Ananias & Sapphira.

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is found in Acts 5, and it is a sad story, indeed. It actually begins at the end of chapter 4 with the description of the early church in Jerusalem, a group of believers so filled with the Holy Spirit that they were of one heart and one mind. Great power and grace were on the apostles, who preached and testified of the risen Savior.

So knit together were the hearts of the people that they held all their possessions loosely and willingly shared them with one another, not because they were coerced but because they loved one another. Those who sold land and houses gave of their profits to the apostles, who distributed the gifts to those in need.

The church in Jerusalem is inundated with people from other areas who do not have access to their assets. There are no remote banks, ATMs, or wire services in the first century. Those who are local sell property to provide for the needs of thew poor.

A man named Ananias has dedicated the full proceeds of a piece of land to the church. In the end, