. 6:9). For other examples of the love of money see Simon Magus (Act. 8:18-23), the Sorcerers (Act. 16:19), Demetrius (Act. 19:24-27), Felix Act. 24:26).

The sin of Ananias and Sapphira.

I. The character of the sin.It was not simple falsehood. The common practice of holding it up before children, as an illustration of the guilt and danger of lying, has no warrant to justify it. Their sin was the attempt to deceive and defraud God. Many a man since has ventured upon the same experiment. In every community there are some who are so convinced of the worth of religion that they desire to share in its blessings. They outwardly embrace the Christian faith; they unite with the Church; they are measurably careful in the discharge of routine duties. Neither their conduct nor their neglect is such as to subject them to discipline; and yet, while conceding so much, they are far from having made a complete surrender of themselves to God. Their religious life is a perpetual attempt at con-promise. The bulk of their time and energy is devoted to self and the world; the dust and sweepings are offered to God. Ananias in broadcloth and Sapphira in silk sit in the churches every Sabbath. They call themselves disciples, and pride themselves on their consistency; but both the name they assume and the boast they make is a lie to the Holy Ghost. They keep back a part, and the greater part, of the price of discipleship.

II. The origin of the sin.In general phrase, we may say that it was due to an evil heart, but its specific root was the love of money. In our day, when men are called to choose between piety and property, there are many who hesitate, prevaricate, and end with a compromise. Multitudes of avowed believers withhold as much as possible of their wealth from God. They are prodigal in their prayers and hymns and exhortations, but close-handed with their money. Like the tree in the ancient legend, which uttered a moan and bled whenever a twig was broken off, those who call themselves Christian men writhe and suffer when forced to anything like a liberal surrender of their worldly substance for the glory of God and the salvation of men. The old poison of avarice is still in the veins of the Church.

III. The discovery of the sin.It seemed unlikely that the transaction would be made public. Ananias and Sapphira would not circulate the story of what they had done. There was apparently no way in which the affair could become known. So, doubtless, these deceivers reasoned. But there was an uncalculated factor in the equation. There was a spiritual side to the matter which was unreckoned. It affected the kingdom of God as well as the real estate market. It is a truth which men are slow to learn, that there is a Divine detective system in the universe, by whose workings all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. It is easy to deceive the world. Men may consider us generous, when in reality we are pinched and small in our charities. To God, this world is one vast whispering-gallery, and every sin which men commit reports itself to Him; and there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known. Men cannot measure our consecration to God.

IV. The punishment of the sin.It was startling and severe. One moment Ananias and Sapphira stood before the apostle in the flush of life and health, with the lie upon their lips; the next they were in eternity, beginning the experience of its unchanging awards. The penalty might be judged extreme for a single sin; but, at the outset of the Christian Church, it was important to emphasise the fact that the liberty of the Gospel was not license. More than that, the sin itself was significant. As the single blossom is evidence whether the stock from which it comes is noxious weed or fragrant flower, so this action was proof of a heart alienated from God in its deepest life and purposes. Such feeling and intention was a hindrance to the kingdom of righteousness. And this punishment was anticipated and representative. The judgment continues to be executed. Men now who attempt to defraud God by their partial consecration, by the much they spend on themselves and the little they devote to Him, are not beaten down as with a lightning-stroke; but, all the same and just as really, they die spiritually. They are dying at the root. The complete loss of spiritual life is only a question of time. Atom by atom their interest in Divine things dissipates; headland after headland of faith sinks into indistinctness in their drift away from them; doctrine and duty lose their hold on their acceptance and conduct; and at last they have a name to live and are dead.Monday Club Sermons.

Ananias and Sapphira.

I. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira.It is expressly stated to have been lying unto the Holy Ghost (Act. 5:3). It will be observed that in Act. 5:3-4 the personality and Deity of the Spirit are asserted in an incidental way. Peter varies the charge of lying to the Spirit in the third verse to lying to God in the fourth.

1. Their act was gratuitous.In the community of goods which prevailed in the infant Church the rights of property were not obliterated; there was no compulsory communism.

2. It was marked by covetousness. There is a strange mingling of discordant elements in their act. They loved the praise of men, and were unwilling to be held in less consideration than Barnabas. But they loved money quite as well, even better. Zeal and faith of some sort led them to profess the name of Christ, but beneath their profession lurked a hateful lust for influence and greed of money.

3. Unbelief also entered into and aggravated their guilt. This had a twofold aspect. Obviously, they distrusted God. We can imagine that the failure of the sustentation-fund was the subject of anxious debate between them. Suppose this community of goods should become exhausted, what then? Is it not our duty to retain some security against the contingencies of the future? They feared to endanger their comforts beyond recall; a portion of their property would be safest in their own hands. Moreover, there appears to have been a worse feature than distrust of God in their act. There was the feeling, latent, unconfessed mayhap, that they would not and could not be detected in their deed.

4. The sin was preconcerted. They agreed together to deceive the Church and the Spirit in the Church. The plan was concocted deliberately and dispassionately. No doubt they spent much time and thought in working out a device which should save appearances with the Church and gratify their avarice. Together they contrived the pious fraud, and they executed it together. This fact intensifies the criminality of their conduct.

5. The devils agency in the sin. Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Covetousness and unbelief prompted the deceit, we might be disposed to say. But the apostle saw deeper. He saw that the devil had been joined by this guilty couple. Whether consciously or unconsciously, this wretched pair was assisted by the devil in the attempt to impose upon the Spirit of God. The device which they adopted exposed them to his assaults. Had they been honest with themselves, with the Church, and, above all, with God, they had been kept from the snare of the fowler. Instead, they helped him weave and spread the net in which themselves were taken. Poor victims!

II. Their Punishment.it was instantaneous. As their sin challenged both the omniscience and justice of God, He at once vindicated the holiness and majesty of His character. Instantly His wrath streamed forth and consumed the guilty couple.

III. The lessons taught by this solemn incident are manya few of which only may be designated.

1. And mark well the Divine abhorrence of prevarication.
2. The certainty of the exposure of hypocrisy. God will unmask the hypocrite.
3. Religious enthusiasm without grace is dangerous. People run fearful risks when they profess more than their spiritual strength can carry.W. G. Moorehead, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

8. IN THE UPPER ROOM. Act. 4:28Act. 5:11.

a.

The Prayer Service. Act. 4:23-31.

Act. 4:23

And being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them.

Act. 4:24

And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, O Lord thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is:

Act. 4:25

who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David thy servant, didst say,

Why did the Gentiles rage,
And the peoples imagine vain things?

Act. 4:26

The kings of the earth set themselves in array,

And the rulers were gathered together,
Against the Lord, and against his Anointed:

Act. 4:27

for of a truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together,

Act. 4:28

to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass.

Act. 4:29

And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness,

Act. 4:30

while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy Servant Jesus.

Act. 4:31

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Act. 4:23-30 The apostles left the assembly in triumphant joy but with no pride. Being let go they came to their own company. Who was this company and where were they gathered?

We are inclined to the opinion that the term refers to the other apostles and those who were their close friends and associates.

The upper room was the abode of the apostles (Act. 1:13) so it does seem reasonable that this was the place to which Peter and John returned upon this occasion.

Can we not imagine them entering the room and hurrying into the presence of their friends to tell with mingled joy and apprehension all that had been said and done?
Immediately upon hearing the news the whole assembly cried out in a united prayer to God. Note the appropriativeness of this prayer
(1) They were in need of protection and guidance and in their prayer they addressed God as the one who didst make the heaven and earth and sea and all that in them is. If He was indeed so great He could afford them protection and direction. (2) Then the second Psalm is quoted in which we have a description given by David hundreds of years before. The prophetic picture found its fulfillment in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. What Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel did to Jesus was only in fulfillment of Gods purposes. Since, then, God had thus delivered in the terrible days of His Sons adversity, He could now do the same for His chosen children. (3) The one petition made in this whole prayer was that God would consider the threatenings of His enemies and grant boldness to His servants as they spoke His word, that He would continue to accompany the words of the apostles with the signs and wonders that were already in evidence with their work. These supernatural demonstrations were to place the stamp of divine approval upon the words spoken by the apostles.

141.

Who composed the company to whom the Apostles went following their trial?

142.

Where was the company gathered? How do you know?

142.

Give the three points of appropriativeness in the prayer of the company.

Act. 4:31 Almost before the last word of the prayer had been uttered the answer arrived. Notice please how the petitions of their prayer were answered:

1) They prayed that God would consider the opposition and would in the face of it grant boldness. The answer: The place where they were meeting was shaken as a reed in the wind. This was the answer of the Lord reminding them that He had heard and was interested enough to let them know His concern. They, knowing His character, would realize that He would not thus answer them unless He was in agreement with their request. This gave them great boldness. 2) They prayed that God would continue to manifest His supernatural power; here in this earthquake He stamped an affirmative answer on the request.
And so they were indeed in accord with the Holy Spirit and He could thus literally fill their hearts and lives. The closer in accord our spirit is to the Holy Spirit, the more completely does He fill our lives. Following this experience the little company could go forth into the city with Gods own assurance. They could truly speak the work of God with boldness.

144.

Give the requests of the prayer and show how they were immediately answered.

145.

The earthquake had what relationship to all being filled with the Holy Spirit?

b.

The Unity of Believers. Act. 4:32-37.

Act. 4:32

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

Act. 4:33

And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Act. 4:34

For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

Act. 4:35

and laid them at the apostles feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need.

Act. 4:36

And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of exhortation), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race,

Act. 4:37

having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet.

Act. 4:32-35 Since Pentecost, the creation day of the church, our attention has been centered upon the work of Christ in the lives of but two of His servants. Luke now opens the door of information to let us behold something of the work of the Master in the life of the whole church. Observe the wonderful power of Christ in the multitude of them that believed:

1)

They were of one heart and one soul. There was total unity of love and faith.

2)

They knew that they had been bought with a price and therefore they were not their own. But this unselfishness reached right into their material possessions and caused them to seek the common good of all. We have much talk of this unselfish attitude today but not much of its fruits.

3)

This actual and practical unity afforded a bulwark of strength for the testimony of the apostles. The apostles could point to a group of living examples of the power of their resurrection message. Hence could they give with great power their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

4)

Great grace was upon them all. Because of the aforementioned virtues proceeding from the surrendered lives Gods favor and approval rested upon them.

Luke tells us why Gods favor and approval rested upon them. He says it was because of the utterly selfless attitude and life of the believers. There was none that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need.

146.

What change of thought is found beginning with Act. 4:32?

147.

Give the four points in Act. 4:32-37 which manifests the power of Christ in the lives of those that believed.

148.

How did the unity of the church afford to the apostles opportunity to give with greater power their witness of the resurrection?

149.

What is the meaning of the statement great grace was upon them all?

Act. 4:36-37 An example is given of one who portrayed the spirit and work of the united Jerusalem church. Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas did like many others, sold his own field that his brethren might not be in want.

150.

Who was given as an example of the unity of the Jerusalem church? What did he do?

c.

The First Church Discipline. Act. 5:1-11.

Act. 5:1

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

Act. 5:2

and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles feet.

Act. 5:3

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Act. 5:4

While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

Act. 5:5

And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost: and great fear came upon all that heard it.

Act. 5:6

And the young men arose and wrapped him round, and they carried him out and buried him.

Act. 5:7

And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

Act. 5:8

And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much. And she said, Yea, for so much.

Act. 5:9

But Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to try the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them that have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.

Act. 5:10

And she fell down immediately at his feet, and gave up the ghost: and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her by her husband.

Act. 5:11

And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things.

Act. 5:1-2 There is a little three lettered word that can be set up most anywhere in the chain of narrated events to serve as a stop sign. That word is but. Here in the midst of the history of the onward march of the church Luke must set up this stop sign. There was a great unity of belief, of possessions, and great were the results of this unitybut. It is here we have the first effort of Satan from within the body. We have witnessed in the past record the evil forces from without, but this chapter opens with the account of the first marks of the evil one within the fold. Let us notice the first church discipline.

Two members of the Jerusalem congregation, two members in good standing as far as those of Jerusalem knew, were Ananias and Sapphira, his wife.
Someone might say that the possession of land was their trouble, that if they had not the possession they would have had no sin. This is not so for their sin was located in their heart and not in their field.
The sin was twofold: the love of the praise of men and the love of money. No doubt those noble souls who sold that which was theirs for the help of others were admired by those of the church. This was what Ananias and Sapphira wanted, but they were not willing to obtain it through unselfish effort. Their difficulty lay in that root in their heart which is the source of all kinds of evilthe love of money.

151.

What is peculiar about the efforts of Satan in the case of Ananias and Sapphira?

152.

If Ananias and Sapphira had not owned the field would they have escaped the sin they committed?

153.

What was the two-fold sin of Ananias and Sapphira?

Act. 5:3-10 According to Peter they were guilty of the sin of hypocrisy, of pretending, which amounted to nothing short of lying. Yes, of lying to the Holy Spirit. Peter also says that Satan was the one who suggested the decision of these two. How the words of Peter must have cut the heart of Ananias when he reminded him that he need not lay the blame upon the land, or by saying that if he had never had the land he would never have sinned (as we are so wont to do). Peter reminded him that it was purely a matter of his own choice, that he, in league with the Devil, decided to try to deceive God with a lie, to deceive not man, but God!

The congregation was no doubt greatly surprised when the sin of Ananias was brought to light before them all. But we are persuaded that even Peter himself was not prepared for the results of his rebuke. Here are the words of Luke which describe the startling incident.
Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the spirit.
We quote the fine expression of J. W. McGarvey as to the reason for such a stringent measure:
There is no evidence that Peter had any will of his own in this sudden death. It seems to have been a sudden stroke of the divine will, the responsibility for which attached not to Peter as an officer of the church, but to God as the moral governor of men. The propriety of it may be appreciated if we suppose Ananias to have succeeded in his undertaking. His success would have been but temporary for the fraud, like all other frauds, would have been detected sooner or later, and when detection came it would have brought with it a serious discount in the minds of the people on the powers of the Holy Spirit dwelling in the apostles. To learn that the Spirit could be deceived would have undermined the whole fabric of apostolic authority and might have overthrown the faith of many, if not all. The attempt brought on a crisis of vital importance and demanded such a vindication of the power of the Spirit as could be neither mistaken nor forgotten.
The immediate effect was precisely the effect desired: Great fear (or awe) came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.
The scene was too awe-inspiring for lamentation. Hence, there was no delay in the burial of this one. Such a one did not deserve anything more than a hasty burial of the Achan in the camp. The young men who acted as pall bearers were probably directed to do so by Peter. The whole congregation, the young men included, were also evidently explicitly told not to carry the sad news to Sapphira.

And so it came to pass that three hours had passed, probably spent in prayer and heart searching, when into the assembly stepped the wife of the deceased. With the discernment of spirits (1Co. 12:10) that was Peters he knew the moment Sapphira faced him that she was as guilty as her husband. But to bring before the minds of all present the complete evidence on the case and to allow Sapphira with her own mouth to condemn herself (knowing how much Ananias had laid at his feet as a full price for the land), he framed the question in the manner he did:

Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much (naming the price Ananias had given).
Sapphira was all ready to carry out her part of the act and she answered, Yea, for so much. Peter gives to her the same rebuke he delivered to Ananias but adds the punishment to her rebuke which he did not do in Ananias case. Peter says in essence: Your husband was struck dead for his part in this sinhe has just been buried; the feet of them that carried him to his grave are at the door to do the same for you. What a thought! Sapphira like her conspirator fell down under the hand of God and died at the very feet of the apostle. The young men who were about to enter came in and knowing the circumstances, finding Sapphira dead carried her out and laid her by her husband.

154.

According to this incident what definition does Peter give for hypocrisy?

155.

What portion of Peters rebuke must have cut Ananias the deepest?

156.

How was this sin originated?

157.

What two surprises are present in this incident?

158.

Why was so stringent a punishment necessary?

159.

What was the immediate result of the discipline?

160.

Why was there such an immediate burial?

161.

How it is that Sapphira did not know of the death of her husband?

162.

How did Peter detect the guilt of the pair?

163.

What did Peter add to the rebuke of Sapphira that he did not include in the rebuke of Ananias?

Act. 5:11 The failure of the plot proved as propitious to the cause of Christ as its success would have been disastrous. And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things. This fear was excited not merely by the sudden and awful fate of the guilty pair; but also by the evidence which the incident furnished of the heartsearching power which dwelt in the apostles. The disciples now had a better conception of the nature of apostolic inspiration and the unbelieving masses were awed into respect and reverence. (Ibid. p. 87).

164.

What did the death of these two add to the conception of the disciples?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

V.

(1, 2) A certain man named Ananias.The name meets us again as belonging to the high priest in Act. 23:2, and was the Greek form of the Hebrew Hananiah. It had the same significance as John, or Johanan, The Lord be gracious. Sapphira, is either connected with the sapphire, as a precious stone, or from a Hebrew word signifying beautiful or pleasant. The whole history must be read in connection with the act of Barnabas. He, it seemed, had gained praise and power by his self-sacrifice. Ananias thought that he could get at the same result more cheaply. The act shows a strange mingling of discordant elements. Zeal and faith of some sort had led him to profess himself a believer. Ambition was strong enough to win a partial victory over avarice; avarice was strong enough to triumph over truth. The impulse to sell came from the Spirit of God; it was counteracted by the spirit of evil, and the resulting sin was therefore worse than that of one who lived altogether in the lower, commoner forms of covetousness. It was an attempt to serve God and mammon; to gain the reputation of a saint, without the reality of holiness. The sin of Ananias is, in some aspects, like that of Gehazi (2Ki. 5:20-27), but it was against greater light and intensified by a more profound hypocrisy, and it was therefore visited by a more terrible chastisement. We may well trace in the earnestness with which St. James warns men against the peril of the double mindi.e., the heart divided between the world and God (Jas. 1:8; Jas. 4:8)the impression made on him by such a history as this.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 5

TROUBLE IN THE CHURCH ( Act 5:1-11 )

5:1-11 A man called Ananias, together with his wife Sapphire, sold a bit of ground he had, and surreptitiously kept back part of the price, and his wife knew about it. He brought some part of the price and laid it at the feet of the apostles. Peter said to him, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you have deceived the Holy Spirit and kept back part of the price of your ground? While it remained yours did it not remain your own, and after it had been sold was it not entirely at your disposal? Why did you put this business into your heart? It is not to men you have lied but to God.” As Ananias listened to these words, he collapsed and breathed his life out. Great awe came upon all who heard it. The young men rose and bound him up and carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in and she was not aware of what had happened. Peter said to her, “Tell me, did you sell the piece of ground for so much?” “Yes,” she said, “for so much.” Peter said to her, “Why is it that you agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Look now, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out.” Immediately she collapsed at his feet and breathed her life out. When the young men came in they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great awe came upon the whole Church and upon all who heard these things.

There is no more vivid story in the book of Acts. There is no need to make a miracle of it. But it does show us something of the atmosphere which prevailed in the early Church. It is on record that once Edward the First blazed with anger at one of his courtiers and the man dropped dead in sheer fear. This story shows two things about the early Church, the expectancy of men’s minds and the extraordinary respect in which the apostles were held. It was in that atmosphere that the rebuke of Peter acted as it did.

This is one of the stories which demonstrate the almost stubborn honesty of the Bible. It might well have been left out because it shows that even in the early Church there were very imperfect Christians; but the Bible refuses to present an idealised picture of anything. Once a court painter painted the portrait of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell was disfigured by warts upon his face. The painter, thinking to please the great man, omitted the disfiguring warts. When Cromwell saw the picture, he said, “Take it away, and paint me warts and all.” It is one of the great virtues of the Bible that it shows us its heroes, warts and all.

There is a certain encouragement in this story, for it shows us that even in its greatest days the Church was a mixture of good and bad.

Peter insists that sin is sin against God. We do well to remember that, very specially in certain directions. (i) Failure in diligence is sin against God. Everything, however humble it may be, that contributes to the health, the happiness and the welfare of mankind is work done for God. Antonio Stradivari, the great maker of violins, said, “If my hand slacked, I should rob God.” That is a motto for every man to take. (ii) Failure to use our talents is sin against God. God gave us such talents as we have; we hold them in stewardship for him; and we are responsible to him for the use we make of them. (iii) Failure in truth is sin against God. When we slip into falsehood it is sin against the guidance of the Spirit in our hearts.

THE ATTRACTION OF CHRISTIANITY ( Act 5:12-16 )

5:12-16 Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles; and they were all together in Solomon’s colonnade. Of the others no one dared to meddle with them. But the people held them in the highest esteem; nay more, crowds of men and women believed in the Lord and attached themselves to them. The result was that they brought the sick to the streets and laid them on beds and pallets, so that, when Peter came, even his shadow might fall on some of them; and a crowd assembled from the cities round about Jerusalem carrying the sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and all of them were healed.

Here is a cameo-like picture of what went on in the early Church. (i) It tells us where the Church met. Their meeting-place was Solomon’s colonnade, one of the two great colonnades which surrounded the Temple area. The early Christians were constant in their attendance at the House of God, desiring ever to know God better and to draw upon his strength for life and living. (ii) It tells us how the Church met. The early Christians assembled where everyone could see them. They knew what had happened to the apostles and what might well happen to them; but they were determined to show all men whose they were and where they stood. (iii) It tells us that the early Church was a supremely effective Church. Things happened. The days when the healing ministry of the Church was in the forefront of its work are past, although they may well return. But the Church still exists to make bad men good; and men will always throng to a Church where lives are changed.

This passage closes with a reference to those troubled by unclean spirits. The ancient people attributed all disease to the agency of such spirits. The Egyptians, for instance, believed that the body could be divided into separate parts and that every part could be inhabited by an evil spirit. Often they believed that these evil spirits were the spirits of wicked people who had departed this life but were still carrying on their malignant work.

ARREST AND TRIAL ONCE AGAIN ( Act 5:17-32 )

5:17-32 But the high priest and his party (the local sect of the Sadducees) were filled with envy, and they laid hands on the apostles and put them under public arrest. But through the night the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and led them out and said, “Go, stand in the Temple and tell the people all the words of this life.” When they heard this they came into the Temple very early and began to teach. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin and all the council of the sons of Israel; and they despatched messengers to the prison that they should be brought. When the officers arrived they did not find them in the prison. When they returned, they brought news saying, “We found the prison shut with all security, and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened the doors we found no one inside.” When the superintendent of the Temple and the chief priests heard these words, they did not know what to make of them and could not understand what could have happened. But someone arrived and told them, “Look now, the men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people.” Then the superintendent of the Temple went away with his officers and fetched them, but he used no force, for they were afraid of the people in case they might be stoned. When they had fetched them they stood them amidst the Sanhedrin. The high priest questioned them, “We laid the strongest injunctions on you not to teach in this name; and, look now, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are aiming at bringing on us guilt for the blood of this man.” Peter and the apostles answered, “It is necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you got into your hands and hanged on a tree. God has exalted him as Prince and Saviour at his right hand, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins, and we are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to those who obey him.”

The second arrest of the apostles was inevitable. The Sanhedrin had strictly ordered them to abstain from teaching in the name of Jesus and they had publicly disregarded that injunction. That to the Sanhedrin was a doubly serious matter. These apostles were not only heretics, they were also potential disturbers of the peace. Palestine was always an inflammable country; if this were not checked it might well result in some kind of popular rising; and that was the last thing the priests and Sadducees wanted, because then Rome would intervene.

There is not necessarily a miracle in the release of Peter and John. The word angelos ( G32) has two meanings. It means an angel; but it is also the normal word for a messenger. Even if the release of the apostles had been brought about by human means, the agent of the release would still be the aggelos of the Lord.

In the narrative of the events after the release we see vividly displayed the great characteristics of these early men of God.

(i) They were men of courage. The command to go straight back and preach in the Temple sounds to a prudent mind almost incredible. To obey that command was an act of almost reckless audacity. And yet they went. (ii) They were men of principle. And their ruling principle was that in all circumstances obedience to God must come first. They never asked, “Is this course of action safe?” They asked, “Is this what God wants me to do?” (iii) They had a clear idea of their function. They knew that they were witnesses for Christ. A witness is essentially a man who speaks from first-hand knowledge. He knows from personal experience that what he says is true; and it is impossible to stop a man like that because it is impossible to stop the truth.

AN UNEXPECTED ALLY ( Act 5:33-42 )

5:33-42 When they heard this they were torn with vexation and planned to destroy them. But a certain Pharisee called Gamaliel stood up in the Sanhedrin, a teacher of the law held in honour by all the people, and ordered that the men should be put out of the meeting for a short time. He said to them, “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves regarding these men and think what you are going to do with them. Before these days Theudas arose, saying that he was someone. Men to the number of about four hundred attached themselves to him. He was destroyed and all who were persuaded by him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilaean arose, in the days when the census was taken, and he persuaded the people to follow him. He too perished and all the people who were persuaded by him were scattered abroad. And in the present circumstances I say to you keep off these men and let them go, because if this purpose and this affair is of men it will come to nothing; but if it is of God you cannot stop them. So take care that you do not turn out to be men who are fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him. So they called in the apostles, and, when they had threatened them, they enjoined them not to speak in the name of Jesus and sent them away. So they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they were deemed worthy to suffer dishonour for the name. Every day in the Temple and from house to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was God’s Anointed One.

On their second appearance before the Sanhedrin the apostles found an unexpected helper. Gamaliel was a Pharisee. The Sadducees were the wealthy collaborationists, who were ever seeking to preserve their own prestige; but the Pharisees had no political ambitions. Their name literally means “The Separated Ones,” and they had separated themselves from ordinary life in order to devote themselves to the keeping of the law in its every small detail. There were never more than about six thousand of them all told, and the austerity of their lives made them highly respected.

Gamaliel was more than respected; he was loved. He was a kindly man with a far wider tolerance than his fellows. He was, for instance, one of the very few Pharisees who did not regard Greek culture as sinful. He was one of the very few to whom the title “Rabban” had been given. Men called him “The Beauty of the Law.” When he died it was said, “Since Rabban Gamaliel died there has been no more reverence for the Law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time.”

When the Sanhedrin seemed likely to resort to violent measures against the apostles Gamaliel intervened. The Pharisees had a belief which combined fate and free-will. They believed that all things were in the hand of God and yet that man was responsible for his actions. “Everything is foreseen,” they said, “yet freedom of choice is given.” So Gamaliel’s point was that they must have a care in case they were exercising their free-will to go against God. He pleaded that if this matter was not of God, it would come to nothing anyway. He quoted two examples.

First he cited Theudas. In those days Palestine had a quick succession of fire-brand leaders who set themselves up as the deliverers of their country and sometimes even as the Messiah. Who this Theudas was we do not know. There was a Theudas some years later who led a band of people out to the Jordan with the promise that he could divide the waters and that they would walk over dryshod, and whose rising was swiftly dealt with. Theudas was a common name and no doubt this was just such another fire-brand.

His second example was Judas. He had rebelled at the time of the census, taken by the governor Quirinius in A.D. 6 in order to arrange taxation. Judas took up the position that God was the King of Israel; to him alone tribute was due, all other taxation was impious and to pay it was a blasphemy. He attempted to raise a revolution but failed. The Sanhedrin listened to Gamaliel and once again, after threatening the apostles, they let them go.

They went rejoicing in their tribulations. They rejoiced in persecution for two reasons. (i) It was an opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to Christ. In Russia in the early days of communism the man who could show the marks of the fetters on his hands and the mark of the lash on his back was held in honour because he had suffered for the cause. It was Mr. Valiant-for-Truth’s proud boast, “My marks and scars I carry with me.” (ii) It was a real opportunity to share in the experience of Christ. Those who shared in the cross-bearing would share in the crown-wearing.

-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible

IV. PENTECOSTAL CHURCH UNFOLDING IN PENAL POWER.

1. Ananias and Sapphira , Act 5:1-11 .

The Spirit of light and love dwelling in this Pentecostal Church is also the Spirit of judgment. And, as the Spirit has now shown its power of love, so in this Church is the very place to show how severe its absolute standard of judgment is. And this is now done in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.

Their offence, according to the average standard of human morality, was not a very heinous one. In performing a large act of charity they had not defrauded anybody of a penny. They had simply retained a part of their own money and then denied the fact. Should a tradesman at the present day, for the sake of an undue credit for liberality, pretend to have donated half his income when he had given only a quarter, it would simply be esteemed a disreputable prevarication, but not sufficiently criminal to be amenable to human law. To worldly men, therefore, the fate of these two persons will ever seem to be unreasonably severe. We reject all naturalistic solutions, such as maintain that the deaths were not miraculous, but the natural effects of terror. Nor is any solution obtained by subdividing the sin into various parts, as some commentators have done, and showing to how many sins it amounted. Nor can any person probably be satisfied unless he can see the validity of the following considerations:

1 . The Divine Spirit being present with unparalleled power in the Church, the sin, as Peter says, (Act 5:3-4,) is directly against Him. The sinner comes directly in contact with the pure Absolute, and is tried and executed by the absolute Purity and Law. Now the wonder is, when we realize that Presence, not that any one should be struck dead, but that any one, even the holiest of infirm mortals, should for a moment live. And this is a complete answer so far as any absolute injustice is concerned. Yet the question still remains, Why were these two selected as instances of absolute justice? It is, then, not a question of right or wrong, but of divine propriety. The question is not, Was this dispensation just? for of that there is no doubt; but it is, Why was this particular justice inflicted?

2 . The reason for this selection was to present and record at this beginning of the Christian Church a representative and memorial instance of the just doom of the hypocrite. The first Sabbath-breaker; and Achan, the appropriator of a Babylonish garment on the first entrance into Canaan; and Nadab and Abihu at the first founding of the priesthood, were punished with death at a beginning, with absolute justice. This was, in each case, a primordial token, and a declaration to all the future, what, if inflicted with exactness, the true deserts and punishments of the transgressor are. Such inflictions are at start the divine protest against the conclusion that God’s future forbearance towards sin is any contradiction of the fatal desert of sin. They are examples hung up at the commencement, once for all, that the wages of sin is death, a death which it is God’s right at any moment to inflict. Now this present couple were at any rate deliberate, positive, conceited, and intentionally permanent hypocrites. Their death was God’s declaration to all future ages of the true deserts of all deliberate hypocrites in the Church of Christ.

This special punishment was not meted out, therefore, from the fact that these two were sinners above all others. Worse sinners, both in the apostolic and later Church, have lived and died naturally. Simon Magus was a far viler sinner, yet underwent a far milder penalty before this same apostle.

3 . Peter’s share in the matter is not that of an originator or proper author of the death of the two sinners, but of a divinely required agent of God. By the extraordinary charism of the discerning of spirits he knows their secret sin; by the inspiration of the indwelling Spirit he knows their doom; by the impulsive command of God he pronounces it. Of the sentence the omnipotent God, is the executioner.

4 . Romanists maintain that the act was simply a deed of excommunication performed by Peter, and of the same nature as the destruction of the flesh specified by Paul in 1Co 5:5. And on this Romanism and her Pope have based that terrible right of excommunication before which kings and nations once trembled, by which the fiery and bloody Inquisition was established, and dissenters from Popery, by thousands, have been cruelly murdered. Yet it is no doubt true that apostles were sometimes the required agents of divine infliction, and that St. Paul’s words describe a case like this of Ananias. And thence, after all, we deduce the consoling view that this display of wrath was an infinite mercy. It probably was the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, 1Co 5:5. We do not, therefore, recognise this as a case of the sin against the Holy Ghost. For not every insult to the Spirit is recognised by the Holy Ghost as the blasphemy against itself. (See note on Mat 12:32.)

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1. But A contrast to the free benefaction of Barnabas is now introduced with a but.

Ananias The Greek form (shortened into Annas and Latinized by Josephus into Ananus) of Hanan or Hananiah.

Sapphira Signifying beautiful.

Possession Namely, a piece of land, Act 5:3.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being associated with him in it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.’

If we find this narrative a little offputting we must first recognise the grossness of the sin involved. This was no act of enthusiasm which simply turned out to be half-hearted (we are most of us guilty of that). This was from the beginning a planned, thought through, thoroughly discussed, deliberate act of deceit. They are depicted as scheming, conniving, barefaced and hardened liars. And they were doing it to God.

The scheme was that they would dedicate their land to God, sell it and then pretend that they were giving all the proceeds. They would make a great show of their sacrifice and dedication, (contrast the widow in Mar 12:41 –44 ), but they would in fact hold back a good proportion for themselves. They would seek to deceive both God and His disciples who were working together in advancing the Kingly Rule of God, in order that they might gain approbation and appreciation without cost, and this in an atmosphere where signs and wonders were happening all the time, and at a time when God was manifesting Himself in visible signs, and at a time when the church was open, honest and outgoing and were constantly ‘walking in the light’ with God. It represented a cynicism and hardness of heart that it would be difficult to surpass.

We should note where their eyes were fixed. Not on reward in heaven, nor on pleasing God. If they thought about it at all they must have known that God would know the truth about their act and would not be pleased, and that what they did would therefore contribute to neither. Rather their eyes and all their thoughts were on this life. They wanted the praise of men on earth, the ‘pride of life’. They wanted recognition and honour, and they did not mind what they did to get it. They did not care if in the end it destroyed the church. They just wanted recognition for themselves for a dedication that was not genuine. Many a man’s ministry has been destroyed by such a desire for recognition and praise.

Theirs was not an instantaneous sin. We see again Eve going to Adam with the fruit and discussing the advisability of eating it. They too had discussed the matter. Was their aim to worm their way into the new ‘society’ in order somehow to gain positions of leadership for their own gain? Or was it simply in order to be idolised? Or was it because they were jealous of Barnabas? We will never know. But both were guilty of treating God as though He was but a false idol with no discernment of eye, who would not know what they were doing. They were out to make God look a fool. And they were out to rob God.

Let us at this point briefly consider what they were doing. They were hitting at the very root of the church and of all that the church was. The church was of one heart and one soul, while they were pretending to be but were not. This might thus easily have begun to eat into the whole fabric of unity. Pretence cannot be kept up for long. Their attitude would soon feed through to others. The church were holding all things in common, but these two believed in keeping something aside for themselves, while pretending otherwise. The church was open and honest. These two were secretive and dishonest. Their attitude might soon have destroyed that happy condition of openness and generosity that abounded among God’s people. The church was looking to God as being there with them and acting among them. These two were treating God as though He was afar off and did not know what they were doing. The church was fully dedicating itself to God. These two had actually dedicated their property to God, but were therefore holding back what belonged to God. What they were doing was insidiously dangerous and might easily have brought the great revival to a shuddering halt. It was the situation in mind in Deu 29:18-20 even though the idolatry here was of a more insidious kind.

So having sold the land and received the money Ananias secreted a part of it away and then brought the remainder and lay it at the Apostles’ feet, waiting for the praise, and the adulation, and the approbation and the honour which he knew he would receive, especially because he had given all. His wife did not even come with him. She was prepared to wait for her share of the credit. Perhaps she was even a little ashamed. But she was equally culpable. Both had closed their hearts to God. The next step would then have been to receive leading places in the fellowship as those who had made a special sacrifice and in whom confidence could be placed, and their work of destruction would have begun. They would lead astray those who trusted them. When Achan retained for himself what had been dedicated to God he brought disaster on Israel (Joshua 7). These two were about to bring disaster on the church and to bring the whole revival to a halt.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Ministry of the Apostles (3:1-6:7).

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit having taken place, and the infant church having been shown to be established, Luke now goes on to deal with the way in which the infant church rapidly expanded, firstly through the ministry of the Apostles (Act 3:1 to Act 6:7), and then more widely through the ministry of some of their appointees (Act 6:8 to Act 9:31). God is revealed as at work in sovereign power, and His Apostles are having to keep up. But it is recognised that in the establishing of His people their authority is required at each stage as Jesus had assured them would be the case (Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18; Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30). This was necessary in order to maintain the unity of the church and the preservation of true doctrine.

The Days Immediately Following Pentecost – The Kingly Rule of God Is Revealed

The dramatic events of the Day of Pentecost are now followed by the equally dramatic events which result from that day. The Kingly Rule of God is revealed as present and flourishing:

1) The presence of the Kingly Rule of God is revealed in the healing of the lame man which testifies to what God wants to do for His people in the new age – ‘the lame will leap like a deer’ (Act 3:1-10).

2) On the basis of this Peter declares that Jesus is the Servant of the Lord spoken of by Isaiah, and is the Holy One, the Righteous One (Messianic designations) and the ‘Prince’ (Source and Leader in Triumph) of Life (Act 3:11-26).

3) Peter and John are arrested and questioned before a Tribunal (Act 4:1-7) – the nation is setting itself against the Lord’s Anointed (Act 4:26).

4) Peter declares that Jesus is the expected Messianic Salvation and Chief Cornerstone (Act 4:8-12).

5) Peter and John are given the required official warning concerning their ‘illegal’ activities. They are forbidden to preach in the Name of Jesus (Act 4:13-22).

6) Gathering in prayer the place where they are is shaken and they declare Jesus to be the Lord’s Anointed and are all filled with the Spirit to speak the word of God in boldness (Act 4:23-31).

7) The Kingly Rule of God is revealed in the daily life of the people of God (Act 4:32-35).

8) The Kingly Rule of God is revealed in the execution of those who appropriate for themslves what has been given in tribute to God (Act 4:36 to Act 5:11).

9) The Kingly Rule of God is revealed by signs and wonders (Act 5:12-16).

10) The Kingly Rule of God is revealed by the release of the captives (Act 5:17-23).

11) The Apostles are again brought before the Tribunal accused of teaching the ‘this Name’ (Act 5:24-28).

12) Peter declares that Jesus is both Archegos (the One Who by His resurrection is the Triumph Leader of life, the First-born from the dead, leading all who find life in His train) and Saviour (Act 5:29-32).

13) As a result of the advice of Gamaliel the Apostles are released, having been beaten for His Name’s Sake (Act 5:33-40).

14) The preaching of Jesus as the Messiah continues (Act 5:41-42).

Chapter 3 An Outstanding Miracle Results in A Great Evangelistic Opportunity.

We shall now consider these in more detail.

The account of the healing of the lame man was probably once circulated on its own, along with the preaching that went with it, as part of the witness to the early church of the effectiveness of Pentecost, and as a declaration of how the church (the people of God), made up of those who had been ‘lame’, had been delivered by its Saviour. It would thus early take on a standard form, preserving its accuracy. Here it is incorporated by Luke for a threefold purpose. Firstly in order to illustrate the wonders and signs spoken of earlier (Act 2:43), secondly in order to illustrate that those who will come to Christ are those who have recognised their spiritual lameness and need, and have looked to Him as the only One Who can heal them, and thirdly in order to evidence the fact that the new age had come by the fulfilment of Isa 35:6, ‘then shall the lame man leap like a deer’.

Let us consider these purposes in more detail:

1) In the previous chapter it has been stressed that the Apostles did ‘signs and wonders’ (Act 2:43). Now we are given a practical example in the healing of this notable cripple, one who had been so from birth and had regularly sat at the gate of the Temple. The healing of so well-known a cripple caused a great stir, and his ‘leaping’ could only remind them of the prophecy of the lame man who would leap like a hart (deer) because the Kingly Rule of God had come (Isa 35:6).

2) Both the Old Testament and the teaching of Jesus stress that those who will be saved of old Israel are like the lame. In Isa 33:23 we read, in the context of the coming of the Lord as Judge, Lawgiver and King, ‘The lame took the prey’ where the thought is that it is God’s weak and helpless but restored people, who will finally, in God’s day, triumph and enjoy the spoils of victory. In Isa 35:6 Israel are likened to a lame man who is restored and leaps like a deer, no longer lame because the Kingly Rule of God is here, a place where there can be no lameness. In Jer 31:8 ‘the blind and the lame’ will be among the people of God who return triumphantly from far off to enjoy God’s coming Kingly Rule. In Mat 11:5; Luk 7:22 the lame walking is to be a sign to John the Baptiser that the Kingly Rule of God is here. In Luk 14:13 the maimed and the lame were the ones who were to be called when someone gave a supper, and this was immediately followed by the parable of the man who made a great supper (representing ‘eating bread in the Kingly Rule of God’), only for his invitation to be rejected by all who were invited, so that the invitation instead went out to the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind (Luk 14:21). They were the ones who would come to his feast.

3) There is also a deliberate contrast here between the old and the new. Under the old dispensation the lame man has sat at the gate of the Temple, and all the Temple could offer him were the alms of those who went in and out. Year by year it was powerless to offer more. With all the glory of its silver and gold, and the Temple was splendid indeed, it could not offer restoration. That awaited the new age (Isa 35:6). But now in the coming of the representatives of the new age there is Power. He rises up, and he walks and leaps. The fact that he is now healed proclaims visually the fact that the new age has arrived and that the old Temple is superseded.

So in this new incident we have a further manifestation of the new power that has come to God’s chosen representatives through the coming of the Holy Spirit. Here the Holy Spirit through the Apostles makes clear that in the Name of Jesus salvation is offered to ‘the lame’, and that something better than the Temple is among them. The Kingly Rule of God is here.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Witness of the Power of the Church: The Judgment Upon Ananias and Sapphira In Act 5:1-11 we have the account of Ananias and Sapphira lying to Peter and being judged by the apostle.

Act 5:2 Comments Why would Ananias and Sapphira hold back part of this offering? There is a system of corruption that works in a similar way within the churches in Africa. When offerings are collected or funds received, a corrupt person will hold back a portion of this money and represent the remaining balance as the whole. In this way, a person is able to secretly look like an honest person and gain a position within the church, while becoming wealthy by embezzling funds. This person attempts to gain a position within the church so that he can embezzle more funds. The fact is that this person has a wicked heart. Evidently, Ananias and Sapphira were playing this game of corruption within the early church.

Act 5:3 Comments Peter’s words to Ananias seem to be the gift of the word of knowledge in operation because he had no natural way of knowing what Ananias and Sapphira had done in secret.

Act 5:4 Scripture References – Note related verses:

Pro 19:5, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.”

Pro 19:9, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.”

Rev 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars , shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Rev 22:15, “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie .”

Act 5:5 Comments Act 5:5 reveals that Peter neither spoke divine judgment upon Ananias neither does it say that God killed him. Although this action took place under the Old Covenant, the new covenant is one of grace coupled with chastisement for God’s children. However, when Peter confronts Sapphira his wife, Peter foretells of her death as well.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Church’s Power (Justification and Indoctrination): The Witness of the Church in Jerusalem In Act 2:1 to Act 5:42 we have the witness of the church in Jerusalem of how the disciples testified of the Lord Jesus under the power of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament Church receives witness to their genuine faith in Christ on the day of Pentecost as they are filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit (Act 2:1-41). They progress by the indoctrination of the Scriptures (Act 2:42-47), and begin to minister in power that brings many others to salvation while their faith is tested by persecutions (Act 3:1 to Act 5:42). Under the conditions of men getting saved in the midst of signs and wonders and persecution, the genuine believers stand out as distinct among those who are false.

Outline – Here is a proposed outline:

A. Peter’s Sermon on the Day of Pentecost Act 2:1-47

B. Peter’s Sermon in the Temple & Persecution Act 3:1 to Act 4:31

C. Witness of Church Growth Act 4:32 to Act 5:42

A Promise, a Prayer, and the Power In the first two chapters of the book of Acts, we see that there was a promise (Act 1:8), followed by prayer (Act 1:14), then the power was released (Act 2:1-4). We must be people of prayer in order to receive God’s power, even though it is promised to us.

Old Testament References Used by Peter the Apostle In the first two chapters of the book of Acts, Peter the apostle quotes from various Old Testament passages in relation to the fulfillment of prophecy. Perhaps Jesus had taught His disciples using these same passages during His 40-day visit after the Resurrection. This would explain Peter’s insight into otherwise difficult interpretations. Or, Peter was speaking by the Holy Spirit, giving him the interpretation.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Witness of Church Growth and Persecution In Act 4:32 to Act 5:42 Luke records testimonies of the unity, power, miracles, and persecutions of the early Church.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. The Witness of the Unity of the Church Act 4:32-37

2. The Witness of the Power of the Church Act 5:1-11

3. The Witness of the Miracles of the Church Act 5:12-16

4. The Witness of Persecution of the Church Act 5:17-42

Act 4:32-37 The Witness of the Unity of the Church: Daily Life Among the Believers In Act 4:32-37 we have the testimony of the daily life of the early Church as they shared all things in common.

Act 4:36 “And Joses” – Comments Scholars say a number of ancient manuscripts have “Joseph” in the place of “Joses.” (See Adam Clarke, Albert Barnes)

Act 4:36 “ who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas” Comments Strong says the name “Barnabas” is derived from two Hebrew words (H1247) (son) and (H5029) (a prophet). His name means “the son of consolation, or comfort,” or, in the Greek “ .” Evidently, Barnabas comforted others, especially with the gifts of utterance. Jerome (A.D. 342 to 420) tells us a little about this man.

“Barnabas the Cyprian, also called Joseph the Levite, ordained apostle to the Gentiles with Paul, wrote one Epistle, valuable for the edification of the church, which is reckoned among the apocryphal writings. He afterwards separated from Paul on account of John, a disciple also called Mark, none the less exercised the work laid upon him of preaching the Gospel.” ( Lives of Illustrious Men 6)

Act 4:37  Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Act 4:36-37 Comments The Gift of Barnabas – This sacrificial giving by Barnabas was recognized above many givers. His giving was such a blow to the kingdom of darkness that it stirred Satan up to corrupt the Church offerings by using Ananias and Sapphira. His gift brought Barnabas into recognition, and positioned him to become a great servant in the mission field.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Ananias and Sapphira.

The sin and death of Ananias:

v. 1. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession,

v. 2. and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

v. 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

v. 4. Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

v. 5. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost; and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

v. 6. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

Luke had just narrated an instance of true, charitable selflessness in the conduct of Barnabas of Cyprus. Unfortunately, however, the appreciation and praise accorded to people that have shown real benevolence often prompts hypocrites to make a pretense and show of great love, in order that they may also be given words that sound pleasant to their itching ears. Into the paradise of the early Church there entered the serpent of selfishness and corruption. Luke presents no reflections and affixes no moral, adhering to his practice of simply narrating the facts of history. There was a certain man, a member of the congregation at Jerusalem, by the name of Ananias (“to whom Jehovah has been gracious”). The name of his wife, who also belonged to those that professed Christianity, was Sapphira (sapphire, “the beautiful”). To these two belonged a possession, some property, very likely a piece of improved real estate of some value, Now Ananias as well as his wife were eager to be accounted benefactors of their poorer brethren, and so they sold their property, probably with some ostentation. But their interest in the poor was only sham, and for the good will of God they cared nothing. They set apart, they appropriated for their own benefit, a certain part of the proceeds of the sale. It is expressly stated that Sapphira was fully aware of this arrangement, that it was done with her full knowledge and consent; she was just as guilty as her husband. “If we attempt to analyze the motive of the guilty pair, we shall find that their act was a compromise between two unholy desires. The desire to have the praise of men, such as had been bestowed upon Barnabas and some others, prompted the sale and the gift, while the love of money, which still held too strong a hold on them, prompted the retention of a part while they were pretending to give all. ” Their course having been fully decided upon, Ananias took the sum of money which they decided should serve to establish their fame as dispensers of charity, brought it to the meeting-place of the apostles and the congregation, and deposited it in the customary place. The act which the guilty pair was committing was not simply their sin as individuals, but placed the whole church into great danger. For if others should learn of this subterfuge, they would be apt to practice the same hypocrisy. But if integrity and truth should disappear in the congregation, the Church of Christ would lose her brightest ornaments, and pharisaic hypocrisy would be substituted for Christian holiness. “It was, therefore, of vital importance to the Church that the introduction of an evil of such magnitude should meet with an immediate and effectual resistance. ” Accordingly, Peter put the heart-searching question to Ananias: How is it that Satan has filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? As the devil is the author of every sin and transgression, so he here also gave the idea of wickedness and deceit into the heart of Ananias. For in pretending a benevolence which he was far from feeling, the man had lied, not so much to men, to Peter, the apostles, and the congregation, but to the Holy Ghost, who spoke and acted through the apostles, who lived and moved in the Christian congregation. He had tempted the Spirit of God, who tests heart and mind, who, as true God, knows the innermost thoughts of every man’s heart. And Peter very properly reminded Ananias that the property had been his to keep, if he so chose; there was no compulsory communism in the congregation. And if he had chosen to sell his property and to keep all the money, it was entirely in his own power. It would even have been strictly his own business if he had frankly stated that he was bringing only a part of the proceeds, since he intended to use the rest himself. But his heart had been set upon getting credit for charity and benevolence which he did not possess. “The act of selling their possession for the ostensible purpose of bringing it into the common stock left them no further control over it nor property in it; and their pretense that the money which they brought was the whole produce of the sale was a direct lie in itself, and an attempt to deceive the Holy Spirit, under whose influence they pretended to act. This constituted the iniquity of their sin. ” Note: The fact that Satan had filled the heart of Ananias, and that he had conceived this thing in his own heart, are placed on a level. The fact that Ananias had yielded to the devil’s persuasion and temptation put the responsibility, the blame, upon him. The same holds true of every sinner in every sin which he commits, especially if it is done with such deliberate intent as in this case. Mark also: In lying to the Holy Ghost, Ananias had lied to God Himself, for the Holy Spirit is true God with the Father and the Son. Deceit and hypocrisy of every kind is open before His omniscience, as every one that is guilty of these sins will find out to his great sorrow sooner or later. The sin of Ananias received its condemnation at once, and a punishment which is intended to be a warning for all times. For no sooner had Peter finished his earnest rebuke, no sooner had the guilty man heard these words, than he fell down and breathed forth his soul; he died at once, struck by the wrath of the Holy Ghost. The execution was so obviously an act of God that a great fear fell upon all those that saw the punishment and heard the words by which it was accompanied. When God speaks, the heart of sinful man is filled with awe. And the young men of the congregation, not a special class or separate body, but the younger members of the audience, arose from their places. There was no time either for a lamentation or for an elaborate funeral ceremony, had the people present been so inclined; there was no weeping or delay. Wrapping the dead man up in his own mantle, the young men carried him out and buried him. Such is the end of those that abuse the grace of the Lord. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Act 5:1

Ananias () In Neh 3:23 the Hebrew name (God covers or protects) is thus rendered in the LXX. But the name occurs nowhere else. The very common name , Hananiah (God is gracious), is also rendered in the LXX. Ananias (), and is doubtless the name meant here and in Act 9:10; Act 23:2, etc. Sapphira does not occur elsewhere. It is either derived from the Aramean , beautiful, or from the Hebrew , a sapphire. A possession (see Act 2:45). The kind of possession is not specified by the word itself, which applies to houses, fields, jewels, and wealth generally; but the nature of the property is shown by the word , applied to it in Act 23:3 and Act 23:8, which means especially” a parcel of ground” (Joh 4:5), “a field” (Act 1:18, Act 1:19).

Act 5:3

Thy for thine, A.V. Peter said. It was given to Peter on this occasion, by the Holy Ghost, to read the secrets of Ananias’s heart, just as it was given to Elisha to detect Gehazi’s lie (2Ki 5:25, 2Ki 5:26); and the swift punishment inflicted in both cases by the word of the man of Godleprosy in one case, and sudden death in the otheris another point of strong resemblance. To lie to the Holy Ghost. It is only one instance among many of the pure spiritual atmosphere in which the Church then moved, that a lie to the apostle was a lie to the Holy Ghost under whose guidance and by whose power the apostle acted. Ananias’s fraud was an ignoring of the whole spiritual character of the apostles’ ministry, and was accordingly visited with an immediate punishment. The death of Ananias and Sapphira was a terrible fulfillment of the promise, “Whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained” (Joh 20:23).

Act 5:4

Did it not remain for was it not, A.V.; thy for thine own, A.V.; how is it that thou hast for why hast thou, A.V.; thy heart for thine heart, A.V. Did it not remain, etc.? The exact meaning isDid it not remain to thee? i.e. unsold it was thine, and when sold the price of it was thine. There was no compulsion as regards giving it away. The act was one of deliberate hypocrisyan attempt to deceive God himself.

Act 5:5

Upon all that heard it for on all them that heard these things, A.V. and T.R. Gave up the ghost (). The same word as in Act 5:10 and Act 12:23, but found nowhere else in the New Testament. Great fear, etc. We have here an example of punishment which is remedial, not to the person punished, but to others, by displaying the just judgment of God as a warning against sin.

Act 5:6

And wrapped him round for wound him up, A.V.; they carried for carried, A.V. The young men (: called in Act 5:10 ,). There does not seem to be sufficient ground for supposing, with Meyer, that a definite class of Church servants is here meant. The young men of the Church would, as a matter of course, perform such services as that here spoken of, when directed by the , the elders, in age or office.

Act 5:7

And it was about, etc.; better rendered, with Meyer, and it cams to pass, after an interval of three hours, that his wife, etc. It is a Hebrew idiom (comp. Luk 5:12).

Act 5:8

And Peter answered, etc., Point’s question gave her the opportunity of confessing the fraud had she been penitent. The land (see note to Act 5:1).

Act 5:9

But for then, A.V.; they shall carry for carry, A.V. To tempt the Spirit, etc.; i.e. thus daringly to put the Holy Ghost on trial, whether or no he is able to discern the thoughts of your evil hearts (comp. Luk 4:12). The feet of them, etc. The burial, including the distance to and fro, had taken three hours, and they were just returning to the Christian assembly when Sapphira was confirming her guilt as an accomplice in her husband’s lie.

Act 5:10

And she fell down immediately for then fell she down straightway, A.V.; gave up for yielded up, A.V.; they carried her out and buried her for carrying her forth buried her. She fell down immediately. The Spirit who killeth and maketh alive thus vindicated his discernment and his power, and testified to the truth of his prophet St. Peter, by whose mouth he had just foretold the death of Sapphira. Gave up the ghost (Act 5:5, note). Buried her by her husband. What a strange example of conjugal unity! One in their Jewish religion, one in their conversion to the faith of Christ, one in their hypocrisy, one in their terrible death, one in their common grove! one in the undying record of their guilt in the Book which is read by every nation under heaven!

Act 5:11

The whole Church for all the Church, A.V.; all that heard for as many as heard, A.V. The awful death of the two liars to God not only struck a salutary fear into the minds of the whole Church, but filled with awe all outside the Church who heard of it; and doubtless gave a temporary check to the persecutions, while it disposed many to hearken to the apostles’ preaching.

Act 5:12

By the hands of the apostles, etc. Two things are here remarkable. The one that Christianity at its beginnings was mightily helped and advanced by miracles done in the Name of Jesus Christ. The other that the authority of the apostles as the rulers of the Church was greatly strengthened by these miracles being wrought exclusively by their hands. We cannot understand either the external relations of the Church to the world, or the internal relations of the people to their spiritual rulers, unless we duly take count of these two things. With one accord (see Act 4:24, note). In Solomon’s porch (see Act 3:11, note). It is quite true to nature that Solomon’s porch, having been the scene of the miracle, became the place of frequent concourse. There is a difference of opinion among commentators as to whether the all refers to the whole Christian laity as in Act 2:1, or to the apostles only. Alford thinks the latter, Meyer the former. The opinion that the whole body of Christians is meant seems most probable, both from the use of the words in Act 2:1 and from the phrase (especially in connection with ), which seems more applicable to a mixed multitude than to twelve colleagues like the apostles. You could hardly say that all the queen’s ministers met in a Cabinet Council with one accord. There is no need for the parenthesis as in the A.V.

Act 5:13

But for and, A.V.; howbeit for but, A.V. The rest seems most naturally to mean those who were not included in the , viz. the Jews as distinguished from the disciples. The effect ‘of the miracles was that the Jews looked with awe and reverence upon the Apostolic Church, and none durst join them from mere curiosity or with any idle purpose. But, on the contrary, the people magnified them, treated them with the utmost respect, and spoke of them with all honor. Join himself (). The word occurs in the New Testament ten times, of which seven are in St. Luke’s Gospel or in the Acts. The other three are in St. Paul’s Epistles (see for the use of it in the sense it has here, Luk 15:15; Act 8:29; Act 9:26; Act 10:28; Act 17:34).

Act 5:14

Added to the Lord; as in Act 11:24, not as in margin. Multitudes; , found in the plural nowhere else in the New Testament.

Act 5:15

Even carried out for brought forth, A.V. and T.R.; that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow for that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by, A.V.; some one for some, A.V. Insomuch; not to be referred back to the first part of Act 5:12, as indicated by the parenthesis in the A.V., but to the whole description of the Church’s glorification in Act 5:12-14.

Act 5:16

And there also came together the multitude from for there came also a multitude out of, A.V.; about Jerusalem for about unto Jerusalem, A.V.; folk for folks, A.V.; that were for which were, A.V. And there also came together, etc. One great result of these numerous miracles would be to manifest that the Lord Jesus was still with his Church as truly as when he was upon the earth (Mat 28:20), and this manifestation remains for the comfort of his people, even now that such miracles have ceased. With regard to what is said in Act 5:15 of the shadow of Peter being thought to have had a healing power, it may have been true that it had, as Christ could heal by a shadow as well as by a word or touch, but we cannot say for certain that it was so; anyhow, it was a marvelous season of refreshing to the Church, preparing her for the coming trial.

Act 5:17

But for then, A.V.; they were filled for were filled, A.V.; jealousy for indignation, A.V. The high priest rose up. It was high time for him and his friends the Sadducees to be up and doing, if they wished to stop the spreading of the faith of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection. Which is the sect of the Sadducees (Act 4:1, Act 4:2, note). It does not appear that Annas himself was a Sadducee, but his son was, and hence it is highly probable that the Sadducees should have attached themselves to Annas, and made a tool of him for suppressing the doctrine of the Resurrection. The sect; (see Act 15:5; Act 24:5, Act 24:14; Act 26:4; Act 28:22). The word was applied first by Jews to Christians, anti then by Christians to sects (1Co 11:19; Gal 5:20; 2Pe 2:1). Jealousy scarcely so well expresses the idea of here as indignation does. In the First Epistle of Clement, is applied to the anger of Cain, of Joseph’s brethren, of the Israelites against Moses, of the persecution of St. Peter and St. Paul (4; 5). It is only occasionally that it means that kind of anger which we call jealousy. The high priest and his party were indignant at the defiance of their authority, and at the success of the doctrine which they had made it a special object to put down.

Act 5:18

Laid hands (as Act 4:3, A.V. and R.V.) for laid their hands, A.V. and T.R.; in public ward for in the common prison, A.V. Laid hands, etc. Laid their hands is equally right, even when is omitted, as the translation of . There is no difference in the sense in the two renderings, or in the two passages, though in Act 4:3 the phrase is , and here . In public ward. The A.V. is more idiomatic and expresses exactly what is meant by the phrase . Meyer quotes the phrases in Thucydides, and in Xenophon for the common piton (see Act 4:3).

Act 5:19

An angel for the angel, A.V.; out for forth, A.V. An angel, etc. The phrase is a translation of the Old Testament phrase . But in Hebrew it is impossible to insert the definite article before , and therefore the phrase is properly rendered, “the angel of the Lord.” In the passage before us and other similar passages, seems to stand for , and therefore the rendering of the A.V. would seem to be right, in spite of what is said by eminent grammarians to the contrary. Compare, too, the phrases (Luk 1:19); (Luk 3:2); (Luk 3:4); and see especially Luk 2:9, where, (“the angel of the Lord,) and (“the glory of the Lord”) stand in parallel clauses. The R.V. inconsistently renders the first “an angel,” and the second” the glory.” In like manner (Act 7:31) is “the voice of the Lord;” and in Psa 29:3, Psa 29:4, Psa 29:5, Psa 29:7, Psa 29:8, Psa 29:9, the LXX. have uniformly for (see Act 8:26, note). Out (comp. Act 12:7, etc.).

Act 5:20

Go ye for go, A.V. In the temple; not in the house, but in the courts. The words of this Life; i.e. this life which is in Christ, whom ye preach, through his resurrection from the dead (comp. Joh 6:68, “Thou hast the words of eternal life;” see too the whole chapter and 1Jn 1:1-3).

Act 5:21

This for that, A.V.; about day. break for early in the morning, A.V.; prison-house for prison, A.V. About daybreak. In the hot climate of Jerusalem people are about very early in the meriting (comp. Mat 26:57, Mat 26:75). But the high priest, etc. The narrative would run more clearly if the passage were translated more literally, Now when the high priest and they that were with him were come (to the council-chamber the next day) they called together, etc. The narrative is taken up from Act 5:17, Act 5:18. Having (Act 5:18) put the apostles in prison, they met the next morning to decide how to punish them. The council ( ); i.e. in the Hebraeo-Greek, the Sanhedrim, the great council of the nation, consisting of seventy-two members, usually presided over by the high priest. It is frequently mentioned in the New Testament. On the present occasion, besides the members of the Sanhedrim, there were gathered together all the senate () of the children of Israel, an expression which occurs only here, but which seems to comprise all the elders of the Jews, even though they were not members of the Sanhedrim. But some (Schleusner, Heinrich, etc.) understand it as merely another phrase for the Sanhedrim, added for explanation and amplification. The council, of course, were ignorant of the escape of the prisoners. The prison-house (); “prison” (A.V.) represents in the next verse.

Act 5:22

The officers that came for when the officers came and, A.V. and T.R.; and they returned for they returned, A.V.

Act 5:23

Prison-house for prison, A.V., as in Act 5:21; we found shut in all safety for truly found we shut with all safety, A.V. at the doors for without before the doors, A.V. and T.R. But the within at the end of the verse seems to require the without of the T.R.

Act 5:24

The captain of the temple for the high priest and the captain, etc., A.V. and T.R.; words for things, A.V.; were much perplexed concerning them for doubted of them, A.V. The captain of the temple, etc. Meyer, followed by Alford, retains the T.R., in which the word for the high priest is . It is true that this word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament for “the high priest.” But in the Old Testament is very frequently used to designate the high priest, as Exo 29:30; Exo 35:19; Num 3:32; 2Ch 22:11; 2Ki 22:10; I Kings 2Ki 1:8, etc.; and in such places is represented by in the LXX. So that St. Luke may very probably have used it here where the context made the meaning clear, and where he intended to use the word for “the chief priests.” For the captain, see above (Act 4:1, note). He was especially interested as being, probably, the officer who had arrested the apostles the day before. Were much perplexed concerning. The verb (), which only occurs in the New Testament here and Act 2:12, Act 10:17, Luk 9:7, and (in the middle voice) Luk 24:4, means properly “to be in doubt which road to take,” hence generally to be in doubt, perplexity. Them may apply either to the words, the strange things just reported to them, or to the apostles about whom the things were reported. It seems most natural to refer it to the words. They were in doubt and perplexity as to what it would all grow to.

Act 5:25

And there came one for then came one, A.V.; behold for saying, Behold, A.V. and T.R.; the prison for prison, A.V.; in the temple standing for standing in the temple, A.V. Standing implying the calm, fearless attitude of the men. There is an apparent reference in the mind of the writer to the words of the angel in Act 5:20, “Go ye, and stand and speak.”

Act 5:26

But without for without, A.V.; lest they should be, omitting , for lest they should have been, with , A.V. and T.R. Lest they should be, etc. The best way of construing the words, whether is re-rained or not, is to make the clause “lest they should be stoned” depend upon “not with violence;” putting “for they feared the people” into a parenthesis; thus explaining why they thought it dangerous to use violence.

Act 5:28

We straitly charged for did not we straitly command? A.V. and T.R.; not to for that ye should not, A.V.; teaching for doctrine, A.V. We straitly charged, etc.; seems to require a question to follow. Your teaching (for the command, see Act 4:18). Intend to bring, etc. Here the secret of the persecution comes out, The guilty conscience winced at every word which spake of Jesus Christ as living. The high priest, too, would not so much as name the name of Jesus. It was “this name,” “this man;” as in the Talmud, Jesus is most frequently spoken of as Teloni, i.e. “such a one,” in Spanish and Portuguese Fulano, or still more contemptuously as “that man”. This terror of blood-guiltiness is a striking comment on the saying recorded in Mat 27:25.

Act 5:29

But for then, A.V.; the apostles for the other apostles, A.V.; must for ought to, A.V. Peter is the spokesman, the sentiment is that of the united apostolate. Must obey God, etc. The rule is a golden one for all men, all circumstances, and all time (comp. Act 4:19). Peter does not deny having received the prohibition, but pleads the superior force of the command of God, as set forth in the following verses.

Act 5:30

Hanging him for and hanged, A.V. The God of our fathers, etc. Observe how carefully Peter preserves his own brotherhood with the Jews whom he was addressing, and the continuity of the New Testament with the Old Testament as being the sequel of the acts of the same God of Israel. Raised up; viz. from the dead; , not , as Act 3:22, Act 3:26. Some, however (Calvin, Bengel, etc.), take , as here used, to mean “raised up” in the wider sense of , as in the T.R. of Act 13:23, where, however, the R.T. has . Slew; viz. with your own hands, as means. It only occurs besides in Act 26:27.

Act 5:31

Did God exalt for hath God exalted, A.V.; remission for forgiveness, A.V. With his right hand; i.e. by his mighty power, as the instrument of Christ’s exaltation. A Prince (Act 3:15, note). Repentance first, “a new heart and a new spirit” (Eze 36:26), and forgiveness next (comp. Act 2:38; Act 3:19, etc.).

Act 5:32

Witnesses for his witnesses, A.V. and T.R.; so is the Holy Ghost for so is also the Holy Ghost, A.V. and T.R. We are witnesses. The direct reference is to the command recorded in Act 1:8, which they felt imperatively bound to obey. So is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost bare witness to the gospel preached by the apostles by the powers which he gave them to heal and work miracles, and by the conversion of many who heard the word: “the gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven” (1Pe 1:12). Mark the solemnity and authority which Peter claimed for the gospel by thus asserting that the Holy Ghost was the witness with the apostles to the truth of their testimony concerning Jesus Christ.

Act 5:33

But they, when they heard this, for when they heard that, they, A.V.; were minded for took counsel, A.V. and T.R. ( for , as also Act 15:39). The word for were cut to the heart () is found only here and in Act 7:54, where the full phrase is given. It means literally, in the active voice, “to saw asunder,” and is so used by the LXX. in 1Ch 20:2. In Heb 11:37 it is the simple verb which is used; and several of its compounds are surgical terms.

Act 5:34

But there for there, A.V.; in honor of for in reputation among, A.V.; the men for the apostles, A.V. and T.R.; while for space, A.V. A Pharisee named Gamaliel. St. Luke had mentioned (Act 4:1 and Act 5:17) that there was an influential party of Sadducees in the Sanhedrim. He, therefore, now specially notes that Gamaliel was a Pharisee. There can be no doubt that this alone would rather dispose him to resist the violent counsels of the Sadducean members, and the more so as the doctrine of the Resurrection was in question (see Act 23:1-35. 6-8). Moreover, Gamaliel was noted for his moderation. That Gamaliel here named is the same as that of Act 22:3, at whose feet St. Paul was brought up at Jerusalem, and who is known in the Talmud as Rabban Gamaliel the elder (to distinguish him from his grandson of the same name, the younger), the grandson of Hillel, the head of the school of Hillel, and at some time president of the Sanhedrim, one of the most famous of the Jewish doctors (as the title Rabban, borne by only six others, shows), seems certain, though it cannot absolutely be proved. The description of him as a doctor of the law, had in honor of all the people; the allusion to him as a great teacher, learned in the perfect manner of the Law of the fathers, and one whose greatness would be as a shield to his pupils, in Act 22:3; the exact chronological agreement; the weight he possessed in the Sanhedrim, in spite of the Sadducean tendencies of the high priest and his followers; and the agreement between his character as written in the Talmud and as shown in his speech and in the counsel given in it, seem to place his identity beyond all reasonable doubt. There does not seem to be any foundation for the legend in the Clementine Recognitions, that he was in secret a Christian. If the prayer used in the synagogues, “Let there be no hope to them that apostatize from the true religion; and let heretics, how many soever they he, all perish as in a moment,” be really his composition, as the Jews say, he certainly had no inclination to Christianity (‘Prid. Conn.,’ 1.361).

Act 5:35

He said for said, A.V.; as touching these men transposed from the order of the A.V.; are about to do for intend to do, A.V.

Act 5:36

Giving himself out for boasting himself, A.V.; dispersed for scattered, A.V.; came for brought, A.V. Rose up Theudas. A very serious chronological difficulty arises hero. The only Theudas known to history is the one about whom Josephus writes (‘Ant. Jud.,’ Act 20:5), quoted in full by Eusebius (‘Ecclesiastes Hist.,’Ecc 2:11) as having pretended to be a prophet, having lured a number of people to follow him to the banks of the Jordan, by the assurance that he would part the waters of the river, and as having been pursued by order of Cuspius Fadus, the Procurator of Judaea, when numbers of his followers were slain and taken prisoners, and Theudas himself had his head cut off. But Fadus was procurator in the reign of Claudius Caesar, immediately after the death of King Agrippa, ten or twelve years after the time when Gamaliel was speaking, and about thirty years after the time at which Gamaliel places Theudas. Assuming St. Luke to be as accurate and correct here as he has been proved to be in other instances where his historical accuracy has been impugned, three ways present themselves of explaining the discrepancy. 1. Josephus may have misplaced the adventure of Theudas by some accidental error. Considering the vast number of Jewish insurrections from the death of Herod the Great to the destruction of Jerusalem, such a mistake is not very improbable. 2. There may have been two adventurers of the name of Theudas, one in the reign of Augustus Caesar, and the other in the reign of Claudius; and so both the historians may be right, and the apparent discrepancy may have no real existence (see Wordsworth, in loc.). 3. The person named Theudas by Gamaliel may be the same whom Josephus speaks of (‘Bell. Jud.,’ it. 4.2) by the common name of Simon, as gathering a band of robbers around him, and making himself king at Herod’s death (‘Sonntag,’ cited by Meyer, etc.). But he was killed by Gratus, and the insurrection suppressed. A variety in this last mode has also been suggested (Kitto’s ‘Cyclopaedia’), viz. to understand Theudas to be an Aramaic form of Theodotus, and the equivalent Hebrew form of Theodotus to be , Matthias, and so the person meant by Theudas to be a certain Matthias who with one Judas made an insurrection, when Herod the Great was dying, by tearing down the golden eagle which Herod had put over the great gate of the temple, and who was burnt alive with his companions, after defending his deed in a speech of great boldness and constancy (‘Ant. Jud’ 17.6). A consideration of these methods of explaining the apparent contradiction between the two historians shows that no certainty can without further light be arrived at. But it may be observed that it is quite impossible to suppose that any one so well informed and so accurate as St. Luke is could imagine that an event that he must have remembered perfectly, if it happened under the procuratorship of Fadus, had happened before the disturbances caused by Judas of Galilee, at least thirty years before. But it is most certain that Josephus’s account of Theudas agrees better with Gamaliel’s notice than that of either of the other persons suggested, irrespective of the identity of name. The first way of explaining the difficulty above proposed has, therefore, most probability in it. But some further corroboration of this explanation may be found in some of the details of Theudas’s proceedings given by Josephus. He tells us that Theudes persuaded a great number of people to “collect all their possessions” and follow him to the banks of the Jordan, where he promised, like a second Elijah, to part the waters for them to pass over; that they did so, but that Fadus sent a troop of horse after them, who slew numbers of them, and amongst them their leader. Now, if this happened when the business of the census was beginning to be agitated, after the deposition of Archelaus (A.D. 6 or 7), all is plain. Theudas declaimed as a prophet against submitting to the census of their goods ordered by Augustus. The people were of the same mind. Theudas persuaded them that, if they brought all their goods to the banks of the Jordan, he would divide the stream and enable them to carry them over to the other side out of reach of the tax-gatherer. And so they made the attempt. But this was an act of rebellion against the Roman power, and a method of defeating the purpose of the census, which must be crushed at once. And so the people were pursued and slaughtered. But apart from the census of their goods, one sees no motive either for the attempt to carry away their property, or for the slaughter of an unarmed multitude by the Roman cavalry. So that the internal evidence is in favor of St. Luke’s collocation of the incident, at the same time that his authority as a contemporary historian is much higher than that of Josephus. Still, one desiderates some more satisfactory proof of the error of Josephus, and some account of how he fell into it.

Act 5:37

Enrolment for taxing, A.V.; some of the for much, A.V.; as many for even as many, A.V.; scattered abroad for dispersed, A.V. Judas of Galilee, otherwise called the Gaulonite, as a native of Gamala, in Gaulonitis. He was probably called a Galilaean because Galilee was the seat of his insurrection (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 18, 1.1 and 6; also ‘Bell. Jud.,’ 2. 8.1; 17.8). He was the great leader of the Jews in opposing the census ordered by Augustus, after the deposition of Archelaus, and carried out by Cyrenius, or rather P. Sulpicius Quirinus, the Propraetor of Syria, with the assistance of Cumanus, the subordinate Governor of Judaea. Judas, with Zadoc his coadjutor, was the founder of a fourth Jewish sect, nearly allied to the Pharisees, and his sedition was founded on his philosophic tenets. Josephus speaks of him as the author of all the seditions, tumults, slaughters, sieges, devastations, plunder, famines, ending with the burning of the temple, which afflicted his unhappy country. He gives no account of his death. But his two sons, James and Simon, were crucified by Tiberius Alexander, the successor of Cuspius Fadus. Another son, Menahem, having collected and armed a large band of robbers and other insurgents, after a partially successful attack on the Roman camp at Jerusalem, was miserably slain. The enrolment ( , as Luk 2:1). The purpose of Augustus, which had been delayed some years from causes not accurately known, perhaps in deference to some remonstrance from Herod the Great, was now carried into effect. Quirinus was sent, apparently the second time, as Proprsetor of Syria, to which Judaea was now attached, with Cumanus under him as Procurator of Judaea, to make a valuation of all their property. The Jews had been first persuaded by the high priest Joazar, i.e. apparently in the end of Herod’s reign, or the beginning of Archelaus’s, to submit to what they greatly disliked, but were now roused to insurrection by Judas of Galilee (‘Ant.,’ 18, 1.1). He also perished. Nothing is known of his death beyond this notice of it. Scattered abroad. Not crushed, for the insurrection broke out again and again, having the character of a religious war given to it by Judas of Galilee.

Act 5:38

Be overthrown for come to nought, A.V.

Act 5:39

Is for be, A.V.; will not be able to for cannot, A.V.; them for it, A.V. and T.R.; to be fighting for to fight, A.V.

Act 5:40

Called unto them () for simply called, A.V.; they beat them and charged them for and beaten them, they commanded, A.V.; not to speak for that they should not speak, A.V.

Act 5:41

They therefore for and they, A.V.; dishonor for the Name, for shame for his Name, A.V. and T.R. (see 1Pe 4:12-16; Joh 15:21).

Act 5:42

Every day for daily, A.V.; at home for in every hour, A.V. (see Act 2:46 note); to preach Jesus as the Christ for preach Jesus Christ, A.V. and T.R. The meaning is that they daily preached Jesus Christ both in the temple and in the house or houses where the disciples were wont to meet (see Act 2:46, note). The spirit and conduct of the apostles here recorded is a precious example to their successors. To glory in the cross, to count shame endured for Christ’s sake the highest honor, and to be unwearied and undaunted in teaching and preaching Jesus Christ through good report and through evil report, is the true character and work of every bishop of souls.

HOMILETICS

Act 5:1-11

The first hypocrisy.

Hitherto all had been bright and beautiful in the new-born Church of God. Brotherly love, disinterested kindness to one another, heroic courage in the face of danger, unhesitating devotion to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, and an unflinching profession of faith in his Name, had been the common characteristics of the multitude of them that believed. The Church was as the garden of the Lord in the midst of the world’s wilderness. It was a bright spring-tide, soon, alas! to be checked by the cold blasts of selfishness and the love of this world. The time of millennial blessedness was not yet come. Satan was not yet bound. On the contrary, he was unusually busy, with persecutions from without and temptations from within, in his endeavors to hurt and corrupt the children of the kingdom. Indeed, we may notice, as a universal feature in the economy of the kingdom of darkness, that every great step in advance of the kingdom of light is followed by some corresponding movement intended to defeat it. The sowing of the good seed is the signal for the sowing of the tares. The salvation of God is confronted with some counterfeit of Satan. The faith of God’s elect was opposed, even in the first century, by subtle heresies of man’s or Satan’s devising. The glorious spread of the gospel in all lands had a counterplot in the extraordinary growth of the imposture of Mohammed. The great Reformation in the sixteenth century was hindered by the hypocrisies and fanaticism which sprang up by its side. And so it was now. The great enemy of man could not look on the blessedness of the company of Christians without trying to mar it. He must have some portion even within the enclosure of Christ’s Church. Even there all must not be guileless truth, all must not be unselfish love. He must have some to do him service even though they called Christ their Lord. But how could he find an entrance into those holy precincts, how climb up into that heavenly fold? In human character the highest rank consists of those who love righteousness for its own sake, and with various degrees of success actually attain to it. There are those among them who attain the sublimest heights of virtue and godliness, and there are those who at the best, and amidst many stumblings and falls, are only struggling upwards. But they all belong to that highest class who really desire to do the will of God and to be conformed to his image. But there are others who do not belong to this class at all. They, perhaps, admire virtue in others. But especially do they covet the praise and high esteem which virtue conciliates to itself. In a religious society they perceive that certain actions are praised of men and bring certain pleasurable consequences to the doers of them. These fruits of goodness they desire to possess. But then they will not make the sacrifices, suffer the losses, endure the privations, which are inseparable from such actions. The double heart immediately casts about to find some method of obtaining the good without making the sacrifice. To be thought righteous, good, religious, not really to be so, becomes the aim and object. Fraud, deceit, lies, false pretences, are called in to help, and the hypocrite stands, kneels, gives alms, talks religiously, by the side of God’s true saints, till his hypocrisy is brought to light, and he stands revealed as a dissembler before God and man. But meanwhile, in the sight of the world, true godliness is discredited by each fresh exposure of the hypocrite. The defamers of God’s people are encouraged to say that there is no such thing as the pure love of God and disinterested obedience to his will; and they argue that the most consistent livers are only the best dissemblers. There are, doubtless, many other useful lessons to be learnt from the study of this first hypocrisy in the Church of God. It is good to dwell upon this account of it, upon its detection, and upon its awful punishment, because it is only a type of countless other cases which have since happened, and are daily happening, and which, whenever they do happen, do injury to the cause of Christ. We may learn in this melancholy example how the love of money, or the love of the praise of men, or a greedy appetite of applause, or an ungodly emulation of the fame of other men, or the habit of thinking of appearances more than of reality, and of putting on a religious garb without taking care that our hearts are really moved and guided by the Holy Spirit of God, may, almost before we are aware of it, be leading us into the paths of the hypocrite instead of into the way of the just. And in the fearful exposure and punishment of these first Christian hypocrites, we may learn how certain it is that sooner or later every hidden thought and every secret of the heart will be brought to light; and that none will be able to stand before the all-searching eye of God but those who walk before God in godly sincerity, while they trust with a steadfast faith in the merits of their almighty Savior. But anyhow we may be sure that this example of hypocrisy by the side of eminent holiness in the primitive Church, is thus set forth in its distinctness by the inspired historian, to be a touchstone by which to try future actions, to be a type of an evil which would be found to exist in all subsequent ages, and to be a warning to the children of God to watch against the very first beginnings of declension from simplicity and sincerity in their relations to Almighty God.

Act 5:12-42

The advancing tide.

The gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ crucified and risen again had issued from Jerusalem at the bidding of the Lord. Would it ever stop? would it ever cease to advance? would it ever meet with obstacles sufficiently strong to turn back its current and to arrest its progress? When the flowing tide is hurrying towards the shore, some particular wave is checked by an opposing rock, and is shivered into spray before it can reach the shore. But wait a little and the rock is sunken beneath the waters, and the waves roll on unchecked to their goal. Sometimes a temporary lull seems to have fallen upon the languid waves, and three or four in succession do not reach the bounds which their predecessors had attained. But yet a moment and the tide advances in its unbroken strength, and never fails to fulfill its destined course. It is just so with the gospel of Christ. Its advance is sure. Its strength is in the unchanging will of God. It has a course to run; it will run it. It has an end to fulfil; it will fulfill it. Hindrances, obstacles, defiance, it will meet with from man in a thousand varying forms. The opposition of hard unbelief in those who boast that they have intellect and philosophy on their side; the opposition of adverse creeds seeking to supplant the true faith; the fierce persecutions of ungodly power hoping to stop by force the progress of a hated truth; the divisions and dissensions of Christians among themselves; the abounding of iniquity and the chilling of Christian love; the sudden rise of some heresy or apostasy;these and such like hindrances may occasionally seem to check the onward flow of the waters of life, and at times to threaten its further advance. But, like the irresistible tide of the mighty ocean, God’s purpose is pressing surely on; and by the time decreed by his eternal wisdom the whole “earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9). The chapter now before us gives a most striking view of this irresistible advance as well as of the obstacles opposed to it. One hundred and twenty men and a few poor, weak women are, as it were, the seed which the hand of the Lord has sown in an uncongenial soil. Immediately around them was all the bigotry of Pharisaic Judaism, clinging with desperate and impassioned obstinacy to the traditions of their fathers, and ready to kill and be killed on behalf of the Law of Moses, on the one hand; and the hard, cold skepticism of the Sadducees on the other, denying with agnostic incredulity the existence of anything beyond the ken of their eyes or the grasp of their hands. In the wider circle of the outside world there was the iron heathenism of Rome. Imperial tyranny and Caesarean power; military force and the despotism of the sword; sensuality of the deepest dye; idolatry of the most aggressive and all-engrossing kind; philosophies the most adverse to the cress of Christ. How and where could the gospel make its way? Would it not die in the upper room where it was born? But what do we read? “There were added to the Church about three thousand souls;” “Many believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand;” “Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;” “The number of the disciples was multiplied;” and so on, marking the constant advance of the Church of God. And yet all the while every effort was being made to check this advance. There were already “prisons oft.” There were the fierce threatenings of those who had power to execute them; there were stripes inflicted; there was the majesty of the law and the authority of rulers arrayed against them. But it was all in vain. The preachers could not be silenced; the preaching could not be stopped; the miracles could not be hid; men’s hearts would turn to Christ when they heard of his grace; multitudes would leave the side of the persecutors and join themselves to the persecuted. The tide would flow on. It rushed over the heads of the opposing rocks. And then worldly wisdom came in with its prudent counsel, “Leave these men alone.” And so for a time the work of God went quietly on, gathering strength and acquiring solidity from day to day, in preparation for future hostility from the world without, and future hindrances from corruption within. But these first fortunes of Christianity have left to the Church in all ages a model of the conflicts that await her, and of the only method of obtaining victory. They show us that through opposition and contradiction, in sunshine and in storm, amidst encouragements and under depression, the servants of God have to persevere steadily in proclaiming the grace of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, have to go forward in an unswerving obedience to the commandment of Christ and an unfaltering confidence in his almighty power, and that success is sure. “On this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Act 5:1-10

A fatal forgetfulness.

There are several truths which this sad incident suggests to us. We may view them thus

I. THAT A NEW ENTERPRISE MAY SURVIVE A VERY DAMAGING BLOW. It was a very serious misfortune to the new Church that two of its members should commit a sin worthy of death, and pay that terrible penalty in the view of all. The apostles must have felt that they and the cause with which they were identified had received a severe blow; but it was far from being a fatal one. It was one from which the cause of Christ soon recovered; nay, it was overruled “for the furtherance of the gospel.” Let not any Church or any sacred cause be too much disheartened by a check at the beginning. With truth and God on its side, it will survive and flourish.

II. THAT VERY SERIOUS SIN MAY BE CONNECTED WITH AN ACT WHICH IS OUTWARDLY VIRTUOUS AND GODLY. To those who looked on as Ananias and Sapphira brought the money they did bring and laid it at the feet of the apostles, their action must have seemed pious and generous in a very high degree. But we know it to have been utterly and even fatally defective. It becomes us to search with fearless and faithful glance those of our deeds which men approve as most commendable, lest, while around us is approval and congratulation, there should be entered in the book of account in heaven a sin of great enormity against our name.

III. THAT WE MAY BE COMMITTING A HEINOUS SIN IN AN ACTION WHICH SEEMS VENIAL TO OURSELVES. In all likelihood, Ananias and Sapphira imagined that they were doing an action which, while it was calculated to win respect, was not very, if at all, reprehensible in itself. They probably reconciled it to their own sense of rectitude. Men do so now. In connection with religion and philanthropy they do guilty things which kindle the wrath of the righteous Lord, supposing that they are only departing a few degrees from integrity, or are even worthy of praise. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.”

IV. THAT IT IS A FALSE AND MOST PERILOUS THING TO SUPPOSE THAT THE GOOD CONNECTED WITH ANY COURSE WILL COUNTERBALANCE SOME ONE SERIOUS SIN THEREIN. Ananias and Sapphira may have thought that the piety and charity of their conduct would more than balance the sin of their deception. They were miserably wrong and were fearfully disabused of their mistake. If we willfully break one of God’s plain commandments, supposing that the virtues of our action will cancel the wrong, and thus allow ourselves to fall into deception (as here), or into dishonesty, or into excess, or, into arrogance and pride, we shall have a sad and, it may be, a rude and awful awakening from our grievous error.

V. THAT THERE IS A FORGETFULNESS WHICH IS NOTHING LESS THAN FATAL. Ananias and Sapphira made a mistake which was simply ruinous. They overlooked the fact that the Holy Spirit of God was in close connection with his Church, and was acting through his servants. They forgot that when they were trying to deceive inspired men they were acting falsely in the face of the Divine Inspirer, so that when they imagined they were lying unto men they were really lying unto God (Act 5:4). For this guilty oversight they paid the last penalty of death. Is not their sin too easily reproducible and too often re-enacted? Too commonly men guiltily overlook the presence and agency of the Divine Spirit.

1. A Church does so when it is resting in human and earthly advantages for its prosperity; when the minister trusts to his eloquence, the people to those arts and influences which are from below and not from above; when both are forgetting that there is an almighty power which is within their reach and at the command of believing prayer.

2. The human soul does so when it disregards the influences which are at work upon and within it; when it treats lightly the pleadings of the pulpit, the warnings of friendship, the prickings of conscience, the convictions and impulses which call it to newness of life. Is not this to sin against the Holy Ghost, and is not the penalty of it spiritual, eternal death?C.

Act 5:11-16

Elements of influence.

Instead of the sin and death of Ananias and Sapphira proving disastrous to the infant Church, the melancholy event was followed by a period of extraordinary success: There was a high tide of prosperity; the gospel showed itself a great power in the community (Act 5:14). Here are some of the elements of that power.

I. THE TERRIBLE. “Great fear came upon as many as heard these things” (Act 5:11). “By terrible things in righteousness” God sometimes answers us and impresses us. The fearful has a work to do in inspiring awe and leading to conviction and conversion. There are awful truths in connection with the gospel (Mat 21:44; Mat 24:51; Mat 25:46, etc.), as well as terrible facts happening in the providence of God, which do their work in the mind, solemnizing, subduing, preparing for thought, devotion, consecration.

II. THE BENEFICENT. (Act 5:15, Act 5:16.) In apostolic times Christian beneficence took the form of miraculous healing, and it was most efficacious in attracting and winning men. Now it takes other forms hardly less effective. The hospitals of the missionary in India and China, and the philanthropic institutions of England, initiated and sustained by Christian sympathy and self-sacrifice, are great elements of power. Christian kindness, taking a thousand shapes, flowing in a thousand channels, is an untold, incalculable influence for good.

III. THE SACRED. “The people magnified them” (Act 5:13). To whomsoever this applied, whether to the apostles only or to the band of believing disciples, it is clear that a certain reverence was paid to those who bore about them such marks of close association with the Divine. To those who walk with God, who are men of prayer and of real devoutness of spirit as well as blamelessness of life, there will attach a certain sacredness which will cause them to be “magnified by the people,” and their word will be with power.

IV. THE SUCCESSFUL. It is clear, from the fifteenth and sixteenth verses, that the publicity gained by the “many signs and wonders of one day brought together a still larger congregation of the sick and the expectant the following day. Success in Jerusalem begat success in “the cities round about.” The moral and spiritual triumphs of the truth have been elements of influence of signal worth. What God has wrought in opening blind eyes of the mind and cleansing leprous souls has been the means of extending the healing and renewing power of Christ on every hand. What stronger argument have we than thisWhat Christ has done for such sad and sinful souls he can and will do for you?

V. THE SUPERNATURAL. “Signs and wonders are not now wrought by the hand of the ministers of Christ.” But the supernatural is with us still, though the miraculous is gone. In connection with the preached Word, and in answer to believing prayer, the iron will is bent and the rocky heart is broken, the blind eyes are opened, and from the grave of sin dead souls come forth to newness of life.C.

Act 5:17-29

Three things Divine.

The success of the Christian cause had the effect which might have been anticipated; it aroused the intense hostility of the enemies of the Lord, and their bitter opposition found vent in a speedy arrest and imprisonment of the apostles (Act 5:17, Act 5:18). But man’s adversity was God’s opportunity, and we have:

I. DIVINE INTERPOSITION. (Act 5:19.) How vain all bolts and bars to shut out those whom God would have to enter, to shut in those whom he would have escape! The hour had come for his interposing hand, and all the contrivances of man’s wrath were broken through as if they were but “the spider’s most attenuated thread.” We often wish for the direct interposition of God now; we often ask for it; we often wonder that it does not come, thinking that the hour for Divine manifestation must have arrived. The duty and the wisdom of true piety are

(1) to ask God to deliver in his own time and way;

(2) to expect his delivering hand at some time and in some way;

(3) to wait in patient endurance till his time has come;

(4) to recognize his gracious hand in whatever ways he may be pleased to act.

II. A DIVINE INSTRUCTION. “Go, stand and speak all the words of this life” (Act 5:20). Doubtless the apostles well understood what was the tenor of their commission. They were to speak all those words which would enlighten their fellow-citizens on the great subject of the new spiritual life which they had begun to live. They who stand now in the relation of religious teachers to the men of their own time, may take these words of the heavenly messenger as a Divine instruction to themselves. They are to “speak all the words of this life;” i.e.

(1) to explain and enforce the truth, that beneath and beyond the life which is material and temporal is the life which is spiritual and eternal;

(2) to make known the conditions on which that life is to be entered uponrepentance toward God, and faith in a crucified and risen Savior;

(3) to make clear the way by which that life is to be sustainedby “abiding in him;”

(4) to assure all disciples that “this life” is to be perpetuated in the other world.

III. THE DIVINE DEMAND. “We ought to obey God rather than man” (Act 5:29). God demands our first obediencethat is the teaching of his Word; it is also the response of our own conscience. We agree, when we consider it, that God has a claim, transcendently and immeasurably superior to all others, on our allegiance. That Divine One who called us ourselves into existence; by whom we have been endowed with all our faculties; in whom “we live, and move, and have our being;” from whom we have received every single blessing we have known; who is the righteous and holy Sovereign of all souls throughout the universe of being; on whose will absolutely depends our future destiny;to him we owe our allegiance in such degree, that any claims man may have upon us are “as nothing, and less than nothing.” There are many reasons why we should yield ourselves to his servicethe example of the worthiest and the best of our kind; the excellency, dignity, exaltation of that service; the present and future advantages we gain thereby; the awful issues of disloyalty and persistent rejection, etc. But there is one thought which should weigh the most, and be of itself sufficient” we ought to obey God.” We cannot decline to do so without violating the plain teaching of our moral judgment. When we do yield ourselves to him, we put ourselves in the right and have the strong and blessed sanction of our conscience. We should hear the voice within, saying daily, hourly, in tones which will not be silenced, “You ought to obey God.”C.

Act 5:30-32

The cross and the crown.

In this address which Peter delivered to the Sanhedrim we have another epitome of the gospel.

I. THE LOWEST DEPTH OF EARTHLY SHAME. “Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree” (Act 5:30). The Son of God was “made a little lower than the angels,” even a Son of man, “for the suffering of death” (Heb 2:9). He stooped to the level of our humanity, in order that he might “taste death for every man.” And he underwent that experience in its most dreadful formin darkness, pain, shame, desertion, inexpressible agony of soul. He went deliberately down to the very lowest point to which he could stoop, that he might finish the work the Father had given him to do.

II. THE HIGHEST SUMMIT OF HEAVENLY HONOUR. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior” (Act 5:30, Act 5:31). “From the highest throne of glory to the cross of deepest woe” he had come; now he reascended from the grave to the throne, to the seat of heavenly power and blessedness. He has become an enthroned Redeemer, a sovereign Savior,

(1) occupying the foremost place in heavenly rank,

(2) dispensing salvation to the lost children of men, and

(3) receiving the willing homage, the affectionate service of the multitude he has redeemed. What more honorable, enviable, blessed position can we conceive than that of One who, seated in the very highest post of honor, is conferring the best of all imaginable boons, and is receiving, in return, the freest, richest, most rejoicing worship and service of his redeemed, both of those who are about his person “in the heavens,” and of those also who are serving him and striving to follow him below?

III. THE METHOD OF THE REIGNING SAVIOUR. He is a Prince and a Savior, “to give repentance.., and forgiveness of sins.” How does the exalted Lord carry on his great work as he reigns in heaven? By giving repentance and remission.

1. He gives to human souls a sense of the heinousness of their sin.

2. He dispenses to them, through his atoning sacrifice, full and free forgiveness of their sin. Thus he leads men everywhere away from their iniquity, and restores them to the favor and so to the happy service of the Supreme.

IV. THE BLESSED CERTAINTY WE HAVE OF THE FACT OF HIS ELEVATION. (Act 5:22.) The apostles could assure the council that these things were so; they could place it beyond all doubt, inasmuch as

(1) they themselves were witnesses of the facts, and

(2) the Holy Spirit had confirmed their testimony by the signs and wonders he enabled them to work. We too have testimony, both human and Divine.

1. The human testimony of the apostles of our Lord; also of all Christian souls in all succeeding generations, who have witnessed for him and the power of his grace; and also the assurance of our contemporaries, who rejoice in the liberty with which he has made them free.

2. The Divine testimony of that gracious Spirit of God, who, though he works no signs and wonders around us, does work conviction, comfort, sanctity, strength, within us.C.

Act 5:33-42

Our attitude towards God.

There are three attitudes it is possible for us to assume towards our Maker and Savior. They are those of

I. HOSTILITY. We may “be found even to fight against God.” It is, indeed, as new as it is old for men to contend with God and to oppose themselves to those ends for which he is working.

1. Good men do so unwittingly; as when earnest and holy Catholics have persecuted Protestant men and women; as when devout Protestants have thrown obstacles in the way of their more energetic co-religionists who have been evangelizing in ways not considered legal and correct; as when we ignorantly misconstrue the sacred Scriptures, finding out, farther on, that those views we combated were in harmony with truth.

2. Bad men do so deliberately and guiltily:

(1) when they endeavor positively to overturn influences which they know to be holy and remedial;

(2) when they practically encourage that which they feel to be wrong and hurtful.

II. NEUTRALITY. We may take the position which Gamaliel advised with so much policy on this occasion: “Let these men alone” (Act 5:38). When any sacred cause comes up before us, challenging our approval and asking our aid, we may determinately stand aloof, declining either to befriend it on the one hand or to withstand it on the other: we neither bless nor curse.

1. It is impossible to take a neutral position, upon the whole, in relation to Christ. “He that is not with him is against him,” as he has said to us. Our influence is either telling in favor of his holy service, of Christian truth, of eternal life, or else against these sacred things.

2. It is possible that we may assume a neutrality toward particular institutions, usages, movements, habits; and this neutrality may be

(1) necessary, because we have not the means of arriving at a judgment at all;

(2) wise, because we have not yet had the opportunity of coming to an intelligent decision;

(3) culpable, because cowardly, selfish, unfaithful.

III. CO–OPERATION. (Act 5:40-42.) When they had beaten the apostlesan act of severe bodily castigation was a grim method of “letting them alone; it was probably a concession to the party of hostile actionthey did let them go, with strict prohibitions in their ear. We are to be “co-workers with Christ,” “workmen together with him;” and we shall become this by:

1. Speaking for Christ. “Daily in the temple.., they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ” (Act 5:42). In the Church, in the school, in the home,anywhere, everywhere, we too may speak for him; uttering the truth which he has taught us to prize, more especially upholding him himself as the one great Teacher, almighty Savior, Divine Friend, and rightful Lord of the human soul.

2. Suffering for him. The apostles endured suffering and shame for his Name; they did so gladly, rejoicingly. We may be “counted worthy” to do the same. Many thousands of men, in heaven or on earth, have had this high honor (Mat 5:10-12; 1Pe 4:13). And if we are thoroughly true and unflinchingly faithful to our Lord, serving him to the full height of our opportunity, we shall surely

(1) suffer bodily inconveniences, fatigue, exhaustion, if not pain and sickness, for his sake;

(2) endure the dislike and ridicule, if not the blows and imprisonment, of the ungodly. In such ill treatment we shall find occasion for heavenly joy, as they did.C.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Act 5:1-11

The sin of heart: untruth and its punishment.

As the shadow follows the light, so Christianity has been marked in its progress by a deep and broadening shadow of hypocrisy. After the glorious picture of sunny days of the Spirit’s life in the preceding chapter, a dark view of human deceit is presented. The root of bitterness springs up amidst the Divine delights of the time, and many are troubled.

I. THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. Essentially it was the acting of a lie. The part of the produce of the sale was put before the apostles as if it had been the whole. Many will act lies who will shun to articulate them. But the value of actions in a moral point of view lies in the expression they give to feeling. The motive cannot be left out of consideration. This action was intended by the guilty pair to pass with others as having a moral quality it had not. The understanding was that the whole and unreserved produce of the sale of property should in every case be given in. The act of the couple was intended to be received in this meaning while that meaning did not exist. We are responsible for the constructions which we know will in certain cases be put upon our actions. And the action of Ananias and Sapphira is typical of all those by which we dishonestly compromise with conscience, or seek to pass under false colors. There are times when it is a duty to abstain from action, if we know that our action will convey an impression that is false, have an appearance to which no reality corresponds.

II. PETER‘S EXPOSURE OF THE SIN. His words are deep and mysterious. Let us not pretend to fathom them.

1. The dark source of crime“Satan filling the heart.” The deeds of sin are dark in every sense: they excite shame in the doer; they shun the light; they are lying in their origin, process, and consummation.

2. The struggle involved in sin. The opposition of the good, the striving of the Holy Spirit, is ever felt. No man lies to his fellow-men until he has first lied to the truth revealed within. Discussions about the personality of Satan and of the Holy Ghost are foreign to the spirit of the simple New Testament language, and only divert the mind from the solemn truth of immediate inner experience. The meaning of these dread figures of speech is sufficiently clear without any dialectics.

3. The peculiar aggravation of this sin. It had not the excuse of overwhelming temptation. They need not have sold the property at all. There was no law or special apostolic edict requiring it. The free spirit of love alone set the practice on foot. Certainly those sins which men commit under no pressure of necessity or of sudden and strong coincidences of opportunity with desire, are the worst. Gratuitous sin, so to speak, shows so diseased a moral state that it infers a person will require a temptation to do right, will go wrong without temptation at all. It was a fixed and deliberate determination, this act of Ananias, taken in the full daylight of conscience. In all probability it was the crowning act of u life long directed to counterfeiting goodness. For how true the proverb, that no one falls suddenly into the extreme of baseness! His life in Judaism had been a counterfeit, his conversion a sham, his participation in the joy and power of the time a mockery; the act which he intended to seal his Christian reputation fixing on him the damnation of the devil-led impostor. And through all or much of this there doubtless ran a vein of profound self-deception.

4. All moral offenses are irreligious. This is important, for the craft of the heart would often separate morality from religion. But a lie to men is a lie to God under all circumstances; it is he whose light is in the breast which falsehood confuses, his truth which is practically denied. There is no genuine morality which is not founded on reverence for the living God. And no security that men will speak truly or act rightly when the pressure of fear or the mechanical action of habit is not felt, except in the sense of the eternal imperative of God.

5. The complicity of the wife in the guilt adds another element of aggravation. The one should have restrained the other. The guilt of their joint act was like a mutual agreement of unfaithfulness. The sanctity of marriage rests on the recognition of the covenant between each soul and God; it is broken down and defiled by the common consciousness of a crime.

III. THE JUDGMENT. It was sudden, marking the interposition of God. It was received in both cases in silencea tacit confession of its justice. Thus did sin long nourished in the heart at last come forth, full-born, only to meet death. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Great dread fell, as well it might, on all who heard and on the whole Church. It was like a bolt out of a clear and serene sky. And we should learn the solemn lessons that suggest themselves for every time.

1. Moral dangers lurk near every scene of spiritual manifestation.

2. The highest features of spiritual character and action will always find false imitators, and this in the very bosom of the Church.

3. Hence the need of heart-searching for ourselves, of constant prudence and vigilance. “Our enemy goeth about.” “Behold, I have told you before.”J.

Act 5:12-16

The healing personality of Christ’s servants.

I. THEY ARE VEHICLES OF DIVINE POWER. The lips and the hands are consecrated to the service of doing good. Here especially the hands. It is a beautiful organ, the human hand, and may stand in Christian thought as the very symbol of beneficence. Signs and wonders are wrought, betokening that God is in immediate connection with the agency of man, that his presence is loving and healing, that Christianity brings in an era of deliverance from pain and sickness.

II. THE REPELLENT FORCE OF HOLY PERSONALITY. False souls are scared by the presence of a true man. They are in polar antagonism to him. They cannot bear his direct glance, his clear tones, his indefinable influence. There are those whose presence silences the ribald jest and scoff. The holy man awakens dread and love wherever he goes. Society seems to divide into its elements as he approaches. He is magnetic. Hence the slander of some is an equal testimony to moral greatness with the admiration and love of others.

III. ITS ATTRACTIVE FORCE. The multitude love goodness and revere it in their inmost heart. And not for long can the sympathies of the multitude be held except by goodness. In this case Divine power set its seal too plainly upon the character and work of the apostles to be resisted. In the vast concourse of sick and suffering in the streets and open places of Jerusalem we have the picture of the effects of Christianity. It is and ever has been the religion of the poor and the suffering. It remains the Divine will that the Christian minister should be the healer, the comforter. His pattern is to be found in the description Christ gave of his own mission in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luk 4:1-44.), and it is surely a sign of weakness somewhere when the public organs of Christianity fail to command the attention and to supply the heart-wants of the lowly and the suffering. By the ordinary laws of mind to work for the spiritual help of such is better than all the power to work signs and wonders. Let every Christian minister be like “Peter’s shadow,” a refreshment and a rest by his spirit and teaching to weary souls.J.

Act 5:17-26

Arrest of the apostles.

I. THE TEMPER OF THE RULING POWERS

1. Zeal. It is good or evil in its effects, according to the objects to which it is directed. There is no mood of which more opposite descriptions have been and may not be with justice given. In the excitement of feeling, the fire and fervor which zeal implies, egotism may be so easily mistaken for public spirit. Our self-passions may and must mix with those of a purer kind. Resentment against injury to our interests or indignity to our party, or contempt for our opinions, is constantly mistaken for pure zeal for the kingdom of God and the cause of goofiness.

2. Whenever anger and violence break out it is a proof that the dangerous force of zeal is at work. The only way to correct its mischief is by denying any personal interest which is apart from that of the truth. It is the clear calm gaze at truth which cools the undue heat of zeal, or gives the force its true direction. Here violence showed that egotism was the principle of priestly zeal, and passionate interest, divorced from truth. The apostles are seized and put in prison. Zeal is blundering, thinks that force is a remedy for moral feebleness, believes that truth and spirit can be put down.

II. THEIR VIOLENCE DIVINELY REBUKED. The angel of the Lord comes as an emissary of freedom, for the Word of God cannot be bound. And freedom means new scope for duty. God does not give liberty to tongue and hand for nothing.

“If our virtues go not forth from us,
‘Tis all as one as though we had them not.”

Freedom imposes duties. If God sets us free front the fear of man, which muzzles the tongue, then let us go and publicly speak to the people “all the words of this life.” Again, with freedom courage is given. The apostles go at daybreak to the temple, and in the teeth of ecclesiastical prohibition proceed to teach. How truly is courage the gift and grace of God! Too often we think of it as a mere pagan virtue founded on pride. Far otherwise with the true courage of the Christian soldier. “It was a great instruction,” said Mrs. Hutchinson, in her ‘Memoirs,'” that the best and highest courages were beams of the Almighty.” As every passion and energy of the soul contains its opposite, so moral courage contains fear of God, moral cowardice contains the false courage to be untrue to God. The apostles, having chosen the fear of God and obedience for their guide, knew no other fear.

III. RENEWAL OF OPPOSITION. (Act 5:22, etc.) Here is another study of the human heart. When men are blinded by passion, the strongest arguments and warnings of God seem only obstacles on which wrath breaks with the greater vehemence. The news conies that the prison is empty, and under significant circumstances. The guard stands as before at the door, unconscious of the prisoners’ escape. The tidings are confirmed from another source. The prisoners have escaped and are again in the temple, teaching. Was not this the finger of God? Would not men in their senses, free from the madness of passion, have argued that they did wrong to offer violence to a power so majestical and so contemptuous of the fetters of force and the ordinary laws of nature? Yet once more the foiled attempt of human force against the will of God is renewed, and the apostles are brought with a gentleness due to the fear of their captors before the tribunal.

IV. THE CONTEST OF WORLDLY AUTHORITY WITH SPIRITUAL. The Sanhedrim are at the outset again baffled and defied.

1. Authority weak without moral support. The judges can only helplessly repeat themselves. They refer to their former command and ask why it had not been obeyed. As if the apostles had not warned them it should not be obeyed. Might without right can only repeat its experiments and its failures; is no match for right which rests upon eternal might.

2. Physical weakness mighty is moral support. Here were but a few unarmed men, without armed following, only temporarily backed up by the uncertain sympathy of the crowd. What is the secret of their immovable bearing? It is moral. Obedience to the higher law is the secret of all command over the minds of others. Here again is the coincidence of opposites. The servant of self-interest is weak, though he sits on a throne and is surrounded by guards; while one moral will, one divinely determined personality, suffices to set a city in com- motion and to overturn established order.

3. Truth irresistible. The truth of the place, time, persons, circumstances, launched from firm lips, is certain to go home. This is infallible. If we fail with the truth, it is because of want of respect to some of these conditions.

(1) The act of God in raising Jesus is again insisted on. Fearful fact in its grandeur, disquieting in its stubbornness, illustrated now by the events of every hour.

(2) The guilt of the crucifiers again emphasized. Their own dark passions are reflected in the cross of wood, and at the same time God’s rebuke of them and disappointment of them.

(3)The exaltation and dominion of Jesus again set forth. At the fight hand of God; at the apex of the moral universe, he now draws men unto him, changing their hearts and pardoning their sins.

(4) The living evidence again appealed to. We, living, acting men, working works that by the confession of one of your number (Nicodemus) no man can do unless God be with him; we, not in our independent name and personality, but as vehicles and agents of a holy power, are the evidence that these things are so. And if they are so, then is the power of the Sanhedrim, with all its sup- port in Roman arms, the mere shadow and ghost of authority. It is superseded by that of Jesus the true King of Israel. Well may the priests and rulers be cut to the heart by a conviction, all the more penetrating because it is in the minds of all, yet adored by none.

(1) The root of courage, energy, moral influence, and command lies in conscience, or obedience to God.

(2) Where men combine against conscience and conspire against truth, they undermine the foundations of authority and prepare their own ruin.J.

Act 5:34-42

Power and weakness.

I. INNOCENCE AN OBJECT OF HATE TO THE UNJUST. No wound is more deadly than that inflicted by words of truth upon false hearts. If the heart will not receive the truth, the truth will pierce through it. And murderous counsels show that truth has been denied in the heart. Instead of answering the witnesses with reason for reason, the Sanhedrim seek to stop their mouth with earth and put them to death. A cause is lost when it can be no longer argued in the court of reason, when its only argument is the sword, or the stake, or the rod, or the prison-cell.

II. SUGGESTIONS OF NEUTRALITY. Gamaliel is the type of common sense undisturbed by zealof clear judgment unbiased by prejudice. It is pretty evident that he did not sympathize with the apostles; still less, probably, did he sympathize with the fears or the fanaticism of his colleagues. He is perhaps “old and cold.” Seldom do men of strong reflective habit feel much interest in novelties in religion. Seldom do the observers of life, the students of human history, expect much from sudden popular movements or popular teaching. Such was Gamaliel’s character. But where so little is said there is much room for difference of opinion as to what that character really was, how far really inclined to Christ’s doctrine, possibly believing in his mission, or a disciple in secret. In the absence of further knowledge of the man, we may consider his counsel, and draw the following lesson :

1. Prudence and caution are ever seasonable and especially so where there is a temptation to violence and repression of others’ freedom. We should never act without a clear call to do so. The alternation of inaction is best in doubtful cases.

2. Experience shows that movements which have no vitality in them come to an end if left alone. They die for want of fuel, while persecution supplies that fuel on which they live. Such had been the case with the insurrection of Judas and that of Theudas.

3. Time is required that the true nature of a movement be clearly seen. Many a seed springs up that cannot live; many a threatened man lives long. A new force cannot be judged by the first appearances and manifestations.

4. There is always a danger in repression. The force you seem to have quelled for the moment only bursts forth in a new direction. You may, while you think to be putting down your enemy, be rousing up a more formidable one, or exposing yourself to attack in some unguarded quarter. Above all, you may be contending against Divine power and will, and inviting its vengeance.

5. Faith in truth, utter contempt for falsehood and imposture, is our safest temper. This gives calmness under every emergency. The truth can never harm us if we are on its side, nor can it be defeated by any power on the other side. After all, this true attitude was Gamaliel’s. He was a man who understood and believed in the moral laws. Well would it have been had the Sanhedrim shared his intelligence and honesty. And had his advice been followed at similar crises of religious history, much bloodshed and retardation of the good cause would have been avoided. In private life, how many an occasion when there is a restless desire to act, to fetter the free action of others, to stop the course of moral laws, when the simple question is pertinent!”Can you notlet it alone?”

III. WEAK VIOLENCE. Threatsprisonrods; to this the Sanhedrim in its might resorts against helpless and unarmed men. Rods are for the backs of those who are not amenable to reason. The chastisement which is appropriate to the fool is absurdly applied to the man who acts from deliberate counsel and proved determination. Blows are no match for prayers. The martyr is never in the tyrant’s power. He clings to God’s skirts, and malice cannot touch his soul.

IV. THE MARTYR‘S JOY. Joy of the purest quality and most triumphal power starts from the very seed-bed of pain. Pain may be to the soul the expression of God’s displeasure or of his love. If it is incurred in obedience to him, the soul wears it as a testimonial of his goodness. The honor of suffering for God’s sake is one of peculiar worth. There is a natural feeling that any great suffering entitles the patient to some respect. The consciousness of being selected for suffering in the noblest cause ennobles the soul. It feels crowned and throned. Our capacity is enlarged both for thought and feeling and for joy by such an experience. It is strengthened, and every fresh trial, faithfully endured, prepares for new effort, goads to perseverance, and so defeats the persecutor by the very means of his own weapons.J.

HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD

Act 5:1-6

The death of Arian

Raphael’s cartoon manifestly founded, not on the simple narrative of Acts, but on the corrupt Church’s falsification of it. The apostles represented on a throne, from which with despotic decree they command men to death. Our object is not to terrify men into religion and ecclesiastical submission, but to win them to Christ; to save men’s lives, not to destroy them. Solemn and awful as the facts are, they are yet beams from the Sun of Righteousness.

I. A revelation of THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.

1. As the kingdom of light. Wisdom in discernment of spirits and judgment of human character. Distinction between pure and false fellowship. Exaltation of the great light-principle of self-sacrifice.

2. As the kingdom of righteousness. The act of Ananias was an act of rebellion against the first law of the gospel, both as a lie and as selfishness.

3. As the kingdom of order and peace. The rising brotherhood was the germ of a new human society, in which all men should be blessed. Ananias sinned against the Holy Ghost, i.e. defied and insulted the Spirit in his new work, trampled on the rising life. As a vindication of the kingdom, the sentence, though it looks at first sight unduly severe, was merciful, as a sign, not merely threatening, but inviting. It cleared the light of clouds.

II. An instructive example of HUMAN WEAKNESS AND SINFULNESS. A Judas among the apostles, an Ananias among the first believers. We must expect such things always.

1. The work of the Spirit is thus shown to be necessary. The deceit of the heart. The power of temptation. The influence of a multitude in hiding us from ourselves. The possibility of being carried away by a wave of excitement. The lure of ambition. Man and wife encouraging one another; Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The gospel needed to lift up even the ties of nature and renew and strengthen them in the grace of God.

2. The Christian Church must be prepared to encounter the facts of human fallibility and sin. We must rest upon the supernatural guidance and support. We must leave judgment in the hands of God. Peter pronounced no sentence. He simply, by spiritual power, proclaimed the truth, and left conviction to work its own work. A great lesson in the exercise of discipline. In the case of the wife, the fact became a prophecy, by inspiration, in Peter’s mind. He saw the work of God beforehand. No assumption.

III. A PRACTICAL ADMONITION.

1. Against selfishness and dishonesty. They kept back for themselves part of the price, intending to deceive.

2. Against untruthfulness, which was deliberate, prompted by meanness mixed with ambition and desire of display, daring against the manifest signs of the Spirit. Not a mere lie unto men, but a defiance of God.

3. Against trifling with holy things. They, perhaps, thought that what they kept back would not be needed, but they made light of the Spirit’s evident demand. They did dishonor to the infant Church and to the apostles.

4. Rebellion against the Holy Ghost. He put it into their heart to sell their property and join the Church. They recognized his command to give up all for Christ. They saw what he had done and could do. Yet they did violence to his order and might have produced endless confusion in the Church. Fighting against God is perilous work.R.

Act 5:7-11

(or Act 5:11)

Conspiracy against God.

While much in the previous paragraph repeated here, a new phase of sin presented. It was distinctly on the ground of deliberate agreement to tempt the Spirit of the Lord that Sapphira’s death was added to that of her husband.

I. The intimate connection of the proclamation of gospel truth and mercy with THE RENOVATION OF HUMAN SOCIETY.

1. Family life, domestic intimacy, the root of public life. We must choose all our relations with the light of God in Christ.

2. The conspiracy of Ananias and Sapphira was a blow at the work of the Spirit in raising up a new spiritual life on the basis of self-sacrifice and absolute truthfulness.

3. The awful judgment was a proclamation of mercyCome and hide under this Divine power and be safe.

II. A marvelous display of THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY poured out on the apostles. The words of Peter an example:

1. Of the Spirit of truth and grace in him; he proceeded with the utmost care, publicity, tenderness, pity. The wife had the opportunity of repentance, while the appeal was made, not on the ground of terror, for she knew nothing, but on the ground of simple truthTell me the truth.

2. Of the spirit of discernment and, in the Name of the Lord, of prediction. Had not Peter under supernatural impulse foreseen the death of the woman, he would not have dared to utter such words. As it was, it was a responsibility which none but an inspired man would have assumed. Such a fact speaks volumes on the supernatural state of the Church at that time.

III. A GRACIOUS APPLICATION of extraordinary facts.

1. To the Church itself. The solemnization of fellowship. God thus said,” Take heed how you join my people.” The ethical set in the light of the spiritual. “Be ye holy.” The sins of falsehood, presumption, avarice, self-confidence, set forth. The Divine kingdom clearly revealed. If God is so near, and yet to all who trust in Christ near to bless, how glorious this time! What is he not doing? and how little need we fear the world’s opposition when he can strike dead our enemies? “Stand still and see the salvation.” Compare the Israelites looking back on Pharaoh’s host and forward to the promised land.

2. To the world. “All that heard these things.” Such facts preached, loudly and widely, where the preacher’s voice did not reach. We must remember that grace and providence go hand-in-hand. Fallow ground broken up by the ploughshare of terrible events and warning dispensations. “Judgment begins at the house of God; what shall the end be,“ etc.? Yet the “fear was a fear mingled with the light of hope;” for these deaths pointed to the way of life. The Church was the more conspicuously revealed as a refuge opened by God for all. So in the terrible times of human history religion has gone forth with special power. What message has philosophy at such times? Where are the rationalists and the doubters in the great crises of the world? Press home the facts upon those who tempt the Spirit of the Lord by untruthfulness, rebellion, indifference, worldliness.R.

Act 5:12-16

“Clear shining after rain.”

The blessed effects of what at first is not fully understood. The outpouring of judgment may be a preparation for the outpouring of mercy. The Church has to be made and kept pure; then the deeper the work of grace among God’s people becomes the larger the work of the gospel in the world. Notice

I. An increase in the manifestation of THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT.

1. In the working of miracles, which bad their special value in rousing attention and proving the nearness of God’s kingdom.

2. In the separation, and magnifying in the eyes of the people, of the true Church. The rest durst not join them; the people magnified them.

3. In the solidifying of the Church as a society. Solomon’s porch; one accord.

4. In the work of conversion. Multitudesmen and women; notwithstanding the awful deaths.

5. In the diffusion of the glad tidings in the surrounding neighborhood, not as mere idle rumor, but as a practical appeal which brought the needy and suffering to the feet of Christ.

II. THE UNFOLDING GRACE OF GOD to mankind. Solomon’s porch the place of meeting still. The center of new life in the midst of the old corruption. Invitation to both Jews and Gentiles. Public place, yet connected with the temple. The Divine society inviting all to new lifea life that healed, that cared for the sick and dying, that drew the multitudes, the miracles giving confidence and pointing out the way. The manifest testimony of the world to the Church, speaking of man’s preparation for the gospel, The marvelous progress of the truth in the growth of the Church a sign that the grace was being abundantly bestowed. A time of great awakening and many conversions is a time of tremendous responsibility. At least the shadow of the messenger falls upon us, as he passes by. It is not said that the shadow healed, but it may help to the faith which is a prerequisite. The people magnify the work, though they may not receive the blessing. God works generally from the lower to the upper strata of society. All great moral changes have begun among the people. The rich will resist, for it is hard to them to enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Church must look well to itself if it is to be the power of God in the world. The circle of grace will widen if only the force keeps going out from the center. We must avoid the fatal mistake of enlarging that circle by mere human methods. Let God do it in his way. What we want is not large Churches as, communities, or wealthy societies, or great signs and wonders wrought in our cities, but “believers added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;” and they will be “the more added” because the rest dare not join themselves unto them because the Spirit of God is manifestly among them. Our great danger is impatience and unbelief. Resorting to our own expedients, because we think God’s methods fail. Out of the dark cloud of Ananias’s and. Sapphira’s sin broke forth a new baptism of zeal, devotion, and spirituality.R.

Act 5:17-42

Second persecution of the Church.

Notice:

1. It was the result of marvelous success. We must expect such opposition when God gives us power among the people. The proud and formal have no liking for that which can be set in contrast with their own inefficiency.

2. It proceeded from the sect of the Sadducees, i.e. the heretical school. The league between the high priest and the scoffers was a sad sign of religious degeneracy. So it is. When religion decays it becomes the food of unbelief. The latitudinarians hate spiritual earnestness.

3. It was weak and timid, evidently because there was a reproaching conscience and a growing apprehension in the background. The apostles were put into the public ward or prison, but probably not very jealously guarded.

4. The empty form of justice and wisdom was maintainedthe council was summoned, that the weight of ecclesiastical authority might be used to crush the feeble apostles, that the people might be awed by the fear of great dignitaries. They often are, but the Spirit of God can overcome such fear.

5. Divine wisdom is more than human craft. The public trial or examination of the apostles was a public proclamation of the weakness of their enemies and the heavenly sanction given to their cause. The angelic deliverance of the prisoners became a notorious fact through all Jerusalem. The effect on the council, on the captain of the temple, on the populace, must have been immense. Evidently there was great excitement. “They feared the people, lest they should be stoned.”

6. The two weak apostles in the presence of the council, boldly challenging the contradiction of facts and appealing from man to Goda striking manifestation of spiritual power. “We are witnesses, so is the Holy Ghost.”

7. The division in the council between the furious fanatical party and the temperate Gamaliel party, reminding us of the division in the nation itself; some dead to the voice of God, others ready to follow it though not recognizing it. The influence of Gamaliel a sign of hope; there was a remnant still according to the election of grace, and it promised a future restoration of Israel.

8. The whole occurrence a great help to the Church, to feel its power, to deepen its devotion, to rejoice in hope of victory, to trust in the gracious providence of God.R.

Act 5:20

The Church’s mission to the world.

“Go, stand and speak,” etc. Acts of apostles the model for acts of God’s people always. Lessons on relation of the Church and the world. Gospel began to lay hold of the masses. Envy and hatred of the Sadducean party, because a religion which lifted up the people, they thought, would lower the wealthy and ease-loving. We must expect social difficulties as the kingdom of righteousness spreads, but the angel’s message is the rule of all times; while opportunity offers, stand and speak, not your own message, but “all the words of this life.” While we listen to the angel’s words, we should keep our eye fixed on the unveiled secret of Divine strength delivering and protecting all true-hearted preachers of Christ’s truth.

I. THE GREAT COMMISSION. “Speak to the people.”

1. Copy the example of the Master. “Common people heard him gladly.”

2. Best on the adaptation of the gospel to the people’s wants. They are deceived by false teachers, run after false remedies.

3. Take courage by the facts of the early history of Christianity. All moral prowess from the people. Illustrate in the course of Christianity in the Roman empirefrom the cottage to the throne. In the Reformation, especially in England. Lollards. Luther. Preaching of the revivalists in the eighteenth and present centuries.

4. Note the events. The future in the hands of the people. Speak to them of Christ; for their power is great, and they may abuse it to the destruction of society. Babel-greatness must end in confusion and misery.

5. Consider the responsibility of Christians. Believe, and therefore speak; silence is shame. Activity is the hope of the Church, the cure of its strifes and the uprooting of its doubts.

II. THE GREAT MESSAGE, “All the words of this life.”

1. Realitylife. Men’s daily struggle is about life. Yet the world full of delusions about life. This life! That life! We invite the people to live the true life, Christ’s life, the life that death cannot touch.

2. Announcement. “Words of this life.” We proclaim facts, a Divine Person, a life that can be described by example, confirmed by testimony, studied in the written pages. Religion no dream of enthusiasts, no mere sentiment floating like a cloud in the air, no empty ritualism, but words of life translated into action.

3. Philanthropy. “All the words.” Different from mere human teachers with their reservations and selfishness. Philosophers taught for money. Christ says, “Speak all to the people freely.” Religion in the hands of priests has made the people enemies, but this new message in the temple would shake down the wails of superstition, prejudice, and pride, and build up a new humanity. In our message we must put so much heart that the people see we give them all that we have, because we love their souls first and their earthly interests as included in their spiritual welfare.

4. Aggression. “Go, stand in the temple;” “Be not afraid of their faces.” Bold policy always the wisest in spiritual things. Special necessity that the desecrated temple should witness the faithfulness of Christ’s messengers. False religion the great obstacle to progress of the gospel. People misunderstand the message; think of priests as their enemies; have reason to think so. The gospel does not reject what is good in other systems, but plants itself in the midst of the world as it is; finds in the temple of the old religion a standing-place from which to preach the new tidings. Every fresh instance of Divine interposition should embolden us. You are free now, go to the work again. In all fields of labor discouragement must be absolutely excluded. Follow the angels of God, and they will point to new platforms. We shall speak with fresh power if we refuse to be thwarted by opposition or put out of countenance by suffering.R.

Act 5:29

“We ought to obey God rather than men”

(or, “we must,” Revised Version). A great principle requires to be seen in the full daylight before it can be made the foundation of great action. Fanaticism borrows its strength from the night of ignorance, not from the noon of truth. Persecution may vindicate itself on the ground of obedience to God, but it proves itself to have no title to such a principle because it destroys freedom.

I. THE GREAT REQUIREMENT. Obedience to God.

1. It is a requirement abundantly set forth in the Scriptures, in conscience, in the teaching of providence in connection with revealed truth, and especially in that inspired guidance which no true and earnest man is left without.

2. Enforced by the work of the Church, by the dangers of the world, by the deceitfulness of the heart, by the promises of God’s Word.

3. Rewarded by the sense of inward strength, by superiority to circumstances, by successes in Christian effortif not in this world fully, in eternity.

II. THE GREAT TRIAL.

1. Human laws, human requirements, human errors, human passions, all may say, “Obey the voice of man rather than of God.”

2. Compromise the great danger of the Church. Under its new disguise of a pantheistic submission to inevitable law of development, specially subtle.

3. Lack of moral courage and conviction, obscuring principle and magnifying the strength of surrounding obstacles. We need the Holy Ghost, upholding the work of God in our own hearts, penetrating the deceptions of the world, arming us with spiritual preparation against inevitable assaults from without.

4. Individually the same great question to be settled between ourselves and God. His controversy. “Yield yourselves to God.”R.

Act 5:31

The throne of mercy.

“Him hath God exalted,“ etc. The Jewish temple a material symbol of the Divine method of grace. The chief chamber was the place of God’s glorythe inner, nest presence-chamber of the great King; its chief feature, the mercy-seat, a proclamation of love to all. Yet access to the blessedness only by the appointed way, through the consecrated rites and persons; thus the will and righteousness of God sustained at the same time as his mercy. Compare heathen ideas of Divine favorsslavish, cruel, degrading, capricious, destructive of righteousness both in God and in man. Moreover, no heathen system appealed to a universal humanity.

I. THE COMMON WANT.

1. Deliverance from sin, both by remission and moral elevation. Show that the conscience regains satisfaction, the life security, the heart peace.

2. A free and unpurchased forgiveness, lest we should be burdened by their inequalities, destroyed by their despair, seduced by their errors, enslaved by their superstition.

3. Confidence without fanaticism, peace of mind without inertia, and a sense of righteousness without pride.

II. THE DIVINE SALVATION.

1. It is built upon factsa personal history, an accumulation of historic evidence, an ascent from Bethlehem to the heavenly throne. The supernatural absolutely necessary to hold up the human spirit in its greatest emergency. God’s right hand must be seen, must be conspicuous. We cannot depend on mere human sympathy, wisdom, or strength.

2. The twofold character of Christ meets the twofold demand of the soul, for the greatness of the King and the compassion of the Savior. The exaltation of Christ was both human and Divine. We recognize the great fact of mediation and reconciliation.

3. The one supreme test of sufficiency, the gift of the Holy Ghost. We do not appeal to men on the ground that God can save them, or that there is in Christianity a satisfactory theory of the atonement, but on the ground that the Spirit of God is saving them, that the gift is thererepentance and remission.

APPLICATION. What was true of Israel is true of us. The state of the Jewish world was the condemnation of all men. If God so wrought for us,” how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” The gift has all God’s heart in it. Return his love.R.

Act 5:38, Act 5:39

A study of Jewish character: Gamaliel.

“And now I say unto you,” etc.

I. REGARD IT AS THE PRODUCT OF JEWISH EDUCATION.

1. Reverence for the Word and will of Godin truth and in providence. The Jews, possessed in their Scriptures a good philosophy of history. Taught that God must triumph.

2. Sense of humanity and righteousness deeply pervading all the Jewish system. “Refrain from these men.”

3. Yet evidence of the corrupt and formal state of the Jewish teacherstemporizing policy, weakness of conviction, unwillingness to face truth, the ecclesiastical spirit in its mildest form.

II. CONSIDER IT IN ITS RELATION TO CHRISTIANITY.

1. The influence of Gamaliel on Saul of Tarsus (see Conybeare and Howson; Farrar) and so on the history of the gospel.

2. The contrast between Gamaliel and his fellow-counselors in the Sanhedrim. They agreed to him then, but how about their former action and what followed? The Gamaliel character was then exceptional.

3. The contrast between Gamaliel and the apostles. He was prudent, they were earnest. Consider the necessity of following conviction. Sweetness and light are not means but ends; they have to be fought for, not rested in, before they are fully obtained.

4. The great appeal: “Lest haply ye be found fighting against God.” All must acknowledge it. How easily ignored! The position of the soul is here indicated; it is either fighting with God or against God. Though Gamaliel did not see it, there is no middle position. “A fearful thing to fall into his hands.”R.

Act 5:41, Act 5:42

The true witnessing spirit.

“And they departed,” etc.

I. THE NAME OF CHRIST the source of it. No such spirit in the world. Heroism may sustain strength, but does not give joy, unless it is like the apostles’. Had not the Name been Divine, how could it have produced such fruits in such men?

II. THE TEACHING AND PREACHING, both in the temple and at home, must be in the martyr spirit. We must expect to suffer some dishonor. But such a spirit invincible and victorious.

III. THE HONOUR OF THE CHURCH over against the honor of the world. “Counted worthy.” God’s reckoning. Spiritual worthies. The joy was not only a secret joy, it was the foretaste of heaven. Enforce the example.R.

HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER

Act 5:12-16

Jerusalem’s second summer.

While we read these fewest verses of what was going on in Jerusalem, and of how “multitudes from the cities round about Jerusalem” thronged that “mother of them all,” to seek, not in vain, healing virtue, we seem to be removed by a world’s diameter from the Jerusalem that was stricken to the heart and its very sky darkened by the Crucifixion. And we also seem removed by centuries from the time when certain lips (which could not open but to speak truth whether simplest or deepest) had said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, behold, your house is left unto you desolate!” and when Jesus “wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” On the contrary, we are in fact separated only by weeks from the dread solemnities of the Crucifixion, and scarcely by months from the lamentations of Jesus over Jerusalem. Yet the sun is shining again; storm, darkness, and nothing less than the chill of severest winter are passed over; and summer days, with striking similarity to the best of those of Jesus himself, burst on Jerusalem. Surely it is second summer with Jerusalem. Reminiscences of bright days, indeed, these were, and they were bright in their own brightness; yet, alas! to linger but for a while. Meantime what a touching evidence they were, for Jerusalem, of the unrevengefulness of Jesus, of his forgivingness, of the very wistfulness of his loving-kindness! Let us notice the distinguishing features of these days.

I. THEY ARE A GLORIOUS REPRODUCTION OF SOME OF THE GRANDEST OF THE DAYS OF CHRIST‘S OWN MINISTRY. That such a thing could be said with literal truth was part

(1) of the condescension of Jesus; again, it came

(2) of the genuine reality contained in the profession that he wore human nature; and

(3) of the one absorbed interest of his heart in the work of man’s salvation. The point is surely worthy of attention, so beautiful in its own moral bearings; so significant of the intention of Jesus to share his ultimate triumph and glory with his own people, and their captains and princes not last; and so great a contrast to the methods and the “inward thoughts” of the “world” and “the kings of the earth.” Jesus is not of those who would cut off from the followers in his train those who might be successful imitators of his career, sharers of his renown. He is exactly the opposite of this. He calls, invites, incites us all to seek to be in every best sense imitators of him, and promises that so we shall not fail of a just share of his renown. The likeness between these days and days in the ministry of Jesus Christ is patent in respect of:

1. The miracles which found a place in them.

2. The beneficent character of those same miracles.

3. The abundance and the variety of themranging from the healing of” the sick” to the healing of those “vexed with unclean spirits.”

4. The very methods by which the friends of the afflicted compassed the bringing of them within the reach of the “virtue” which in some way “came out” of the apostles. The “touch of the hem of the garment” must be allowed to be equaled by the device of securing the chance for some impotent man of the “shadow of Peter overshadowing him.”

5. The eager, longing, thirsting appropriation of such blessings on the part of the masses of the people. Crushed by want, by suffering, by sin; hope, light, nay, almost the mind crushed out of them;with what irresistible, unceremonious tide do these ever press forward, and sweep round or over every obstacle, when genuine help, precious, precious, precious salvation proffers itself! What care they for Sanhedrim and Sadducee? They are the rulers, and the others are cowed and cower before them.

6. The widespread practical success of the miracles” they were healed every one.”

7. The moral triumph which “the people” accord to the authors, or those who appear as the authors, of their blessings. They repudiate sophistication, and “render honor to whom honor is due.” Indeed, there are not wanting very satisfactory and sufficient indications now that “the people,” on the one hand, rendered to the apostles the distinction justly due to them as the trusted servants of their vanished Master, and, on the other, recognized the fact that “the power was of God.” Infidelity was not altogether either the prevalent or the hardened fact in some directions then that in some directions it is now. “The people” had a great idea of the impregnability of the position of the man who did “works such as none other could do,” and “such as no man could do save God were with him.”

II. THEY GIVE NOW WITH UNCHALLENGEABLE AUTHORITY THEIR PROPER DIGNITY AND STATUS TO THE COMPANY OF THE APOSTLES. Peter and John are the two apostles whose names and whose work had hitherto received prominence. Of these Peter has been with evident and with just design by far the more prominent. Till Paul shall come upon the scene he will also remain similarly conspicuous. But during these days the whole college of the apostles seem to receive the baptism of their work, as on the day of Pentecost they had received the baptism of the Spirit for it. They are “all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.” And the chief evidence of the dignity and status, not artificial but real, which were now given to them, may perhaps be best expressed in a somewhat antithetical mode of statement, viz. that

(1) while “the people magnified them” with hearty acclamation for instant and grateful acknowledgment,

(2) “no man of the rest“ (i.e. presumably of those who would not care to be classified altogether among “the people,” and who would have been quite prepared to snatch at any possible dignity at which they could “dare” to snatch) “durst join himself” to those apostles. They did not dare this, because their abilities could be immediately put to the proof. They did not dare it, because of the warning, so fresh, of the end of Ananias, when he had tampered with the sacredness of the society organized by the apostles. And likely enough, in many cases, they did not dare it from a sincere awe and an intelligent, respectful reverence for men who were doing the things that the apostles were now doing. Any way, the result was obtained that round these apostles was drawn the cordon of a moral regard and a moral support, which would be a strong comfort to the believers and a strong condemnation to the unbelievers. A very few hours were to find the use of this. And a very few hours would show that it inferred no danger of the access of superficial vanity or the incursion of deeper pride.

III. THEY GO BEYOND OTHER MOST SACRED DAYS OF MIRACLE IN THE DIRECT SPIRITUAL RESULTS WHICH THEY RECORD. (Verse 14.) It is quite possible that, among the “multitudes both of men and women” who now were “added to the Lord,” some may have proved apostates as time went on. On the other hand, the supposition would be most gratuitous that any disproportionate number turned thus away. The fair inference from what is said here and from the tenor of the history that follows would be, if anything, in a contrary direction. Assuming this or contenting ourselves readily with the other and lower estimate, in either case we are justified in noting the kind of use to which at this time miracle was ordained to be subservient. It is not to be disputed that the fervent attachment which bound not a few to the person, yes, and to the character and truth, of Jesus during the days of his flesh was wakened and fixed by some miracle that he had wrought for them or theirs. Nor need it be denied that that attachment answered to a genuine spiritual change, a change of heart, evidencing itself in a change of life. Nevertheless, it can scarcely be said that this was the clear rule in the operation of the miracles of Jesus, or that this was their aim. Neither, perhaps, now was this the primary object of the miracles and “the many signs and wonders wrought by the hands of the apostles.” But the miracles were distinctly the pioneers of those spiritual results. In the track of miracle went a most efficacious working of the convincing and converting Spirit! The miracle drew many together; it wakened and held the attention; it undoubtedly did have this practical and so far forth moral effect, viz. the effect of compelling many to say, “Lo, God is here!“ and to feel it. To deny the possibility of a miracle-falls nothing-short Of denying a personal God. To allow the fact of any individual miracle is to allow that God is offering to the help of a poor memory, to the help of a struggle always arduous enough against sense and the numbing sway of habit, to the help-of conviction itself, the enlivening touch of his personal presence. Sophistry has a vanity in weaving its web to snare miracle, but vainly weaves. The faith that inheres in the world’s great heart is too strong for it, and sweeps away that vanity with equal ease and contempt. In the track, then, of miracle viewed for a moment thus, it is quite optional what follows. The miracle, like all other mercy, may be to condemnation, as Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin (Joh 15:22, Joh 15:26). The miracle may be what it so often was in the very dearest specimens of it, those of Jesus himself, to the great gratification of curiositythat of people, of priest, and of ruler, and after a while to their deeper sleep and their more reckless disbelief. But it may also be all the blessed contrary. In the track of what or of whom would the quickening, enlightening. convincing, converting Spirit himself rather follow? And this is what was seen nosy. When Jesus himself wrought his own mightiest works, the Spirit’s course seemed restrained. But, wonderful grace! when his disciples and apostles are facing the world and encountering the inevitable dangers involved in doing so, mighty miracles are brought home by the mightier Spirit, and spiritual results follow such as may be described in terms unknown to the lifetime of Jesus himself. “Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” Nevertheless, then were plainly fulfilled the words of Jesus to his disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do: because I go unto my Father” (Joh 14:12).B.

Act 5:17-40

A grand victory for the truth along the whole line; all the positions of the enemy taken.

The few hours that were covered by this portion of the history must have been hours charged with confirmation of the faith for the apostles. It is not merely that they are again attacked and again get in the end the victory, but that every position is carried for them by some strong arm invisible. It is not altogether the force of the truth, at least of the truth as spoken and spoken by them; still less is it their own force that gains this glorious and memorable day, although doubtless both of these are involved in the day’s achievements. But there was a “fighting from heaven” for them,” and the stars in their courses fought against” their enemies. And as nothing so much daunts an enemy as the impression of this latter, so nothing can be conceived more reinforcing to the faith and courage of the army or the general who have evidence of the former. While, then, the bold and faithful utterance of “all the words of this life” was now the loving care of the apostles, God’s watchful providence and the living Spirit whom Christ sent made the “heaven that fought for” them. We may view the present portion of the Church’s history under this light. It is the history of a succession of incidents, every one of which shows the foe as the party signally discomfited. The apostles are still the representatives of the Church. They sustain the brunt of any attack. And it is noteworthy, that at present, so far as we read, no private member of the Church is exposed to any similar treatment. Notice, then

I. THE INCIDENT OF A NEW TRIAL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IMPRISONMENT. The high priest and those who were acting with him had not, it appears, learned the lesson which their former failure might well have taught them. It had been attended by circumstances and followed by a sequel which should have made a lasting impression on their memory. But memory’s good offices were scorned, and wisdom’s lessons set at naught and lost. The experiment is to be tried again, whether certain facts to which the word of the apostles gives great notoriety, with certain comments upon them and explanations of them, can be hushed up, and a prison’s doors be mightier than miracles. This very point was soon settled, and in the shape that should have carried conviction and reproof in equal proportions. It is to be remembered that the imprisonment policy stands condemned, not altogether necessarily in itself, but emphatically, in this case, because the facts to which the apostles gave the notoriety so unwelcome to the authorities were facts within the knowledge of those same, and because the whole action of the apostles had the abundant attestation of surpassing miracles. Mouths can be stopped by imprisonment, no doubt. And the method may, no doubt, be a legitimate method, even though there be allowed to be prima facie a likely moral danger attaching to it. That danger has shown itself so repeatedly and so malignantlyin matters of religion to the oppressing of the conscience, in matters of science to the clouding of the prospects of truth and the growth of knowledge. But the point of interest and at the same time the hopelessness of the present conflict turned on the fact that the method of imprisonment attempted to stop the mouth of God’s Word and truth. The enemy was confounded signally. An “abundant door” of exit from the prison for the apostles made a more than ever “abundant door of entrance” for the truth, and it occasioned “great boldness” of utterance of “all the words of this life” in the temple of temples, and before the enemy was so much as awake.

II. THE INCIDENT OF A SECOND TRIAL OF ARRAIGNMENT BEFORE THE COUNCIL.

1. In this proceeding embarrassment awaited the council; they stumble upon the very threshold. The prisoners are duly sent for, but they are not to be found. The prison is there; the keepers are there; the doors were shut with all appearance of safety, and if they had been opened, there is not a sign of it nor of any violence that might have effected it; the keys are neither lost nor injured; and the locks are not disobedient to their own keys, as though they had been tampered with. Yet to what all this, when the prison itself proves as empty as ever place was? The officers return with tale and face, no doubt, equally blank; but blankest of all was the astonishment of those in authority under these new circumstances. That “they were in doubt concerning them” (so the apostles) was no unnatural, no unlikely account of the case in which “the high priest, and the captain of the temple, and the chief priests” found themselves. And perhaps it might have suited them and their reputation about as well if all had ended here. But this was not to be. They had meddled with strife, nay, had not “forborne them meddling with God” (2Ch 35:21); and they shall not “leave off contention” before it has worsted them signally, decisively. For:

2. A sudden relief from undignified bewilderment leaves them no choice but to go on with a prosecution, hazardous much more to those who prosecute than to those who are prosecuted. That by this time they began to feel this there are not wanting certain indications.

(1) Though the narrative is very concise, very condensed, it does not omit to describe the tender handling of the prisoners found speaking in the templea tender handling the more notable because they were escaped prisoners. “The captain and officers went and brought them without violence; for they feared the people, lest themselves should be stoned”an unfavorable predicament, all things considered, certainly.

(2) Presumably because the narrative is very condensed it asks a second thought on our part as to what is the precise meaning when it is said, “The high priest, and the captain of the temple, and the chief priests, doubted concerning them [i.e. the apostles], whereunto this would grow.” We take it that their innermost darkness began to be harassed with dawning day; their innermost mind with dawning convictions that they had a very new sort of men to deal with; their conscience with dawning of a fear very unfamiliar to their hitherto manner of bearing themselves toward that same conscience. Possibly, more than possibly afterwards, the same messenger who brought word as to where the apostles were and what they were doing stated also the apostles’ account of how they had got out of the prison. He would have ample time to do this while the captain and the officers went to bring them. That awkward interval must have been filled up somehow by the dismayed court. Nor can there be a doubt that it was filled up with abundant talk and question and discussion. This or some such view is, it appears to us, essentially corroborated by the apparent silence of the court, when the apostles were at last ushered into its presence, as to their escape, and by its sedulous abstinence from any interrogations upon the matter. Silence absolute on that subject were certainly their best wisdom when they had heard the real facts, and, hearing, had seen them with eyes forced open. The silence of the narrative is one thing, and is a token of historic accuracy and fidelity. The silence of the court is another thing, and is a touch true enough to nature, in fact, a great demonstration of nature, which sometimes, in the supreme effort to cover defeat, then most convicts itself of defeat. What, therefore, with a certain underswell and muttering of conscience first, and then with the unease wrought by the plain discovery of how things had been, it may be reasonably imagined that the high priest and those associated with him wished already that they were well clear of the whole matter.

3. But the moment has come for the arraignment itself. It is at all events plain, its meaning and. its implications not obscure. “You have disobeyed our strict command, have filled Jerusalem with the doctrine we disapprove, and are going far to fix on us the responsibility and possibly the vengeance of the blood of this man.” Probably a spirit of contempt and an intention to express it thinly veiled growing fear, when they use the words, “this name,” and “your doctrine,” and “this man’s blood,” instead of naming the Name that was already “above every name” and naming the doctrine which was certainly not “the doctrine nor after the commandments, of men” (Col 2:22), and naming “the blood which speaketh better things than that of Abel.”

4. But the challenge is at once accepted by the apostolic band. They admit their disobedience to human command. They assert their obedience to Divine command, and assert the necessity of itits moral ought. They at once honor, by a firm and repeated utterance of it, the Name which had just been sorrily flouted, but which, in very deed, designated One who had known the unprecedented transitions of resurrection and ascension, and who owned to the titles of Prince and Savior of mankind. His princely gift is the power of” repentance,” his saving gift is the “remission of sins.” Occupying a position of vast moral purchase over their judges, the apostles do not propose to shield these from an iota of their responsibility. They had declined to name the Name of Jesus; the apostles do not shrink at all from naming the name of their sin and guilt, nor forbear to describe them as the persons answerable for the blood of Jesus. “Whom ye slew, and hanged on a tree.” And so they make out their text. We “ought to obey God.” And as God, the God of our fathers, was he who “raised” Jesus, and who “exalted” him, we are his “witnesses,” in these glorious wonders, of the history of his Son Jesus. And Peter adds, in one of the most pronounced of the claims of inspiration peculiar to revelation, that, in saying so much, he means that “the Holy Ghost” in them is the real Witness, that Holy Ghost whom God gives to those who obey him. That God is to be obeyed, probably the now judges of the apostles would not presume to deny. Peter and the apostles have made out their case when they have proved that this is all to which their censured and imprisoned conduct amounts. So the close of their defense clenches the opening of it.

III. THE INCIDENT OF A FRESH EXPERIENCE OF HELPLESS INCAPACITY IN THE COUNCIL. This experience was ushered in, indeed, by one of a far more pronounced character. In a word which itself expresses an intensity of suffering, we are told that they of the council “were cut” to the quick, and in the first paroxysm of agony saw no option but to slay their prisoners. The apostles were again called upon to retire from the court (Act 4:15) while the state of things was deliberated. And “in the multitude of counselors was found safety” of some sort at least, and of some brief duration, thanks to the sage prudence that dwelt in one of them, and apparently only one. Note here to what different issue men have been cut to the heart.

1. Some to deep penitence, contrition, conversion; so Peter (Luk 22:61, Luk 22:62), and the first converts (Act 2:1-47 :67).

2. But other some to deeper condemnation, and suicide either actual or moral; so Judas (Mat 27:4, Mat 27:5), and those here described, with many an ancestor, many a descendant. The blindness of intense anger and the malignant action of intense chagrin may be ranked among the certain precursors of incapacity, but here they reveal it too. And that we read under these conditions, “they take counsel to slay them,” serves little more than to make assurance doubly sure that helpless floundering is the present order of things at the ostensible seat of justice.

IV. THE INCIDENT OF A FRESH UNDIGNIFIED ESCAPE FROM AN UNDIGNIFIED POSITION. A Phariseesave the mark!leads the way out. And the way out leads just back by the way they came in. That the members of the council put themselves as far as possible just where they were before they stirred at all in the matter is the policy which Gamaliel propounds. It comes to this, that he forcibly argues it were by far the best thing to eat their own, both words and deeds. The conservative shrewdness and blandness of this advice, and of the courteous way in which it is advanced, are equally unmistakable and in a sort admirable. It were uncharitable, however, to deny that it is open to intrinsic commendation also.

1. Gamaliel has noted and treasured and now uses well the lessons of history.

2. Evidently he is before his time, and has a largo and open eye for the principles of even civil liberty.

3. More remarkably still, he seems to have grasped the principle and the very basis of the principle of religious liberty. “These men” (Act 5:35) are to be looked at, as some possibly sacred thing should be looked at. “These men” (Act 5:38) are to be “let alone,” as men possibly doing “the work of God.” And their present would-be judges are to “refrain from” them, because they ought themselves to shrink, for their own sake, from incurring even the distant responsibility of “fighting against God.” The principle of religious liberty always postulates these two aspects-one presenting the view of the harm that may be done to others by hampering their moral convictions or nature; the other the harm that may be done to self in challenging the most solemn and critical responsibilities which even “angels might fear.”

4. It is difficult to resist the impression that Gamaliel was one of those who were” not far from the kingdom of God.” The narrative scarcely warrants our saying that he had a leaning to “these men “himself. But this “doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people” (Act 5:34), does seem to have had this of religion in him, that” he feared God,” and that he dared to say it in connection with taking a very unpopular side. To the advice of Gamaliel his fellow-councilors “agreed,” glad to escape the position in which they again found themselves. They retreated from it for reasons which Gamaliel takes the credit of putting before them, but which should have been before them long before, and should have saved them from being where they now were. They do retreat, they know they are in the wrong, they are morally again beaten; but the only thing which would have taken from their retreat the description undignified is withheld, for they do not confess their error. On the contrary, we notice

V. LASTLY, THE INCIDENT OF A GRATUITOUS BEATING OF THE APOSTLES AND A BARREN COMMAND LAID UPON THEM. Whatever may be thought or charitably hoped of Gamaliel, the adviser in this crisis, very clear it is that those whom he had influenced had no deeper sympathies with the grounds of his advice. Against these they now as much sin in principle as if they had laid violent hands on the apostles, according to the first dictates of their rage. And so again do these men drop awhile from our sight. They drop into the ignominious shade, while it fares far otherwise with their beaten, commanded, but withal released prisoners. Cruelty is the covering with which cowardice now chooses to take its unavailing chance of concealing defeat already too shameful, but which rather adds to it and to the revealing of it. They disappear from view, “beating” the apostles, and “commanding them not to speak in the Name of Jesus.” But it is a token of the literal fact that they themselves have been ignominiously beaten along the whole line of battle, the apostles and the truth and “the Name of Jesus” winning the day.B.

Act 5:20

The theme of themes: the angel’s charge.

“Go, speak, of this life.” There can be no doubt as to what is essentially the reference in this expression used by the angel. But whence the angel, so to say, borrowed it admits of a thought and a question. The angel speaks of the life involved in the fact of the Resurrectionthat fact so unwelcome to the pinched, impoverished Sadducees, who now were the leading persecutors of the apostles. However great the single fact of the resurrection of Jesus, its greatness is magnified by some infinite number, when we regard it as an earnest and “first fruits” of very much in its train. Had it been a unique fact, and been designed to remain so, it would have been shorn of the crown of its glory. Solitary grandeur and majesty must necessarily have robbed it of its power to thrill unnumbered millions with hope and joy, and to point all humanity to the one quarter from which light arises to it. And probably the simplest will be the best account of the angel’s naming it “this life.” “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life,” viz. the life which has been the unceasing theme now for some days, of your thought, your one unbroken affection, and your testimony. We have here an angel’s charge. Let us notice of what it is made up. The angel urges

I. THAT THE LIFE WHICH IS TO SUPERSEDE THE PRESENT LIFE OF EARTH IS NOW TO RE THE BURDEN OF THE APOSTLES‘ PREACHING. Some persons object to the prominence given in preaching to what is to come and the circle of subjects involved therein. They think it unnatural, artificial. However, not to do this is to put off again the unspeakable advantages of revelation. That the practical duty of the present life should be preached by the Christian preacher is a truism. That it should be preached without the light of the eternal future, and what is most distinctive of it revealed in Scripture, is to turn the back on the priceless gift of revelation. Hence come the mightiest of living practical impulses for right, for elevated, for holy life on earth. The mind stirs with a new and wondering gaze; the imagination is divinely temptednot to be either deluded in the nature of what it takes hold upon or defrauded in the measure of it; and the heart is reached to its deepest wants. The infinitely enlarged horizon that comes of the revelation of eternal life does neither affect nor for a moment wish to alter the foundations of moral truth and of duty. But it does throw a light and color and interest into the very midst of them, and for the mass of mankind first brings them into the class of acknowledged practical forces. At any time machinery is one thing, and motive force another. Christ’s destruction of the boundary view death, and his illimitable extension of the boundary view onward to eternal life, legitimately make the very essence (not at all of the foundations of morality, but) of a very large part of the force of his appeal to mankind. The angel’s charge is dead contrary to anything looking in the direction of affecting to be able to dispense with his method or to throw it at all into the shade. And the centuries that have passed since the angel released the apostles at early dawn from prison, and bade them go and preach “the words of this life,” have vindicated his charge. The preaching that has been filled with moral aphorisms has been dead and barren of force. That which has reverently but confidently dealt with the tremendous realities of the great future unseenunseen except by the light of revelation and faithhas been the preaching that has been fruitful of influence and has shown changed hearts and changed lives.

II. THAT “THIS LIFE” SHALL BE THE SUBJECT OF UNIVERSAL APPEAL TO “THE PEOPLE.” The distinguishing facts or doctrines of Christianity know no distinction of esoteric and exoteric. They are what may be understood of the people, and they are what may be trusted to the people. Sadducees and others, not a few who would profess themselves conversant with these higher matters of life and its outlook, are putting from them their grand opportunity. But to “the people,” “the gospel,” “the words of this life,” are preached. The gospel is to try its genius and its force among them, and then it tries it ever, not altogether in vain. It is to be noticed that this crowning doctrine or fact of the future life or eternal life is

(1) to be announced in closest connection with the personal history of Jesus Christwith his Resurrection; and

(2) that it is to be announced with all the fullness and variety of which it may admit“All the words of this life” are to be enlarged on without stint:

(a) what it is in its own intrinsic self,

(b) what it is as gained for man by Christ,

(c) what it is as illustrated by Christ’s own resurrection.

III. THAT THE APPEAL SHALL BE FEARLESSLY MADE BY MEN, MERE MEN, MEN UNASSISTED BY ANY EARTHLY POWER AND EXPOSED TO ALL EARTHLY DANGERS. Jesus Christ has done his work, so far as the part of it on earth was concerned. Angels, it clearly appears, have their share too in furthering the work of Christ on earth. But their share is of a more indirect kind. When Jesus goes, men, feeble, erring, sinful men, are called to take up the work, are honored to take it up. Let this mean what it may, and harmonize with what it may or may not, the fact merits probably more thought than all it has yet received. And if it is to be rightly estimated, equal regard must be paid to two facts

(1) that man is to be the worker, and that

(2) the man who is thus to work is to be one “called” and one qualified by the Holy Spirit. Thus called and thus equipped within, he is to “go, and stand,” as though in unassisted strength, and to stand in the place of courted and solemn observation, in the publicity of” the temple,” and to take heed that he “speak to the people all the words of this life.”B.

Act 5:41

Joy in the fellowship of shame.

“And they departed for his Name.” The great types of Christian character begin to show themselves. The appearances which we have here before us are unusual. They mean something very unreal or else they begin to speak something true to a higher nature than that commonly found among men. It is against the grain of nature to rejoice in suffering and pain; it is yet more against the grain of a high nature to rejoice in “shame.” There must have been potent causes at work when men are to be found rejoicing in suffering shame, and in being “counted worthy to suffer shame.” Neglecting the supposition, which could not be sustained in this case, that there was any affectation on the part of the apostles, it would be still open to question whether this attitude were a justifiable one, whether it were a lovely one, whether it did not betray a disdainful tendency, looking toward haughtiness, with regard to their fellow-men. Perhaps these considerations will be best met by simply asking on what grounds and moved by what influences the apostles now rejoiced.

I. THEY REJOICED IN A CERTAIN FELLOWSHIP OF SUFFERING. They are not of those who stoically glory in “suffering.“ They are not of those who cynically or self-relyingly glory in “shame.” They have not courted the one nor flippantly encountered the other. And these facts shelter them from blameworthiness, which might otherwise have very possibly lain at their door. It is a shame already existing, and which has already dragged a long suffering with it and after ita shame unoriginated by themselves or by anything in themselvesthat they are willing, glad, proud to share. This at once lends a character to their rejoicing, and lifts it above a common kind of joy. There has, indeed, been an abundance of shame in the world, and of suffering consequent upon it, that could not in the very nature of things have shed any glory on the principals concerned in them. Yet that abundance of shame and suffering has found a very field of glory, new untrodden paths of glory, and lofty heights of glory for not a few, who, having no part in the guilt, have voluntarily entered into fellowship with the suffering, and the suffering of shame, which it has involved. And here may be said to glimmer forth one of the greater moral facts of our nature. To offer to share and to be permitted to share the joy and prosperity of another can yield little praise to him who offers, may yield some to the person who permits; but to volunteer to share, while innocent one’s self, the ignominy and suffering of another is all honor to him who volunteersin ordinary cases mostly humiliation to him who receives the advantage of that fellowship. To him, however, whose suffering of shame the apostles now rejoiced to share, humiliation of this kind there was none.

II. THEY REJOICED IN A FELLOWSHIP OF SHAME WHICH, BY THE MEMORIES ATTACHING TO IT, WAS TURNED FOR THEM INTO HONOUR AND GLORY.

1. It “gathered round” Christ himself, One whom they knew to be supremely great, supremely good. The center of this fellowship was their own old matchless Friend, who had been such a Teacher, such an Example to them; whom they had seen do so many mighty and gracious works for others; whom they had watched for three years, and more and more wondered at, admired, and loved; whom they had seen tried for no offence, and condemned with no guilt on him, and crucified for sins not his own; whom a self-denying grave had restored, and a self-opening heaven had received; and of whom a descending omnipotent Spirit had given abundant and most touching attestation that he had not forgotten those same disciples, nor the word of his gracious promise to them.

2. It “gathered round” One of whom each of those apostles had, no doubt, his own individual and most precious remembrances. Take one examplePeter. What memories he had of Jesus. And now that, beyond all he believed of Jesus, before he suffered death, being “the Son of the living God,” he knew him to be such, how intensified in significance many of those memories must have become!but not least that of his own at one time great reluctance to share his suffering Master’s shame, and his thrice-repeated denial of him! What a blessed revelation for Peter! And what a forgiving condescension of the great Master, that he permits Peter now to take the lead of his fellow-disciples, and gives him the opportunity of showing how he would, if he could, fain repair his old grievous transgression! Personal experience of Jesus Christ brings any one of us to a much more hearty and thorough readiness of surrender to him than all that mere description of him avails to do, though you add to it a willing admiration.

3. It “gathered round” One whose suffering and shame the apostles specially knew to be so unmerited, so absolutely uncaused by self and unendured for any necessity of discipline, improvement, or punishment to self. And yet the suffering and shame had been extreme, and, they well knew it, had been borne so patiently, so meekly, and so forgivingly. How thinking, grateful hearts must have longed, when now at last they were fully enlightened, to share ever so small a portion of his unmerited shame, though he himself had passed on and up, if it should serve his cause! We wonder nothing at the true devotion of those released apostles, but is there no room left for a wonder at the rare reproduction amongst ourselves of the same devotion? Evidently the Spirit had wrought in those apostles a real sympathy with the heart of Jesus, so that they felt this an honor, not such as the world giveth, that they were permitted, were “counted worthy,” to stand in any sense on the same level of suffering and of shame with him. Though they might not, could not, suffer the same intensity of suffering as Jesus, yet they could suffer for the same sort of reasons.

III. THEY REJOICED IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF SHAME WITH ONE WHO OWNED TO A NAME IN THE FUTURE GLORY OF WHICH THEY HAD UNQUALIFIED FAITH. “For his Name.” Doubtless it has been these eighteen centuries the mightiest force and motive of all. The apostles did not rejoice to suffer with Jesus or in the track of him merely because of their grateful memories, but also because of their exulting faith in him and the career that awaited him. Their very love to “his Name” did not feed only on past mercies add pensive memories; these, indeed, were dainty and tender pasturage for it; but it fed also on the stronger food of faith. “For his Name” was equivalent to an assertion of all he would do and all he would be to the world, as well as all he had done and suffered for it. And hence we are immediately told with what redoubled energy, with what gladdened courage, the apostles did not cease to teach and to preach Christ “in the temple, and in every house.” Well might men rejoice to be “counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name,” when that Name means all that has been in living form most loving and most beautiful, add all that is to be greatest and most powerful in the world’s onward history, till its glory shall culminate in the day of triumph in heaven. The apostles loved the Name of Jesus; they had come to have a perfect faith in it; they had been divinely endowed with a full sympathy with all they could understand of it; and now they were learning, in practical work and in suffering, the things which would make them really like to him who bore that Name. The “Name” of Christ turned the cross from shame into glory. It now does yet moreit turns living men’s estimates right round from the false and the unreal to the real and the true. That in which they once gloried becomes their shame, and the reproach of Christ their riches, honor, and glory. So did this Master of men’s hearts, sympathies, and lives, among other things that he did by the humiliation and shame to which he bowed, secure also disciples and servants of inflexible fidelity and quenchless devotion and love.B.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Act 5:3, Act 5:4

The conviction of Ananias.

St. Peter was, by natural disposition and the general consent, spokesman and interpreter for the Church. He could not have uttered these words to Ananias without a painful recalling of his own sin in the threefold denial of his Lord, and his own conviction of his sin at the sound of the cock-crowing. But compare St. Peter’s sin with that of Ananias, and show why recovery was possible in his case, but only overwhelming judgment in the case of Ananias. We must also understand that the Holy Spirit gave St. Peter special knowledge of Ananias’s deception, and guided him in what was said and done. Compare Joshua’s dealing with Achan.

I. THE CONVICTION AS EXPRESSED BY ST. PETER. He urges:

1. That evil, in the shape of temptation, had been unresisted. The question “Why?” implies that resistance to the temptation had been possible. Had he resisted the tempter, he would have fled from him (Jas 4:7).

2. That Ananias was under no kind of compulsion. He was not bound by any rule of the Church. If be had brought, and called it, part, or if he had brought nothing, he could not have been blamed. If he was moved to sell he should honestly set forth what he bad done with the money. Man from his fellowman at least looks for sincerity and truthfulness.

3. And that while Ananias had only purposed to deceive the apostles, he had really been trying to deceive God, who dwelt, by his Spirit, in the apostles and in the Church. “Or, to state it as Peter stated it three hours after to the woman, this couple put God, the all-knowing Spirit, to the proof, tried him whether he would let himself and his Holy Church be taken in with a lie.”

II. THE CONVCTION AS FELT BY ANANIAS. Throughout he must have borne an uneasy conscience, and in response to St. Peter’s words it smote him hard. Shame and guilt overwhelmed him, and may even in part be allowed to explain his sudden death. Dr. Plumptre says, “In such a case we may rightly trace that union of natural causation and Divine purpose which we express in the familiar phrase that speaks of the visitation of God as a cause of death. The shame and agony of detection, the horror of conscience not yet dead, were enough to paralyze the powers of life.”

III. THE CONVICTION AS CONFIRMED BY GOD. In the death of Ananias, and in the death taking place in such a sudden and awful manner. “In this case it is plain that the death of Ananias is an event supernaturally arranged by a higher power, because it is connected with the penal sentence of the apostle, which was spoken in the power of the Spirit.” It may be pointed out that the Divine judgment here concerns only the sudden death, and the veil is not lifted to show us the eternal judgment, the secret Divine dealings with this so sadly erring disciple. Compare the teachings of such passages as 1Co 5:5; 1Pe 4:6.

Impress that, however our sin may be covered over and hidden from our own view now by self-delusions, the time of conviction must come sooner or later. A man must presently see his sin as it is, and see himself as he is. The conviction may come wholly by Divine inward leadings, it may come through providential circumstances, or it may be started by the word of some teacher or friend. Happy, indeed, is he who is brought to conviction in timein time to seek pardon and eternal life in that living Savior who is “exalted to give repentance and remission of sins.”R. T,

Act 5:7-10

Helpers in sin must be sharers in judgment.

The share taken by Sapphira was manifestly a prominent and an active one. She and her husband were at full accord in the matter; and her sin is the more aggravated as she had a longer time to think it over, and had evidently planned what she would say and do if any remarks were made by the apostles or the brethren as to the gift of the land. “The question asked by St. Peter gave her an opening for repentance. It had been in her power to save her husband by a word of warning protest. It was now in her power to clear her own conscience by confession. She misses the one opportunity as she had misused the other. The lie which they had agreed upon comes glibly from her lips, and the irrevocable word is spoken.”

I. THE COMMON JUDGMENT. The same fate overtook both, as they had joined together in the sin. Compare the cases of Dathan and Abiram. There was union:

1. In the slow judgment of the deteriorated and debased soul. And this is ever the first form of the Divine judgment on the sinner. Hardening of heart, deadening of conscience, cherishing of blinding and fatal delusions, are as truly direct judgments of God, ever working, as sudden death. This truth needs to be seen more clearly and impressed more constantly.

2. In the swift and immediate judgment of the sudden death, which, in the second case, was prophetically declared to be God’s witness to the exceeding heinousness of their sin. The life of all men is in God’s hands, and we may well “fear him who can cast body and soul into hell.” “The lives of all men are in his hand. Daily he is cutting them off in a momenteven hot with lust or red-handed from crime. His doom now and then antedates the slower processes of human law. The time and fashion of all our deaths are with him. If one day his mercy turned to judgment, and he took from the earth two forfeited lives for, the warning and the bettering of many, who shall say either that the lesson was dearly bought or that the penalty was undeserved? It is well that men should be taught once for all, by sudden death treading swiftly on the heels of detected sin, that the gospel, which discovers God’s boundless mercy, has not wiped out the sterner attributes of the judge” (Dr. Dykes).

II. THE MORAL MISSION OF DIVINE JUDGMENT. A solemn awe fell on the minds of all present. Illustrate by impressions now made by a case of sudden death in a congregation, or by such a case as that of Alexis, smitten by lightning at Luther’s side. It is said that “great fear came upon all the Church.” The Scripture meanings of the word “fear” may be given and illustrated. Here it is a solemn sense of the severity and power of God, and of the strictness of his demands. The members now felt, as they had never done before, what a serious thing it was to make a Christian profession. Dwell on two things.

1. Fear as solemnizing other professors, filling them with new thoughts about insincerity, hypocrisy, and covetousness. Reminding them that no man should enter Christ’s kingdom without first “sitting down and counting the cost.” “The true ecclesia must be free from such hypocritical professors, or its work could not advance.” “God fills our hearts with the spirit of reverence, truthfulness, and godly fear, lest another spirit fills us with lies, with greed, with vainglory, and with presumptuous impiety.”

2. Fear as deterring would-be professors. Persons in all ages are too ready to take up the mere profession of Christ’s Name, and such need to be shown that such profession involves responsibilities as well as privileges. There is grave danger of our estimating our responsibilities too lightly. The vows of Christ ought ever to be a solemn and a holy burden. “What manner of persons ought we to be?” God is “known by the judgments that he executeth.” We still need to recognize his hand, and we must be careful not to lose the impression of his personality in the modern sentiment about law.R.T.

Act 5:13

Hindrances to belief.

These are suggested by the expression, “Of the rest durst no man join himself to them.” It seems that the first body of Christian converts made Solomon’s porch their place of assembly. This they did, probably, for the convenience of its situation and arrangement, and possibly for the sake of its association with the teachings of their honored Master. The historian records that while the opposition of the Sanhedrim was feared, “none of the other people who had not yet joined the new community ventured to attach themselves intrusively to the Christian body.” Whatever conviction may have been wrought by the apostolic teaching and miracles, it was repressed, and men were hindered from full confession of their faith in Christ. This is the simplest explanation of the expression, hut some think that reference is intended to the “multitude of those who were not yet converted, but whose attention was at the same time arrested by the spiritual power of Christianity;” or to the “Pharisees, who resorted to the portico, but had not the courage to attach themselves to those with whom they really sympathized.” It is evident that there were many lookers-on, who, from one cause or another, were hindered from belief. Dr. Dykes says, “To the friendly attitude of the common people there stood contrasted, exactly as during Jesus’ ministry, the displeasure of the official and educated classes. Somewhat later a number of the rank-and-file even of the priesthood went over to the new faith. At this period, however, all the sacred and ruling orders appear to have been kept aloof from the Church by a public opinion of their own, so strong that no individual member of these orders had as yet the courage to oppose it.” The term, “Of the rest,” may include

I. THE SANHEDRIM PARTY. This partly consisted of Sadducees and partly of Pharisees. Both were hindered from belief in Christ by prejudice. Doctrine blinded the Sadducees; pride of ritual holiness blinded the Pharisees. Sadducees were offended by our Lord’s miracles and spiritual demands, and hopelessly enraged by the report of his resurrection, which they regarded as a mischievous absurdity and an impossibility. Their doctrines prevented their being persuaded. Pharisees were prejudiced to a ritual system in the observance of which alone could salvation come. To their notions salvation by faith in a person, and such a person as the Nazarene impostor, was, on the face of it, unworthy of intelligent beings. These classes are but examples. Still the prejudice of doctrinal notions, and the delusion that somehow salvation must be by works, keep men from Christ.

II. THE ADHERENTS OF THE SANHEDRIM PARTY. All great parties in a state have adherents, hangers-on, people who watch and take their cue from them, and hope to get their own benefit through the party. These men are always ready to avoid what their party avoids, and to shout what their party shouts. Such men there were in Jerusalem at the time of the apostles, and, whatever might be the force of conviction and persuasion brought to bear upon them, they were hindered by personal interest. Joining the Christians would not answer their ends, and they could not see their way to offending the party that was in power. Time-servers never can believe until they put away their time-serving. Self-interest and faith cannot dwell together.

III. THE OFFICIALS OF THE TEMPLE. Priests, Levites, door-keepers, singers, etc. These were hindered by the spirit of officialism, one of the most narrowing and conservative forces acting on men. The new is always suspected by the official mind. The routine and order must not be touched. There was much, both in our Lord’s teaching and in that of his apostles, that could not fail to grieve and alarm the temple officials. And still, stiffened creeds and rigid ecclesiastical forms are often fatal hindrances to those who teach the creeds and minister the forms.

IV. THE RICH MEN OF THE COMMUNITY. These were hindered by observing what a poor lot the first Christians were, and class pride kept them from Christ. It was the constant sneer of the enemies of the early Church, and is fully expressed by Celsus, that the Christians were drawn from the very dregs of society, from the publicans and the slaves. Yet we glory in this, that “God hath made the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.”R.T.

Act 5:15, Act 5:16

Bodily healings may prepare for spiritual ones.

Comparing apostolic miracles with those wrought by our Lord, it should be noticed that he showed power over nature by stilling storms, walking on waters, multiplying food, and withering trees; but the apostles’ power was limited to various forms of bodily danger and disease. In each case the miracles illustrated the higher work of those who wrought them. Christ’s miracles illustrated his Divine claims and mission as the revelation to men of the Father. Apostolic miracles illustrated their mission to preach Christ to men as the Healer of the soul’s disease, Redeemer from sin’s penalties, and Savior from sin. The question is often discussed whether the power of miraculous healing has been lost to the Church. Claim to such power has been made in every age, with more or less confidence, and such claims are made now. Singular and interesting instances of bodily healing in response to faith and prayer are narrated by sober witnesses; and it may be admitted that there are certain classes of diseases which can be affected and relieved by the strong will and faith of a fellow-creature. But it is difficult for us to recognize the properly miraculous character of such cures. We may consider

I. HEALINGS ALONE. God has provided in nature sufficient and efficient healing agents for all man’s diseases, lie has given to some among men healing skill, to be used in the service of others. No nobler ministry is entrusted to men than that of healing. A vast and almost overwhelming mass of human suffering calls for the healer’s art. Though some forms of bodily disease are beyond human cure, few, if any, are out of the reach of relieving agencies. Apostolic healings materially differed from those of the ordinary doctor.

1. They were immediate.

2. They were without the use of medicinal agencies.

3. They were complete, without peril of any return of the disease.

4. They were wrought by spiritual powerand that not the apostles’ own, only operating through themreaching the very springs of vitality and giving new life. How such healings illustrate the Divine work in sin-sick souls may be fully shown.

II. HEALINGS WITH TEACHINGS. This was the special feature of the apostolic ministry. The end was not reached when a suffering man was cured; that was but the means to a further and higher end, even that soul-healing which comes by the reception of Christ the Savior, whom apostles taught. Illustrate how medical missions are made the agency for winning the attention of the heathen to the gospel message. Point out what are the particular points of spiritual teaching which gain effective illustration from bodily healings; e.g.:

1. The assertion of a necessary relation between sin and suffering. Suffering is no accident, no mere calamity; it is the divinely appointed fruitage and consequence of sin. It is designed to fix the character of sin, to give men conviction through feeling, vision, and sympathy, of the evil of sin. When more clearly understood, suffering is seen to be the corrective agency through which man may be delivered from sin.

2. The assertion of the Divine relation to suffering. God does not pass aside of the diseased or disabled; every day he is working gracious works in sick-rooms and hospitals. Of this his constant work Jesus gave full illustrations in his miracles, when he came to “show us the Father;” and of this apostles renewed the assurance when they healed, in Christ’s Name, all the sick and suffering ones that were brought unto them.

3. The consequent assertion of the Divine relation to sin. God would not concern himself with the mere effects; we may be quite sure that he deals with the cause. The great Physician is concerned about our sin. lie would not that any of us should perish in our sins. And, therefore, when the apostles healed a sufferer they preached unto him Jesus, who is precisely this, “God saving men from their sins.”R.T.

Act 5:19

Angel-help.

Angels are constantly referred to in Holy Scripture. The angel-Jehovah, or angel of the covenant, who appeared in human form to the patriarchs as a sign and foreshadowing of the Incarnation, must be distinguished from the ordinary angelic appearances. The Old Testament conception of angels is that they were agents or executors of Divine missions to individual men or to communities. Thus we have angels visiting Sodom; angel of the pestilence; angels guarding Jacob, etc. From the earlier poetical and imaginative point of view, the angels were veritable beings, belonging to other spheres but able to communicate with men in the earthly spheres. To our more formal and scientific notions, angels are regarded as the personification of material agencies, as used by God for moral and religious purposes. “He maketh winds his angels, and flames of fire his ministers.” Very little can be really known about angels, and no doctrine of angelology can be pressed on universal acceptance. The New Testament conception of angels is given in Heb 1:14 (Revised Version), “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?” The precise work of ministry is that entrusted to them, and apostolic assertion of the fact of their ministry is probably designed to oppose the Sadducees’ teaching that “there is neither angel nor spirit.”

I. ANGEL–HELP AS GIVEN TO CHRIST. The principal instances are:

1. Angel-announce-meats and preparations for his birth.

2. Angel-comfortings in the time of his desert temptations (Mat 4:11).

3. Angel-strengthenings in the moments of his conflict and agony in Gethsemane.

4. Angel-attendance upon his resurrection.

5. Angel-announce-meats concerning his ascension and his coming again. From these instances we may learn the kind of help which angels may be expected to give to Christ’s tempted and tried disciples.

II. ANGEL–HELP AS REALIZED BY APOSTLES. This took several forms.

1. As deliverance from prison (see text, and incident narrated in Act 12:7).

2. As communicating Divine messages (see Act 8:26; Act 10:7).

3. As ensuring safety in times of peril (see Act 27:23). It may be observed that what may be called the materiality of the angel began gradually to fade away, and the visionary realization of the angel-help took its place. In this we trace the transition to the form in which we now may apprehend the help of the angels. No man may expect such actual working in the physical spheres as St. Peter knew when his prison doors were opened. Even in St. Paul’s time this work was done by the natural shakings of the earthquake.

III. ANGEL–HELP AS GRANTED TO US. And we may distinctly affirm that it is granted. The only question isIn what manner do we realize the help? Spiritual forces are around us. We are influenced, for good and for evil, by unknown agencies. This is as yet almost an unstudied Christian phenomenon; one, however, which often brings comfort as a sentiment to pious souls. Such angel-help is very properly put into a secondary place in our consideration when we have a full and strong conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is with us, the Inspiration, Guard, and Guide of our whole life and thoughts. They who consciously realize the presence of the Master will make comparatively little of the presence of the Master’s ministers and servants working out his gracious purposes for him. Show with what limitations we may properly cherish the idea of angel-help in everything that is good.R.T.

Act 5:21-24

The hopelessness of fighting against God.

The narrative indicates that the Sanhedrim had fully entered on the work of checking and crushing the party of Christ’s disciples. Gamaliel expressed what the nature of their action might possibly prove to beit might be even a “fighting against God.” Some effort should be made to realize what they thought about their work, and how they deluded themselves with the notion that they alone were guardians of the truth of God, and in opposing the Christian party were really fighting for God. It is one of the saddest effects of cherished exclusiveness and self-confidence that these things actually blind men, and make it impossible for them to receive truth as newly presented to them. A little self-criticism, a little skill in testing their own motives, would have revealed to these men the low and unworthy passions and prejudices by which they were permitting themselves to be ruled. So often we need to “see ourselves as others see us,” and may thankfully welcome any light that reveals ourselves to ourselves. These men were really “fighting against God.”

I. IN FIGHTING AGAINST GOD MAN MAY WIN APPARENT AND TEMPORARY SUCCESSES. Only apparent, because they always lead men on to attempt further schemes, which involve them in utter ruin. Only temporary, because God has the long ages in which to secure the outworking of his purposes. Illustrate by the success of the Sanhedrim in the conviction and death of our Lord, and in the imprisonment of the apostles.

II. IN FIGHTING AGAINST GOD MAN DEALS WITH FORCES BEYOND HIS REACH. And they are sure to master him. Compare man’s range of power with God’s. Illustrate from the treatment of Christ; death was man’s limit, resurrection was in God’s power. So with apostles; imprisonment was man’s limit, angel-deliverance was in God’s power. God’s miracles then, God’s providences and overrulings now, surely mate and master man’s utmost antagonism. This is true of persecutions, infidelity, or other forms of attack on Christian men, the Christian faith, or the spread of the Redeemer’s kingdom.R.T.

Act 5:31

The present royalty and rights of Jesus.

It is interesting to notice how the Jewish conception of Messiah, as a conquering King of the house of David, gave form and tone to the earlier ideas which the apostles had of their risen and ascended Savior. He proved, indeed, to be a King in quite another sense than that in which they had regarded him, and at first they felt much disappointment in the crushing of their national hopes; but still they knew that he was a King, they gradually gained clearer notions of the spirituality of his kingdom, and they freely asserted his present royal rights, demanding the immediate submission of men to his authority. The claim of sovereignty is closely joined to the promise of salvation. “If Christ seeks to rule over men it is that he may save them.” It is usual to note the meanings of the Resurrection viewed in its relation to the redemptive scheme; but it is not so usual for Christian teachers to dwell on our Lord’s office, dignity, commission, authority, and active operations as exalted to the right hand of the Father. The circle of the Christian doctrine is by no means complete on this side, and the mystery of the Ascension is but very imperfectly unfolded. A sentiment has been allowed to prevail that Christ is practically absent now from us; the affairs of Christ’s Church are delegated to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and Christ is coming some day to assume place and power, and establish an everlasting kingdom here on earth. The apostles declare that the Lord is exalted now to his royal princely place. They affirm not only that he now has, but also that he now claims, his royal rights. It is not their way of putting it to say that “He will take to himself his great power and reign;” they say, “Him hath God exalted,” or, as Revised Version, “Him did God exalt.” This is a truth which the modern Church needs to have more fully and frequently presented to it. Due attention to it would relieve the tendency to exaggerated representations of salvation by faith in our Lord’s work. The salvation is revealed to faith in the Lord Christ himself, the Prince and Savior. Christ is actually now

I. THE PRINCE, OR THE RULING ONE. Explain the ancient theocracy as the direct rule of Jehovah, and show that the idea is realized spiritually in our Lord’s present relation to his Church. It should be no disability to regenerate and spiritual men that he is unseen. The quickened soul can have spiritual communications, and the secret soul-life of the Christian man is his real life. Whoever controls it controls the whole bodily life and relations too. In the line of the text it may be shown that, as Prince, Christ’s law and claim, brought home to men’s souls, bow them down to penitence; and Christ has in full commission the expression of the Divine mercy in forgiveness and restoration.

II. THE SAVIOR, OR THE SAVING ONE. Salvation is not declared to be a result of man’s faith in Christ’s redemptive work, but of man’s faith which opens his soul and life to the present redemptive workings of the living Savior. The moral forces now actually working at the subduing, and persuading, and renewing, and sanctifying of men are the present and active forces of Christ, the exalted and glorified Savior. So apostles preached unto men “Jesus,” bade them open their hearts to his love and power, carry to him the burden of their sins and needs, and expect that he would as reallythough in a spiritual mannerdeal with them as he dealt with the sorrows and the sins of men while he was with them in the flesh. This is the great glory of the gospel message, and the point of it to which prominence should be given in these our times” Jesus lives.” He is exalted, he holds his commission. His “Father worketh hitherto, and he works.” As the Prince, he demands our submission and our obedience. As our Savior, he takes our whole case upon him, and delivers, redeems, and sanctifies.R.T.

Act 5:33-42

The advice of the cautious.

Such was Gamaliel. See expository portion for an account of him, and of the rabbinical school to which he belonged. Interest attaches to him as the teacher of Saul of Tarsus, but how great is the contrast between the calm and prudent Gamaliel and the intense and impulsive Saul! The scene in the Sanhedrim when this honored teacher rose to calm the prevailing excitement, and plead for what he would call a “masterly inactivity,” may be effectively pictured. The situation in which the Sanhedrim was placed was an exceedingly difficult one, and certainly one which could not be dealt fairly with while the council was under the influence of roused prejudices and religious excitement. The cautious temperament should be described. Those who have this characteristic quality have their place, their influence, and their work; they are often valuable drags on wheels driven too hurriedly; but they have also their disability, and lack the capacity to enjoy much that appeals to other natures. They know nothing of emotion, enthusiasm, self-forgetfulness, or rapture. Such a one was Gamaliel, and his advice is quite a model of that always given by the cautious man.

I. THE CAUTIOUS MAN FALLS BACK ON PRECEDENT. Gamaliel finds some instances that had recently occurred and argues from them, much as a modern lawyer does from the “cases” he can cite. Precedents are often very valuable. They are often sad hindrances to enterprise. They are always most annoying to those who are of impulsive temperament. They are a very doubtful good to men of faith in a living God, who may be pleased to work in fresh and surprising ways.

II. THE CAUTIOUS MAN HAS CONFIDENCE IN THE WORKING OF NATURAL FORCES. Gamaliel saysWait and watch the working of these things. Religious excitements tend to exhaust themselves. Mountebanks have no staying power. Leaders of sects want money support, and as soon as this is made apparent their followers dwindle away. There is little need for any interference, the natural process of exhaustion will effect all you want. So, still, the cautious man often checks the energy that would deal vigorously with social and moral evils, such as drinking and vice. Earnest men cannot wait for the long outworking of natural forces. With faith in the God of righteousness, they must enter and deal with the evils as a new redeeming force.

III. THE CAUTIOUS MAN RELIES ON THE EFFECTS OF TIME. Though allied to the previous consideration, this somewhat differs from it. Time allays excitement; time tests the value of all things. And the very heads of the Jewish religious system might surely be satisfied that time would be on their side. But men are “perishing in their sins” while we wait; and the earnest man hears God inspire him to active endeavor when he says, “Now is the accepted time.”

IV. THE CAUTIOUS MAN FEARS TO AROUSE OR TO MAINTAIN PUBLIC EXCITEMENT. And no doubt much evil attends such excitement, but worse evils attend stagnation. Public excitement only alarms those who do not want anything done. The cautious among us are always seeking to repress special missions, revivals, and reformations, and fear that the blaze blown up so high will soon burn out, and leave only bare cold ashes. Men of faith will ever plead that, maybe, the fire so lighted will burn on forever. Cautious men may sometimes do good work by wisely checking over-impulsive-ness and unduly considered schemes. But they may also check enterprise. They who would do noble work for God must often do as did the great generalland on the enemy’s shores and burn the boats.R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Act 5:1-2. But a certain man, &c. In Psalms 110 where our Saviour is prophetically described in the person of a king advanced to the throne of divine majesty, glorious and triumphant, it is said, that his people, in the day of his power, should offer him free-will-offerings; which alludes to the Eastern custom of bringing presents to their kings on their inauguration. This prophesy was fulfilled in some small degree, in a temporal sense, as we find in the fore-going chapter; when, after Christ’s ascension into heaven, and his inauguration was proclaimed by the descent of the Holy Ghost, they, who by believing in him acknowledged him their king, dedicated their goods to his service, selling their lands, &c. and laying down the money at the apostles’ feet, to be distributed for the relief of the poor. But the consecration of the heart to him, makes infinitely the superior sense of the prophesy. Among those who had joined the church, there was one Ananias, who, as if he had intended to imitate the zeal and liberality of Barnabas, sold a possession of land for the supply of this charitable fund: but, after he had sold it, he conspired with his wife Sapphira privately to keep back part of the price, and yet publicly to deliver in the remainder as the whole price. St. Peter, who had the gift of discerning spirits, and probably received a direct revelation from heaven on the present occasion, immediately detected this lying and deceitful behaviour.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Act 5:1-10 . Ananias ( , God pities; Jer 28:1 ; Dan 1:6 ; LXX. Tob 5:12 [163] ) and Sapphira , however, acted quite otherwise. They attempted in deceitful hypocrisy to abuse the community of goods, which, nevertheless, was simply permissive (Act 5:4 ). For by the sale of the piece of land and the bringing of the money, they in fact declared the whole sum to be a gift of brotherly love to the common stock; but they aimed only at securing for themselves the semblance of holy loving zeal by a portion of the price, and had selfishly embezzled the remainder for themselves. They wished to serve two masters, but to appear to serve only one . With justice, Augustine designates the act as sacrilegium (“quod Deum in pollicitatione fefellerit”) and fraus.

The sudden death of both is to be regarded as a result directly effected through the will of the apostle, by means of the miraculous power imparted to him; and not as a natural stroke of paralysis , independent of Peter, though taking place by divine arrangement (so Ammon, Stolz, Heinrichs, and others). For, apart from the supposition, in this case necessary, of a similar susceptibility in husband and wife for such an impression of sudden terror, the whole narrative is opposed to it; especially Act 5:9 , the words of which Peter could only have uttered with the utmost presumption, if he had not the consciousness that his own will was here active. If we should take Act 5:9 to be a mere threat , to which Peter found himself induced by an inference from the fate of Ananias, this would be merely an unwarranted alteration of the simple meaning of the words, and would not diminish the presumptuousness of a threat so expressed. Nearly allied to this natural explanation is the view mingling the divine and the natural, and taking half from each, given by Neander (the holy earnestness of the apostolic words worked so powerfully on the terrified conscience), and by Olshausen (the word of Peter pierced like a sword the alarmed Ananias, and thus his death was the marvel arranged by a higher disposing power). But this view is directly opposed to the contents and the design of the whole representation. According to Baur, nothing remains historical in the whole narrative except that Ananias and his wife had, by their covetousness, made their names so hated, “that people believed that they could see only a divine judgment in their death, in whatever way it occurred;” all the rest is to be explained from the design of representing the as the divine principle working in the apostles. Comp. Zeller, who, however, despairs of any more exact ascertainment of the state of the case. Baumgarten, as also Lange (comp. Ewald), agrees in the main with Neander; whilst de Wette is content with sceptical questions, although recognising the miraculous element so far as the narrative is concerned. Catholics have used this history in favour of the two swords of the Pope.

The severity of the punishment , with which Porphyry reproached Peter (Jerome, Epp. 8), is justified by the consideration, that here was presented the first open venture of deliberate wickedness, as audacious as it was hypocritical, against the principle of holiness ruling in the church, and particularly in the apostles; and the dignity of that principle, hitherto unoffended, at once required its full satisfaction by the infliction of death upon the violators, by which “awe-inspiring act of divine church-discipline” (Thiersch, Kirche im apost. Zeitalt. p. 46), at the same time, the authority of the apostles, placed in jeopardy, was publicly guaranteed in its inviolableness (“ut poena duorum hominum sit doctrina multorum,” Jerome).

.] he put aside for himself , purloined. Tit 2:10 ; 2Ma 4:32 ; Jos 7:1 ; Xen. Cyr. iv. 2. 42; Pind. Nem. vi. 106; Valck. p. 395 f.

. ] sc. . See Fritzsche, Conject . p. 36; Buttm. neut. Gr. p. 139 [E. T. 159]. Comp. Athen. vi. p. 234 A: . .

[163] It may, however, be the Hebrew name (Neh 3:23 , LXX.), i.e. God covers. The name is apparently the Aramaic , formosa. Derived from the Greek , sapphire, it would have probably been .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

SECTION II

THE MIRACULOUS AND SUDDEN JUDGMENT WHICH VISITED THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, DELIVERS THE CHURCH FROM A DANGER THAT THREATENED IT IN ITS OWN BOSOM. THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THIS EVENT, AND THE INTERNAL PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH, SUSTAINED BY MIRACULOUS POWERS GRANTED TO THE APOSTLES.

Act 5:1-16

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A.THE INTERNAL DANGER; IT IS AVERTED BY THE JUDGMENT ON THE SIN OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA

Act 5:1-11

1But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2And kept back [purloined] part of the price, his wife1 also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles feet. 3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to2 the Holy Ghost, and to keep back [purloin] part of the price of the land? 4While it remained, was it not [did it not remain, ] thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard [listened] these things3 [om. these things]. 6And the young [younger] men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done [had occurred], came in. 8And [But] Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9Then Peter said4 unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which [who] have buried thy husband areat the door, and shall [will] carry thee out. 10Then fell she down straightway at5 his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. 11And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act 5:1-2. a. But a certain man, etc.The narrative concerning Ananias and Sapphira presents a case which is precisely the opposite of that of Barnabas and of many others, who delivered to the apostles the whole amount of the money derived from the sale of their property, Act 2:34-37 ( , ). Luke presents no reflections on the remote or immediate causes and effects of the events which he relates, but strictly adheres to his practice of simply narrating the historical facts themselves.

b. The bare facts in this case are perfectly intelligible. Ananias, whose wife is fully aware of the plan, sells a piece of land of which he is the owner. We are not told that he sold all his real estate; the original says: ; in Act 5:3, Peter designated the property sold as , that is, that parcel of land, as to which the actual price that had been paid, was the point in question. Ananias reserves a portion of the money which had been paid to him, and appropriates it to his private use. The remainder he deposits as an offering, like others, at the feet of the apostles, and performs the act at the time when the believers are assembled for the purpose of worshipping God. No intimation is given in the text, whether he secreted only an inconsiderable part, or, as it is more probable, a large sum: the precise amount does not materially affect the moral character of the transaction. That he acted altogether in concert with his wife, and that both had previously arranged the whole plan, are facts that are indicated in Act 5:2, and fully substantiated by the statements furnished in Act 5:8 ff.

c. The internal character of the transaction is more complicated than the facts are that have just been adduced. We may readily assume that the original motive of these persons, when they effected the sale, was praiseworthy; it may have proceeded, in part, from the pleasure with which they contemplated the disinterested and fraternal conduct of others who willingly offered their property when the wants of the brethren called for relief. But when these two persons had actually sold the land, and held the money in their hands, avarice began to manifest its power. They had not set their affections on the land, but the money exercised such an influence on them that they could not resolve to resign the whole, and hence they retained at least a part of it. But they were unwilling to acknowledge this circumstance publicly. They brought the remainder as their offering, declared that it was the whole amount which they had received for the land, and thus assumed the appearance, in the eyes of the apostles and the whole church, of having performed an act of self-denial, charity and brotherly love. This was hypocrisy in its most odious form; the practice of it required the conscious utterance of a liea lie addressed not only to men, but also to God. And, further, when they declared that the whole amount of the sale now belonged to the church, and to its poor members in particular, but, at the same time, secretly retained a part of the sum, they were guilty of embezzling, and, indeed, virtually, of stealing money. Now this act was not simply the sin of individuals, but involved the whole church in very great danger. For if such hypocrisy should be practised by others, and if integrity and truth should disappear, the Church of Christ would lose her brightest ornaments, and Pharisaic hypocrisy would be substituted for Christian sanctification. It was, therefore, of vital importance to the Church, that the introduction of an evil of such magnitude should meet with an immediate and effectual resistance.

Act 5:3-4. Why hath Satan, etc.The sin which threatened to invade the church was repelled, partly by the revelation of the secret transaction, partly by the judgment which instantly succeeded. In the former, human instrumentality was employed, in connection with a divine intimation; the latter was a direct act of God. It was Peter, who unreservedly exposed to Ananias (and also to the church, since the whole occurred when all were assembled, . . . ., Act 5:2; Act 5:6; . Act 5:11) the deceitfulness and excessive wickedness of his heart, and the awful enormity of his guilt, Act 5:3 f.; he adopted the same course with the woman, Act 5:9. He severely rebukes Ananias for permitting Satan [as implies (de W.)] to take entire possession of his heart, insomuch that he attempted to deceive the Holy Ghost. He shows him that the lie referred not to men, but to God, whom he attempted to deceive; the sinPeter continueswas aggravated by the circumstance that he had been perfectly at liberty to retain the property for his private use, or to dispose of the money obtained by the sale, according to his own pleasure. And he also represents to Sapphira, that she and her husband, in accordance with their private understanding, which rendered them doubly guilty (), had tempted the Spirit of the Lord; ; , etc. Each of these two constructions [of ] furnishes a sense of its own: with the accusative, indicates the act of deceiving any one by a lie; with the dative, that of uttering a lie in reference to some one [see Robinsons Lex. ad verb. for the usage of the New Testament and Sept.].If the agency of Peter had been confined to the mere exposure of the fact that deception had been practised, the question whether he had not ascertained that fact by natural and ordinary means, would be strictly appropriate. But the apostle exposes not only the facts as far as they had actually occurred, but also their remote source, the secret personal motives, the inward frame of mind, the hidden sentiments and characteristic features of the heart; , Act 5:3; , Act 5:4. No interpretation can here be possibly admitted, save one which recognizes that his knowledge was derived from the revelation of God through the Holy Spirit.

Act 5:5. Fell down.The judgment itselfthe immediate fall and death of Ananias, when Peter had addressed himmust be viewed as a direct act of God. For it is entirely inconsistent with the whole spirit of the narrative, to assume (with Heinrichs and others) that the sudden death of the man, and also that of the woman subsequently, was, in each case, occasioned by natural causes, such as the shock which the nervous system sustains (apoplexy) in consequence of fright. But on the other hand, the narrative furnishes as little support for the opinion (of Meyer and some earlier interpreters), that Peter had the immediate death of both persons in view at the time, and was the direct author of it, by an exercise of the miraculous power which dwelt in him. Not a trace of such a purpose appears on the part of the apostle, in the case of Ananias, either in his own words, Act 5:3 ff., or in the historical statement of Luke. And even the declaration of Peter to Sapphira, Act 5:9, (which, as Meyer supposes, would betray a presumptuous spirit, if he were not conscious that the result depended upon the determination of his own will), does not support this opinion: it was simply a prediction to the woman that her own death was at hand, and was not merely suggested by the fate of her husband, but, specially, derived from the inspiration of the Spirit. It was not the apostle, but God, who executed the judgment. The whole event must be regarded as the result of a direct divine interposition, by which a speedy and terrible punishment was inflicted. But neither the original text, nor any of the essential features of the case, forbid us to assign a psychological influence to the words of Peter who publicly unveiled the hidden wickedness, or to admit that those words powerfully affected the moral sense of the two sinners. For the course adopted at the beginning by the latter, demonstrated that they regarded the judgment of the apostles and public opinion in the church, as entitled to the highest consideration: under these circumstances, such an unexpected and complete exposure, and the censure which was publicly pronounced, could not fail to produce a terrible effect. We may recognize such influences, without necessarily incurring the charge of confounding or halving divine and natural causes. (Meyer.)

Act 5:6. And the young [younger] men arose.The corpse of Ananias was at once so arranged as to be conveniently carried away (), that is, the limbs, which were more or less extended at the moment of the fall, were first properly disposed. Those persons who removed the two bodies in succession, and interred them in a burial-place lying beyond the walls of the city, are termed by the historian , Act 5:6, and , Act 5:10. Some writers (Mosheim: De reb. Christ.; Olsh.; Meyer) suppose that they were regularly appointed church-officers, whose official duty required them to assume a task like the present. But the considerations which are advanced in favor of this view, possess no weight; it is, on the contrary, very doubtful whether, at that early period, any strictly defined office, with the exception of that of the apostles, existed in the church. It was, besides, quite natural and appropriate that the younger men who were present (particularly if the slightest indication had been given that such a service was expected of them,) should voluntarily and promptly come forward and lend their aid.

Act 5:7-10. The circumstance that Sapphira presented herself about the space of three hours after, has led Baumgarten (Apgsch. p. 99) to suppose that her death took place at a second assembly of the church, which, with the former, conformed to the stated hours of prayer among the Jews, between which such intervals of three hours occurred. But the language in Act 5:7 seems rather to imply that the religious exercises had continued during the whole period, and that Sapphira did not attend until three hours had elapsed after her husbands death. When Peter asked, Did ye sell the land for this sum of money? it is very probable that indicates the gesture of the apostle, who pointed to the money which still lay before him, without mentioning the precise amount. [The apostles language: ye have agreed, etc., Act 5:9, indicates that he regarded this previous agreement of the husband and wife as a serious aggravation of their sin, as it demonstrated that they had committed it deliberately, and not in haste or through ignorance. (J. A. Alexander).Tr.]

Act 5:11. And great fear, etc.Luke mentions, in the case of Ananias, and, again, in that of Sapphira, the impression which the event made on others. The only difference which appears between the two statements, Act 5:5 and Act 5:11, arises from the narrower or wider circle to which he refers. He describes, in the former case, the impressions which the hearers received, who had assembled for the purpose of being taught by the apostles ( without , the genuineness of the latter being doubted by critics). He refers, in Act 5:11, on the other hand, partly to the church, and partly to those who were unconnected with it, but who received tidings of the event. It is worthy of notice that the conception expressed by is first of all introduced in the Acts, in the present verse. [The author, who appears to regard the word as having been originally employed by Luke in Act 2:47, (see note 3, appended to that passage), has probably omitted any reference to it here, for the reason that eminent critics have doubted its genuineness.Tr.] Luke had hitherto spoken of , Act 1:15; , Act 2:44; , Act 4:32. In contradistinction from these forms of expression, which were undoubtedly suggested when the believers were viewed simply as individuals, he now mentions as a totality, or as a collective body. We cannot regard it as accidental that the collective conception of the Church, viewed as a distinctly defined whole, should present itself in connection with that event which assumes the character of an august act of divine church – discipline. (Thiersch).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The question of the apostle Peter: Why hath Satan filled thine heart, etc.? contains more than one truth respecting Satan. It undeniably teaches, in the first place, the existence and the reality of Satan, that is, of the evil spirit who is the prince of darkness, since it cannot possibly be imagined that the apostle merely spoke in an allegorical manner. The occasion was so grave, his language was so emphatic, and it refers so positively to facts, that mere figures of speech are entirely out of the question.We have here, in the next place, the evidence, that moral evil does not hold an isolated position in the heart of man, but is closely connected with the kingdom of the Evil One in the invisible world. And precisely the most heinous sins, such as hypocrisy combined with forethought and cunning, or moral evil invested with the most sacred garments of light and truth, are the operations of Satan.Further, the direct and expressive terms of the apostle assume as an undeniable truth, that the influences and operations of Satan advance by degrees, beginning with scarcely perceptible approaches, until he reaches a point at which he fills a heart, that is, takes entire possession of it; and then the awful counterpart to the state described as is revealed.Lastly, the freedom of the will, and the imputability of mans acts, even in view of the powerful influences of the Devil, are indirectly, but, nevertheless, unmistakably asserted by Peter. For he not only says to Ananias: Satan has filled thy heart, so that thou hast done this, but he also asks: Why was this? The cause he evidently finds, not in Satan, but in Ananias. The question undeniably means: Why hast thou permittedwhy consented, that Satan should fill thy heart? The apostle testifies, even if it be but indirectly, that man, if he so wills, can resist the devil (1Pe 5:9; Jam 4:7)that man is an accountable being, and must bear the guilt, when he abandons himself to satanic influencesand, that Satan never exercises an irresistible power.

2. The words of Peter in Act 5:3-4; Act 5:9, furnish us with most important instructions respecting the doctrine of the Holy Ghost. He views the act of Ananias and Sapphira solely in its relation to the Divine Spirit. He expresses no opinion of it, in so far as it may affect the apostles as individuals, or the Church as a human society, but views the act itself and the sentiments from which it proceeded only in so far as these define the position of the two offenders with respect to the Spirit of the Lord. Their sin is a trespass against the Holy Ghost, a crimen ls majestatis committed against the Holy Ghost. Now we have in this procedure of the apostle, essentially and directly, the evidence both of the personality and of the Deity of the Holy Ghost. He says: Satan hath filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghostthou hast not lied unto men, but unto Godye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord. But such solemn language, uttered so impressively, and intended to expose promptly and fully the secret guilt contracted by the persons here addressed, cannot consistently receive any interpretation which would assume that the term Holy Ghost simply denotes a power or an operation of God (Strauss, Glaubensl. I. 418). The Holy Ghost is here, on the contrary, distinctly assumed to be a Person, with whom men deal uprightly or deceitfully, whom they may put to the test (, Act 5:9), or whom they may attempt to deceive by lying words. Again, Peter bears witness to the Deity of the Holy Ghost when he says: , , Act 5:4. Meyer makes the remark, it is true, that Ananias had lied unto God by belying His Spirit [virtually saying that the Spirit was ignorant of the fraud (Bengel)]; according to this explanation, in Act 5:4 designates, not the Holy Ghost, himself, but God the Father. But the lie of Ananias, when he lied to the Holy Ghost, and when he lied to God, is, unquestionably, one and the same sin (Bengel). But even if we admit the distinction which Meyer makes, one circumstance stands forth preminently in the whole narrative, which constitutes the heaviest charge brought by the apostle; namely, these two persons had insulted the Holy Ghost, and thus committed, in a direct manner, a grievous and unpardonable sin. The enormity of the guilt is, in this case, proportioned to the majesty and inviolable sanctity of the Spirit as a divine Person.

3. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Ananias had persuaded himself that he would not commit a very serious offence, if he should utter a falsehood, since they whom he intended to deceive, were merely human beings. But Peter says: Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God, for in these men the Holy Spirit himself has his dwelling. And as it was precisely in divine things that Ananias attempted to corrupt and mislead the Christian conscience and judgment of others, his wicked act was an outrage offered directly to the Holy Ghost; for He imparts all the truth that exists in the convictions of men, He is the author of every holy sentiment, He directs the judgment of believers in divine things, and it was on His work that Ananias attempted to lay a profane hand.But who are the men, in whose persons the Holy Ghost was insulted? The apostles alone are usually supposed to be meant, but there is not a word in the text which can be adduced in favor of this opinion. It is true that Ananias laid his money at the feet of the apostles, but he had not these alone in view at the time; he intended to influence the opinion and judgment of the whole church. Now the Holy Ghost dwelt, as the narrative has already shown (Act 4:31), not only in the apostles, but also in all the believers; comp. Baumgarten: Apgsch. I. 100 ff.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Act 5:1. Barnabas and Ananias! Two persons may perform the same act, but in the eyes of God it may be far from being the same. Both Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord. Ananias and Barnabas alike sold land for the benefit of the poor.Ananias in the Pentecostal church! Where there is light, there will also be a shadow. Where God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel at its side. Where the divine householder sowed good seed, the enemy afterwards sowed tares, Mat 13:25.There was a traitor among the apostles of Jesus, and a hypocrite in the bosom of the primitive church; such a form the visible church at all times assumes. (Starke).Since both good and evil men are found in the visible church, God has caused a record of good and evil examples to be madethe former being intended to edify, the latter, to warn us. (Quesnel).Remember Lots wife, said the Lord, long after her day, Luk 17:32; the same words may be applied to all other pillars of salt which are erected as a warning. (K. H. Rieger).

Act 5:2. And kept back part of the price.Avarice is a root of all evil [1Ti 6:10], as illustrated in the cases of Judas and Ananias.Brought a certain part, etc.Hypocrisy, a besetting sin among believers!The offering of Ananias demonstrates how little confidence we can place in so-called good works.God will not accept the fragments which avarice and hypocrisy are willing to relinquish; he demands the whole, Mal 1:12 f. (Quesn.).Ananias and Sapphira probably sold their property more for the sake of avoiding shame, when all others were so liberal, than from any pure and disinterested impulse of their own. (K. H. Rieg.).Those are wretched beings, who endow a charitable institution only for the sake of gaining honor in the world. (Starke).

Act 5:3. But Peter said, Ananias.A pastor is not at liberty to behold the sins of his flock with indifference; his motives for lifting up his voice are, I. His love to God, and zeal for His house; II. His anxious care for the souls that are led astray; III. His concern for the welfare of those who may either take offence, or be corrupted by evil examples. (From Apost. Past).Why hath Satan filled thine heart?a solemn warning, I. In view of the power of Satan, who not only can influence, but also fill the hearts even of Christians by profession; II. In view of the guilt and responsibility of those whom he seduces. Why has he filled thine heart? How can the devil seduce him who is guided and controlled by Christ? (Apost. Past.).A man who intentionally lies, and deceives his neighbor, has already surrendered his heart to Satan; Joh 8:44. (Starke).And to keep back part of the price.It is a sacrilegious act when we withdraw from the service of God that which we had resolved to consecrate and give to him, Deu 23:21. (Quesn.).

Act 5:4.While it remained, was it not thine own?God desires not our property, but our hearts. (Quesnel).Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?It still occurs at times that those who are powerfully moved by the word of the Lord, feel as if he who proclaims that word, well knew and was setting forth all the secret sins and abominations of which they are guilty, when, in truth, he may possibly have never before seen those hearers. Such cases demonstrate the power of the divine word, which is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Heb 4:12]. (Apost. Past.).We may conjecture that if Ananias, or, afterwards, Sapphira, had still cherished in the heart only a faint love of the truth, and could have given an answer to the apostolic question: Why? the awful judgment might, in such a case, have been averted. (Rieger).Thou hast not lied unto God!Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God [Eph 4:30], who speaks to you, inwardly, in your hearts, and externally, in his word; for, in such a case, you would, I. Offer an insult to the divine majesty of God; II. Pronounce a sentence on yourselves, which would consign the soul and body to destruction.

Act 5:5. Fell down, and gave up the ghost.Be not deceived, dear brethren; God is not mocked; Gal 6:7. God has not ceased, under the new covenant, to be a consuming fire, even a jealous God. [Deu 4:24].The truth, that the Holy Ghost is true God: I. Awfully demonstrated in the death of Ananias; II. Graciously revealed in the life of those who obey him. (From Apost. Past.).

Act 5:6. Buried him.It is not inconsistent with divine justice, that those whom it has overwhelmed, should receive the last attentions from men, 1Ki 13:26; 1Ki 13:29. (Starke).But an honorable funeral does not necessarily imply the salvation of the soul of the deceased!

Act 5:7. About the space of three hours after.Three hours were given to Sapphira for the purpose of reflecting and changing her course. To one sinner God, in his long-suffering and mercy, grants a longer time for repentance, than to another, Isa 65:20. (Starke).Not knowing what was done; but she did know that God had threatened in his word to punish the hypocritical and unrighteous. They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. [Luk 16:29.] (Apost. Past.).

Act 5:8.Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?The woman had not only had a longer time for reflection, but had also found another opportunity, which Peters question afforded, for examining her heart and giving glory to God [Jos 7:19]. But as she replied with increased audacity, the sentence which was pronounced, inflicted an additional pang, when she heard of the judgment that had overtaken her husband.

Act 5:9. How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?It is a gross violation of the duties of married life, when the parties agree to do evil.The iniquitous perversion of the ties of marriage in many families: I. When the marriage is simply a community of goods, a business transaction designed to consolidate wealth, instead of being a union of hearts in the Lord; II. When the union is effected for the purpose of serving the flesh, the world and the devil, instead of being influenced by the holy principle: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord [Jos 24:15]; III. When married life is thus converted into a downward path, conducting both parties to hell, whether it be a hell on earth (domestic strife), or eternal perdition; whereas they should have been partners in every holy joy, and have aided each other in their common efforts to obtain eternal blessedness in heaven.How is it that ye have agreed?a solemn question addressed to the conscience of every married believer.

Act 5:10. Then fell she down, etc.Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness.The foolish shall not stand in thy sight.Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing. Psa 5:4-6. If these two persons suddenly died, when a mere mortal spoke, how shall sinners for one moment endure the rebukes which truth will utter on the day of judgment? 2Th 1:8-10. (Starke).But if, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, it was only for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus [1Co 5:5], then, that day will reveal it. (Rieger). [For another view of 1Co 5:5, see Klings exegesis in a subsequent volume of this Commentary.Tr.]

Act 5:11. And great fear came upon all the church.The Church was not founded for the purpose of fostering sinful inclinations, or securing impunity for the sinner. (Quesnel).Divine judgments are intended to awaken a holy fear; yet they are often regarded only with idle wonder, or with levity, or with uncharitableness and self-righteousness!When the Lord purges his floor, [Mat 3:12], and the chaff is scattered [or burned], his own kingdom sustains no loss, for true believers are then protected and confirmed in the faith. (Apost. Past.).

The sin of Ananias and Sapphira, venial according to the standard of the world, bat heinous in the sight of God: for, I. It was a theft (Act 5:3), proceeding from the love of money, the root of all evil; II. It was a lie and a hypocritical act, an abomination in the eyes of the God of truth (Act 5:3; Act 5:8); III. It was committed intentionally and wantonly (was it not in thine own power? Act 5:4); IV. It was committed in accordance with a secret understanding of the two persons, who combined to do evil, in place of addressing to each others conscience the words: How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? [Gen 39:9]. (How is it that ye have agreed? Act 5:9); V. It grieved the Holy Spirit of God, who warned, rebuked, and admonished them, not only by the mouth of Peter, but also in their own hearts, as believing members of the Church (Act 5:3-4; Act 5:9); VI. It was an offence to the Church, which should not have spot or wrinkle, or any such thing [Eph 5:27], and which just began to exhibit such beauty and vigor in the Holy Ghost (4:32). Woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! [Mat 18:7]; VII. It had a tendency to cause the name of Jesus Christ to be blasphemed among the Gentiles.The first tares among the wheat: I. How the enemy sows them; II. How the householder gathers them up:The judgment which overtook Ananias and Sapphira, an august example of the procedure of divine justice: I. The summons; it accepts no mans person [Gal 2:6], but cites alike believers and unbelievers before His tribunal, yea, is even more prompt in the case of the former, who are servants who know their Masters will; judgment must begin at the house of God. (1Pe 4:17); II. The trial; the investigation is rigid, making manifest the counsels of the hearts [1Co 4:5]; III. The sentence of condemnation; divine justice exhibits no weakness, but cuts off a diseased member of the Church, so that the whole body may not perish, and prefers to inflict on the flesh, if the spirit may thereby be saved unto life eternal.The first case of discipline in the Christian Church, decided by its divine Head: I. The occasion, and the subjects: a stumbling-block in the Church; II. The means and instruments in administering discipline: the words of rebuke pronounced by the ministerial office; III. The object and design of the disciplinary measures: the promotion of the honor of God, by cleansing the Church, enlightening the conscience, and maintaining a salutary fear. (Here, however, the practical application must carefully distinguish between life in this world and its objects, on the one hand, and eternity, on the other).The divine administration of Church discipline in the case of Ananias and Sapphiraa humiliating lesson for our Church, which dispenses with all discipline: I. The subjects: there, a stumbling-block in the church; here, hundreds and thousands whose cases cannot be reached. II. The agents: there, a resolute and divinely inspired apostle; here, feeble guides and officers of the Church, whom either the Spirit of the Lord has forsaken, or whom the Church does not sustain. III. The effects: there, devout fear and salutary awe; here, levity and ridicule.[The death of Ananias and Sapphira: I. The circumstances connected with the event; (a) personal history of Ananias and Sapphira (Jewsconvertspossessed propertyambitiousselfishignorant); (b) their sin (its source, concomitantsformeffects); (c) the penalty (divine interpositiondesign); (d) effects which it produced. II. Lessons taught by the event: concerning (a) the purity of the Church, as a divine law (sound doctrinedevout sentimentsholy life); (b) the divine attributes; (c) the nature of death (originally a penaltyin Christ alone its nature changed); (d) the accountability of man.Tr.]

Footnotes:

[1]Act 5:2.One of the principal MSS., (E), inserts after , and has been followed by the text. rec.; the word is, however, a later addition (perhaps repeated from Act 5:1), as well as the words with which, in the same MS., Act 5:1 begins, viz.: . [Alf., Lach., and Tisch. omit the word, in accordance with A. B. D., and Cod. Sin.Tr.]

[2]Act 5:3.[For to lie to, the margin proposes the words to deceive; the former version is preferable; but see the note below.Tr.]

[3]Act 5:5. after [of text. rec.] is, likewise, an addition found in the same MS., without doubt taken from Act 5:11. [Alf., like Lach. and Tisch., omits it, with A. B. D. and Cod. Sin. (original); a later hand (C) inserted in Cod. Sin.Tr.]

[4]Act 5:9. is wanting in Cod. Alex. [marked A., as well as in B. D. Cod. Sin.], has a different position in the manuscript of St. Germain (E), and is exchanged by Origen for ; it was, without doubt, not in the text originally, as several MSS. testify. [The MS. usually designated by the capital letter E, (the four Gospels) is Codex Basileensis; but two others, Codd. Laudianus and Sangermanensis, also receive the same designation. The last, the one meant by the author, derives its name from the monastery of St. Germain-des-Prs, in Paris, where it was deposited before its removal to Petersburg; it is regarded as a copy of D.The verb is omitted after . by Lach., Tisch., and Alf.Tr.]

[5]Act 5:10. ; other readings are: [text. rec. with E.], , [with minuscules]; is better sustained than the others [adopted by Lach., Tisch., and Alf. with A. B. D. and Cod. Sin.Tr.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

We have here the awful Account of Ananias and Sapphira lying to the Holy Ghost. Peter’s Detection of them. The Apostles again imprisoned. The Angel of the Lord brings them out. They are brought before the Council, and after being beaten, are dismissed.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, (2) And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (3) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? (4) While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. (5) And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. (6) And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. (7) And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. (8) And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. (9) Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. (10) Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

We have here a most interesting record of two abominable hypocrites, whose crimes and punishment are circumstantially related, for the instruction and comfort of the Church in all ages. It is blessed to observe how God the Holy Ghost watches over his Church, in causing such histories to be handed down to the people. Without such records, we might have been led to suppose, that in those happy days no characters of a contrary principle to the Apostles standard were to be found. But now we learn that the best of Churches, and the best of times, have their spots. In the ark, there was an Ham. Among the Apostles, a Judas, Under the first days of the Holy Ghost’s ministry, the Lord permitted Ananias and Sapphira to mingle for a space with the faithful. But so far are these things from proving injurious to the Church, that they ultimately minister to her glory.

Reader, let us first contemplate the dreadful state of the human heart. Here were two persons most fully convinced, as far as head-knowledge could carry conviction, of the truths of God, professing a belief they never felt, and to preserve an opinion among the faithful, consenting, apparently, to give up the whole of their worldly goods for the benefit of the Church of Christ; and yet all the while had not the least real love to Jesus, or his people. And are such instances singular? Alas! the reverse. Perhaps there is not now upon earth a single congregation of professing Christians, of any number, but what hath some of the same description. And doth not the Lord overrule such events to his glory, and his people’s welfare? Yes! for it tends to make the Lord’s people jealous of themselves, when they discover such goats got into the sheepfold. It tends to humble the soul, under a sense of common corruption. And it operates most blessedly to the Lord’s glory, when a child of God is thereby led to discover, that all the difference between one and another is all of grace.

Let us next learn from this picture of human depravity, to admire the tender love of the Lord to the Church, in qualifying Peter to the detection of it. By the power which the Holy Ghost gave him of discerning spirits, the iniquity was found out, and the Church cleansed from the impurity. And thus the Lord watches over his people for good in all ages.

I beg the Reader particularly to remark with me, that Peter charged this man with lying to the Holy Ghost. But why is it so specially said that the lie was to the Holy Ghost? I apprehend on this account. Because conversion-work is the personal operation of God the Holy Ghost? So that the whole, and every part of this man’s conduct, was directly leveled against the Holy Ghost. He never had been converted. He never had felt the love of God, and of Christ, in his heart And therefore the deception was principally against God the Spirit. I pray the Reader, under this head, not to overlook how Peter speaks of the Godhead of the Holy Ghost. In verse three, (Act 5:3 ) he chargeth Ananias with lying to the Holy Ghost. And in another, (Act 5:4 ) he saith that lie was not unto men, but unto God. A plain proof, in Peter’s view, that the Holy Ghost is God.

One observation more meets us on this wonderful transaction, I mean the judgment of God, in instant death, both on the man and his wife. It must have been very awful; but it should seem that the Lord deemed it to be necessary. The honor of God the Spirit. The honor of the Church of Christ now more eminently forming. The dreadful alarm it must have given hypocrites, to keep them from the Church. The fears it must have awakened in cautioning the foes of Christ to be very careful how they molested the Apostles. And the terror in all the future ages of the Church it might afford, to preserve the faithful from numberless instances of deception. These were certainly among the causes for which the speedy judgment of the Lord fell upon Ananias and Sapphira; and for which they stand forth, and will stand forth to the end of the world, monuments of the Lord’s anger. Reader! let you and I, in the contemplation, learn to bless God for his unspeakable gift!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Definite Religious Teaching (In St. Lawrence Jewry, to the Association of Head Masters, 11th January, 1907)

Act 5:12

What were they doing there? Worshipping is the answer which used to be made; holding the primitive Divine service out of which have grown our liturgies. The unlikeliness of this answer does not need drawing out. We shall most of us agree that the meetings of the groups of Christians in the Temple’s cloister must have been for conference on the affairs of the community on some few occasions, on most occasions for instruction.

The scene can be reproduced with ease and with much assurance that our reproduction is correct. A visitor to the Eastern Mediterranean, when he traverses the court of a university or loiters in the vestibule of a mosque, and sees a cluster of scholars seated on the ground round the little platform of a teacher, and echoing after him the texts which the instructor drones out to them, can feel sure, in lands where the outward course of life seems not subject to fashions or development, that the scene before him is a sound interpreter of the scene of Christians met with one accord in Solomon’s porch. It is worth while to summon up to the eye, if we may, the spectacle of a Peter, a John, a Thomas, each with his score of listening faces in the rich dusk of the famed portico, because in looking on this we are looking on the beginnings of the Christian school.

I. Peter’s teaching was, in whatever degree dogmatic, certainly practical. In his speech at Pentecost, the dogma (as perhaps we may call it) of the Resurrection, ‘This Jesus did God raise up,’ has its practical result on the fate of men at once enforced: ‘He hath poured forth this which we see and hear’; and the hearers are called on to connect their fate with it: ‘Repent… be baptised… and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost’. ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation’ So it is with the dogmatic teaching in Solomon’s porch, his object-lesson of the lame man at his side ‘walking and leaping and praising God’; it is at once applied: ‘Repent ye… that your sins may he blotted out… that He may send the Christ’. So is it in the house of Cornelius: ‘Can any man forbid the water that those should not be baptised which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?’ That is, the practical event of union with God in Christ has happened to them, therefore they are in the faith; their doctrinal position is true and adequate; give them the official seal of it.

II. Shall not we do well if, instead of thinking first and last of doctrine, we think first and last of human fate? If, like Peter, we teach the doctrine, or fact from which the doctrine flows, not as itself, not as a proposition setting forth a particular event in the life of the universe or a general law in the world of things, but as a fact in the life of our scholar, a law which will be illustrated by his personal destiny?

All of us must desire to make known in our classes a Christ Who is in the heart: Who, whatever heavens must receive Him since His Passion, must, if He be a Christ, abide with us all the days and abide in each.

III. Then the method, Peter’s method, can it also be ours? It can be, and no other can, if we are to do something more than teach a subject, are to convey a faith. We may expound the doctrine, as we must, in the terms of human fate and human will, illustrate it from human experience, and fire it with the zest of a man’s interest in what happens to the man. But we cannot thus expound, illustrate, and fire our lesson by any other art than that which Peter used in the school of Solomon’s porch. We also must be the thing we teach, have the faith within us which we communicate, believe ourselves the lesson we read to our class. It is not our lucidity as teacher, but our force as believer, which will write the record on the fleshy tables of their hearts.

J. Huntley Skrine, Sermons to Pastors and Masters, p. 47.

Benign Shadows

Act 5:15

I. A man’s shadow is the result of his position with regard to the sun. Its length and its sort depend on where he stands in relationship to the shining rays. Similarly the influence of a man’s character is entirely conditioned by his relationship to the Son of righteousness. What I am toward Jesus Christ determines also what I am toward men, for relationship with Him controls the quality of my entire life. And just as in the sunlight a shadow is silently cast without the putting forth of any effort and is often quite unnoticed by the man of whom it is cast, so in the nature of the case is our unconscious influence. It is silent, effortless, and unavoidable, and falls either this way or that upon all who are in our pathway. It is therefore not a matter of option but of compulsion that we who are professed disciples of the Lord should lay to heart this fact and should seek that our lives in their unconscious outgoing may at all times minister to His glory.

II. It is of great importance that we bear in mind that while the Gospel of Christ calls us into personal relationship with Him, it is a relationship which nevertheless has social consequences. We must remember that while His blessing begins with us it by no means ends with us, for ‘no man liveth unto himself’. We must recognise that while we are units in the kingdom of God, we are nevertheless joined to an innumerable company of similar units, and that our influence is for ever spreading, just as leaven spreads in a lump. This fact affords us at least a partial interpretation of much that is otherwise inexplicable in life, for God is always ordering our lives with a view to making their shadows helpful to others. It is not, for instance, merely that we may ourselves learn some lesson of faith and trust, or be purified in some needed measure, that we are put into the furnace of pain. It is also that our attitude of surrender and submission of love and of glad trust shall be seen of those who behold us. It is to make our shadow reach to some who need just its ministry. These experiences, whatever their nature, are all directed toward bringing us into closer fellowship with Him, that is into such new relationship with the Sun as shall cause our shadow to be a blessing to those who are always watching us and are forming their conception of Christ from our lives. It is true that in a certain sense our lives, like His own, are vicarious in character. Our sufferings mean eventually a longer shadow; and a longer shadow means fuller blessing for other lives.

J. Stuart Holden, The Pre-Eminent Lord, p. 81.

References. V. 20. Bishop Talbot, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 27. Archbishop Alexander, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. p. 41. V. 28. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vii. p. 133. V. 30, 31. Bishop Browne, Sermons on the Atonement, p. 85.

The Prince and His Saving Gifts

Act 5:31

I. Peter’s words cast an instructive sidelight upon the motives which rule the order of the heavenly world. The Father governs it in pity to His rebellious people, and the invisible, no less than the visible, spheres above us distil blessing upon a thankless race. The Father expresses at once His own compassion towards a rebellious people, and answers to the unfathomed deeps in the soul of His Son, by making Him the crowned servant of the human race which had despised and rejected Him. It was to help men, even the rebellious also, that He was uplifted to His throne, as well as to His cross.

II. Simon Peter’s words give us a new sense of the beneficence of Christ’s character. When he described Jesus as exalted for the express purpose of drawing men by His princely gifts to a better mind and a nobler destiny, he bears his testimony to the infinite unselfishness of Jesus. The superstitions of the human race everywhere express a low judgment of human character, and show that in the past no such ideal of forgiveness as this had ever been dreamed.

III. In virtue of what new power and authority does the exalted Prince bestow this gift? By redeeming men and standing as their representative at the right hand of God. He opened for Himself fresh avenues of access to the human conscience. He has been invested with authority to send and direct the Spirit who brings to men new light, new energy, new persuasion, new demonstrations of the eternal righteousness, and a new sense of sin. He can now reinforce the moral sensibilities from within, and so make repentance possible to the most obdurate.

IV. Repentance ushers in the remission of sins, for it is a law of this mediatorial grace that a second gift lies hidden within the first. Repentance is as surely linked with remission as stars in the same constellation are bound together and co-ordinate. Repentance and the Divine forgiveness are immutably paired. It is true a man may forfeit the first gift by wilful neglect; but so long as he keeps it he has an earnest of the second. This faithful pitying Prince cannot lead men into a sorrow which has no happy issue.

V. The fact that repentance is the gift of the exalted Saviour should give us a wholesome confidence in the better dispositions which arise within us. We must surrender ourselves bravely to the new impulses He creates. Till we reflect that there is something better than our own wisdom and virtue beneath the relentings which visit us in our more thoughtful hours, we cannot do this. If the gifts of repentance and remission can be lightly snatched away from us, the very motive of the exalted estate to which Jesus has been upraised suffers defeat. The forces of the Supreme King are with the penitent in His struggle toward better things.

Reference. V. 31. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1301.

The Witnessing Spirit

Act 5:32

I. The Subject-matter of the Witnessing. ‘These things.’ The Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ (vv. 30, 31). We of today are called not so much to testify of the facts as of the great truths they teach and prove the completed atonement for human sin, the vindication of the dignity and power of Christ and of His exaltation as the Divine Prophet Priest, and King.

II. The Character of the Witnessing. It is twofold human and Divine. ‘We and also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him.’ Human testimony is defective. But when the Divine Spirit is joined to the human, when the evidence is the testimony of the Spirit in and through man, it is unmistakable. (1) The spirit inspires the witness with boldness. The spirit strengthens our natural faculties, so that we apprehend truth clearly, and believe and hold it with a certainty and power that nothing can shake. (2) The Spirit inspires the witness with humility. The spirit guards us from all boastful parade, and endows us with the meekness of wisdom. (3) The Spirit imparts to the witness sanctified common sense. Thus we are taught when and how to witness, whether by speech or silent action to choose the time, the place, the manner. (4) The Spirit again gives continuity to the witnessing. The Spirit takes care that the succession of witnesses for Christ is unbroken.

Application. (1) We are prompted to the duty of witnessing for Christ by the instinct of self-preservation. (2) By gratitude. (3) By the love we bear to Christ, and our ardent desire that others should love Him.

G. Barlow, The Preachers Magazine, vol. v. p. 225.

References. V. 34. Expositor (4th Series), vol. vi. p. 33. V. 37. C. S. Robinson, Simon Peter, p. 76. Expositor (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 93. V. 38, 39. G. F. Pentecost, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. p. 139. G. MacKenzie, ibid. vol. 1. p. 170. F. D. Maurice, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 61. P. M’Adam Muir, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. p. 205. V. 39. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ii. p. 395. V. 42. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii. No. 369. C. M. Betts, Eight Sermons, p. 85. VI. 1. F. D. Maurice, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 73. VI. 4. G. Bladon, The Record, vol. xxvii. p. 2. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iii. p. 278. VI. 5. G. A. Smith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxii. p. 24. VI. 6. Expositor (6th Series), vol. i. p. 391. VI. 7. J. B. Meharry, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p. 329. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No. 802. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ix. p. 270. VI. 9. A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, pt. ii. p. 404. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iv. p. 448; ibid. vol. v. p. 412; ibid. vol. vi. p. 379. VI. 10-12. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. iv. p. 91. VI. 13. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iii. p. 382. VI. 14. Ibid. vol. x. p. 395.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Act 5:1-11

1. But [much stress is not to be laid on the word But, for no contrast is intended] a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession [the same word is used Mat 19:22 ],

2. And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it [an aggravated offence], and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart [made thee bold enough] to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

4. Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived [implying long and deep deliberation] this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

5. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6. And the young [younger] men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him [it was common to have graves ready beforehand].

7. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

8. And Peter answered [yet not an answer but a question] unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much [and no more].

9. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

10. Then fell she down straightway at his feet [where the money probably lay], and yielded up the ghost [an expression used in one other place only, Act 12:23 ]: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

11. And great fear came upon all the church [assembly or congregation], and upon as many as heard these things.

Communism and Its Violation

WE have just seen what great excitement there was outside the Church. A lame man had been healed, and Peter and John had been shut up in prison, and had afterwards been threatened by the Sanhedrim. “And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.” The Christians, having heard the report, “lifted up their voice to God with one accord,” and praised him, and gave themselves into his keeping, saying, “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings; and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.” There they left the case. They passed no official resolution amongst themselves: they looked up unto the hills whence their help came, and having looked upward, and having spoken to God, they waited for an answer from heaven. That answer came: “When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” They did not offer it as a suggestion, they did not submit it as a possible solution of great moral anxieties: they hurled it across the heavens, they uttered it with thunder, they spake it with the accent of the soul. We must go back to that cordial eloquence. Preachers of the everlasting Gospel do not stand up to make suggestions: they stand to deliver what they believe to be God’s testimony; and in proportion to their faith in the Divine testimony will be the clearness of their utterance, and the bold and thrilling emphasis of their very voice.

A great practical issue immediately took effect A new conception of property entered into the mind of the Church. Little ownerships, and narrow boundaries of individual claims and primacies, were done away. “No man said that aught he had was his own; they had all things in common.” “As many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the Apostles’ feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.” Here then are two concurrent movements, viz., a spiritual movement, and a social movement. The social movement arose out of the spiritual; if the cause go down, the effect must go down along with it. The Church can only do great social duties, and continue with constancy in great social sacrifices, in proportion as its heart is continually inspired by the Holy Ghost. The hand cannot go without the heart. The heart cannot be right without compelling the hand to do its holy and ennobling bidding. It is in vain to attempt to keep up the outward when the inward has given way. That is precisely what we are in danger of doing now. We keep up churches, institutions, organizations, machineries, after we have lost the Spirit. Is there anything more ghastly to the religious eye and the spiritual imagination than a Church out of which GOD has gone? The building stands there of undiminished magnitude, and undimmed beauty of form and colour, and undiminished commodiousness; but GOD has gone. The Bible is read, and not read. It is not the Bible that the man mumbled, but a book which he has found somewhere, out of which the Spirit has been driven. The very selfsame old hymns were sung that fifty years ago caused the walls to vibrate as with conscious joy; and though the music was exact in technicality, and well performed as to mere lip service, the old passion was not there, and the hymn rose to the ceiling, bruised itself against the beams of the roof, and fell back, a service unrecognized in heaven. This accounts for all the results of statistics as to attendance upon places of worship; for all the “dilapidated husbandry” of the Church; for all the boundless provision of mere space, and accommodation, and machinery, without eliciting the sympathy and the consent of the great heart of man. We have lost the Spirit; or we have forgotten that there is diversity of operation even under the same Spirit, and we have been trying to maintain old economies without new inspiration. What has to be done? Not to mend the outside, but to fall to praying, and to bring to bear upon heaven the violence of our impatient necessity, and the sacred ambition of men, who have found by prolonged and bitter experience that all answers worth having are to be had from heaven only. What is now wanted is a mission to the Church. It would be well for you if you would be good enough to let the masses alone for a while; the Church is now mad upon the masses. Any proposition to go after the “masses” is hailed with delight by those persons who do nothing but approve excellent schemes and then leave them to themselves. The great soul I cry for is a man who will preach to the preacher; who will convert the pulpit; who will set fire to the Church, and bring back our conscious need of the Holy Ghost. We are orthodox, but we are not Christian. Our notions are in excellent repair, but our love is a dead angel in the cold heart. We are sound in doctrine, but we are bitter in speech. We are clever in the arrangement and the rearrangement, and the repairing and the re-adaptation of machinery; but when we come to pray, it is as if a skeleton should open its cold mouth and chatter with its lifeless teeth.

We come now upon a scene that contrasts with the marvellous exhibition of feeling we looked upon in our last reading of this exciting story. When persecution began to take effect upon the Church we trembled needlessly. The Church needs persecution. Now we come upon real danger. External persecution brings to our memory the heroic words of our heroic Captain, “Fear not them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” Now we come inside the Church, and it is there and there only, that any deadly mischief can be done! The Church! Fire cannot burn it, water cannot drown it, fiends cannot intercept it; but it has in its own hand the power of suicide! Annas and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all the kindred of the high priest, cannot touch the Church. They can “threaten” it, and they can denounce it; they can for a time imprison it; but its life they cannot touch. Do not fear the issue of anti-Christian literature, as if that could do the slightest injury to God’s truth. There is a secret fever amongst men as to the answering of the latest attack which has been made upon the Christian doctrine. We are not called upon to answer the last fool who has escaped from the mortar in which he was brayed. That is not the work of the Church: it is but an incidental service, and upon some occasions it may be a most valuable and indispensable service; but there is another work to be done. Let the Church put on her beautiful garments, and she will create a space for herself. Let her be pure, noble, seen as the angel of mercy and help and hope, that God meant her to be, and all other things will settle into their right courses and eventuate in their proper issues. Ananias and Sapphira can do more mischief in the Church than all the atheists that ever declared the heavens to be an untenanted space! That is the truth that needs now to be understood; and no other is, in comparison with it, worthy of a moment’s consideration. You uttered an unkind speech about your brother: that did more mischief than all the atheistic publications that have been poured from the press of infidelity for a quarter of a century. You, a preacher, a student, a member of the Church, a professor of Christianity, did a mean trick: that had a deadlier effect than all the denunciation possible to the feeble eloquence of unbelief. The “BUT” with which the fifth chapter opens is like a blow in the face. We were reading so joyously, passing on with a step of triumph, and suddenly an invisible but tremendous fist felled us to the earth. We gloried in the statement found in the fourth chapter, we smiled at Annas, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, when they threatened Peter and John: we felt the infiniteness of our strength, the overflow and redundance of power. Now that we come to this great, black “But” of the fifth chapter, there is no longer any laughter in our voice; nor does mirth write its signature upon our solemn faces. This is death. Ananias and Sapphira endeavoured to keep up a mechanical enthusiasm, and that is an impossibility in the divine life. We must here have reality. Some people try to sing in God’s house; but if you look at them they are not singing at all, for their eyes, like fools’ eyes, are wandering all over the congregation. They bow in the attitude of prayer, but all the while their eyes are upon vacant space, or upon the earth.

This is a beautiful revelation of the life of the early Church, in so far as it shows us the entire voluntariness of every sacrifice and every service rendered by the first Christians. The selling of houses and lands was not a compulsory act. The property belonged to the individuals, they might claim it, they might part with it, they might keep a portion of the proceeds of the sale: all that was wanted from them was reality. This is the glory of all Christian service, that it is voluntary, expressive of the will, and of the vital love of the person rendering that service. This is the charm of our work; every man is here doing what he can do because he loves the engagement. Sunday morning is too slow in its movement for the inspired heart, for that heart is saying all the while, “Would that the golden gates were opened, and that the service were begun, and that we were already half-way up the hill which is crowned by heaven.” Nothing is done of constraint; therefore labour is rest; therefore giving is getting; therefore prayer is its own answer; and therefore the Sabbath is the golden crown of the week of toil.

What then was the guilt of this man Ananias? It was the guilt of every age. Do not regard Ananias as a liar eighteen hundred or nineteen hundred years old; Ananias is the liar of today, and he is present in every congregation, and probably will be present until the end of time. Ananias represents those who say they have done all they can do, when they know that their statement is a lie. No man has done all he can do. Are we then all guilty before God in that respect? Certainly not. If a man will honestly say to God. “There are twelve hours in the day, and I cannot profess to give thee more than two of them,” that man is an honest man, and the two hours may be acceptable. But if a man shall endeavour to represent his two hours as twelve he will die, he will be killed, he will be buried, but not in “the sepulchres of the kings.” Which of us has done all he can? Not I. I could have done ten times more. I could have prayed more, preached more, and suffered more. What they can say who have done nothing but enjoy themselves I know not. They make me afraid. I was told of persons who were supposed to be worth five-and-twenty thousand pounds that at the Communion of the Lord’s Table never contribute a coin, but put in the communion card alone. Is it possible? Thy money perish with thee. Keep it; keep it. Take it in the coffin with thee. Do insist upon having it there. Make a pillow of it; make a footstool of it; make a lining of it. Keep it, thou whited sepulchre! Ananias lied without speaking, and that is the worst form of falsehood. The blundering speaker of a lie may be converted; but the actor of a lie can only be killed.

The discipline of the Church here sets in very strongly. Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, probably thought that Christianity would endure only for a little time. They meant to make the most of it, and, in order to do that, they must undergo something like the process of a sacrifice. They underwent it. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” To bring my piece, and lay it down as if it were all, can any atheist stab the Christ of God so far in as that? To sit in the Church and drop in the little square communion card as if there might be something behind it, when there is nothing can any bloodless atheist strike him between the eyes like that? O Church of the living God! conversion must begin within thee; and then the fire will burn, and throw out its happy influence upon the wide circumference, and there shall be joy in the presence of the angels of God over a prodigal Church, repentant and returned!

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

X

THE SADDUCEAN PERSECUTION

Act 3:1-5:42 .

Acts 3-5 are devoted to the history of the first great persecution of the Spirit-filled and accredited church, with attendant circumstances. This, quite naturally, was of Sadducean origin. (1) The Sadducees were the rulers of the people, dominating in politics, and through the high priest, dominating the Sanhedrin. (2) They were materialists, believing in neither angel nor spirit, nor in the resurrection of the body. (3) The great issue, publicly and boldly made by the Spiritfilled church, was that Jesus was risen from the dead and exalted to the sovereignty of the universe, and was demonstrating these great truths by unmistakable signs and wonders. (4) The people were being swept away by these demonstrations, so that what the Sadducees might well call “the last error” was worse than the first. (5) Hence the Sadducees had to meet this issue, so publicly and convincingly made, or else lose both political and ecclesiastical power. (6) Moreover, the demonstration of the resurrection of Jesus established his messiahship, and convicted the rulers of sacrilege and murder in putting him to death, so that they were on trial for their lives, their faith, their offices, and their political leadership.

This important issue had been forced on them by Peter. In his great sermon on Pentecost he had alleged in the presence of myriads of the people, from all parts of the world, the following things: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; him being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it” (Act 2:22-24 ). And again, “This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear” (Act 2:32 ). And also, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom ye crucified” (Act 2:36 ). He had introduced the testimony of the prophet Joel, and particularly the declaration of the great king, David. Three thousand of the people were converted in one day, and every day following vast additions were made to their number. The meeting was protracted. They held services publicly in the Temple every day. Money, by voluntary contribution, poured into the treasury. Their baptisms and observances of the Lord’s Supper were public and continuous. They were jubilant in praise, and had favor with all the people. The revival was a conflagration threatening to wrap all Jerusalem in its spiritual flame.

At this juncture occurred a public incident which forced the Sadducean rulers to take official notice of the great movement. In the very gate of the temple, Peter and John had wrought an amazing miracle on a well-known cripple, hopelessly lame from his mother’s womb; the miracle was wrought in the name of Jesus of Nazareth; a great concourse of the people were attracted to the scene of the miracle, recognizing the subject of it, witnessing the completeness of the healing, and standing in amazement before the miracle workers. Peter replies to their amazement (a) by disclaiming any power or holiness in himself and John to do this mighty work; (b) he boldly accuses them of denying the holy and righteous One, preferring a murderer instead, delivering him up to Pilate and forcing him reluctantly to condemn him, and of killing the Prince of Life; (c) that the God of Abraham raised him from the dead, of which fact they were witnesses, and (d) that through his name through faith in his name was given to this hopeless cripple, so well known to them, this perfect soundness in the presence of them all.

Peter further improved the occasion thus: (1) He admitted that spiritual ignorance caused the people and their rulers to commit so grave a blunder and so heinous a crime. (2) But the passion of the Messiah, foreshown by all the prophets, was thus fulfilled. (3) He therefore exhorts to repentance and turning, so that (a) their sins might be blotted out; (b) that great revivals might come from the glorified Lord; (c) that he must remain in heaven until the times of restoration of all things attested by all the prophets; (d) that this Jesus was the great Prophet like unto Moses, who according to Moses, God would raise up from among the brethren; (e) that whoever would not hear this prophet would be cut off from Israel; (f) that Samuel and all succeeding prophets foretold these things; (g) that they, as sons of the prophets and of God’s covenant that in Abraham’s seed, who is the Messiah, all nations should be blessed, were first offered the blessings of forgiveness. To this indictment of rulers and people and this marvelous exhortation, the people made great response. About 5,000 men, not counting women and children, were converted (Act 4:4 ).

This issue, so made by Peter, was the boldest and most comprehensive challenge in all history.

It claimed all the books of the Jewish Bible, all their covenants and promises, all their patriarchs, mediators, prophets, illustrious kings and heroes, all their sacrifices and rituals. It charged sacrilege and murder in the rejection of Jesus. It affirmed the resurrection, the exaltation and the glorification of the rejected Lord. It preached repentance on account of this sin. It promised remission of sin and eternal life to those who believed. It threatened exclusion from the covenant of all the impenitent and unbelieving. It intimated a transfer of the kingdom to the Gentiles, if they persisted in their rejection, so the Sadducees had to accept the challenge.

The Sadducees felt compelled to respond to the challenge: (1) They arrested Peter and John, imprisoned them for the night, and held them to trial before the Sanhedrin on the morrow. (2) They gathered all the Sadducean kindred of the high priest, Caiaphas, including Annas, his father-in-law, ex-high priest, John and Alexander, thus assembling those most responsible for the crime of the murder of the Lord, and by thus gathering the special Sadducean kindred dominating the council. (3) The Sanhedrin itself was convened, and the prisoners set before it.

Their inquisition concedes the fact of the miracle, but demands, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” A prophecy of the Lord was thus fulfilled: “They shall deliver you up to councils.” Our Lord had foretold and provided for this very exigency. He said, “Be not anxious beforehand what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit” (Mar 13:11 ; Mat 10:16-20 ).

In this foretold strait, Peter obeyed the direction of Christ, as we find in Act 4:8-12 : “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders, if we this day are examined concerning a good deed to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him, doth this man stand here before you whole. He is the stone which was set at nought of you, the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.”

That is the noblest answer in history.

The effect of Peter’s boldness on the council is thus described Act 4:13 : “Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” That council could not understand that ignorant and unlearned men) arrested and imprisoned, and brought before that supreme court of the Jewish nation, should stand there, not as prosecuted, but as prosecutors, indicting their judges. This shows that the power of preachers is not dependent upon, or I should say, not proportioned to the amount of their education, but it is proportioned to their being filled with the Holy Spirit, and to their being educated or trained in the Word of God. Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, had a theory that only college graduates should be allowed to be preachers, and they refused to receive into their seminary anybody who did not graduate at a reputable institution of learning. He was amazed to hear of some work done by a blacksmith, who never had been to school much, and he kept on hearing so much about this blacksmith that he, after investigation, was himself persuaded and convinced that this unlearned man did shake the gates of hell every time he preached to the people. Dr. Wayland, who differed altogether from the Presbyterians (he was a Baptist), about the absolute necessity for college education in order to preach, cites this case of Alexander’s honest testimony to something that he did not understand and he never did understand how that blacksmith could be such a power for God in his preaching.

This is why I have said in one of my opening addresses before our seminary that while I would always encourage every man to get all of the education that his means and his family condition would allow, yet I would never be guilty of the folly of saying that only college men could be preachers of power, and that when any theological seminary took the position not to admit into its theological department any but college graduates, it took a position that would have prevented either Christ or any one of the twelve apostles from entering it.

Here were two indisputable facts: A miracle confronted the Sanhedrin, and it was a good deed of healing and mercy. How keen the sarcasm of Peter: “If we be examined this day for a good deed, healing this impotent man.”

A well supported tradition exists among the Baptists of Virginia. It was in the period of the union of church and state. Two Baptist preachers were indicted for preaching without Episcopal license. This tradition says that Patrick Henry was employed to defend them, or took the case voluntarily, and that all he did was to stand up before the court and say, “What is the indictment against these men? Preaching the glorious gospel of the Son of God? Great God I That is the indictment! Are there no thieves going around unarrested and unconvicted? Are there no murderers upon whom to visit the vengeance of law, that you must indict and try men for preaching the gospel?”

This should ever be the challenge of the people of God: Here is our good work! Behold this monument of grace! This work was not done in a corner. It is self-interpretative. Here is a drunkard; look at him. See what he was, and behold what he is!

The result of the deliberation of this inquisition before the Sanhedrin seems a most impotent conclusion. It is expressed in Act 4:15-18 , thus: “But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been wrought through them, is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and charged them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” That was their conclusion; so they called them back in again and charged them accordingly.

Act 4:19-20 : “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.” In other words, “You may pass any judgment you please. You are the earthly court, but so far as we are concerned, being under higher authority, we must ignore both your threat and charge, and speak boldly and openly what we have seen and heard.” If one should wonder why the Sadducees stopped at a threat, the reason is given in Act 4:21-22 : “And they, when they had further threatened them, let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people; for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was more than forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was wrought.” They had malice enough to kill them, but they were afraid of the people, and did not like to go before the people on such a case as that, with a forty-year-old man, who from his mother’s womb had been a cripple, and everybody knew him. It was a good thing done, and there he stood, perfectly healed.

Peter and John report the whole case to the church. Act 4:23 : “And being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said unto them.” The church reports it to God. “And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, O Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is: who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, didst say, Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, And the rulers were gathered together, Against the Lord, and against His Anointed: for of a truth, in this city against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, to do whatsoever way thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass.” Let us hear them pray: “And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy servant, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

This courage and fidelity on the part of leaders and people had a wonderful, fivefold result first on themselves and then on others: (1) “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul. (2) And not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. (3) And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and (4) great grace was upon them all. For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as anyone had need.” Persecution unifies God’s people; it increases their love for one another, and makes them sacrifice for one another; it opens their hearts and their purses. As an old sailor once said, “It takes a side-wind to fill all the sails.” (5) lt developed great men, for example, Act 4:36-37 : “And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, son of exhortation), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race, having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

From this it may be observed that in every meeting of very great power, when the root of things is gotten at, when the topmost twig is being shaken, when the sound of the wind is in the mulberry trees, when the fire is burning in every meeting of that kind, there suddenly steps out to the front some man who afterward shakes the world. That is one of the great powers of revivals of religion. It calls out heroes, who up to that time had never been awakened. Moreover, it exposes and eliminates hypocrites for example, the marvelous judgment of Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:1-10 ).

From three viewpoints this case is very instructive. It is evident that these two were swept into the church on the wave of a great excitement, without spiritual preparation. They could not understand the coming of the Holy Spirit, nor the mighty emotions and deeds of those around them who were filled with the Spirit. They had witnessed the heroic sacrifice of Barnabas, and coveted, not a similar spirit, but the credit of his deed, without the sacrifice. They conspired together to obtain this credit. They sold a piece of land, agreeing to keep back a part of the price, while affirming that the part offered was all they received. They had neither a consciousness of the presence of the omniscient Spirit, nor that Peter, as an apostle filled with the Spirit, could read their minds. They supposed they had only to fool a mere man. They were not prepared for the exposure, nor his awful sentence in Act 5:3-5 . They were filled with Satan not the Holy Spirit. Similar tragedies frequently occur in great revivals. The shortest road to the eternal sin the unpardonable sin is from a great revival. Satan attends them, ever ready to suggest a quick way to instant and eternal ruin.

Indeed, it is only from a place of great light that the unpardonable sin can be committed. A second viewpoint of instruction is the apostolic power of judgment. It was not often exercised, but always possessed. A similar case thus appears in Act 13:6-12 . Here again the apostle recognizes the presence of Satan opposing, through an agent, the work of the Holy Spirit. There are other New Testament cases, but these two illustrate.

I have often heard Major Penn and other great evangelists affirm that, on certain occasions, when the Spirit’s power was greatest, by a kind of spiritual instinct they felt the hostile presence of Satan working some form of opposition through some human agent. On one occasion I witnessed his dramatic exposure of this hostile occult influence.

A not less important viewpoint is the effect of this judgment (1) on the church, (2) on hypocrites, and (3) on outsiders. On the church it brought great fear (Act 5:11 ); on the hypocrites it says, “Of the rest durst no man join himself to them” (Act 5:13 ). It was getting too hot for hypocrites. It is only in lukewarm times that conscious hypocrites most seek to join themselves to the churches. People then come in without regard to the spiritual requirement regeneration. Let the time come when “judgment must begin at the house of God,” and the lightning begins to strike, they become very shy of joining the church.

What was the effect on the outsiders? The answer is found in Act 5:14 : “Howbeit, the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” The power of the apostles grows: “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people: and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.” That is an answer to the prayer found in Act 4:29-30 : “And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings; and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy servant, Jesus.” Here Peter’s power reaches a climax in special miracles. Here we have it: “Insomuch that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some one of them” (Act 5:15 ).

My brother, J. M. Carroll, has a regular “sugar-stick” sermon on “The Shadow of Peter, or the Power of Influence.” When you get so near to God and so full of the Spirit that the people will bring the helpless cases where you would walk along, so that your shadow might fall on some of them, then you may know you are at the topnotch of power. The author has a sermon on special miracles “The Bones, Fringes, Shadows, Handkerchiefs, and Aprons.” Here you have a miracle by a shadow. In Elisha’s case the miracle was by bones. In our Lord’s time they touched the fringe, the hem of his garment; and in the apostle Paul’s time they sent out aprons and handkerchiefs that had touched him.

The last two paragraphs of this chapter (Act 5:17-42 ) recite a revival of the Sadducean persecution. The apostles not only continued their witness of the resurrection, but the Holy Spirit magnified their witness by mighty signs, wonders and Judgments, until vast multitudes were converted to the faith, and they grew to an astonishing height in love, faith, unity, and courage. The streams of the sick, of the troubled souls, that converged in a tide toward the apostles and the happy church, and every increase of the shouts of the healed and the joy of the redeemed, excited their wrath.

The record says: “But the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him [which is the sect of the Sadducees], and they were filled with jealousy, and laid hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward.” [This time they get all of them in prison.] “But an angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them out, and said, ‘Go ye, and stand and speak in the temple.’ ” So they are to go right on preaching the word. And when the Sanhedrin the next morning sends for the prisoners, their officer cornea back with his finger on his lip, saying, “They’re gone.” Another comes running in and says, “I saw them; they are right back there in the Temple, still preaching, and great crowds of people around.” Then they send officers very quietly, without tumult or violence, for fear of the people, and bring them before the court again, and this is the inquisition now: “And the high priest asked them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

That shows that Peter had hit the mark. He had been indicting them as murderers in every speech he had made, and now they see the point. They say, “You intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Peter replied, “We must obey God rather than men.” He repeats his accusation: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. And we are witnesses of these sayings; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” They do not make much out of that man, but were cut to the heart, and thought in their hearts to slay them.

The end of the Sadducean persecution comes in this way: An old man, Gamaliel, who was a Pharisee and the teacher of Paul, a doctor of the law and of great repute, requests that the prisoners be put apart for another consultation. Gamaliel makes a great speech, commencing with a word of caution (Act 5:35 ). He then recites two well-known incidents of turbulent movements, which, though so threatening for a time, came to naught, and the agitators perished, and then hinting that this movement had higher ends, motives and issues, closes with the advice found in Act 5:38-39 . The record says, “And to him they agreed.” But the context shows their agreement was only partial. (See Act 5:40 .) Just how weak and futile was their half- way measure appears from Act 5:41-42 . And so ended the Sadducean persecution. We may not leave the subject, however, without suggesting a dominant reason for their failure. Their unbelief in the supernatural utterly disqualified them for leadership.

Materialists who do not believe in angels, nor in spirit, nor the resurrection, but in this life only, never can carry the crowd. Therefore, the one who broke up this persecution, as we will see in another issue, was a Pharisee, who would not Join them on that issue. They were ready enough to join in the persecution in another issue, as we will see later, but they did not join in an issue of the resurrection, and that was the issue Peter had made that Christ was risen. Therefore, we learn in our Lord’s time, as recorded in Luk 20:27-40 , that when the Sadducees came to Jesus with a question about the resurrection, he replied to them, and the Pharisees sympathized with his answer in putting the Sadducees down. And in Act 23 , when Paul was arraigned before this very council, he divided the crowd by saying, “Brethren, the only thing against me is that I preached the resurrection of the dead,” and instantly the Pharisee part of the council stood with Paul. They would not fight on that issue, and today you need not have any dread of any opposition that comes from a materialist. He can’t get a following, for all over the world men’s consciences and their nature teach that there is a life beyond this life that there is a God and a place for the soul. The materialists, therefore, are a very small crowd; so the Sadducean persecution came to naught.

Before closing this chapter we recur, for practical observations, to several antecedent paragraphs lightly passed over in giving rapid history of the Sadducean persecution. First, the reply of Peter to the request of the lame man at the beautiful gate of the Temple: “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

It is related that a distinguished visitor on one occasion was waiting on the Pope, to whom the Pope showed all his treasures, jewels, the money, explaining that streams from all over the world continued to flow into this treasury. Says the Pope, “There has been a very great change since the first pope’s time) for Peter said, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’ ” “Yes,” said the visitor, “and I am afraid there has been a very great change in another direction: that you cannot now make an impotent man walk; you have the silver and the gold, but have you Peter’s faith and power?”

We do well also to note that “silver and gold” are not the greatest, and most times, the best gifts in our power, and to be thankful for the fact, since otherwise only the rich could give.

Second, there can be no better example of true homiletics than Peter’s sermon to the people on the occasion of this great miracle. It equals his Pentecost sermon. It deserves a special analysis. It was a great occasion. Carlyle, on Stump Speaking, affirms that the first prerequisite to a great oration is a great occasion. It must not be manufactured to afford an opportunity for a speech. The stirring times and even the urgent hour must call for it. Then the speech must fit the occasion, and supply its calls and needs, leaving nothing more to be said.

There must be a man for the occasion, who, God-called and qualified, has something to say, and will so say it that action and not applause will cap its climax prompt, decisive, fitting, and adequate action. All these conditions are filled in this case in Peter himself and the results.

The supreme court of the nation has put itself in opposition to the supreme court of heaven on the gravest question of conscience. Those who believed in rendering unto God the things that are God’s, were making an open, daylight, life and death issue. At the beautiful gate of the Temple God magnified their testimony by an amazing miracle. A beggar, crippled from his mother’s womb, and known to all the people, received as alms an instantaneous perfect healing. His frantic exhibitions of praise to God, and joyous, grateful clinging to Peter and John, drew an immense crowd whose speechless amazement and staring, louder than words, demanded an explanation. Peter’s sermon is that explanation.

ANALYSIS 1. He rebukes their marveling at the man: “Why should it be thought incredible that God should work a miracle?”

2. He rebukes their staring at him and John, as though this wonder should be attributed to either their goodness or power.

3. He attributes the miracle exclusively to his risen Lord, through faith in his name.

4. He then begins his indictment) seeking their conviction of sin, contrasting their way with the Father’s (Act 3:13-15 ).

5. He shows again, without any attempt at harmony between free will and divine agency, that notwithstanding they had wickedly and murderously contributed to Christ’s sufferings, all these sufferings had been foreshown in all their prophets.

6. His tender heart next goes out to the indicted and convicted (Act 3:17 ).

Here he introduces a new kind of ignorance characteristic of the New Testament, and delimiting the unpardonable sin. Theirs was not mental ignorance, for they had head knowledge of all the matters involved. They lacked spiritual enlightenment, without which the eternal sin cannot be committed. Compare the case of Paul. (See Act 26:9 ; 1Ti 1:13 .) See also the veil over the hearts of the Jews when they read Moses, 2Co 3:5 , and compare Heb 10:26-29 . And yet this spiritual illumination does not necessarily reach regeneration, for the regenerate cannot commit the unpardonable sin (see 1Jn 5:16-18 ). Nor does spiritual conviction always result in that contrition or godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto life.

7. He now comes with great clearness and force to his exhortation and application (Act 3:19-21 ). .Here he finely discriminates between repentance and conversion. Logically a change of mind must precede a change of life course.

8. But we are particularly interested in the motives toward, or the results conditioned on the repentance and conversion enjoined. These are three: (1) “So that your sins may be blotted out.” (2) “So that there may come seasons of refreshings (i.e., revivals) from the presence of the Lord.” (3) “So that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, whom the heavens must receive until the times of restoration of all things.” This part of his exhortation bristles with eschatological doctrine. It fixes far off the final advent of our Lord.

It unquestionably teaches, as many other scriptures, that the dramatic conversion of the whole Jewish nation, so vividly described by Paul, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Isaiah must not only precede the advent, but the advent itself cannot be until all prophecies of antecedent events have been fulfilled. 9. His sermon closes with the identification of the prophetic Messiah with Jesus of Nazareth, and suggests him, not only as their Messiah, but the one “in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Third, Act 4:31 : “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together.” This miracle on nature, like the earthquake which followed the midnight praise and prayer service of Paul and Silas in the Philippian Jail (Act 16:25-26 ), caused the solid earth to respond in thrills to its Creator’s mandate.

Fourth, Act 4:32 (see the passage). From time immemorial this passage has been made the basis of the socialistic doctrine of “Community of goods no private ownership of property.” The contention is untenable. It is true and deducible from many other passages, that as against God, there is no absolute ownership of private property and in the light of his stewardship no Christian can say, “Aught of the things I possess is my own.” But it is not here taught that “Community ownership of private property is substituted for stewardship to God.” This is certainly the teaching of Peter’s reply to Ananias (see Act 5:4 ). It does prove, however, that individual owners of private property, moved by love to God, did voluntarily sell their goods, and put it into a common fund for the necessitous believers. This was a charity fund for the poor in a great necessity. This necessity arose mainly from the Jews of the dispersion, enumerated by nations in Act 2 , lingering so long in Jerusalem to attend the great revival meeting commencing at Pentecost and lasting until the Christian part of it was all dispersed abroad by the Pharisee persecution under Saul of Tarsus (see Act 8:1-3 ; Act 11:19 ). This is further evidenced by the necessity for the office of deacon (Act 6 ). It became too burdensome a matter for the apostles personally to distribute daily the alms of this common fund. There is no hint here or elsewhere of “community ownership of private property,” but everywhere a custom of the churches to provide for their own poor, or in case of great necessity, for the poor saints elsewhere. See Paul’s great collections for the poor saints in Jerusalem, and his specific instructions to Timothy about each church’s home poor (1Ti 5:3-16 ).

Let us now explain Act 4:4 : “But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” Thus reads the Revised Version, and the King James has it: “The number of the men was about five thousand.” Now, does that mean, with or without counting the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, that the number came to be 5000, or that 5000 were converted this day? It is based on the exegecies of the Greek, which reads: “The number of the men came to be about five thousand.” Dr. Newman says it means that there had been about 2000 converted since Pentecost, 3000 that day, and by this time had come to be about 5000, counting men only. Meyer says the same thing in his Acts; the great exegete, Hackett, a Baptist, in his Book on Acts, also says it, as do a great many others. But I say that it means 5000 that day; 5000 heard the word that day and 5000 believed that day; and the number, as they kept hearing and believing, came to be 5000 men in all. There is no reference to any conversions connecting with any previous occasion, and if we look in the “Pulpit Commentary,” Acts we find a fine Greek scholar saying that the grammar, although itself is a little doubtful in construction, is in favor of the position that 5000 that day were converted.

The Sadducees complained, saying, “You intend to bring this man’s blood upon us” (Act 5:28 ). When they were crucifying the Lord, this very crowd said, “His blood be upon us, and our children.” Peter is not putting the blood on them; they put it on themselves, knowingly and willfully. They had said, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” They took that responsibility then, and now they begin to realize it. But there is a greater realization ahead of them.

Nations, like individuals, are responsible, and when they complete their rejection of the Spirit’s witness, as their rejection of our Lord himself, the doom and long exile of this favored people will commence with the destruction of Jerusalem and last until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

QUESTIONS 1. What is the theme of Act 3:1-5:42 ?

2. Why does the first persecution come from the Sadducees?

3. Who of the church was to the front in making this issue, and what the Scripture showing the issue?

4. What the public incident which forced the Sadducean rulers to take official notice of the movement, what the effect of the incident on the people, and what Peter’s reply to their amazement?

5. How did Peter improve the occasion, and what the analysis of his exhortation?

6. How did the people respond to this exhortation?

7. What may we say of this issue so made by Peter, and what in particular makes it so?

8. How did the Sadducees respond to the challenge?

9. How did they begin their inquisition?

10. What prophecy of our Lord was thus fulfilled?

11. What direction did our Lord give for such exigency?

12. How did Peter obey the direction of Christ?

13. What the effect of Peter’s boldness on the council?

14. What does this show as to the preacher’s power, and what heresy here pointed out?

15. What are the two extreme positions with regard to this subject? Illustrate.

16. What is the force of Peter’s answer? Give the Virginia illustration.

17. What may always be the challenge of the people of God? Illustrate.

18. What is the result of the deliberation of this inquisition before the Sanhedrin?

19. What was Peter’s great reply to their threatening?

20. Why did the Sadducees stop at a threat?

21. How did Peter and John and the church respond to the injunction not to preach, and to the threat if they should preach?

22. What prophecy was here fulfilled as indicated by their prayer?

23. What were the results to the church in this first issue with the Sadducees?

24, What illustrious man comes to the front and, as an example of this, what benevolence?

25. What awful judgment at this juncture, and what the three viewpoints of the case?

26. What was the effect of this judgment (1) on the church, (2) on the hypocrites, and (3) on outsiders?

27. What is notable in the apostles now, and to what prayer Isa 5:12 an answer?

28. In what did Peter’s power find a climax?

29. What sermon of the author here cited?

30. How did the Sadducees again take up the challenge, and what was the result?

31, What ended the Sadducean persecution, and how did it end?

32. Why the failure of all Sadducean opposition and persecution, and what illustration from our Lord’s time?

33. What the story of the Pope and the visitor, and what the important lesson of this incident in Arts to us?

34. What great example of homiletics in this connection, and how does it rank with his other recorded sermons?

35. What, according to Carlyle, are the prerequisites to a great oration, and how do the occasion and Peter measure up to these prerequisites in his event?

36. Give complete analysis of Peter’s sermon here.

37. What can you say of the earthquake of Act 4:31 ?

38. What false doctrine founded on Act 4:32 , and how does the author refute it?

39. What does the passage really prove, and how is this further evidenced?

40. Explain Act 4:4 .

41. Explain Act 5:28 .

42. What greater realization was just ahead of these Jews?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

Ver. 1. With Sapphira his wife ] Her name signifieth beautiful, or spacious. She might be so on the outside, as those apples of Sodom, the Egyptian temples, or Jewish sepulchres; but her heart was rotten, and not right with God. Hypocrites are called vipers, Mat 3:7 , which are outwardly specious, inwardly poisonous. The swan is white in feathers but of a black skin; and was therefore reputed unclean, and unsuitable for sacrifice.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1 11 .] THE HISTORY OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. This incident, though naturally connected with the end of the last chapter, forms an important independent narrative.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1 .] , , Neh 3:23 , or , Dan 1:6 , in LXX: also 1Ch 3:21 , al.= The cloud of God , or The mercy of God .

, perhaps from the Greek , sapphire, or from the Syriac , beautiful (Grot.).

The crime of these two is well described by Meyer: ‘By the sale of their field, and the bringing in of the money they in fact professed to give the whole price as a gift of brotherly love to the common stock: but their aim was to get for themselves the credit of holy love and zeal by one portion of the price, whereas they had selfishly kept back the other portion for themselves. They wished to serve two masters, but to appear to serve only One .’

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 5:1 . : in striking contrast to the unreserved self-sacrifice of Barnabas, St. Luke places the selfishness and hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira. It is in itself no small proof of the truth of the narrative, that the writer should not hesitate to introduce this episode side by side with his picture of the still unbroken love and fellowship of the Church. He makes no apology for the facts, but narrates them simply and without comment. written in W.H [168] (so Blass) ., prob. Hebrew = Hananiah= to whom Jehovah has been gracious (the Hebrew name of Shadrach, Dan 1:6 , LXX, Jer 28:1 , Tob 5:12 , (Song of the Three Children, ver. 66) (Lumby, but see also Wendt, note, in loco ). , so also W.H [169] , either from ( ., so here ., [170] *, Blass), a sapphire, or from the Aramaic , beautiful. The latter derivation is adopted by Blass ( Grammatik des N. G. , p. 8), and Winer-Schmiedel, p. 76. It is declined like , , Act 10:1 ; Act 12:2 , etc., in N.T., and so makes dative , Winer-Schmiedel, pp. 80, 93, and Blass, u. s. = , Act 5:3 : but may mean property of any kind. It is used in the singular several times in the LXX, as a possession, heritage, etc., Job 20:29 , Pro 12:27 ; Pro 31:16 , Wis 8:5 , Ecclus. 36:30, 51:21, etc.

[168] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[169] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[170] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Acts Chapter 5

Manifestation of grace provokes the adversary, and the flesh would gladly gain the highest credit to itself at the least possible cost. It was early to forget that God had just made the assembly His dwelling-place; and certainly the witnesses to His presence therein were many and plain. But the enemy knows how to lure the soul by degrees into fatal evil; and spiritual pretension is a direct road and a slippery as well as rapid descent.

Barnabas had been singled out for special mention as he was afterwards to be used and honoured of God in the front rank of His servants. Ananias follows, but his heart was not right with God: that moment of ‘great grace upon all’ was seized for his great deceit, with the aggravation of his wife knowing and taking part in it. How many a Christian woman has been the true helpmeet of her husband in timely warning and instant appeal, condemning any and every evil at the first buddings! How dreadful when the man and the woman aid one another to forget God and His gracious but holy presence! when they agree to dishonour the name of the Lord by lying pretensions to self-sacrificing devotedness!

‘But a certain man, Ananias by name, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession and reserved [part] of the price, his wife also being privy: and brought and laid a certain part at the feet of the apostles. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to reserve for thee of the price of the land? When it remained, did it not remain to thee; and when sold, was it not in thy power? How [is it] that thou conceivedst this thing in thy heart? Thou didst lie not to men but to God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down and expired, and great fear came upon all the hearers, and the younger [men] arose, swathed him, and carrying [him] out buried [him]’ (vers. 1 6).

Sin is aggravated by the position of the guilty, as is carefully shown in Lev. iv. The ruler is distinguished from one of the people, and the anointed priest involved far more serious consequences than both.

But there is another and yet more solemn criterion, the presence of God, and this according to His nature now fully revealed. In Israel it was Jehovah dwelling in the thick darkness, Who governed His people, around Him yet unable to draw near, the Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. Now it is, by virtue of the blood of Christ, Who has therefore entered once for all into the holies, having found eternal redemption. Therefore also is the Holy Ghost come down to constitute us God’s dwelling-place, His holy temple. If sin became exceeding sinful through the commandment, how abominable in the light of the cross! But therein God condemned sin, not only in its fruits but in its root, and this in Him Who became an offering for sin. Such was God’s work in sending His own Son, the Holy One yet made sin that we might become God’s righteousness in Him. The sins of the believer are blotted out and forgiven the evil nature which could not he forgiven is already condemned in His cross Who died for it; and He is risen, and we are in Him, freed from all condemnation, and living of His life Who is alive again for evermore. The Holy Ghost also is not only witness to us but power in us, and personally here to make good God’s presence.

Then, again, the dwelling of God is the true and full ground of the call to holiness. Even in Israel it was so: ‘Holiness becometh Thine house, O Jehovah, for ever’ (Psa 93:5 ). So shall they hereafter sing in truth of heart when the kingdom comes and Jehovah reigns. And thus, looking back not forward only, it had been when Israel had no more than a temporal redemption by divine power from Egypt, a type of the incomparably more blessed and permanent, yea eternal, redemption, which the Lord Jesus acquired by His blood. Even then, when the redemption was but the shadow of better things to come, the God of Israel manifested His presence on behalf, and in the midst, of His people. Now all is real; because Christ Who is the truth, came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The full result does not yet appear for the universe till He comes to reign in righteousness, after which shall be the new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. But meanwhile the mighty work of propitiation is not only accomplished but accepted, and the Spirit of truth is come down in person to effectuate the presence and dwelling of God here below in the assembly of the saints as His house.

Hence if the Book of Exodus, above all Books of the Bible, is in its first half the figure of redemption, its last half shows us the consequent dwelling, the tabernacle, of God in the midst of His people; and the ways of the people are regulated accordingly. ‘There I will meet with the children of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by My glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar. I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me in the priest’s office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God; and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God That brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them: I am Jehovah their God’ (Exo 29:43-46 ).

So it is in the church now. Holiness is imperative individually, for the Spirit of God dwells in each of us as saints purged by the blood of Jesus, alive from the dead, freed from sin and become bondmen to God, that we may have fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life. ‘What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you, Whom ye have of God? and ye are not your own, for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore with your body’ (1Co 6:19 , 1Co 6:20 ). But He dwells in the assembly also (1Co 3:16 , 1Co 3:17 ), and makes us collectively the living God’s temple, responsible as come out from unbelievers to be separate, and to touch not what is unclean. There God dwells; to such He is a Father. ‘Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every pollution of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’ (2Co 6:16-18 ; 2Co 7:1 ). Thus in every way, individual and corporate, holiness is grounded, not on law, but on what grace has wrought and given us through our Lord Jesus; and the Holy Spirit is present abidingly to make it good, or, if there be evil, to raise up a suited testimony against that which the cross has proved to be absolutely intolerable. In His children, in the church least of all, will God make allowance for iniquity. God is there in the power of the Holy Spirit to avenge the wrong done to His grace as being there and to His nature of which the Christian is made a partaker.

Ananias, then, comes forward seeking credit for a display of faith working by love, which the flesh, set on by Satan, sought to emulate without trust in God, nay, seeking to deceive Him too, as if He had no house on earth in which to dwell and manifest His power as well as grace. Part of the proceeds of his sold possessions he kept for himself, part he laid as the whole at the feet of the apostles. The Lord by His servant resents the sin and insult. ‘Ananias,’ said Peter, ‘why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to (deceive) the Holy Spirit and to reserve for thee of the price of the land? . . . Thou didst lie not to men but to God.’ What can more simply and withal more powerfully let us know their sense of God’s presence? Sin then blinded the eyes of the guilty disciple; in days not so far off unbelief stole the truth away from the church, which thereon set up its own bulwarks, rules, and functionaries, works of its own hands, its calves of gold, in forgetfulness both of Him Who is coming back from on high and of Him Who meanwhile is here to glorify the Son as the Father. There is no ground to suppose that the motive of Ananias was the hoped-for possession of spiritual gifts like Barnabas, or the coveted power to impart them as in Simon’s case (8: 19). It is an error to infer that thus his sin was indeed against the Holy Ghost. The truth of God is deeper than any mere product of human reasoning. It is the same verb () in verses 3 and 4, but with a different construction: with an accusative (3) in the sense of imposing on any by falsehood, with a dative (4) as addressing a lie to a person, here to God Himself in the person of the Spirit sent down from heaven.

God was in His holy temple (the old temple being now by the rejection of the Messiah no more than ‘their house’, the house of unbelieving Jews) and there one bearing the name of the Lord dared to lie to His face. It was no mistake of haste, but deceit with a selfish and hypocritical aim purposed in the heart, and it was so much the more heinous in presence of fresh and boundless grace on God’s part, and of its fruit in the unexampled self-abandonment of many saints before all. God of old sternly judged an Achan who coveted the accursed thing, and a Gehazi who enriched himself by a shameless prostitution of the prophet’s name. ‘Is it a time,’ said the indignant man of God, ‘to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants?’ (2Ki 5:26 ). So, though it be the day of grace, it is on this account all the more solemn in God’s eyes that one professedly a believer in Christ should expect his iniquity to pass muster in the house of His holiness.

On hearing the apostolic words Ananias fell down and expired; so that all that heard were overawed. The younger men that swathed and carried out his body to burial had not returned when, about three hours after, his wife entered, not knowing what was done, and Peter, drawing out from her the distinct evidence that she was privy to the imposture, said, ‘How [is it] that ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of [the] Lord?’ (ver. 9).

This is just what Satan desires and prompts, that those who are, or at least profess to be, the Lord’s should not believe that He is among them. To tempt Him is to doubt this in word or deed – to say in heart, Is He among us or not? How unworthy of those who ought best to know His presence, secured at infinite cost as the Christian at least should also know! How awful to think of the prevalence of this sin now, little felt or judged even by true children of God! So completely, in fact, have the saints in general lost sight of the presence and action of the Spirit in the assembly that they notoriously and periodically pray that He may be poured out afresh. They, of course, mean thereby little if anything more than an accession of comfort for believers, and a great increase in the conversion of sinners. But all the while they ignore His actual presence on earth, and seem quite unconscious of the deep slight put upon Him by shutting out His revealed and sovereign working for the glory of Christ in the midst of the gathered saints. They may be waking up to allow more of His free action in gospel work outside for man’s salvation; but as for His energy in the church for God’s glory and in subjection to His word, they will not hear of it, whatever it may have been, it is out of date and disorderly now! Alas I this is to make the church of man and not of God, though what is of His purpose of grace will last for ever.

But Peter added, to the convicted widow, ‘Behold, the feet of those that buried thy husband [are] at the door and shall carry thee out. Then she fell immediately at his feet and expired, and the young men coming in found her dead, and carrying [her] forth buried [her] by her husband’ (vers. 9, 10). An infliction from its repetition so unmistakably divine could not but make an immediate and still deeper impression; and we read that ‘great fear fell [came] upon all the assembly, and upon as many as heard these things’ (ver. 11). It was meant for warning to all within as well as without

This is me first distinct mention of the church or assembly. It is spoken of, not as if just inaugurated, but as a known and already existing body. The church began as a fact on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit (the promise of the Father, Whom Christ sent from the Father as the Father sent Him in the Son’s name) baptized all the saints into one body. There had been saints from Abel; now they in the Holy Spirit became one. In Act 2:47 it is well-nigh certain that the true words run that ‘the Lord was day by day adding together those that should be saved’, without calling them as yet the church, though of course such they were. The thing was there, not yet so named. Now, according to the words of the Lord in Mat 16:18 ; Mat 18:17 , they are thus entitled, when God was establishing in the gravest way the reality of His presence by the action of the Spirit Who dwells there, and had all power and promptness to avenge deliberate wrong to His nature and majesty done within; unless He would be a party consenting to His own dishonour.

The Lord seized the critical moment when Ananias and Sapphira thus sinned unto death, and a death so awe-inspiring, to put fresh and gracious honour on the Twelve. One of their number had just stood prominently before all as the vessel of divine power in judging deliberate and hypocritical iniquity, in which the offending pair had been consenting partners. Now it was according to His wisdom to manifest the normal flow of His goodness and compassion in honour of the Lord Jesus, and in a world ruined through sin and wretched under its dismal effects.

‘And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all of one accord in the porch of Solomon. And of the rest durst no man join them, but the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women; insomuch as even to carry out the sick into the streets and put [them] on beds and couches, that, as Peter came, at least his shadow might overshadow some one of them. And there also came together the multitude from the cities round about [?unto] Jerusalem bringing sick [persons] and [persons] troubled by unclean spirits; and they were healed every one’ (vers. 12-16).

This witness to the supremacy of the rejected Messiah now exalted to the right hand of God we are apt to forget, being so long accustomed to its absence, and, it may be, thinking too exclusively of His grace to us and too little of His glory. What mercy it is that keeps up that which is yet more precious, and even more profoundly wonderful, the unchanged efficacy of His blood, the new creation, union with Him, and the ever-abiding presence of the Holy Ghost in and with us on earth! But we ought not to be insensible to the blessed, even if partial, display of the testimony to His power over all the groaning creation, and those evil spirits who seduced man to his ruin into their own rebelliousness against God, nor should we ignore the humbling fact that such a display so soon faded away, as doubtless it was meet that it should. The God of all grace (and so now pre-eminently is God revealing Himself) would not stay such an answer on earth to Christ’s exaltation to the seat of divine power, were there not the wisest and most adequate reasons, not only on the side of His own moral glory, but because the continuance of signs and wonders would be an anomaly in His ways, and an injury rather than a blessing to the saints when the assembly fell more and more from the grace and truth which came by our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is evident that here as on other occasions the apostles were those above all distinguished by doing many signs and wonders. But plainly from Act 6:8 ; Act 8:6 , Act 8:7 , Act 8:13 , the power was in no way confined to those whom God set first in the church, for the martyr Stephen and the evangelist Philip were both remarkable in that way. Nor can there be an intelligent doubt, for the believer who reads 1Co 12 , that such sign-gifts might be distributed widely and apart from all public office; even as our Lord intimated in Mar 16:17 , Mar 16:18 , Mar 16:20 , for ‘those that believed’, not merely for certain prominent functionaries. Here, however, the mighty works were done by those in the front rank, nor were they done in a corner, but in all publicity, for they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch, of the rest no man daring to join them. And the moral effect was immense. On the one hand, the people magnified them; on the other, believers were more than ever added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. ‘Women’ had been emphatically mentioned in Act 1:14 , when the disciples, however closely found together, were only so many individuals cleaving to the Lord in faith, and giving themselves up with one accord to continual prayer, before the uniting power of the one Spirit sent down from heaven baptized all into one body. The prophecy of Joel applied to the Pentecostal gift supposes the common share women were to have in the promise of the Father, and its mighty consequence (Act 2:17 , Act 2:18 ); and now we hear ‘women’ again named explicitly among the multitudes of believers added to the Lord.

Among the signs and wonders a very special feature is pointed out in ver. 15; their bringing out the sick into the streets and putting them on beds and couches that the mere shadow of Peter as he came along might overshadow some one of them. So did the abundant goodness of God by man in honour of Jesus fill men’s hearts with confident expectation. Nor do we hear of disappointment. On the contrary we are told that the multitude also of the cities round about Jerusalem flocked thither, bringing sick people and those troubled by unclean spirits; and healing was vouchsafed to them all. How wondrous the virtue of that Name which thus unfailingly invested His servants with power superior to every demand over evil seen or unseen!

Again come forward the Sadducean party. For liberalism is no more friendly to the truth than traditionalism. And who can wonder? Their citadel had been stormed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. They felt themselves assailed and pursued in the open field by the proclamation of the gospel, and by the miraculous powers which magnified the Name of the crucified but now risen Messiah.

‘And the high priest rising up, and all those that were with him, which is [the] sect of the Sadducees, were filled with wrath, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward. But an angel of [the] Lord by night opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said, Go and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this Life’ (vers. 17-20).

During the ministry of the Lord Jesus here below the Pharisees had been His chief adversaries: their self-righteousness, unrighteousness, zealously held fast tradition; and, veiled by religious forms, waged constant warfare against the Righteous One; and the more, as He was ever the expression of God’s grace and truth to those who owned their true condition of guilt and ruin before God. When He presented Himself as Messiah for the last time to the unbelieving people, and was going, as He well knew, to death, not in rejection only but for atonement, all came out in unambiguous opposition, whatever the pretence, chief priests and elders, Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, coming to judge Him, but in result to be themselves judged by the word. Now after He rose from the dead those who said there is no resurrection nor angel nor spirit were naturally the most embittered, notwithstanding their usual self-complacency and wish to pose as the mildest of the people.

But man never knows himself apart from Christ, any more than he thinks or feels rightly about God. The revealed truth detects and lays him bare in his departure from God; and this is so much the more intolerable as he has a religious position to maintain. Hence the excessive anger of the Sadducean high priest and his party at this time. Their boasted liberty of conscience is only for the different forms of error. The truth of God is ever unwelcome, and those who preach it are mere troublers to be punished without hesitation. They ‘laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in public ward.’

But the God Who had acted in the assembly with a stroke which slew the guilty husband and wife was not wanting now, and a providential messenger of His power was sent to deliver His faithful servants. ‘An angel of [the] Lord by night opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said, Go and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this Life.’

The intervention then was as sensible as it was striking. God is marking in this chapter the reality and the varied forms of His action for His assembly and those members of it in particular who are charged with His word and who rouse most the animosity of the foe. Angelic care has in no wise disappeared for His servants, though there is no such display of power as of old, any more than the presence and energy of the Spirit within the assembly. It is our fleshly activity, and our lack of spirituality, which hinder. We grieve the Spirit by our self-confidence and worldly wisdom, and we fail to discern the wonderful ways in which God delivers. Were our eyes more truly opened of the Lord we should see that, when beset with seemingly countless and overwhelming adversaries, they that be with us, if really with and for Christ, are more than they that be with them. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out for service on account of those that shall inherit salvation?

Here no doubt there could be no mistake about the matter; for it was no question of men escaping by strength and skill or any earthly means, but of an angel opening the doors of the prison by night, leading them out, and commanding them to speak in the temple to the people all the words of this Life. The source of the deliverance was as plain as the commission to speak. The religious chiefs were in flat opposition to the God of all grace Who would have men that believed through grace to be His chosen vessels in proclaiming all the words of this Life in Christ the Lord. For there is no other Name of salvation given among men, nor any other way than the Son to the Father. Life in Him, remission of sins through His blood, the gift of the Holy Spirit, such are the first blessings which the gospel announces to every soul that believes in Jesus. And God will have it go forth freely and fully, let men say or do as they may. But who shall measure the guilt of thus rejecting every testimony from God, not only despising the message of grace, but forbidding and imprisoning the messengers, that the mercy and truth of God in so speaking to man may never reach his ears? Who can wonder that their judgment slumbereth not? The higher the estate, the deeper the fall.

But God, Who knows best that His words are the seed of everlasting life, will not have the proud and evil will of man to intercept His message of good. He therefore, as in a day of wonders, interfered by an angel to do extraordinarily that which He could have accomplished by more ordinary means, if so it had pleased Him. But the occasion itself then was beyond all that is usual; and it was according to His wisdom that, as His power had been shown judicially within the assembly, and in healing grace by the special envoys of the Lord Jesus, so also with marked superiority over the hostile will of man and authority of the world by the angelic deliverance from the prison. The words of this Life must be spoken at His command that souls might hear and live. One can understand how the courage of faith would be confirmed and increased in His servants by an act so signal; and what a testimony it ought to have been to the consciences of all, especially to the sect of the Sadducees! But unbelief is as hard and as blind towards God, as it is credulous of its own vagaries, and bent on its own will, even with the knell of perdition sounding in its ears.

The apostles, thus miraculously brought out of prison, acted forthwith on the message to the confusion of the enemy.

‘And when they heard, they entered about dawn into the temple and were teaching. And when the high priest arrived and those with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the sons of Israel, and sent unto the jail to have them brought. But the officers that arrived did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, saying, We found the jail shut in all security and the keepers standing at the doors, but on opening we found no one within. And when both [the priest and]1 the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were utterly perplexed about them whereto this would come. And there arrived one and reported to them, Behold, the men whom ye put in the prison are in the temple standing and teaching the people. Then the captain went away with the officers, and brought them, not with violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And having brought they set them in the council, and the high priest asked them saying, We strictly charged you not to teach on [in] this name; and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and purpose to bring upon us the blood of this man. And in answer Peter and the apostles said, Obedience must be to God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus Whom ye slew by hanging on a tree: Him God exalted with His right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. And we are [His]2 witnesses of these things [lit. words], and the Holy Spirit Whom God gave to those that obey Him’ (vers. 21-32).

1 The more ancient MSS. and versions reject ‘the priest and’ as in the Received Text. But while one can readily understand the omission from ignorance of the phrase, it is hard to see how some good copies, as well as a great many, accepted it unless genuine. ‘Proclivi lectioni praestat ardua’ is an acknowledged maxim in such matters. The fact is however, that in the Old Testament the use of ‘the priest’ for ‘the high priest’ is common. See Exo 29:30 ; Exo 35:19 , Exo 38:21 Lev 4:5 , Lev 4:6 , Lev 4:7 , Lev 4:10 , Lev 4:16 ; Lev 6:22 ; Lev 13:2 ; Lev 16:32 ; Lev 21:21 , Num 3:6 , Num 3:32 ; Num 4:16 , Num 4:28 , Num 4:33 ; Num 7:8 , Num 16:37 , Num 16:39 , Num 18:28 ; Num 25:7 , Num 25:11 ; Num 26:1 , Num 26:3 , Num 26:63 ; Num 27:2 , Num 27:19 , Num 27:21 , Num 27:22 , Num 31:6 , Num 31:12 , Num 31:13 , Num 31:21 , Num 31:26 , Num 31:29 , Num 31:31 , Num 31:41 , Num 31:51 , Num 31:54 ; Num 32:2 , Num 32:28 ; Num 33:38 ; Num 34:17 . Nor is it only in the books of Moses that we find the use of ‘priest thus frequently for ‘high priest’, for so it is in Joshua 14, 17, 19, 21, 22; so in 1 & 2 Sam.; 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chr. So the Lord is predicted in Psa 110 .; Zec 6 . We are not driven, as Krebs would seem to have supposed, to the Apocrypha (1 Macc. 15: 1, 2), though the usage is there, and in Josephus (A. vi. 12, 1), to whom he refers. In the New Testament itself compare Heb 5:6 , and (not to speak of Heb 7:5 ) Heb 7:3 , Heb 7:11 , Heb 7:15 , Heb 7:17 , Heb 7:21 ; Heb 8:4 ; Heb 10:21 .

2 The greater copies exclude ‘His’; but the strange reading of B rather strengthens EHP and the mass in holding to it.

In the temple there was no hindrance to instruction in the word of God, the Old Testament scriptures; and as yet none others were written. The apostles therefore used their liberty to teach, as their Master had done before (Mat 21:23-28 ; Mar 11:27 ; Luk 20 ; Luk 21:37 , Luk 21:38 ; Joh 7:14 , Joh 7:28 , Joh 7:37 ; Joh 8:2-59 ; Joh 10:23-39 ). So it was too in the synagogues; and the apostles were in no way disposed to forego the opportunity of expounding the scriptures to the people, as we see in the history of Paul especially. There they were teaching at break of day; they were obedient, and their hearts in the work.

But the adversaries were not slack on their side. ‘And when the high priest arrived and those with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the sons of Israel, and sent unto the jail to have them brought But the officers that arrived did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, saying, We found the jail shut in all security, and the keepers standing at the doors, but on opening we found no one within.’ Thus the Sanhedrim met in due form, and in all the confidence of the highest religious authority. But the prisoners were no longer in custody; and, what was the most surprising news of all, without violence from within or from without. The building was found by the officials in all security, the keepers on guard at the doors, but not a prisoner was there.

‘And when both the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were utterly perplexed about them whereto this would come.’ Conscience could not but whisper, the more inexplicable to them it might seem. Strange things had Jerusalem seen and heard: not only when the Christ was here, but more widely and wonderfully since He died, and, as the disciples affirmed, rose and went to heaven. That God had somehow brought out of prison the apostles, whom Jewish authority had put in, was rather in keeping with all that had been of late transpiring in their midst in Solomon’s porch and elsewhere. But unbelief is the rebellion of the heart and may work most proudly in the face of the fullest testimony, without one solid ground of objection or a reasonable excuse. And as it is the heart that is in question, neither age nor sex, neither knowledge nor ignorance, exempts a single person from its poisonous activity. Indeed an active or subtle mind, however much furnished and exercised only gives the larger means and scope for its evil opposition to God. ‘Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.’ ‘For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’ ‘He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.’ Men dread consequences. Faith is subject to God’s word, and seeks to please Him. The Jewish rulers were afraid of the issues now. They had no thought of God in the unseen light of eternity.

‘And there arrived one and reported, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are in the temple standing and teaching the people.’ God took care to give publicity to the defeat of the guilty people in the hour of their seeming power over His servants. Had the council before charged and threatened them strictly not to speak at all nor teach on (in) the name of Jesus? Had they now, filled with envy, put them in the public prison? God had by an angel brought them out from doors ever so secured and guards vigilant as they might be; and there they were in the temple standing and teaching the people. ‘Then the captain went away with the officers and brought them, not with violence, for they feared the people lest they should be stoned.’ How comforting to faith the witness of the weak strong, and of the strong weak! Hardened as the captain and the officers might be, they were overawed, so that they abstained from violence even to the escaped prisoners; and not these but those feared lest they should be stoned. But it was man they dreaded, not God. The apostles had God before their eyes, the only true deliverance from the fear of man.

‘And having brought they set them in the council; and the high priest asked them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach on [in] this name, and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and purpose to bring upon us the blood of this man.’ They assuredly had no wish for or thought of accentuating their own powerlessness in presence of a few poor and weak and ignorant Galileans. Yet they could not conceal from themselves any more than from others that their stern commands were impotent, and that the teaching of the apostles was everywhere prevalent in the city, with the blood of Him Whom they dreaded to name weighing heavily and increasingly on their consciences. But a little while ago Pilate had vainly washed his hands before the multitude, as if he could thus rid himself of his dark blot in delivering Jesus to their will; and then answered all the people, His blood be on us and on our children; and the priests, yea the chief priests, pleaded against the Holy Sufferer, instead of interceding for the Guiltless. Now are they the first to deprecate and feel the guilt of that blood on their own heads, and to shrink from its intolerable burden, and (save to faith) its irrevocable curse. There was, however, no uprightness of conscience: had there been, they would have found a sure and immediate and everlasting resource in the purging efficacy of that blood.

What had the boldest of the apostles proved? Were they ignorant of his denying his Master? Yet was he soon after restored in soul so completely as to be able calmly and earnestly without a blush to tax the people with denying the Holy One and the Just and desiring a murderer to be granted to them! Such is the virtue of Him Who came by water and blood: life is in Him only. So testifies the Holy Spirit, and He is the truth. But what did the Sanhedrim care for the truth, especially from the lips of unlearned and ignorant men in reproof of all the erudition and dignified office in Israel?

Peter and John had before this asked, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken to you rather than to God, judge ye (Act 4:19 , Act 4:20 ). Now they all join Peter in his still firmer reply, ‘Obedience must be to God rather than men.’ This is the great practical principle of faith, as it was the uniform characteristic of Christ in all perfection here below. ‘Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God’: not miracles, not doing good, not teaching, not zeal, so much as unqualified and unfailing obedience rendered to God. Yet was Jesus a man approved of God unto them by powers and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in their midst beyond past example no less than present doubt. Yet was He anointed with the Holy Spirit and went about doing good, and healing all oppressed with the devil. The people too were astonished at His teaching, and all bare Him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth, and the very officers sent to apprehend Him declared with truth, Never man spake like this man. And for burning jealousy for the Father’s glory His disciples could not but be reminded that it was written, ‘The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up.’ But all these instances had their fit seasons. Obedience was always there, as unfaltering as constant, as lowly as perfect.

Nor is there any principle so essential for the Christian. He is sanctified of the Spirit unto Christ’s obedience as well as to the sprinkling of His blood (as the gospel is for faith-obedience, in contrast with enforcement of law), and his soul is purified by obeying the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, for God chose him to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and faith of the truth. Hence, though he may have sometimes to wait on God for light, obedience is the invariable place and duty of the believer. It is never a question of his rights; he is called to obey. He is to be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to rulers as sent by him, free though not having his freedom for a cloak of malice but as God’s bondman.

Hence, if collision come between God’s word and the ruler’s requirement, the believer’s path is clear: God must be obeyed, but in suffering perhaps, not resistance to authority. He is always to obey, though in some cases it may be God rather than men. Nothing is so humble, nothing so firm. Naturally the believer might be feeble and timid; obedience by grace gives strength and courage. He might be self-confident and unyielding; obedience gives distrust in self and meekness in doing God’s will. ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever’; even as sin is self-will or lawlessness, and its end judgment and perdition. Therefore is obedience not only an inalienable duty, but the true pathway of power, and the sure means of extrication from every snare of the enemy. So the blessed Lord defeated Satan, and so the apostles now lay bare the tremendous fact that the Jewish heads and people were as wholly beguiled by Satan, as they themselves were wholly in simple-hearted subjection to God. Once the elect nation had God in the world, as they had the Messiah in hope. Now that they had rejected their Messiah, they were not only without God like the Gentiles but the proved adversaries of God. They were only ‘men’ like others, and ‘obedience must be to God rather than men.’

This Peter proceeds to demonstrate in a few plain, pointed, irrefragable words. ‘The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew by hanging on a tree: Him God exalted with His right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. And we are [His] witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost Whom God gave to those that obey Him.’ Here the proof is short and unanswerable, the antagonism to the God of Israel in chiefs and people beyond question. The God of their fathers (how unlike them the children!) raised up Jesus Whom ye slew (and with the deepest ignominy too) by hanging on a tree. Here, it is no longer the ambiguous word , but the more determinate , not merely raising Him up as a living Messiah on earth, as in Act 3:22 , Act 3:26 ; Act 7 : (18), 37; Act 13:33 , but waking Him up after death. Nor was resurrection all: for God exalted Him (not ‘to’ as in Webster and Wilkinson, but) by His right hand (as Peter had preached, Act 2:33 , in fulfilment of the undeniably Messianic Psa 110 .). For in what relation to them did He take His place in heaven? As Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. The door of grace was still open. God was waiting to be gracious to His people though guilty of the great transgression; and He could afford by that blood to free them even from their guilt in shedding it. Surely Christ will appear in judgment one day. Meanwhile He is announced as Leader and Saviour to give Israel just what they wanted – repentance and remission of sins.

There was testimony more than adequate – abundant: ‘And we are [His] witnesses of these things [or, words], and the Holy Spirit Whom God gave to those that obey Him.’ Compare the Lord’s own words in Joh 15:26 , Joh 15:27 . ‘But when the Comforter is come Whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth Which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye also bear witness, because ye are with Me from the beginning.’

The Holy Spirit is not only their power of duly remembering the past, but is Himself the Witness of the glory of Christ in heaven. And this blessed Spirit, Who wrought mightily in the apostles and others set high in the assembly, is given of God to those who submit to the authority of the heavenly Leader. Such is the full force of the peculiar word ‘obey’ (peiqarcevw) employed in verse 32. The distinct personality of the divine Spirit is as carefully guarded here as in ver. 3, though in a different way.

One can hardly conceive an answer more direct than this of the apostles. Israelitish authority was for them a judged system, for were the chiefs not convicted of deadly opposition to the God of their fathers? They might again and again command the apostles to be silent about Him Whom they had hanged, though God had sent Him as Leader and Saviour; nor was it their testimony only, but that of the Holy Spirit also, Whom the Jews could not pretend to have. How awful and terrible their position!

‘And when they heard, they were cut to the heart [lit., sawn asunder] and took counsel1 to slay them’ (ver. 33). It is always dangerous to oppose the truth, and the more so in proportion to the importance of that in question. Here it was the foundation of all, and so estimated by those whom the Lord called to proclaim it, and as the adversaries were resolved to reject the testimony, they all naturally betook themselves to designs of blood. Convicted yet rebellious, and abhorring the witnesses whom they could not gainsay, they were chagrined to the utmost, and consulted to slay those before them. No compunction, still less self-judgment, as in Act 2 , but they were torn with rage.

1 DHP and the bulk of cursives, the Vulgate, Syriac Versions, et al., Lachmann, Tregelles, et al., prefer (‘were minded’) with ABC, et al. (the addition or omission of a syllable in the middle, easily made, is all the difference between the readings).

Then the God, Who by His angel had just brought His exposed servants out of prison, was pleased to shield them from these more and more guilty murderers, and wrought after another sort of providential interference not now angelic but human. The hearts of all are in His keeping.

‘But there stood up one in the council, a Pharisee, by name Gamaliel, a law-teacher, in honour with all the people, and commanded to put the men [or, apostles] out a little while, and said unto them, Ye men of Israel [or, Israelites], take heed to yourselves as to these men what ye are about to do. For before these days rose up Theudas, saying that he himself was somebody, with whom a number of men, about four hundred, took sides; who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him (this one) rose up Judas the Galilean, in the days of the census, and drew into revolt people after him, and he perished and all as many as obeyed him were scattered abroad. And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or if this work be of men, it will be overthrown, but if it is of God, ye will not be [or are not] able to overthrow them2 lest ye be found [even] fighting against God’ (vers. 34-39).

2 ABCcorr. DE, at least a dozen cursives, the later Syriac et al., as against (‘it’) C p.m. HP, most cursives, versions, et al.

From such a quarter these words of sobriety, as opposed to Sadducean violence, were irresistible. There seems no just reason to doubt that Gamaliel is the same celebrated man, son of Rabbi Simeon, grandson of the once famous Hillel; he presided over the Sanhedrim during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius; his son succeeded to the same chief place, and perished during the siege of Jerusalem. Under Gamaliel, we are told in Act 22:3 , Paul studied the law, of which he was styled ‘the glory’, as he was the first to bear the title of Rabban. That he was a Christian publicly, or even secretly, is only the assertion of unscrupulous legendmongers. Scripture gives us not only a perfectly reliable but a most graphic account of the man and of his character, as well as of the way in which he was providentially used at this critical moment.

For his intervention entirely fits in with the entire context, where God is tracing for our instruction how He watches over His own on earth for His glory. There was the manifestation of the Spirit’s presence where they were all assembled and all filled with Him (Act 4:31 ), lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, living to the forgetfulness of all selfish interests, whilst the apostles with great power testified of the Lord’s resurrection (Act 4:32-37 ). Then follows the display of the energy of the Holy Ghost in judgment of hypocritical deception and covetousness within (Act 5:1-11 ), but along with it the renewed activity of miraculous power through the apostles in grace (vers. 12-16). Next, the Jews growingly oppose themselves to the testimony of Christ, but their measures are manifestly frustrated by divine power through the angel which set free the prisoners on their mission of grace and truth (vers. 17-25). Lastly, when the exasperated will of men would proceed to deeds of blood, God interferes in the ordinary way of His providence to protect His faithful servants by a grave and wise man even in the enemy’s camp. The voice of moderation and wisdom, though only natural, prevailed over the rash impulses of pride and passion intermingled with fear. God would still provide a further space for truth to awaken consciences and win hearts among His ancient people, guilty though they were. It was the day of grace, when He would save to the praise of the Lord Jesus. ‘Ye Israelites take heed to yourselves as to these men what things ye are about to do’ (ver. 35)

Of Theudas, who is in the first instance named by Gamaliel, we know no more than Luke records. ‘For before these days rose up Theudas, saying that he himself was somebody, with whom a number of men, about four hundred took sides, who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to nothing’ (ver. 36). What less likely than that the Theudas, who, according to Josephus, appeared at least a dozen years after Gamaliel’s speech in the fourth year of Claudius (A.D. 44), can have been so seriously misplaced even by an historian abounding in inaccuracies, as all competent men acknowledge? If Luke had been only an ordinary godly Christian, is it conceivable that he would put into the mouth of a prominent and respected Jew like Gamaliel a falsehood so egregious as antedating the story of Theudas? If he be an inspired writer, it is needless to assert his immaculate exactness. God Who knows all and cannot lie is the true source of inspiration, whoever may be the instrument. The fact is that, on the one hand, the historical accuracy, as tested by the minutest shades of knowledge in the varying conditions and circumstances of which Luke writes freely in his Gospel, and even more amply in this Book of the Acts, is too well known generally by the most competent to need proof here; and, on the other, the name of Theudas1 was too common (cf. Cicero Ad Fam. vi. 10, ed. Orell. iii. 41; Galeni Opp. xiii. 925, ed. K?hn) to provoke the least well-grounded surprise that more than one so called could rise up among the many insurgent chiefs who agitated the Jews either before or since the death of Herod the Great. Josephus himself alludes to many, of whom he names but three, the Theudas, whose defeat by Fadus he places a dozen years later, seems to have had a far larger following than the 400 men of whom our evangelist writes.

1 Abp. Ussher (Works x. 484) identifies the Theudas of Act 5:36 with one of those called Judas in the days of Archelaus. ‘Cum vero Hebraeorum Yehudah fuerit Syrorum Thudah. indeque Judas et Thaddaeus, multoque magis Theudas idem plane nomen extiterit: non alius videtur fuisse Judas hic quam Theudas ille de quo Gamaliel dixit . . .’

To the believer it is certain that the revolt of Judas the Galilean was subsequent to that of the Theudas of whom Gamaliel spoke. Josephus entirely agrees with the Acts that it was in the time of the census under Quirinus, A.D. 6 (Antt. xviii. sub. init.). And it is remarkable that the Jewish historian, though describing him there as a Gaulonite of the city of Gamala, subsequently (6) speaks of him, just as Gamaliel does in our chapter, as ‘the Galilean Judas’. Had this later mention been withheld, the impugners of revelation would have become loud in decrying Luke as they are absurd in their disposition to treat Josephus as infallible. But short as is the inspired report of Gamaliel’s speech, we have strikingly accurate information of Judas perishing, as to which the historian is silent, and of the mere but thorough scattering of his most numerous supporters, who did not come to naught like Theudas, but again and again reappeared till the last and for a time successful effort terminated in the death of his younger son, Menahem, A.D. 66. ‘After him rose up Judas the Galilean in the days of the census, and drew into revolt people after him, and he perished, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered abroad’ (ver. 37). Whether Origen (Homil. in Luc. xxv.) had authority to say that this Judas really pretended to be Messiah may be doubtful; but he drew his vast crowds with the cry, ‘We have God as our only Leader and Lord.’ The uprising was fanatical as well as revolutionary. But how did it end? pleaded Gamaliel: a question unanswerable.

Then follows his advice of patient waiting for results. ‘And now I say to you, Refrain from those men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or if this work be of men, it will be overthrown, but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them, lest ye be found also For, even] fighting against God’ (vers. 38, 39). It was the form of toleration which a grave Jew might feel, impressed with recent facts, the character of the accused, and the state of public opinion. But there is far more reference to the issue under God than in the modern doctrine of toleration, which is in general a mere homage to the rights of man, ignoring God and the truth. He may have felt that persecution is a sorry means of subverting error or maintaining truth. Whatever the value or the motives of his judgment, it commended itself to the council, and saved the apostles from a death that seemed imminent.

Perhaps it may not be amiss here to give a specimen of the famous John Calvin’s skill in handling the word of God. In his comment on the passage he first of all shows little favour to the sober speech with which Gamaliel swayed the council and extinguished the fiery zeal of those inclined to extremities. ‘But if any one weigh all duly, his opinion is unworthy of a prudent man. I know indeed that by many it is held as an oracle; but that they judge badly appears with sufficient clearness even from this, because in such a way one must abstain from all punishments, neither were any wickedness to be corrected longer: yea, one must refuse all helps of life, which not even for one moment is it in our disposal to prolong. Both things indeed are said truly: what is of God cannot be destroyed by any efforts of men; what is of men is too weak to stand. But it is a bad inference that meanwhile we must do nothing. Rather should we see what God enjoins: and His will is that wickedness be restrained by us’ (I. Calvani Opp. vi. in loc. Amstel. 1667).

Here breaks out the inflexible rigour which insisted on the burning of the unhappy Servetus, and the excessive punishment of others. Their evil doctrines are not questioned; but what have servants of Christ to do with measures of the kind? We have not so learned Him. The church has no doubt its own responsibility in the spiritual domain; as the world in what pertains to this life. Calvin has confounded all this in the opinion which censures Gamaliel, who meant nothing less than to deny the duty of the powers that be, but rightly urged that men should await the manifestation of that which was doubtful, instead of yielding to the hasty measures of passion and prejudice. To dissuade from extreme violence where the work might prove to be of God was certainly wiser than punishing to the utmost where they knew of no adequate reason. Calvin’s logic seems as precarious as his confusion is evident of things spiritual and worldly. But this is not so extraordinary as his judgment that when Luke says, ‘After him [Theudas] rose up Judas’, he does not mark the order of time, as if Judas were the latter, that Gamaliel brought in his two examples promiscuously ‘in disregard to time’, and that ‘after’ means no more than ‘besides’ or ‘moreover’!1 He had said before, ‘If we credit Josephus, Gamaliel here inverts the true series of history.’ Not so; unless we assume there could be only one insurrectionary Theudas. Now Josephus tells us of four men named Judas in ten years, who broke out in rebellion, and of three named Simon in forty years, and he in no way professes to name all, but on the contrary implies many more as unnamed. The assumption of Calvin is anything but rational and certainly fails in reverence.

1 It is true that Calvin might have pleaded the example of Eusebius (H.E. i. 5; ii. 11) for the same bad preference of a worldly to an inspired historian: so early, so inveterate, is the working of the evil heart of unbelief, and this in men of reputation. Even Th. de B?ze seems to be ashamed of all this, and certainly scouts the view of his predecessor as unfounded, though he speaks of Eusebius rather than of Calvin.

As usual, one wrong step leads to many. For Calvin is led thereby into the truly absurd consequence that, if we reckon the time, we shall find that it was at least twelve years since the death of Christ before the apostles were beaten! This blundering computation is founded entirely on confounding the Theudas of Gamaliel’s speech with him who, as Josephus tells us, was dealt with by Cuspius Fadus in the reign of Claudius. ‘Therefore that space of time of which I spoke is complete, and so the more excellent the constancy of the apostles, who, though ill-requited for the long pains they endured, are in no way discouraged, nor cease to hold the even tenor of their way.’ Calvin was a great and good man, I doubt not; but the more striking and instructive is the lesson of boldness and folly when a man, no matter who, abandons the sure meaning of the written word for his own reasoning, which in such a case will ever betray its weak and worthless, not to say presumptuous, character. For what is man when he lifts up his voice against God? We need not dwell on other remarks of the commentator, which let out singular unfairness towards Gamaliel, as there is no desire to defend the latter nor expose the former beyond that measure which seems to be profitable for the reader. But I give his actual words: – ‘Ergo conficitur illud quod dixi temporis spatium. Quo praestantior fuit Apostolorum constantia, qui quum post diuturnos labores obitos tam indignam mercedem reportent, non tamen franguntur, neque desinunt cursum suum persequi.’

‘And to him they yielded, and, having called the apostles, they beat and charged [them] not to speak in [lit. on] the name of Jesus, and let them go. They therefore went their way from [the] presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to be dishonoured for the Name.1 And every day in the temple and at home they ceased not to teach and preach that the Christ [is] Jesus’2 (vers. 40 42).

1 E and many other copies add ‘of the Lord Jesus’, as others simply ‘of Jesus’, or ‘of Christ’, or ‘of Him’, which last is in the Received Text.

2 The Received Text has ‘Jesus the Christ’, , HP, et al., not as in AB and very many more.

Thus, though plucked from death, the apostles suffered the indignity of stripes at the hands of Jews, as Paul was afterwards to experience at least five times. ‘The unjust man knoweth no shame.’ If the Roman judge scourged the Lord of glory, the disciples were not above their Master, and must bear from Jew or Gentile to be treated as wicked men worthy to be beaten, Deu 25:2 . Doubtless it was for their alleged disobedience; and they are dismissed with a fresh command not to speak in the name of Jesus. How senseless is the will of unbelief! Impossible for one who knew His glory and His grace to be silent! God is concerned in such testimony supremely, and not man only or chiefly because he is otherwise lost for ever. And what is due to Him Who so humbled Himself, and suffered for our sins, and glorified God as nothing else could? ‘They therefore went their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to be dishonoured for the Name.’ Who can doubt the deep and divinely-sprung joy of hearts that answered in their little measure to Him Whose delight is in His Son above all? What an impulse, not discouragement, to their testimony ‘in the temple’ to all comers (for of course, no proper assemblies would have been permitted there), ‘and at home’ where the saints broke bread, prayed, edified one another, and the like! But everywhere and every day there was but one theme: teaching or evangelizing, it was Jesus as the Christ.

If the chosen people were blind to the Messiah, if they despised Jehovah the Saviour when here, and crucified Him according to the prophets and His own word, it was the more incumbent on those who believed the report of divine grace to bear witness persistently, in love to their unbelieving persecutors, and in care for such of the lost sheep of Israel as were now saved by faith. And this the apostles did with a zeal not to be put down by prison, scourge, or death itself, as we shall see in due time. And God would in honour of His Son awaken others to imitate them as they imitated Christ.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act 5:1-6

1But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2and 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. 3But Peter said, “Ananias, why had Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4While 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.” 5And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. 6The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

Act 5:1 “Ananias” The full Hebrew name would have been Hananiah, which means “YHWH has graciously given” or “YHWH is gracious” (BDB 337).

Sapphira” This was Ananias’ wife. The name in Aramaic means “beautiful.” They were both believers.

Act 5:2 kept back” This same rare verb (nosphizomai) is used in the Septuagint (LXX) of Jos 7:1 to describe the sin of Achan. F. F. Bruce, in his commentary on Acts (NIC) has made the comment that Ananias was to the early church what Achan was to the Conquest. This sin had the potential of hurting the entire church. This term is also used in Tit 2:10 of slaves stealing from their masters.

“bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet” This mimics what Barnabas did in Act 4:37. This couple had the freedom to sell or not to sell their personal property (cf. Act 5:4). They had the freedom to give some or all of it to the Lord’s work. They did not have the right to give part, but claim they gave all. Their motives and duplicitous actions revealed their heart (cf. Act 5:4 c; Luk 21:14). God looks at the heart (cf. 1Sa 16:7; 1Ki 8:39; 1Ch 28:9; Pro 21:2; Jer 17:10; Luk 16:15; Act 1:24; Rom 8:27).

Act 5:3 “Satan. . .Holy Spirit” This shows the presence of the two spiritual forces which are active in our world and in our lives. In Eph 2:2-3 (cf. James 4) are listed the three enemies of post-Genesis humanity:

1. the fallen world system

2. a personal tempter

3. our fallen nature

SPECIAL TOPIC: SATAN

SPECIAL TOPIC: PERSONAL EVIL

“filled” This is the same word used of the Spirit (cf. Eph 5:18). Filling requires cooperation! We are filled with something (see full note at Act 5:17)! Satan is involved, but we are responsible (cf. Luk 22:3-6). I recommend the book Three Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare, by Clinton E. Arnold. Surprisingly there is continuing satanic influence in the lives of believers (cf. Eph 6:10-19; 1Jn 5:18-19). See fuller notes at Act 2:4; Act 3:10.

This phrase (i.e., filled your heart”) may be a Hebrew idiom (cf. Est 7:5; Ecc 8:11; Ecc 9:3). Many scholars assume an Aramaic original to the early chapters of Acts.

“to lie to the Holy Spirit” They lied to Peter and the church, but in reality they lied to the Spirit. Theologically this is very similar to Jesus asking Paul on the road to Damascus, “Why are you persecuting Me?” (cf. Act 9:4). Paul was persecuting individual believers, but Jesus took it personally, as does the Spirit here. This should be a word of warning to modern believers.

Act 5:4 This verse has two questions that expect “yes” answers. This is a grammatical feature, not an interpretive issue.

“You have not lied to men but to God” It was not that they kept part of the money, but that they lied to make themselves look spiritual. Notice that even a kind, generous act, which is done with a bad motive, is a sin (cf. Rom 14:23 c). Notice that the Holy Spirit mentioned in Act 5:3 here is called God.

Act 5:5 “fell down and breathed his last” In the ancient world one’s last breath was evidence that the spirit of the person had left (cf. Jgds. Act 4:2; Eze 21:7 in the LXX). This rare term is found in the NT only in Acts (cf. Act 5:4; Act 5:10; Act 12:23). This is an example of temporal judgment. This is similar to God’s judgment on Aaron’s sons in Leviticus 10. Sin is serious to God. It cost a life (cf. 2Ki 14:6; Eze 18:4; Eze 18:20).

“a great fear came over all” This possibly was the purpose of this temporal judgment. This would be analogous to the OT deaths of Nadab and Abihu of Leviticus 10 and Uzzah of 2 Samuel 6. Based on 1Co 11:30; Jas 5:20; and 1Jn 5:16-17, it is possible to assume that some sins by believers result in an early death. It is hard to keep the balance between the holiness of God (transcendence) and Fatherhood of God (immanence).

Act 5:6 “they buried him” Jews of the first century did not practice embalming (they still do not), probably because of Gen 3:19 (cf. Psa 103:14; Psa 104:29). A person had to be buried quickly, usually within one day.

Because of the offense there was no memorial service or other Christian burial rites.

SPECIAL TOPIC: BURIAL PRACTICES

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

certain. App-123.

man. App-123.

named = by name.

Ananias. Ananias and Sapphira, names of grace and beauty attached to persons whose principles were bad.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1-11.] THE HISTORY OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. This incident, though naturally connected with the end of the last chapter, forms an important independent narrative.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Chapter 5, the book of Acts.

At the end of the fourth chapter we have the second mention of the early pure communism that was practiced in the first church. Where those who had possessions sold them, and they shared. As we made note last Sunday night, financially it was disastrous. Spiritually it was a very beautiful gesture. That the wealthier Christians had such a great love for the Lord and for the body of Christ that they were willing to sell their possessions and put everything in a common kind of a purse. So that no one was in need in the early church. No one had to go without. But it did turn out to be a financial disaster to the extent that later on Paul had to take offerings from among the Gentile churches to support the poor brethren in Jerusalem. Because after the monies are expended, then what do you do?

There had been some advocating of the church community, in these days. There are certain churches that are attempting to reinstitute this practice in the original church. A famous vicar in London has recommended the Church Community Concept, Dr. John Stott. And he encouraged those of his congregation who had Mercedes and all to sell them, and they who had the large castles to sell them. To get a smaller economical car and to create a common kind of a purse for the church and for the church community. They called it the Church Community Concept. Not communal, but community. You each have your own houses and all, but yet there is the sharing of the wealth within the church. I don’t believe that that is necessarily a pattern that God intended. Though they did in the church in Jerusalem, there’s absolutely no mention of it being done by any of the other churches that were established. And as we pointed out, the results in Jerusalem were financial chaos. And there were other problems with it. We will get to those other problems as we move into the fifth chapter.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, but they kept back part of the price, his wife also being a party to it, and they brought a certain part, and 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 part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? for you have not lied to men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and a great fear came on all those that heard these things. And the young men arose, and bound him, and carried him out, and buried him. It was about the space of three hours after ( Act 5:1-7 ),

Now, that’s interesting they took him out and buried him and didn’t even notify his wife.

And about the space of three hours after this, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. Peter asked her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, that’s how much. And Peter said unto her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. And then she fell down immediately at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. [And it doesn’t really need to say this, but it does.] And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things ( Act 5:7-11 ).

A couple of things that are important to note. Number one is that Peter is talking to Ananias. He said in effect, “Were you forced to sell your property?” The answer is “No.” “As long as you had it, wasn’t it yours?” “Yes, it was.” “After you sold it, no one required you to bring the money in.” That was a purely voluntary thing on the part of those in the early church who wanted to do it. It wasn’t a requirement of the church. And I think that this is important to note, when there are those liberals today who try to point out that the early church practiced a form of communism, and thus are seeking to advocate communism as a good way to go. The communism of the early church was far different from that communism that we see today, where people are forced at gunpoint to relinquish their personal possessions. Their private properties. Confiscated then by the government. The church was not confiscating property. It was purely a voluntary freewill expression of the gratitude and the love that the people had for God. No one was forcing that issue. And thus, there can be no comparison with the communism of today, which is a forced issue.

The second thing, of course, to note is the sin for which they gave their lives. It was not the sin of holding back, not the sin of failure of giving everything, because God did not require them to give everything. Their sin was that of hypocrisy–pretending to give everything to God when in reality they were holding something back from God. And so we get an interesting view of God’s opinion of the hypocrite, which would indeed cause fear and trembling to come upon all the church.

I am interested and attracted by the power in the early church. There was such a purity in the hearts of these people. There was such a power within the church that the hypocrites could not abide. The hypocrites coming into that environment were exposed and destroyed by the power of God. And that, to me, is extremely awesome. I have wondered that if that same kind of power and purity existed in the church today how many members would we still possess after singing the third verse of “Take My Life and Let It Be”. For that third verse we sing, “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withold.” And we sing it very dutifully, but yet, all of us are witholding our mites and more. The curse of the church has been hypocrisy. Hypocrisy can manifest itself in many forms, but as the general rule, there is a desire in our flesh to be thought of by people to be more spiritual or more righteous than we truly are. I am so disgusted with my own flesh. Because I love to have people think that I am a deeply spiritual person…a very godly man. And isn’t it horrible that your flesh would delight in such a connotation? Now because I want people to believe that I am a deeply spiritual godly man. In close communion with God. I often allow little subtle innuendos to slip from my lips that reveal how deeply spiritual I really am. “For this morning when I was waiting upon God…”Oh, doesn’t that sound good? My!! “I heard the roosters crowing, and I knew it would be getting light pretty soon…” “Oh! He prays before the sun comes up. My, what a godly man.” Wanting to appear good in the eyes of men. Wanting to appear holy so that people might look up to me with awe and wonder that they might say, “Oh, you’re Chuck Smith aren’t you?” “Well, yes, uh-huh.” God help us!! Hypocrisy…in the early church God did not allow it.

Evidently, we see here the gift of discerning of spirits in operation once again. We will see it again in a couple of chapters as Simon the sorcerer comes to Peter and seeks to buy the power to lay hands on people that they might receive the Holy Spirit. And Peter begins to discern what’s in the man’s heart. But here when Ananias came in, Peter just flatly asked him why he was making a pretense of giving all when he was really holding something back…that he was lying to the Holy Spirit. And then he said, “For you have not lied to man, but to God.” Making the Holy Spirit, God. “Why is it that you have conceived in your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?” And then, “While it remained, wasn’t it yours when you sold it, wasn’t it yours to do with? Why is it then that you have conceived this thing in your heart? For you have not lied to men, but you have lied to God.” And so equating the two together, lying to the Holy Spirit is equivalent to lying to God, and this is one of the proof texts to show the deity of the Holy Spirit, that He is God. And it’s a very strong and powerful argument.

When Sapphira came in, Peter cross-examined her and asked her straightly to see if she was a party to her husband’s lying. “Did you sell your house for so much?’ “Oh, yes, that’s the price we got” And then he accused her of conspiracy with her husband in this attempt to deceive the early church. And her fate was the same as her husband’s.

Now, from this purity there proceeded power. For the church now being purged from this hypocrisy. And Jesus said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy.” Paul told the Corinthian church to “purge out the leaven therefore.” Get rid of that hypocrisy within the church. And the effect of the purifying of the church was power. I do believe that the Book of Acts is a pattern. Not a once in the history of the church unique experience of the power of God. The initial thrust to get the church in orbit. And then that the church was to exist devoid of the power of God in the subsequent generations. I do not believe that the lack of power in the church is really God’s fault.

We are so often ready to blame God for our own failings. It’s a common trait of man. When God accosted Adam in the garden and said, “What have you done?” He said, “It’s the woman that YOU gave to me to be my wife. It’s your fault!! You’re the one who put her here!” And he was trying to blame God for his sin. “The woman that YOU gave to me to be my wife. She did entice me and I did eat.” And so man, it seems, is always ready to blame God for his own failures.

And so we look at the church in it’s weak anemic state and we want to blame God. And we say that, “God has withdrawn the power of the Spirit.” It was only given to the church to give the church it’s first thrust. But once the church was capable of developing it’s own programs, establishing it’s own seminaries, and creating it’s own organizational structures, we no longer needed the power of the Spirit, but we’re now able by the genius of man to carry the Gospel into all the world.

History itself will testify to the folly of that concept. For the early church did carry the Gospel into all the world. As Paul wrote to the Colossians thirty years later, “And the Gospel as it has come to you as it is in all the world.” And here we are in our modern day church seeing the Gospel reaching a less proportionate area of the world every year. In 1935 some thirty-two percent of the world knew of Jesus Christ. By 1945 it was only twenty-seven percent of the world knew of Jesus Christ. By 1955 it was only twenty-two percent of the world had heard of Jesus Christ. Today they estimate that only seventeen percent of the world had heard of Jesus Christ. And of the fifty million people being added to the earth’s population every year, less than five percent of them are being reached or will be reached at our present rate with the Gospel. We are in a population explosion, but it’s happening in the areas where the church is not effective. In fact, in many areas where the church has been ruled out. And much of the reason why the church had been put out of areas is because of the hypocrisy in the church.

When the church was purged and purified it became powerful. And so we read that,

By the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. ( Act 5:12 )

This is the area where the lame man was healed. So the church continued to meet without a building, but just meeting on the public territory of the temple, there on Solomon’s porch.

Now of the rest durst no man to join himself to them: but the people magnified them ( Act 5:13 ).

So this was the end of the people selling their possessions and bringing them in. After that Ananias and Sapphira were slain by the power of God, no one dared after that to become a part of that tight community that was sharing everything in common, that ended that particular little experiment. But though they did not become a part of that tight community, they magnified them.

And the believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;) ( Act 5:14 )

So there were many, many people believing. Becoming Christians but not becoming a part of that tight church community who were sharing everything in common.

In so much that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing might overshadow some of them ( Act 5:15 ).

It doesn’t say that Peter’s shadow brought any healing benefits.

In that culture there was quite an interesting superstition about shadows. And they would be very careful not to get in the shadow of a evil man, because they had some kind of a superstition that if the shadow of a evil man fell on you that some curse was going to happen to you. And thus, in turning that around, the shadow of a good man they probably thought would bring benefits. I do believe, though it is not recorded, that many of them were healed as the shadow of Peter fell on them. Else the practice would’ve ceased in a hurry.

But I certain that many of them were healed, not because of any power in the shadow of Peter, but because of the principle of the releasing of faith–a point of contact where I am going to believe God to do a particular thing. When this happens, as the woman who had said, “I know if I can just touch the hem of His garment I will be made whole,” and the moment that she touched the hem of the garment she released her faith. “Oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as you wish.” The moment that she touched His garment, she released her faith. Because in her heart she said, “I know that the moment when that happens I’m going to be healed.” And as she released her faith, she was healed. So the value of that point of contact to release my faith. “I know that God is going to do it when…” So this developed and, “I know that when Peter’s shadow falls on me the Lord’s going to heal me. Or the Lord’s going to heal my father or my brother.” And so you carry your brother out into the street and put him on the side that the shadow would fall. You look at the sun, and you put him on that side and wait for the shadow to fall. And the moment that it fell you say, “Aaaall right!” Faith released. And God responds to our faith. And so I’m certain that many were, no doubt, healed, though it does not say that they were, as the result of releasing their faith, because they had established that point where they would.

And there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one ( Act 5:16 ).

So the purifying of the church by the purging of the hypocrisy and the resultant power that is manifested by the church. Multitudes are brought out of the cities and villages round about Jerusalem and they were being healed as the result of the power that was there in the early church.

Sometimes my heart yearns for that kind of power to exist in the church today. However, I seriously question whether the church today has the capability of handling that kind of power. It seems that in the church we’re so ready to exploit anything. And I feel that it is indeed tragic to those who have had healing ministries and who have had that emphasis in their ministries. For the most part, as far as I can think in my mind, they have exploited it for their own personal benefit and gain. And I think that that is indeed tragic. But I don’t know my own heart. I don’t know what I would do. I really don’t trust myself. If suddenly you had all the notoriety, the fame, the acclaim that would come from having that kind of power, I really don’t know my own heart. If I would be capable of maintaining in my own spiritual walk. So I can’t really judge these men for what they’ve done, because I don’t know what I would do if in that same position.

My father used to always pray, “Lord, do not bless me with more than what I can contain my love for you. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Poverty that I would steal or riches that I would say, ‘Who is God? I don’t need Him.'” Several years ago, four or five, I was standing here, right where I am now, and we were in prayer together in an afterglow. Just waiting upon God. And there had been in that particular service a beautiful move of God’s Spirit through the teaching of the Word. Many people had come to respond to the message and to commit their lives to Jesus Christ. And then, as we were all waiting upon the Lord, suddenly it was just as though it was just the Lord and I here alone together and no one else was here, and I began to talk to Him about how thrilled I was with Calvary Chapel and with what God had done and all of the blessings that God had bestowed upon us, just super abundant blessings of God. And I said, “Lord there seems to be only one thing lacking as I think of the church in Acts, and that is that dynamic power to minister to the needs of the people in a physical sense, the healings and the miracles that happened in Acts. And if You would raise up someone, Lord, perhaps within the fellowship with the gift of miracles or healing, then it would seem that we would have the church of Acts complete.” And the Lord spoke to my heart in a very powerful way. He said, “I have given to you the more excellent way.” And of course my mind immediately flashed on I Corinthians, chapter 12, where Paul, speaking of the gifts of healings and miracles and all, said, “Yet I will show you a more excellent way than even miracles, healings, whatever. For though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” And God said, ” I have given you the love within the fellowship.” I said, “Thank You, Lord, for the more excellent way. Help us to walk in it.” And I’ve never asked God again for those gifts of miracles or healing as far as my own personal life is concerned.

Now, there are miracles and healings that are happening here daily, but not to the extent that we find in the book of Acts. Nor do we wish to capitalize, or to emphasize those healings that are taking place, lest people would be drawn only for the physical benefits and not really drawn to Jesus Christ. I do feel that we do lack from the early church in this area. But God knows that, and why the lack exists I’m certain that it is in part or whole on our side. God’s hand is not short that He cannot save. His ear is not heavy that He cannot hear. I’m certain that that environment in which these gifts should be properly exercised just does not yet exist.

I’m not interested in hyped-up experiences. I’m not interested in the circus environment that I observe so often within the healing meetings. I don’t read these things happening in the book of Acts. And I don’t feel that they are edifying or drawing attention to Jesus, but have a greater tendency to draw the attention to the man, to the instrument. God’s man of the hour. The star of the fifth magnitude.

Now, as the result of the popularity, there came a jealousy among the priesthood.

And the high priest rose up, and all that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and they were filled with jealousy ( Act 5:17 ),

The word indignation there is properly translated jealousy. Notice that the high priest was himself a part of the sect of the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the materialists. They were the humanists. They did not believe in spirits; they did not believe in angels, and they did not believe in resurrection. And they were into the religious scene just for the bucks. And now the popularity of the disciples was a threat to them and they were jealous.

So they laid hands on the apostles, and they put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord that night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life ( Act 5:18-20 ).

Go share with them this glorious that you have in the risen Christ. Go right back to where you were arrested. Go right back and do the very things that you were doing when you were arrested. Rather than, “Hey, now that you’re free, escape, get out of Jerusalem. Head for Caesarea, get a boat and take off for Greece, escape the persecution.” No. “Go right back into the temple and there speak to the people the words of this life.”

So when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and they began to teach. But the high priest, and those who were with him, called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and they sent to the prison to have them brought forth. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, and so they reported back to them, saying, The prison truly we found [secure, it was] shut with all [security] safety, and the guards were standing outside before the doors: but when we opened the doors, there was no one there ( Act 5:21-23 ).

They’ve disappeared! Now the guards were still standing there; the place was still locked. And yet, when they opened the door to the inner prison, to their rooms, they were empty.

Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard things ( Act 5:24 ),

They began to wonder “Boy! What’s going to come of this story now?”

Then one came in and told them saying, The men that you put in prison are standing in the temple, and they’re teaching the people ( Act 5:25 ).

God’s got to have a sense of humor. Here’s this joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives called by the President. “Gotta deal with this problem.” And so you send down to Leavenworth to have the prisoners brought, and they go inside and their cells are empty. And then here’s this whole august assembly of the leaders ready to try these men, and someone says, “They’re right back in the temple. They’re over there teaching the people.”

Then went the captain with the officers, and they brought them without violence: for the feared the people, lest they should be stoned ( Act 5:26 ).

They’re excitable people over there, and as Don was sharing with you, things haven’t changed much. Don stayed out of that digging in order that he would not be stoned.

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, saying, Did we not command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, you have filled Jerusalem with doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood on us ( Act 5:27-28 ).

You remember in the last chapter when they were standing before the counsel with the lame man, they were strictly charged not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus. And Peter responded, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” So they threatened them further and let them go.

Now he brings up this…he said, “Didn’t we strictly charge you not to speak anymore in this name?” And then he makes an interesting admission, “You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine.” Now that is a interesting testimony, not by the evangelist. You have to watch the testimonies of evangelists. Sometimes they are exaggerated. We used to have a term “evangelistically speaking”. And it means that you blow up the figures significantly. “Well, how many were there?” “Oh, I suppose there were several hundred.” At least twenty-five, evangelistically speaking.

So this was not their own report. This is the report of their enemy. “You have filled Jerusalem with this man’s doctrine.” Would to God that our enemies could testify against us and make that charge. Would to God they could say, “You have filled Orange County with this man’s doctrine.” Wouldn’t that be glorious? If we could fill Orange County with the doctrine of Jesus Christ, that we could see such a move of God that everyone in the county would be cognizant of what God was doing. Instead, unfortunately, the church is gaining great notoriety in the county for other things than proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s rather tragic, isn’t it? The church is gaining notoriety for the wrong things.

Secondly, “You intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Now if you remember when Pilate was trying Jesus and these men were manipulating the crowd to seek His crucifixion. Finally, when Pilate saw that he couldn’t prevail, he ordered a basin brought, and he began to wash his hands in the basin in a symbolic gesture. He said, ” I am innocent of this man’s blood, see ye to it.” And what did they respond? “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Now they’re upset saying to Peter, “You’re seeking to bring this man’s blood on us!” And for certain, when Peter was standing before them, he said unto them, “If you want to know by what power and all that this lame man was healed, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified . . . ” And so he puts the blame right where it belongs. And yet now, they don’t want to receive the accusation or the blame, yet it was their responsibility. Peter made mention of the fact that Pilate was wanting to let Him go, but they insisted on His death.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men ( Act 5:29 ).

That word “ought” there, again, is not a totally accurate translation. The Greek word is “must”. We must obey God rather than men. “Didn’t we charge you not to speak anymore in this man’s name?” Their answer is, “We must obey God rather then men. We must obey God.” Oh, that we would experience and feel in our own hearts that divine imperative, “I must obey God.” Unfortunately, we take so oftentimes a careless attitude in the area of obedience, “Well, yes, I should be obeying. Oh, I ought to obey God. Yes, I know that I should.” But these men felt it much deeper. They said, “We must obey God rather than men.” And I think that this is the rule. Should ever the time come, should we be living under the laws or jurisdictions created by man that would infringe upon my responsibilities to God, and the law of the land should be contrary to the laws of God, then I would have to take that very same position, “I must obey God rather man.”

And then they went on to testify,

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree ( Act 5:30 ).

They had just said, “You’re trying to bring His blood on us,” and Peter just throws the bucket on them. I mean he just lays it out. “Whom you slew and hanged on a tree.” But notice again that he’s preaching the resurrection, “God has raised Jesus”. Secondly,

God has exalted him to his right hand to be the Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and the forgiveness of sins ( Act 5:31 ).

Paul said, “He was raised for our justification.” “At the right hand of God to be the Prince, the Savior.”

And we are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him ( Act 5:32 ).

And here we find that the Holy Spirit is given in obedience to those who obey, and that is: believing on Jesus Christ, repenting from your sins, believing on Jesus Christ, obedient to the command of God, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now when they heard that, they were cut to the heart, [talk about conviction] and they took counsel to slay them. Then there stood up one in the council, who was a Pharisee, his name was Gamaliel, he was a doctor of the law, he had a very high reputation among the people, and he asked that they put the apostles out of the room; and he said unto them, You men of Israel, now you be careful with what you intend to do in regards to these men. For in days before this there rose up Theudas, who was boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: and when he was slain; all of those, who were following him, were scattered, and the whole issue was brought to nothing. And after this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and he drew away many people after him: and he also perished; and all, even as many as were following him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or work is of men, it will come to nothing: but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; because you will find yourself in the position of fighting against God ( Act 5:33-39 ).

So this wise counsel by Gamaliel to these men who were plotting to kill the disciples. “Look, we got rid of the leader. These kind of things have arisen before, others have risen up, gathered followers around them, but it always just dissipated once the leader was killed. So let’s just let it go.” Now this is the argument from the position of weakness, not a position of strength. You usually don’t just let things go to see how they’re going to turn out. But it was the counsel of Gamaliel, and they accepted this counsel. Interestingly enough, this is the Gamaliel of which Paul was a prize student. In some of the early writings that were discovered, Gamaliel said of Paul that he only had one difficulty with Paul as a student. He said that he was an extremely zealous student. His only difficulty was providing him with enough books. He was a real bookworm. And Gamaliel had difficulty just providing him with sufficient numbers of books because of his tremendous thirst for knowledge. Now they agreed to Gamaliel’s counsel, partly. He said, “Just let them alone.” But they called the apostles back in and they beat them. They didn’t just let them alone.

they beat them, and commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go ( Act 5:40 ).

Now that’s probably the end of it.

They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name ( Act 5:41 ).

How do you stop men like that? The answer is, you don’t. They’re unstoppable.

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ ( Act 5:42 ).

Notice both teaching and preaching. Preaching is the proclaiming of God’s good news and should basically be done to the unconverted. Once a man has received Jesus Christ, his real need then is that of being taught. And this is where the church has made a grave mistake. Because the church continues to produce great preachers, but is not really producing teachers. And thus, the sheep are not getting strong. Because they’re getting preached at Sunday after Sunday rather then being taught. Our preaching should be done on the street corners and our teaching should be done within the church. Preaching is a great Saturday night ministry when the young people are attracted by the groups that are playing and singing. Once they have received Christ, then the great need of being taught in the way of righteous and truth.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Act 5:1. , Ananias with Sapphira) Names expressing grace and beauty, but attached to persons whose principles were bad.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Act 5:1-11

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA

Act 5:1-11

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife,-Luke now turns to the dark side of the picture in the history of the early church; he selected two illustrations of those who sold lands and possessions; he has just described what Barnabas did, and now turns to another case which is put in contrast. A certain man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of land. Ananias was a name very familiar among the Jews; it means the grace of the Lord. Sapphira means beautiful; her name is mentioned twice in connection with the sin. With Sapphira his wife is the way Luke presents her. The two illus-trations here were intended to be brought in contrast, as the conjunction but introduces this sentence; these illustrations lose some of their force by the division into chapters; this division was not made by Luke.

2 and kept back part of the price,-Ananias took the lead in this sin, but his wife knew of it and entered into the sin with him; they pretended to deliver up the entire amount which they had received for the land. His wife was fully acquainted with his purpose and agreed to join him in practicing the deception. The praise that Barnabas received for what he had done was too much for Ananias; he wanted to obtain the same praise, but he was not willing to make the sacrifice that Barnabas made; he wanted praise for giving all while he had given only a part. He started the Ananias Club which has given a different meaning to his name-Jehovah hath been gracious.

3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart-This is the first sin recorded against any member of the church; it may not be the first sin that any of them committed, but it is the first one of which we have a record. We do not know how old the church was at this time, since we do not know how long it had been since Pentecost. We are not told how Satan filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit. We do know that Ananias permitted Satan to fill his heart; Ananias was held responsible for what he did, and therefore, he permitted Satan to prompt him to do the evil. There seems to be an inspiration of the devil as well as an inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We may infer here that Satan is a real being acting upon and influencing men to do evil; that Ananias had the power to resist Satans influence, or he should not have been punished. Peter accused him of lying by keeping back a part of the price, and attempting to deceive; he thus attempts to deceive the Holy Spirit, since the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit.

4 While it remained, did it not remain thine own?-It was the property of Ananias and his wife; they volunteered to sell it; the price was in their hands, and they could do with it what they pleased. This shows that the disciples who owned property were not forced or commanded to dispose of that property; those who did so showed liberality and charity. Peter impresses upon him that he had not lied unto men, but unto God. The community of goods was not compulsory; it was permitted and encouraged because of the emergency of the case; Peter does not say that Ananias had not lied unto men at all, but that the gravity of his offense was that he thought to deceive God.

5-6 And Ananias hearing these words-Ananias died by the special visitation of God as a punishment for his hypocrisy and his attempt to deceive men in whom the Holy Spirit eminently dwelt, and thus attempting to deceive the Holy Spirit and God. Great fear came upon all that heard it. This statement of Luke does not have reference merely to the time between the death of Ananias and Sapphira, but was made by the historian to show the effect that the death of Ananias had on all of the disciples. Some of the young men arose and carried the body of Ananias out and buried it. The circumstances required a speedy burial; neither the place nor the circumstance would admit of much formal preparation for a funeral. It was customary among the Jews to bury on the same day that death occurred; coffins or caskets were not in use at that time, and they simply wrapped him round with possibly his mantle that he had worn. This was done without delay and without sending his wife word. It is very likely that all was done under the direction of the apostle Peter. The age and ability of the younger men made them suitable persons to bury the body. Some think that Luke described the wrapping with bandages as a physician would bandage a broken limb; however, others think that the young men used their own mantles in preparing the body for this speedy burial.

7 And it was about the space of three hours-It would seem strange that the death of the husband and the burial of his body should take place and his wife, Sapphira, not know anything about it. The custom, hot climate, and the strong sense of defilement from contact with a dead body would all tend to hasten burial, besides the sense of awe caused by the manner of his death. The three hours would give time for the burial and for the young men to return from the burial. His wife came in about this time. We do not know where they were at this time, but probably in some well-known meeting place in Jerusalem.

8 And Peter answered unto her,-It seems that before she had learned of the death of her husband Peter asked her if the land had been sold for a certain price; he very likely specified the price that Ananias had mentioned. Sapphira answered the question and designated that price. Yea, for so much/ Peter may have pointed to the pile of money that Ananias brought in when he asked her the question. Peters question would awaken her conscience and prompt her to tell the truth; but instead of confessing her sin she confirmed the lie told by Ananias.

9 But Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together-Sapphira was given the opportunity to confess her wrong and correct it, but she persisted in the sin. Peter then asked why she had agreed with Ananias to try the Spirit of the Lord. Here Peter refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the Lord, because the Lord had sent the Holy Spirit. He then called her attention to the fact that the young men who had buried her husband had just returned, and that they shall carry thee out. It seems that this case, whether intentional or not, was to try the Spirit of the Lord, or put the Holy Spirit to the test to see whether the apostles or Holy Spirit could detect any hypocrisy or deception. Such was the nature of their conduct that it involved a doubt whether their sin would ever be known, or a disbelief as to the knowledge and holiness of God. So deep was their sin, so utterly regardless were they of the presence of God, that they committed this crime against the Holy Spirit. Peter announced to her that her death would immediately take place.

10 And she fell down immediately at his feet,-Very close to the place where her husband had died and close to the place where the money was piled, Sapphira died. Her death, like that of Ananias, was regarded as supernatural. The young men who had buried her husband came in and found her dead, and carried her out and buried her by her husband. Literally, they buried her face to face to her husband. The swift judgment of God was visited upon her, thus impressing upon all in the church the fearfulness of sin.

11 And great fear came upon the whole church,-The church was purified of this awful sin. If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye. (1Co 3:17.) Fear came upon the whole’church. Here for the first time in Acts we find ekklesia, from which we get the word church. The word is used twice in Matthew (16: 18) where it is used to designate all believers in Christ and (18:17) where it is used to designate the local body. In Act 7:38 it is used to designate the whole congregation of Israel, while in Act 19:32 it is used to designate a public assembly in Ephesus; but in Act 8:3 it is applied to the church which Saul was persecuting in their homes when not assembled.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Here we have a terrible story. The account of Ananias and Sapphira stands in vivid contrast to that of Barnabas. The sin was dishonest dealing with the Holy Spirit. The judgment was swift and terrible.

The salutary effect of it was seen in the people’s fear of joining this new community. Notwithstanding these things, the work went forward. Multitudes of both men and women were added to the Lord.

The opposing forces are now seen face to face. The enemies of Christ were roused to action. The apostles were arrested and imprisoned, and were supernaturally released. The scene of their appearance before the judges is vivid. On the one side was the most august and representative assembly that could be gathered. On the other, a handful of men who by all human standards were mere nonentities. As the spokesman of the whole Church, Peter addressed the assembly. The Sadducees were filled with anger. Gamaliel was a Pharisee, and really found himself more in agreement with the doctrine of the apostles than with the rationalism of the Sadducees. He advised, therefore, that these men should be left alone. The picture of them going forth rejoicing in suffering is filled with beauty, showing their experience of relationship with Christ.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Lying to the Holy Spirit

Act 4:36-37; Act 5:1-11

The Spirit of God is the source of generous and liberal giving. It is a poor substitute to set up bazaars, and fairs, and ice cream suppers. When the Church is filled with the Holy Spirit, her pockets will be easily emptied before His gracious, thawing presence. Let the sun arise in the heavens, and the frozen streams are instantly liberated and begin to sing on their way to transform wildernesses into gardens.

Mark the contrast between Ananias and Barnabas. The same phrases are applied to each. The sin of Ananias was not in keeping back part of the purchase money, but in pretending to have brought all to the Apostle. He wished to pose as a saint, and at the same time to line his own nest. In the act of consecration, we must not allow one corner for Satan or selfishness to possess, because instantly we shall have to concede the right of way, and a thoroughfare will be opened, along which all manner of contraband may be smuggled in. Peter had no doubt as to the personality of the Holy Spirit. You cannot lie to an influence! Note the interchange of Holy Spirit and God in Act 4:3-4.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

We often hear the names of Ananias and Sapphira mentioned rather glibly, suggesting that perhaps they were two of the greatest liars that the world has ever known. One of our former presidents, a man who led a strenuous life and was very straightforward and hated hypocrisy, was in the habit of consigning political associates who made untrue statements to the Ananias club. And yet, in what did the sin of this couple really consist? And to what degree are we in danger of sinning similarly against God and against His Holy Spirit?

Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:1-11)

As we read the record I am sure nobody is struck with the horror of their sin on the surface. Nobody feels that Ananias and Sapphira were very much worse than many of the people we meet every day. And some of us, if our consciences are active, would admit they were not much worse than we are.

What was the offense of Ananias and Sapphira? They pretended to a greater degree of Christian devotedness than they really possessed. That was all; but it was a tremendously evil thing in the sight of God.

We are told Ananias sold a possession, And kept back part of the price. That may not mean anything to us until we remember the attitude of the first believers as described in Acts 4. Love was working among those early Christians and they were so concerned about their brothers that all selfishness seemed to be banished for the time. We read, Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need (Act 4:34-35).

No one told them they had to do this. It was not a rule of the early church that they were to establish a communistic association of some kind. No instructions were given that if men had property they were to dispose of it. The point is this: the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of unselfishness, was working in such power in the hearts of the early believers they simply could not consider anything as their own. They considered their possessions as a trust from God to be used as a blessing to other people. What a wonderful testimony the church would have today if Christians everywhere regarded that which God put in their keeping as a stewardship from Him, to be used in alleviating the distress of others and assisting Christians in getting out the gospel message. But sadly, we Christians are so concerned about our own comfort, nice clothing, a home for ourselves and the little luxuries of life, that we often forget the deep needs of those about us.

We are reminded by the apostle Paul that we do not find the greatest happiness in using Gods gifts for ourselves. In impressing the Ephesian elders with the importance of unselfishness in the Christian life he said, Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Act 20:35). This quote is not found literally in any of the Gospels. How did Paul know that Jesus said that? Evidently those words had been uttered so frequently by the Lord Jesus that they had been carried throughout the world. Indeed those words give us the spirit of the Lord Himself who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mat 20:28).

You know, many Christians are not even tithers. They take all God gives them and use practically everything for themselves and do not think of the needs of others. When it comes to the Lord, an occasional dime or quarter is the extent of their benevolence. Actually they live for themselves; but when God controls the heart, it is different. I might argue, But is it not my own money? Did I not work hard for it? Have I not earned it? Yes, but I must remember it was God who gave me the ability to earn it. Of course I have the responsibility of supporting my family, and I need a certain amount to live. But if I am to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am to use a large measure for the blessing of others.

At the time of the first Christian believers the curse of God was hanging over Jerusalem. In a little while the city was to be destroyed, not one stone was to be left on another; so these early Christians said, We will sell what we have to further the work of the Lord and help the needy. They sold their possessions and distribution was made out of a common fund to every man as he had need. And we are given one outstanding example-Barnabas, who had property over in Cyprus. Now judgment was not hanging over Cyprus, so there was no real reason for him to sell his property. But he did sell it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet (4:36-37). Those standing by could not help giving him a certain amount of credit. They probably said, What a remarkable thing to do! Isnt he a generous man? He did it out of love for Christ and His people.

Ananias and Sapphira, who were no doubt among those present at the time, may have thought, We had better get in on this, too. Then they put their heads together and said, After all, it is not necessary to bring in all the money. It wasnt! If they had been honest and straightforward and come to the apostles and said, We have kept some; here is the balance to be used, it would have been all right. But they said, We do not need to say anything about it. Others are giving their all, but we will keep a little for a rainy day, for a nest egg. Nobody will know the difference. They will take it for granted that this is all, and we will get credit for devotedness. That was what was in their hearts.

And so they came and laid down their money. No doubt the people looked on approvingly and commented, Isnt that nice of Brother Ananias and Sister Sapphira? Are they not generous? And doubtless Ananias turned away with a bright, happy countenance, pleased to get the others approbation. But Peter called him back. He did not say, We certainly do appreciate this. What a wonderful thing you have done. There was no idle flattery with Peter. A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet (Pro 29:5). He said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Notice that again and again in this part of the book of Acts you read of men being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, just as it is possible to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God so is it possible to be filled with the spirit of Satan. When the Holy Spirit dominates and controls your entire life, selfishness and everything incongruous with the Christian life disappear. But when you are under the control of Satan you are dominated by that which is selfish and evil.

Ananias was a man who wanted people to think he was thoroughly devoted to the will of God, but Peter said, Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. How had he lied to the Holy Ghost? He had not said anything. You do not need to say anything to lie to the Holy Ghost. Lying to the Holy Ghost is a sin that has often been repeated down through the centuries. He is present in the church and people have come into the church and acted hypocritically. They have pretended to devotedness that was not sincere, to a surrender of life they have never actually made. They have pretended to be totally committed to Christ when ulterior motives lay behind their actions. And the Holy Ghost said, You have lied to Me. It is a serious thing to be untrue in the congregation of God. God desires truth in the inward part. He wants people to be genuine, absolutely honest before Him.

Peter continued, Whiles it [the land] remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Notice the Holy Ghost is God. Just as the Father is God and the Son is God, so the Holy Ghost is God. Peter explained that in lying to the Holy Ghost, Ananias had lied to God. Dont forget it. God exists eternally in three Persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Notice Peters reasoning. He said in effect, That was your own land, Ananias. God gave it to you and you were entitled to it. After you sold it you could have kept the money, but you came and put it down as though it were all you received. You gave these people the impression that you were doing what others had done, making full surrender of what God had entrusted to you.

We talk about being surrendered, wholly yielded to God, and yet after all, how much self-seeking comes out in so many different ways! I am a preacher of the Word-a glorious privilege-and if I have prayed once I have prayed a thousand times and said, Dont let me be able to preach unless in the power of the Holy Ghost. I would rather be struck dumb than pretend it is in the power of the Spirit. Yet it is so easy to pretend. It is so easy to come before men and take the place of an ambassador for God, and still want people to praise the preacher instead of the Lord Jesus. What if He had gifted me with the ability to sing His praises. I have a voice that would thrill thousands and I say, Lord, I give Thee my voice. Then I sing and as people praise and applaud I take the praise all to myself. I become guilty of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Perhaps God has caused somebody else to do the singing and I, who am supposed to be yielded to Him, find envy and jealousy rising up in my heart. I feel that others are appreciated where I am not-and yet I talk about full surrender to the Lord! You see, then I am pretending to devotedness I do not possess.

Perhaps God has entrusted me with money. When opportunity comes I would like to do a little for the Lord and I think I could, maybe, and so after fighting with myself, I decide to part with a dollar or two. God knows I can give much more than that trifling amount. It is true that my Lord appreciates to the full the small coin that comes from the needy purse. How He appreciated the two mites the widow gave! But He would not appreciate two mites from one with fifty thousand dollars in the bank. The way the Lord estimates our gifts is not by the amount we give, but by what we have left. He is not interested in the impression we are making on others at the time. I am sure if the Spirit of God applies this truth to many of our hearts we will realize that Ananias and Sapphira were not sinners above all others. Others have sinned as much, and perhaps we are among them. We need to go before God and cry, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Psa 51:7).

Ananias had no answers for Peter. Even as Peter spoke, Ananias fell down and gave up the ghost. Those standing by carried out his dead body to prepare it for burial. Three hours later Sapphira, evidently missing her husband and wondering about him, came. I sup- pose she expected everybody to greet her with: My sister, that was a wonderful gift you gave, you and your dear husband. You are doing a lot for the Lord, and you will get a great reward at the judgment seat of Christ! But the people were nervous and troubled. They avoided her gaze as she came up to Peter. Peter said, I want to ask you a question. Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she, taken by surprise but without a moments hesitation, answered, Yes, for so much. That is what some people call a white lie. My dear friends, there is no such thing as a white lie. A lie is as black as its father, and the devil is the father of lies. What Sapphira said was true in one sense. They sold it for so much-and so much more.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. And in a moment she dropped, smitten by the power of God.

If the Spirit of God were working in that way today, what a lot of work there would be for the undertakers! There would not be enough of them in any of our cities to bury those who drop dead. In those early days the church walked with God in holiness and righteousness. Today sadly the church has drifted so far away from God, and there is so much sin and hypocrisy and unreality, that God (I say it reverently) does not think it worth while to deal with people in this manner. The church refuses to listen to His voice. Do not let us think of Ananias and Sapphira as so very different from other people. They are like many of us today.

We are then told, And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. Well, we too have heard them. God grant that great fear will come upon us. Fear of what? Fear that we shall dishonor the Spirit of God by pretending to be what we are not, by pretending to be genuinely devoted when we are full of hypocrisy and unreality. If the Spirit of God speaks to any of us and we are saying in our hearts, I havent been genuine, I havent been real–may we face God about our hypocrisy today. By His grace let us put all unreality out of our lives and turn wholly to Him as the One alive from the dead? Let us renew our consecration to God and say, By His grace, I want to be all for Christ. I want to be real, that others may be reached by my testimony and brought to know my Savior too.

Ill live for Him who died for me,

How happy then my soul shall be!

Ill live for Him who died for me,

My Savior and my God!

(Ralph E. Hudson)

The Apostolic Testimony (Act 5:12-16)

In these verses we read of many miraculous signs done by the apostles in confirmation of the gospel message. It is interesting to note that at the beginning of any dispensation miracles are customary. (By dispensation we mean a special ministry God commits to men at a particular time.) But as the dispensation moves on and the truth God has given becomes better known, miracles in a large measure are withdrawn. So in the beginning of the church era mighty works of power were manifested.

We read, By the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomons porch. There was a blessed unity and God could move in a marvelous way. There was no mass effort on the part of outsiders to identify themselves with the Christian company. Men were rather filled with fear because of the judgment that had come upon Ananias and Sapphira, so people were slow to take a place in fellowship with the Christians. Would that it had always been so! The curse of Christianity today is that vast numbers of members of Christian churches have never been saved! Their hearts are in the world and they love the things of the world. This mixed multitude has always hurt the testimony of the church.

In the early church nonbelievers dared not join themselves to the Christians, but the people generally magnified the apostles as they recognized the wonderful way in which God was working through them. However, believers, multitudes both of men and women, were added to the Lord. I call your attention to the phrase added to the Lord. What does it mean? Well, you see, a new dispensation had come in when all who believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit were joined to the Lord Himself. Though we do not get the doctrine of the one body until God gave it to the apostle Paul, we have the fact of the unity of the body everywhere. It is implied here where we read of people being added to the Lord. The only way to be added to the Lord is by becoming members of His body.

Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. This is a thoroughly oriental picture and very interesting. Even today in the Middle East people imagine a mans shadow carries his influence. Parents will ran to draw their children away from the shadow of someone they dislike; while on the other hand, should some honored person pass by, they will endeavor to have the children come within his shadow, hoping thereby to bring good fortune on them. These people were so impressed by the power that Peter possessed that, when he was passing along a certain street or road, they brought their sick into the streets so that his shadow might fall on them. We are not told that anyone was healed in that way. Their action shows us their appreciation of Peter. It is also suggestive because while in the Orient it speaks of ones influence, it raises the question: What about our influence? Are we so walking with God that people like to come in contact with us? Or is there so little of Christ about us, are we so self-centered and worldly that no one would think of bringing people within our influence to be blessed and helped? There is a shadow influence even today.

I have often told how my oldest son at one time had an eclipse of faith until one day several of us were invited to spend an afternoon with William Jennings Bryan in his Florida home, and I was asked to bring my son. During that visit, for two or three hours we discussed the Word of God and exchanged thoughts on precious portions of Scripture. The young man sat apart and said very little, but as we left that place he turned to me and exclaimed, Father, I have been a fool! I thought I couldnt believe the Bible, but if a man like that with his education and intelligence can believe, I am making a fool of myself to pretend I cannot accept it. So much for the shadow ministry of William Jennings Bryan. I wonder if we know anything of the shadow ministry. As people come in contact with us, even if we do not utter a word, is there something about us that makes them say, The more I see of that person the more I want to know God? I think that is what the beautiful picture of Peters shadow suggests. We are told, There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. Gods power was working mightily. But again this stirred the ire of the leaders of the people. This time they took a more stringent stand. So in the next section we will see how the chief priests attempted to hinder the work.

Arrest and Liberation of the Apostles (Act 5:17-28)

The leaders of the Sadducean party were very indignant because the apostles continued to testify of the resurrection. They did not believe in the resurrection, and yet here were the disciples preaching it. In truth the resurrection was the deathblow to all the philosophy and theology of the Sadducees. They were exceedingly disturbed. This message was being carried throughout the land. They therefore arrested the apostles and shut them up in prison. But an angel of the Lord came and opened the doors and told them to go and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. Here was direct angelic, supernatural intervention.

So they went early in the morning in obedience to the command laid on them. Word of what was going on soon reached the high priest. Filled with amazement he called together the Sanhedrin of Israel and commanded that the apostles be brought before them. The officers went first to the prison, but returned saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within. Then they went to the temple and there they found the apostles preaching Christ, and brought them the second time before the chief priests. They reproved them saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this mans blood upon us. They meant: You are trying to give people the impression we are responsible for His death! What had these same leaders said only a few weeks before in Pilates judgment hall, when Pilate asked, What shall I do? They cried, Let him be crucifiedHis blood be on us, and on our children. But now they say, You are trying to bring this mans blood upon us. Oh, no, Peter was not trying to do that. But he was trying to show them that God had made a way through the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by which all their sins and guilt might be washed away if they would but trust in the Savior they had rejected.

Peters Testimony (Act 5:29-32)

Peter refused to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. He had received a commission from the Lord Himself to go into all the world and preach the gospel. He said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Notice that the Christian has his responsibility to human government. As long as rulers do not attempt to thwart the purposes of God, the believer is to be subject to the powers-that-be. But when human government would hinder his obeying the Lords voice, then it is for the child of God to answer with Peter, We ought to obey God rather than men, and to be prepared to take the consequences.

Peter took this as an opportunity to preach to the leaders in Israel. The boldness of this man is amazing. Consider how cowardly he had been before-afraid to confess Jesus to the young girl on the porch, and later even cursed and swore that he did not know Him. Now you see him facing the most august assembly of Jewish leaders and philosophers, challenging them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can we account for it? It is accounted for by the fact he had received the Holy Spirit of God who had baptized him into Christ. He had anointed Peter, empowered him, as Jesus had promised. There was now no fear in him.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Peter did not beat around the bush. He did not attempt to mollify these dignitaries in Israel. They were guilty. They had stirred up the rabble and so Peter faced them with their sin; not that they might be condemned but that they might be saved by turning to God in repentance.

Him hath God exalted.. .to be a Prince and a Savior. That is the message of the gospel. That is the word we are to bring to all men everywhere today. We look toward the throne of God and there by faith we see the man Christ Jesus, who shed His precious blood for our redemption, sitting on the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven. There He is in the presence of God the Father, ever living to make intercession for us, and through His name the message of salvation is sent out into all the world.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is not simply a helper- be clear about that. Many believe that if we do our best, our part, the Lord Jesus will make up the rest. That is not the gospel at all. Somebody has suggested that in many places today the old hymn Jesus Paid It All might well be changed to read:

Jesus paid a part,

And I a part, you know;

Sin had left a little stain,

We washed it white as snow.

That is not the gospel. Christ did not say, When you have done your best, I will make up the rest. Jesus is not a crutch, a makeshift. He is the Savior. He does it all!

I have often told about the man who had been converted and got up in a meeting to testify what the Lord had done for him. The leader, who was quite a legalist, said, Our brother has told about Gods part, but he forgot to tell his part before he was converted. Brother, havent you something more to tell us? The man replied: Brethren, I completely forgot to tell you about my part. I sure did my part. I was doing my part running away from God as fast as I could for thirty years and God took after me til He ran me down. That was His part.

We do the sinning; He does the saving. That means He has to get all the glory. If salvation were a partnership affair, then when we get to Heaven we would sing, Unto Him that loved us, and unto myself who did my best to put away my sin. But there will be nothing like that in Heaven. Jesus must get all the glory because He did it all.

And so Peter proclaimed Christ as a Prince and a Savior. As a Savior He is exalted to give repentance to Israel: repentance-change of mind, complete change of attitude. Well these dear people in Israel had rejected Him. Now Christ is waiting for them to turn toward the One from whom they had turned away. That is repentance. And Gentiles also need to turn to Him from their sin and folly. When a sinner trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, his sins are all put away and he stands before God as though he had never sinned at all.

People come to me and say, I have trusted Christ but I cant forget my sins. It may be salutary that you shouldnt forget them. It may be well for you to remember, in order that you may walk carefully. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall (1Co 10:12). But God has forgotten them! He says, Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (Heb 8:12). Of how many people is this true? Of all who put their trust in Jesus Christ, To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins (Act 10:43).

That was Peters message. That is the message we carry to the world. That is the message of the church. So often today some dear brethren forget their message is to go to the lost world. I often hear messages over the radio. I seldom manage to hear them in churches because I am constantly kept on the go. Some sermons Ive heard broadcast are rhetorically beautiful and, so far as they go, true and Scriptural. Yet no mention is made about the blood of Jesus Christ, and no word is spoken about His atoning sacrifice! I hope the day will never come when I speak a half-hour without telling of Christ crucified. He is the only Savior for lost sinners, through whom forgiveness and justification are granted to all who trust Him. This is our message. It was Peters message. We are his witnesses of these things.

But our witness alone would not amount to very much. We do not have any power in ourselves. The power comes through the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who repent and believe the gospel. When people repent and believe the message, then the Holy Spirit comes to seal them as Gods beloved children and He indwells them, giving them power for testimony. Mark this-I shall only be given power for testimony if I do not grieve Him. The reason so many Christians are powerless is that they allow so many things in their lives, secretly or openly, to grieve the Spirit of God. Vanity, pride, selfishness, carelessness, worldliness, unkind thoughts and feelings-all these things grieve Him. Covetousness grieves Him. The love of money grieves Him. There are so many other things we might add, which grieve the Holy Spirit of God and hinder the testimony for Christ. I wonder if we have all gone into the presence of the Lord and said, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me (Psa 139:23-24). Then, did we wait for Him to search us, and have we dared to open our hearts to Him, and have we been honest with Him? Did we put these things out of our lives? If we were more zealous about this, we would count more for God. The Holy Spirit is given for testimony to them that obey Him, and it is as we walk in obedience that His power is revealed in our lives and words.

Gamaliels Counsel (Act 5:33-42)

We are told the learned doctors were cut to the heart by Peters message. It sounds well, but it was not divine conviction. Their natural feelings were stirred-but with hatred. They were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them. You see, instead of yielding to repentance through the Word of God, they hardened themselves and would have added sin to sin by killing the very messengers who told them of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

But in the last section we read that there was one man among them whose name we always honor because of his kindly moderation. Of course, he should have gone farther than he did and said, Brethren, these men are right. Let us turn to God, too, and accept His blessed Son. You will remember that Rabbi Gamaliel was the teacher of Saul of Tarsus. Saul had been brought up at his feet. Gamaliel turned to them and said in effect: Brethren, let us not be too extreme. Take heed what you do touching these men. There have been people before who came among us with certain strange doctrines. There was a man who thought he was called of God to overturn the Roman power and deliver us from the Roman domination; and another who led a party out into the wilderness, proclaiming himself to be a divinely appointed leader. After a while their claims proved to be fraudulent. Now Jesus may be another man like them and perhaps these disciples are simply misled. By and by the truth will be made known. Of course, if they are right, we do not want to be found fighting against the truth. And if this be of God, you cannot overthrow it. Let us be careful lest we be found fighting against God.

That was good advice. Yes, very good advice, as far as it went- but it did not go far enough. He should have said, Brethren, let us investigate for ourselves, and if we find these men have a message from God, let us accept it with all our hearts. If Gamaliel had done that there might have been another Paul going throughout the world. At any rate, we give Gamaliel credit for his kindly spirit, and it is well to keep his counsel in mind and be very slow to judge anything that may turn out to be truly based on the Word of God.

And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them [they werent going to kill them, or keep them in jail; the beating showed what their feelings were], they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

We read, They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. They could not do otherwise. Their hearts were full of Christ and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And if our hearts are full of Christ and if we really know Him as our Savior, we will want to tell others about Him.

Would you not like to know Him? Would you not like to acquaint yourself with Him and be at peace? He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Act 5:1-11

From the conduct of Ananias and Sapphira we see:-

I. The vital difference between the spirit and the fashion of Christianity. (1) We may imitate Christ, yet not know Him after the Spirit. (2) We may mingle with Christians, and yet know nothing of the spiritual power of Christianity.

II. The fatal temptation to give the part as the whole.

III. The concealed sin, as well as the public iniquity will be followed by the judgment of God. (1) There is yet to be a reading of hearts. (2) Not only what we have done, but what we have left undone is to be judged. (3) Sins which apparently do no harm to society, are to be punished.

Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 124.

Act 5:3

I. The facts which are here related should lead us to rejoice with trembling. We are members of a Church which is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in that Church the Lord lives and operates with all the fulness of His power. Coming to that Church, we come in contact with a living force, with the breath of an Almighty Spirit, with a Divine inbreathing, which sweeps over the sensitive waters of the soul, either to freshen it to new life, or to involve it in the darkness and tumult of a destructive storm. But while this fact should teach us to be humble, let it rejoice us to know that this spirit, this Divine principle, is the secret of the Church’s unassailable strength. It is by reason of this that the mightiest powers of the world have assailed the Church vainly from age to age. It were easy to throw down the walls of this magnificent temple; it were easy to raze to the earth all the noble and stately buildings which the self-denying faith of our forefathers raised to the glory of God; but it were impossible, not only to dry up, but even to reach the sacred Fountain of the Church’s life. Nothing can destroy the Church of Christ; nothing can touch her life; and when to such a purified and sanctified Church the armies of aliens are pressing in on every side, in the confident expectation that they have only to strike the death-blow, what shall they find?-an empty shrine in the despoiled and enshrouded tabernacle? Nay, but the intolerable glory of God, which shall burst forth like a destroying flame from the desecrated holy of holies.

II. Though this may be an encouraging thought to the Christian, it is naturally suggested to us that it would probably cause the worldly, the careless and unconverted to feel that it were best to get as far as possible out of reach of such a formidable power, as far as possible to ignore its existence. But can we? Can the most careless and hardened among us be altogether as the heathen? There is a worse punishment than the temporal death-stroke of Ananias; there is an eternal death, in which the stroke shall be apportioned, not according to a man’s knowledge, but according to a man’s privileges, not according to what he has known and believed, but according to what he might have known and believed, if he had used to the utmost of his power those privileges which were afforded to him. If then you would not be found out to your everlasting shame, come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bishop Moorhouse, Penny Pulpit, No. 133.

References: Act 5:1-11.-Homilist, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 205. Act 5:2.-Outline Sermons to Children, p. 216. Act 5:3.-Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 429. Act 5:12.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 32. Act 5:12-16.-Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 127. Act 5:12-42.-J. Oswald Dykes. Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 577.

Act 5:15

St. Peter’s Shadow

I. The first idea suggested by the text is that of a superstitious reliance of the multitude upon the person of St. Peter, operating as a charm upon those brought into juxtaposition with him. They had seen his word and his touch potent to relieve sickness and impart strength. These effects seemed to place St. Peter and all that appertained to him entirely above the commen world. They stayed not therefore to reflect and reason. They passed, in their unthinking enthusiasm, to an exaggerated estimate of the Apostle as the fountain head of health and life, from whom, as from the unconscious sun, radiated a virtue to heal of his peculiar infirmity whosoever stepped within his shadow. It is not difficult to identify the error into which these people fell. They degraded God’s grant of miracle to the Apostles, as responsible agents, into a magical influence seated in their bodies. That, however, which God saw to commend amid much worthy of rebuke, was the simple but intense faith which these persons manifested in the Divine power working amongst them. The early disciples, in the earnestness of their belief, sank into a superstitious notion of miraculous virtue attaching itself to unconscious things-a cloth, a shadow. We, in our slowness to look beyond the material universe, are in peril of denying the reality of a spiritual world intersecting at every point our own, of questioning the verity of all influences which we can neither calculate nor trace.

II. Note the manner in which God met this childlike faith of these primitive Christians. It is not distinctly stated that where the shadow of Peter fell sickness vanished and the hues of health returned; but the tone of the narrative implies as much. And, if so, then the miracle assumes a very peculiar character. God throws His power into the impotent sign which man has devised. These people fancied that the Apostle’s shadow would be their cure; God meets them half-way and invests that shadow with an efficacy which in itself it had not, making it, to those who believed, the instrument of health and strength. Almighty love overflows the prescribed channels, and, in condescension to the creature’s infirmity, heals him in his own way. It is not a knowledge of mysteries, but an intense childlike faith in Himself, as the Fountain of all good, that God prizes. There is no error of understanding which can hinder the outgoings of Divine compassion to those who, in whatever depth of ignorance, lift up their souls to Him.

Bishop Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the New Testament, p. 79.

We all exert unconscious influence, and thus, even in our spheres of secular life, we affect one another. (1) Our voluntary efforts are only occasional and interrupted, while our unconscious energy is everywhere operative and constant. (2) Our constant and silent energy is most expressive of our real character, and therefore comes most into the sphere of what we call moral influence, which is always the most important. Consider this thought in its practical applications.

I. It should impress us with a sense of the importance of human life.

II. Even for the unconscious influence of such a life we are solemnly responsible.

III. Surely death does not destroy all the unconscious influence of human shadows.

C. Wadsworth, Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 1.

References: Act 5:15.-Contemporary Pulpit, vol. v., p. 61. Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 1. Act 5:17-32.-Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 190. Act 5:19, Act 5:20.-W. J. Henderson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 275. Act 5:20.-J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons, p. 50. Act 5:29.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 326. Act 5:31.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1301; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 113; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 106; E. Cooper, Practical Sermons, vol. i., p. 160. Act 5:31, Act 5:32.-T. Hall, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 270. Act 5:33-42.-Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 252.

Act 5:34

I. In the New Testament, Gamaliel appears twice, and both times in the most interesting way. First, he is the teacher of St. Paul, and so we are constantly led to speculate as to what part of his great pupil’s character is due to him; and in the second place, when the Apostles were arrested very soon after the Pentecost for preaching Christ in Jerusalem. Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrim, before which they were brought for trial, uttered a memorable plea for toleration and delay of judgment. In the light of all the facts about him, it is not hard to see what sort of a man Gamaliel was. He was a great teacher and a great preacher of toleration. The scholar of truth must trust truth; that is Gamaliel’s ground. The man of mere affairs may be a bigot, but not the scholar; the student must claim for himself and for all men, liberty.

II. There are some men whose whole influence is to keep history open, so that whatever good thing is trying to get done in the world can get done; not the doers of great things, but the men who help to keep the world so truly poised that good forces shall have chance to work. These words of Gamaliel seem to point him out as being such a man. To him, evidently, surrounding all that man does-behind it and before it, and working through it-there is God. And with God are the final issues and destinies of things. Work as man will, he cannot make a plan succeed which God disowns; work as man will, he cannot make a plan fail which God approves. That is a noble and distinct faith. It is stepping across the line between fear and courage, between restlessness and peace, between intolerance and charity, when a man thoroughly, heartily, enthusiastically, enters into that faith, when he comes to really believe that with all his heart and soul. These words of Gamaliel are the words of all really progressive spirits. The final glory of Gamaliel lies there. He believed that God was the only life of this world, that all who did not live in Him must die. We do not know whether Gamaliel became a Christian before he died, whether in this life he ever saw that the true light which these poor prisoners adored was true and gave himself to Christ. But at least we know that if we have rightly read his character and story, he made the Christian faith more possible for other men, and he must somewhere, sometime, if not here, then beyond, have come to the truth and to the Christ Himself.

Phillips Brooks, Sermons in English Churches, p. 243.

References: Act 5:38.-Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 110; S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life, p. 309; C. P. Reichel, Church of England Pulpit, vol. x., p. 337; Phillips Brooks, Ibid., vol. xxi., p. 279. Act 5:38, Act 5:39.-Ibid., Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 54; Ibid., The Anglican Pulpit of To-day, p. 397. Act 5:41, Act 5:42.-C. J. Vaughan, Church of the First Days, vol. i., p. 204. Act 5:42.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 369; Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 180; Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 327; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 232; vol. xxviii., p. 357; v.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 285.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 5

1. Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:1-10).

2. Signs and wonders by the Apostles (Act 5:11-16).

3. The second arrest of the Apostles and their Deliverance (Act 5:17-25).

4. Before the Council (Act 5:26-33).

5. Gamaliels Advice (Act 5:34-39).

6. The Apostles beaten and dismissed (Act 5:40-42).

With this chapter the scene changes. Beautiful is the ending of the previous chapter, Barnabas having sold his land, laid the money at the feet of the Apostles. He gave by it a striking testimony how he realized as a believing Jew his heavenly portion, by giving up that which is promised to the Jew, earthly possessions.

Our chapter begins with the significant word But. It is the word of failure and decline. All was evidently perfect; nothing marred the precious scenes of fellowship–but, and with this little word the story of evil begins. The enemy seeing himself so completely defeated by his attacks from the outside now enters among the flock and begins his work within.

Ananias and Sapphira were lying to the Holy Spirit. Swift judgment followed as to their earthly existence. They were cut off by death. The sin they had done was a sin unto death and the sentence, physical death, was immediately carried out. Peter is still in the foreground. We must remember here the words of the Lord which He spake to Peter, after this disciple had confessed Him as Son of God. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Mat 16:19). The same words concerning binding and loosing the Lord addressed to all the disciples (Mat 18:18). The binding and loosing refers to discipline on earth. It has nothing whatever to do with forgiveness of sins or eternal salvation. Peter here exercises this authority, it was the first discipline. We must likewise remember that these events happened on Jewish, on kingdom ground. The witness was still to the nation. The sudden judgment which came upon Ananias and Sapphira was a strong witness to the nation that the Holy One of Israel, Jehovah, dwelt in the midst of this remnant, who believed in the One whom the nation had rejected. When the kingdom is established on earth and the Lord Jesus Christ rules in righteousness, then, no doubt, every sin will be swiftly judged by death.

Great things followed. Their habitual place seems to have been in Solomons porch. No one dared to join them. They held the position of authority. Though they had been forbidden the public ministry they are back in a prominent place. The people magnified them too. Then another result was that more believers were added. Added to what? The First Hebrew Christian Church of Jerusalem? The First Jewish Christian Society? No. They were added to the Lord. The sinner believing is saved, receives the Holy Spirit, is joined to the Lord, becomes one spirit with the Lord, a member of the body of which He is the Head. Signs and wonders were done by the Apostles. The sick were healed, unclean spirits were driven out. Multitudes of people from the surrounding country flocked to Jerusalem, bringing their sick, and they were all healed. They waited even in the streets for the time when Peter walked along so that his shadow might fall on some of them. These were great manifestations of the power of God. The words spoken by the Lord were then fulfilled. They did the works He did. These signs and wonders, however, are nowhere mentioned as to their permanency throughout this age. They were only for the beginning of this age; after the Gospel of Grace and the mystery hidden in former ages had been fully made known they disappeared.

All the Apostles were then arrested and Put into the common prison. During the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison door and led them out. Such a manifestation was perfectly in order at that time, and fully corresponds with the other kingdom characteristics in the beginning of this book. But these supernatural manifestations have ceased. Peter once more with the other Apostles bears witness to the resurrection and exaltation of the rejected Christ. On the advice of Gamaliel they were released after they had been beaten. With rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name, they departed and continued in their great ministry.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Cir, am 4038, ad 34, Lev 10:1-3, Jos 6:1, Mat 13:47, Mat 13:48, Joh 6:37, 2Ti 2:20

Reciprocal: Jos 7:11 – dissembled Jos 7:18 – was taken 1Ki 13:5 – General Psa 101:7 – He that worketh Mal 1:14 – cursed Mat 12:44 – he findeth Mat 13:22 – the care Luk 14:33 – General Act 2:45 – sold Act 4:34 – for Act 4:37 – sold 2Co 13:8 – General 1Ti 5:24 – General Jam 1:15 – when

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THIS CHAPTER OPENS with a solemn incident which throws up in striking relief one last feature which characterized the early church: there was the exercise of a holy discipline by the power of God. The case of Ananias and Sapphira was exceptional without a doubt. When God institutes anything new, it seems to be His way to signalize His holiness by making an example of any who challenge it. He did so with the man who broke the sabbath in the wilderness (see, Num 15:32-36), and also with Achan when Israel began to enter Canaan (see Jos 7:18-26), and so with Ananias and his wife here. Later in Israels history many broke the sabbath and took forbidden Babylonish things without incurring similar penalties, just as during the churchs history many have acted lies or told them without falling dead.

What lay behind the lie in this case were the twin evils of covetousness and vainglory. Ananias wanted to keep part of the money for himself, and yet gain the reputation of having devoted all to the Lord, as Barnabas had done. Such is the mind of the flesh, even in a saint. How many of us have never had the workings of similar evils in our own hearts? But in this case Satan had been at work, and by the unhappy couple he issued a direct challenge to the Holy Ghost present in the church. The Holy Ghost accepted the challenge, and demonstrated His presence in this drastic and unmistakable fashion. Peter recognized that this was the position, when to Sapphira he spoke of their doings as an agreement to tempt the Spirit of the Lord.

In result Satans challenge was made to serve the interests of the Lord and His gospel, as the following verses show. In the first place, this episode put great fear upon all who heard of it, and even upon the church itself. Here is indicated something which is very lacking in the church today-to say nothing of men generally. The fear of God is a very wholesome thing in the hearts of saints, and it is quite compatible with a deep sense of the love of God. Paul had that fear in the light of the judgment seat (see, 2Co 5:10, 2Co 5:11), though for the unbeliever it will go beyond fear to positive terror. A godly fear, springing from a deep sense of the holiness of God, is much to be desired.

Then, as the early part of verse Act 5:12, and verses Act 5:15-16 show, there was no slackening in the miraculous power of God, ministered through the Apostles. Indeed the power increased, so that the mere shadow of Peter wrought wonders. Within the parenthesis printed in brackets (verses Act 5:12-14) we get the statement that after such an happening men were afraid to join themselves to the Christian company; yet this was no real loss, for it stopped anything in the nature of a mass movement, that would have swept a good deal of unreality into the church. The real work of God was not hindered, as verse Act 5:14 states. People may be added to the church who are mere professors, but no one is added to the Lord save those in whom there is a vital work of God. Thus the sad business of Ananias and Sapphira was overruled for good, though to a superficial observer it might have seemed a heavy blow to the churchs prospects.

God having wrought in this striking way for blessing, we see, in verse Act 5:17, the next counter-stroke of Satan. The priests and Sadducees, filled with indignation, again arrest them. This is met by God sending an angel to open the prison doors and liberate them. The next day, their escape being discovered, they are arrested, but in much more gentle fashion. The words of the priests confess the power with which God had been at work, for they admit that Jerusalem had been filled with the teaching; yet they manifest the awful hardness of their hearts in saying, ye… intend to bring this Mans blood upon us. Why, they had themselves said, His blood be on us, and on our children. The truth was that God was going to take them at their word, and do it.

Peters answer was short and simple. They were going to obey God rather than men. Then he again summarized their testimony and repeated it. The Holy Ghost and they were witnesses to the resurrection of the Jesus, whom they slew. But God had exalted Him, not to be at that time a Judge, meting out damnation upon their guilty heads, but a Prince and a Saviour, giving repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Repentance as well as forgiveness is viewed as a gift.

Though mercy and forgiveness was still the burden of Peters message, the proclamation of it only stirred them to fury. Mercy presupposes sin and guilt, and that they were not disposed to admit; hence they took counsel to slay them. Satan is a murderer from the beginning, and under his influence murder filled their hearts. Yet God has many ways of checkmating the evil designs of men, and in this case He used the worldly wisdom of the renowned Gamaliel, who had Saul of Tarsus as his pupil.

Gamaliel cited two recent cases of men who had risen up pretending to be somebody; the type of man to whom the Lord alluded in Joh 10:1-42, when He spoke of those who climbed up some other way, and who were but thieves and robbers. They came to nought indeed, and Gamaliel thought that Jesus might have been one of these spurious shepherds, instead of the true Shepherd of Israel. Had He been such, His cause also would have come to nought. Gamaliels warning took effect and the Apostles were released, though with a beating and the demand that they ceased their testimony.

Truly the council was fighting against God, for the Apostles rejoiced in their suffering for His Name, and diligently pursued their witness both publicly in the temple and more privately in every house.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

1

Act 5:1. This verse gives the brief but important information that both Ananias and his wife acted in the transaction. I do not know what arrangements could be had in those times as to joint titles to property. However, the fact remains that the husband and wife acted jointly in the disposal of their property.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

The Episode of Ananias and Sapphira, 1-11.

Act 5:1-2. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price. In striking contrast to the entire self-abnegation of some of the richer brethren, of whom Barnabas was an example, appears the conduct of another of the wealthier converts, Ananias. The history of the infant Church has presented hitherto an image of unsullied light; it is now for the first time that a shadow falls upon it. We can imagine that among the first Christians a kind of holy emulation had sprung up all were eager to make over their superfluous wealth to the Church. This zeal now seems to have carried away some, in whose hearts still lingered a love for earthly things. Such an one was Ananias, who secretly kept back part of the price he had received for property (which he had devoted to Gods service). Vanity was the motive for the sale, hypocrisy the motive of the concealment. He coveted the reputation of appearing as disinterested as others, and yet could not let go his hold of mammon (from Olshausen).

Special circumstances surround the sin of these two unhappy ones, whose guilt met with so prompt and terrible a punishment. We must remember that the early Church, strong and enduring as it proved itself to be, in those first days stood alone and defenceless, while the hands of all, seemingly, were against it. The secret of its strength lay in the faith of its members in the Risen Onea faith which nothing could shake; in their perfect trust in the guidance and presence among them of the Holy Ghost; in the sure confidence that, though they as individuals might not, probably would not, live to see it, the triumph of their Masters cause was certain. Now Ananiaspartly, perhaps, persuaded that this new sect had before it a great future, and wishing to secure his own share in its coming prosperity; partly, perhaps, moved by genuine admiration for its pure saintly lifevoluntarily threw in his lot with these Nazarenes, and by a seemingly noble act of self-denial, claimed the position among them which was ever promptly given to those saintly men and women who had given up lands and gold for Christs sake. In his heart, however, a lingering doubt remained whether perhaps, after all, the whole story might not be a delusion; so, while professedly stripping himself of his possessions, he kept back enough of his worldly wealth to secure himself in the event of the dispersion and breaking up of the communion of the Nazarenes.

Ananias knew he could deceive men; he believed so little in that Almighty Spirit who guided and inspired the little church of Christ, that he dreamed he could deceive, too, that Holy Ghost.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The last verses of the foregoing chapter acquainted us with the practice of the primitive Christians at the first plantation of the gospel, in selling their possessions for charitable uses, and laying down the money at the apostles’ feet, for the relief of their fellow brethren and members in Christ.

Now this chapter informs us, that according to their example, one Anania, and Sapphira his wife, consecrated a possession unto God, and sold the same to that purpose; but fraudulently kept back part of the price; and thus, as St. Chryostom notes, was found stealing his own goods: He had the formality to sell his lands as others did; but had not the sincerity to part with his money as others had.

Observe here, 1. The true nature of Ananias’s sin, it as sacrilege; that is, a purloining or stealing of that which by vow and inward purpose of heart: covetousness and vain-glory, lying and hypocrisy, did all attend and accompany this sin; but the sin itself was sacrilege.

Learn hence, 1. That what is consecrated to God, must not be alienated or applied to to other uses.

2. That such an alienation is sacrilege, and a sin against God, being a breach of vow or promise made unto him; a lying unto God, as the text calls it.

3. That it is a heinous sin, which God will severely punish.

Observe, 2. How this secret sin, lying in the intention of the heart, was known to God, and by divine revelation made known to St. Peter.

Learn thence, That not only our outward actions are taken notice of by God, but even the purposes and intents of our hearts are all manifest and open to him, and thoroughly understood by them.

Observe, 3. How St. Peter justly aggravates their sin from the divinity of the person, (the Holy Ghost,) against whom it was committed, Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost? Thou hast not lied unto man, but unto God.

But why is Ananias said to lie unto the Holy Ghost, rather than to God the Father or Jesus Christ the Son?

Answer, Either, 1. Because it is the power work of the Spirit search the heart, and to know the thoughts and purposes thereof:

Or, 2. Because the wealth brought in to the apostles and laid at their feet, was an effect of the Holy Spirit inclining the hearts of believers so to do.

Learn hence, The divinity of the Holy Ghost, that he is truly and really God: he whom the scripture calls the great and true God, is God; but the scripture calls the Holy Ghost the great and true God; therefore the Holy Ghost is God. Either the Holy Ghost is man, and God’s messenger, or God himself; but the antithesis or opposite shews, that he is not man; for says the apostles, Thou hast not lied unto man:

And if the Holy Ghost had been only God’s messenger, it had been as great a sin to lie to Peter, (he being God’s extraordinary messenger,) as to lie to the Holy Ghost; therefore the apostle, in the fourth verse, doth explain what he meant, by lying to the Holy Ghost, in the third verse; namely, lying unto God: Thou hast not lied unto man, a creature like thyself, but unto God, even to the Holy Ghost who is God.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

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 Jos 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 ( Act 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 Act 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 ( Act 5:7-11 ).

Act 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 ( Gal 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 ( Act 5:12-16 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Act 5:1-2. But a certain man named Ananias A professor of the gospel, but certainly not a true believer, for all that truly believed were of one heart and of one soul, Act 4:32. Probably he was not yet baptized, but intended now to offer himself for baptism; with Sapphira his wife Who concurred with him; sold a possession So the word , here used, properly signifies: what sort of a possession it was, we are not informed: for the word , (used Act 5:8, and rendered land,) does not necessarily mean so, but simply, a place, of any kind, and might be a house or houses. He pretended, it seems, to imitate the zeal and liberality of Barnabas, chap. Act 4:37; and kept back Greek, , fraudulently secreted, or purloined, part of the price While he brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles feet Publicly, as if it had been the whole, perhaps saying it was so. It has been supposed by many, that Ananias and Sapphira had consecrated their estate to God by vow, and that they were guilty of the sin of sacrilege. But this is not probable; 1st, Because in all the sales of lands or houses, mentioned in the preceding chapters and here, there is not the least intimation of any such vow. 2d, Peter neither accuses him nor his wife of any such crime, but only of tempting, that is, distrusting and making trial of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and attempting to deceive him by an artifice. 3d, The apostle acknowledges (Act 5:3) that the property was his, and at his disposal, before it was sold, and the whole price of it afterward, which could not have been the case, if he had before consecrated it to religious uses. But yet they were guilty of a double fraud; 1st, In presenting this part of the price to the apostles, as if it had been the whole, when, indeed, it was not. 2d, In tacitly signifying hereby that they had now the same right to be relieved from the common stock which others had, as having nothing of their own, when, indeed, they had money which they had kept back.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

V: 1, 2. In close connection with this unprecedented liberality of the brethren, we are now introduced to a remarkable case of corruption, of which it was the occasion. The praise always lavished on disinterested benevolence sometimes prompts illiberal men to make a pretense of liberality. But the mere desire of praise is incapable of subduing selfishness, so as to make a truly liberal heart; for it is itself a species of selfishness. In contrast with the course of Barnabas, we are told: (1) “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, (2) and kept back part of the price, his wife being also privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the feet of the apostles.” This language implies, what is distinctly avowed by the wife below, that this part was represented as the whole price of the possession.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Acts Chapter 5

Alas! evil shews itself there also (chap. 5). If the mighty Spirit of God is there, the flesh also is there. There are some who wished to have the credit of devotedness which the Holy Ghost produces, although devoid of that faith in God, and that self-renunciation, which, shewing itself in the path of love, constitutes all the value and all the truth of this devotedness. But it only gives fresh occasion to manifest the power of the Spirit of God, the presence of God within, against evil; as the preceding chapter shewed His energy outside, and the precious fruits of His grace. If there be not the simple fruit and of good already described, there is the power of good against evil. The present state of the assembly, as a whole, is the power of evil over good. God cannot endure evil where He dwells; still less than where He does not dwell. However great the energy of the testimony which He sends to those who are outside, He exercises all patience until there is no remedy within. The more His presence is realised and manifested (and even in proportion as that is done), the more He shews Himself intolerant of evil. It cannot be otherwise. He judges in the midst of His saints, where He will have holiness; and that according to the measure of the manifestation of Himself. Ananias and Sapphira disregarding the presence of the Holy Ghost, whose impulse they pretended to follow, fall down dead before the God whom, in their blindness, they sought to deceive in forgetting Him. God was in the assembly.

Mighty, though painful, testimony to His presence! Fear pervades every heart, both within and outside. In fact, the presence of God is a serious thing, however great its blessing. The effect of this manifestation of the power of a God present with those whom He acknowledged as His own was very great. Multitudes joined themselves by faith to the confession of the name of the Lord-at least from among the people, for the rest dared not. The more position we have in the world, the more we fear the world which gave it us. This miraculous testimony to the power of God was also displayed in a still more remarkable way, so that people came from far to profit by it. The apostles were constantly together in Solomons porch.

But alas! the manifestation of the power of God, in connection with the despised disciples of Jesus, and working outside the beaten track in which the self-importance of the high priest and those that were with him found its path, together with the progress made by that which they rejected, and the attention drawn to the apostles by the miracles that were wrought, excite the opposition and jealousy of the rulers; and they put the apostles in prison. In this world good ever works in the presence of the power of evil.

A power different from that of the Holy Ghost in the assembly now displays itself. The providence of God, watching over His work, and acting through the ministry of angels, frustrates all the plans of the unbelieving heads of Israel. The priests shut up the apostles in prison. An angel of the Lord opens the prison doors, and sends the apostles to pursue their accustomed work in the temple. The officers whom the council send to the prison find it shut, and everything in order; but no apostles.

Meanwhile the council are informed that they are in the temple, teaching the people. Confounded and alarmed, the council send to fetch them; but the officers bring them without violence, fearing the people. For God holds everything in check, until His testimony be rendered, when He will have it rendered. The high priest remonstrates with them on the ground of his former prohibition. Peters reply is more concise than on the former occasion, and is rather the announcement of a settled purpose, than the rendering a testimony by reasoning with those who will not hearken, and who shewed themselves to be adversaries. It is the same in substance as what he had said when previously brought before the rulers: God is to be obeyed rather than men. Opposed to God, the heads of Israel were merely men. In saying this, all was decided: the opposition between them and God was evident. The God of their fathers had raised up Jesus, whom the rulers of Israel had crucified. The apostles were His witnesses, and so was the Holy Ghost, whom God had given to those who obeyed Him. All was said; the position clearly announced. Peter, in the name of the apostles, formally takes it on the part of God and of Christ, and in agreement with the seal of the Holy Ghost, who, given to believers, bore witness in the Saviours name. Nevertheless there is no pride, no self-will. He must obey God. He still takes his place in Israel (the God, he says, of our fathers); but the place of testimony for God in Israel. The advice of Gamaliel prevails to turn aside the purposes of the council, for God has always His instruments ready, unknown perhaps to us, where we are doing His will; nevertheless they cause the apostles to be beaten, and command them not to preach, and send them away. They were at a loss what to do-only made the opposition of their will the more evident, while how simple the path when sent of God, and consciously doing His will! We must obey God.

The object of this latter part of the chapter is to shew that the providential care of God, whether miraculously by means of angels, or by disposing the hearts of men to accomplish His purposes, was exercised on behalf of the assembly, even as the Spirit of God bore testimony in it and manifested in it His power. The apostles, in no wise terrified, return, full of joy at being counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus; and every day, in the temple, or from house to house, they cease not to teach and to preach the good news of Jesus the Christ. However weak they might be, God Himself maintains His testimony.

Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA

1-11. In that country the summers are very hot [and this was June], superinducing very quick and rapid putrefaction, necessitating a speedy interment of the dead, especially in a vast multitude. They had no grave to dig, as they did not use them. The sepulchers were always ready for the deposition of the dead. From this history of the mournful fate of Ananias and Sapphira, we learn an exceedingly valuable and eminently profitable symbolic truth, pertinent to all ages; i. e., that if we do not radically and truly consecrate all to God, spiritual death will inevitably supervene. Horace, the celebrated Roman lyric poet, says:

Retribution, though with lame foot, will inevitably overtake the criminal.

Though the irrelevancy of the heathen poet, how significantly true! The Holy Spirit is omniscient, seeing every thought, feeling and motive of our being. Hence we can not deceive Him. Millions try it and fall dead [spiritually] like Ananias and Sapphira. Reader, profit by this awful warning. You can not deceive God. Now and evermore submit unreservedly, be loyal as an angel, your watchword ever ringing, Thy will be done.

IDENTITY OF THE TRINITY

3, 4 and 9 (also Rom 8:9). These Scriptures prove clearly the identity of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the Father. In Act 5:3, Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Ghost. In Act 5:4, he accuses him of lying to God. In Act 5:9, he accuses him of tempting the Spirit of the Lord, i. e., of Christ. Hence we see that all these are used synonymously, proving their identity.

Rom 8:9 : But you are not in carnality, but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. And if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

In this verse we find the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ used synonymously, and both synonymous with the Holy Ghost. I have met much inquiry and know many people exceedingly puzzled and muddled along these lines of revealed truth, some having actually digressed into the tritheistic heresy, i. e., the doctrine of three Gods, because they too idly discriminate between the three persons of the one God, becoming somewhat oblivious to the fact that there is only one God, of whom the Father, Son and Spirit are three distinct persons, executive of the different departments in the gracious economy, and accommodatory to our finite apprehensions of the incomprehensible Divinity. I am editor in the morning, teacher in the afternoon, and preacher at night, day by day, in my industrial life; thus exhibiting three distinct characters and working on three separate lines. Therefore you see in me a human trinity. Yet I am only one man.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Act 5:3. Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost. These words not only indicate that Ananias was a minister of the word, but that he for once had yielded his heart to the unclean spirit. Castellio reads, Ut spiritum Sanctum falleres. Ananias spake as though the Holy Spirit had uttered the deception. Now, the gentiles seem agreed, that the virgin or pythoness who should deliver a falsehood as the oracle of a god should suffer death. Ananias was speechless, after hearing the solemn charge exhibited against him.

Act 5:6. They carried him out, and buried him. In hot countries they still bury the dead on the day they die, if it can conveniently be done.

Act 5:11. Great fear came upon all the church. They might advert to the sentence of God against king Ahaziah, 2 Kings 1.; and to the sentence of death pronounced against Hananiah, the false prophet. Jeremiah 28. Christ has in the church a sword with two edges; and she must be sanctified by the strokes of his rod.

Act 5:12. They were all with one accord in Solomons porch. See the notes on Joh 10:23.

Act 5:16. There came a multitude out of the cities round about bringing sick folks. Thus was fulfilled the words of Christ, Greater works than these, in point of number, shall ye do, because I go to the Father, and endue you with power.

Act 5:17. Then the highpriest rose up, and all the sadducees who composed the council, being filled with indignation. The infidels taking a lead in this persecution, indicates that political reasons were assigned for the rigorous proceedings against the church. This was the second storm that arose in quick succession, and which the angels, for the present, warded off, that the young converts might acquire stability in the faith.

Act 5:20. Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. Faint not in the battle, God is on your side; confute the sadducees your persecutors, who deny a future state. The gospel especially demonstrates immortality and life. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1Jn 5:11. So are all the succession of promises. Because I live, ye shall live also. He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Joh 3:36.

Act 5:31. Him hath God exalted a Prince and a Saviour. Peter is careful here to use the words of the prophets. Messiah is the Prince: Messiah is the Saviour: Messiah is coqual with the Sire, because the Father hath called him, and not any angel, to sit at his right hand. Christ is exalted as the dispenser of grace, to give repentance, a broken and a contrite heart to rebels, even to those that crucified him, and the joys of remission in all the comforts of the Holy Ghost. This is the grace and truth which came by Christ.

Act 5:34. Gamaliel, a doctor of the law. He was successor in the chair to the great Hillel, a man of extensive learning. Some say that he and his son Abibon became christians. Gamaliel is said to be the son of Simeon, who took our Saviour in his arms, at the time of his presentation in the temple. Luk 2:35.

Act 5:36-37. Before these days rose up Theudas, against the Roman power, who was slain, and his men dispersed. Josephuss Antiq. lib. 10. cap. 1. After him, Judas of Galilee raised an army to oppose the poll- tax, mentioned in Luke 2. He also perished, and his forces were dispersed. Therefore, if this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it. So said Gamaliel, and truly wisdom is better than might.

REFLECTIONS.

This chapter opens with a dark cloud, after the finest sunshine of grace. It discovers the dormant mystery of iniquity which began to work in the church. The sale of houses and lands, which went on as the church had need, was very popular, and discovered a godlike charity. Ananias, supposed to be one of the hundred and twenty, sold a possession, and brought only a part of the price. His pride wished to retain the whole of the honour, while his covetousness retained a part of the price.

Here we see the dreadful sin of a cool and deliberate lie; for when a man tells an untruth through mistake, his heart is innocent, and he can reproach himself with nothing but inattention, and with the hurt which his mistake may do. God is truth: his works are the image of truth. The sun does not lie to the morning, but rises at the appointed time; and he is faithful to the seasons of the year. Why then should man in the face of the sun lie to his brother.

Equivocation is in Gods account the same as a palpable falsehood. Ananias had indeed sold the land for so much, but he had also sold it for more. This neither diminished his sin nor mitigated his punishment: it rather added craft to guilt.

It was a most grievous lie, being the effect of counsel, and of an agreement to tempt the Lord. The man and his wife were equally guilty, and equally punished by an instantaneous death. How tremendous are the judgments of heaven. May they teach us righteousness, and sanctify us by fear unto all generations. This purifying stroke of God would show his immediate care to sanctify the church. Had Ananias only died, physicians, who seek a physical cause for every consequence, might have said, it was apoplexy occasioned by excitement, but the same event falling on his wife and at the distance of three hours, shows the hand of God. These strokes would give proper alarm to hypocrites, and to all false brethren.

It ought also to be remarked, that after the ratification of a covenant and the promulgation of a law, God has often inflicted immediate punishment on the first presumptive transgressors. Adam and Eve lost their glory, and became mortal for the first offence. Nadab and Abihu were burnt for offering strange fire. Likewise the first blasphemer, and the first sabbathbreaker were both stoned for daring to offend; and though providence frequently reserves the punishment to the last, the sinner shall not fare the better for a long contempt of mercy.

Instances of flagrant apostasy are often marked, even in these later times, with awful expressions of divine displeasure. I have noticed some sad cases of rebels, who have presently died under the censure of the church; and charity would induce me to hope that the punishment fell on the body only. But in regard to providence, men often die in the immediate act of crime. In the year 1789 I read an inscription of this nature in the marketplace of Devizes, concerning Ruth Pearce, but the inscription is now removed. And the venerable Richard Pearce, of Bradford, Wilts, gave me the following account of that visitation. Four poor women joined to buy a load of wheat on the marketday. The price was seventeen shillings; each woman gave her money into the farmers hand. On counting it he said, I have but sixteen shillings and nine-pence. I gave four shillings and threepense said one; and I gave four shillings and threepense said the second, and so said the third. Then Ruth, said one, it must be you. She rejoined And, if I did not give four shillings and threepense, I wish I might drop down dead. It is awful to add, she instantly fell dead on the spot, and the threepense was found in her hand! The parishioners very laudably erected a monument to deter all persons from the heinous sin of lying.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Act 5:1-11. Ananias and Sapphira.Barnabas unworthy counterpart is Ananias, who, in league with his wife, was unwilling to part with all his property, but anxious to appear to have done so. Their crime was that they tried to deceive the Church and God by keeping back part of what was dedicated and belonged to God, and so insulting and wronging the Church. Peter feels the attack as directed against the Spirit, therefore a monstrous one which could only proceed from Satan, the first liar. No compulsion, he says, was applied to anyone to part with his property, nor, when it was sold, with the price of it; this shows the statements of Act 2:45; Act 4:32 to be exaggerated; but to pretend to dedicate a property to the community and to keep back part of the price, that was to lie to God who dwelt in the community. The death of Ananias takes place forthwith, whether from a violent convulsion of feeling, or in consequence of a deliberate exercise of the power spoken of by Paul in 1Co 5:5, we need not decide. The inviolability of the Church is thus placed beyond question (Act 2:43). Not only its members felt it but all who heard of the occurrence. No customary rites, no elaborate mourning were bestowed on Ananias; his family was not summoned. The younger men (not here the description of an office but a plain statement of fact) disposed of his body as quickly and simply as possible. The second act of this judgment required that Sapphira should not know her husbands fate. The young men have scarcely returned from their dreadful errand; when they come in they find the wife also dead, and do the same to her as to her husband. The impression produced on the Church and on those outside is again dwelt on.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Where God is working, however, the opposition of Satan soon becomes apparent. The evil begins (as evil always does) in an underhand manner, but is quickly exposed by God. Ananias and Sapphira certainly did not expect to have their sin discerned as it was. Evidently because others were doing it, they sold land, bringing part of the price to the apostles on the understanding that it was the full price. The power of the Spirit of God present at the time did not allow the falsehood to pass. God revealed the matter to Peter, who speaks most solemnly to Ananias of the wickedness of his lying to the Holy Spirit. He makes it very clear that Ananias had perfect right to keep all the land it he chose to, and when it was sold had a right to keep all or part of the proceeds. But to falsely claim to be giving all was wickedness in the eyes of God. He had lied, not merely to men, but to God.

The immediate result was fearsome. Ananias fell down dead. God is jealous of His own glory in the church. When it was established in power, such was His immediate judgment of falsehood. One wonders, if the same were done today, how many professing Christians would suffer such a fate! Because of great departure today God does not deal so summarily with evil, but the assembly is still responsible to maintain proper godly discipline whenever evil has become known.

The fear of God struck deeply into many hearts on this occasion. The man was immediately carried out and buried. Evidently government did not require the many preliminaries it does today. Sapphira, ignorant of what had transpired, came in about three hours later. In answer to Peter’s question, she affirmed that the land was sold for the price Ananias had reported. Peter solemnly reproved her agreeing together with her husband to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, and told her she was to be buried just as her husband was. How little they were profited by the money they withheld! Great fear gripped all the church as well as others who heard of the matter. Dishonest people would no doubt think twice before linking themselves with the disciples. The church itself too was to be impressed with the truth and holiness of the God with whom they had to do.

This manifestation of God’s holiness issued in further manifestations of His power in many signs and wonders by the hands of the apostles. Their unity (“with one accord”) is again noted. Those unsaved did not dare to join themselves to them, though recognizing God’s presence with them. On the other hand, great numbers of believers were added to the Lord, men and women.

The many miracles accomplished through the apostles led people to bring their sick in beds into the streets with the hope of their having Peter’s shadow fall on them as he passed. Crowds also came from cities in the area of Jerusalem, bringing those sick and those afflicted by unclean spirits. As when the Lord Jesus was on earth, the result was healing for every one. Notice that no such thing as a healing meeting was held, but great numbers were healed apart from meetings at all. Nor were some selected to be put into a healing line and others ignored. All were healed, none going away disappointed.

The high priests and others with him (Sadducees) could not but be bitterly antagonistic to this evident perpetuation of the work of the Lord Jesus whom they had crucified, and whose resurrection was a terrible affront to their false doctrine. They imprison the apostles (how many of them we are not told: perhaps all of them).

The intervention of God on this occasion is amazing. The angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and told them to return to the temple and speak “to the people all the words of this life.” With what calm fortitude and power they would do this! Early in the morning they are teaching there.

Ignorant of this, the high priest and his friends called the council together, and the senate, an August, imposing company, only to find that they had no-one to put on trial! The officers report that the prison was locked, the guards standing before the doors, but the prisoners gone. God had evidently rendered the guards insensible to what was happening in their presence. This causes the leaders both embarrassment and worry as to what might develop from this. However, a messenger informs them that the men they put in prison were teaching in the temple. God had not allowed them to hide, for the leaders must have their unholy authority challenged. The captain and officers again go and arrest the disciples, being careful not to be violent on account of their fear of popular opinion. Of course the disciples offer no resistance. The high priest’s accusation is interesting. He is angry that they have disobeyed his command not to teach in the name of Jesus (though he will not use the name “Jesus”), and that they have filled Jerusalem with their teaching. But he adds that they “intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Had he forgotten that they themselves, with all the people, had told Pilate, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Mat 27:25)? They had admitted fully before Pilate their responsibility for His death. Now they would like to slip out of the responsibility by ignoring it, and by crushing every testimony to the facts. Peter therefore speaks more decisively to them than he had before, with the other apostles fully backing him up. He had asked them before to judge what was right (Ch.4:19): now he tells them positively, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” If they refuse to judge honestly, the apostles will not accept their ultimatum to disobey God.

Verses 30 to 32 add to this another clear, concise declaration of the vital facts that were so unwelcome to the council. “The God of our fathers,” the God all Israel professed to serve, had raised up Jesus, whom “ye slew and hanged on a tree.” They knew this was true: they had plotted and insisted on His crucifixion.

They of course knew also that their watch had reported the stone of the grave rolled away by an angel, revealing that the Lord’s body was gone. The apostles go beyond this in their witness. God had exalted Christ by His right hand, a Prince, One set in dignity above the people (not yet in kingly authority, but exalted), and a Savior, the only One in whom Israel can find salvation from their sins and from the bondage of sin. Notice too that it is He who gives repentance to Israel. Receiving Him would involve very definite repentance, which was no doubt not a popular subject for the chief priests.

The apostles declare themselves as witnesses of these things, adding that the Holy Spirit was also a witness, He having been given by God to all who obey Him. This was a matter the leaders did not have the temerity to deny, for the power the apostles had was more than natural; but they ignore it. In fact, being cut to the heart (not pricked in their hearts — ch.2:37), they consult together with the purpose of killing the apostles. Such is the folly of unrepentant wickedness!

But on this occasion God overrules the matter in sovereign grace by having a doctor of the law there, a prominent man, who gives advice which is at least sensible and logical. He shows no inclination to believe the Gospel, but warns Israel not to make a blunder in dealing with these men. He presents two examples of men who had not so long before exalted themselves, influencing others to follow them. Notice that Theudas had boasted himself to be somebody. This was noticeably absent so far as the apostles were concerned: they only exalted Christ, not themselves nor any other individual on earth. In each case these proud leaders met an untimely end and their followers were scattered.

Gamaliel therefore gives good advice based on these facts, advising the council to leave the men alone, for if their work was merely of men it would come to nothing. On the other hand, if it were of God they could not overthrow it, and would be fighting against God. Did Gamaliel perhaps entertain some thought that it could be God’s work? At least he was telling them to consider the possibility of this.

They agree to his wisdom, yet cannot refrain from venting their bitter feelings by beating the apostles before letting them go. If they were God’s servants (the possibility of which had been admitted) then how culpable was their guilt in treating them in this way Again also they issue the ultimatum to the apostles not to speak in the name of Jesus. The apostles had already answered this most decisively (v.29).

Allowed to leave, they do so rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus. How good to see them taking to heart His own words spoken to them before, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad” (Mat 5:11-12). What a complete contrast to men’s natural reactions Daily in the temple and in homes they continued to disobey the religious authorities by teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. By the power of the Spirit of God they are not in the least intimidated by persecution.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

5:1 But {1} a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

(1) Luke shows by contrary examples how great a sin hypocrisy is, especially in those who under a false pretence and cloak of zeal seem to shine and be of great importance in the Church.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira 5:1-11

We might conclude from what precedes that the church was a sinless community at this time. Unfortunately this was not the case. There were sinning saints in it. This episode reveals that God was working dramatically in the church’s early days in judgment as well as in blessing. Luke did not idealize his portrait of the early church but painted an accurate picture, "warts and all."

"The passage shows that God knows the hearts of believers. Peter is not the major figure in the text: God is. Luke is teaching about respect for God through one’s action." [Note: Bock, Acts, p. 219.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The death of Ananias 5:1-6

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

"But" introduces another sacrificial act that looked just as generous as Barnabas’ (Act 4:37). However in this case the motive was quite different. Ananias’ Jewish name, Hananiah, means "Yahweh is gracious," and Sapphira’s Aramaic name, Sappira, means "beautiful." Their names proved as ironic as their behavior was hypocritical.

The Greek word nosphizo, ("kept back") also appears at the beginning of the record of Achan’s sin in the Septuagint (Jos 7:1, translated "took"). Ananias presented their gift to the apostles exactly as Barnabas had done (Act 4:37).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)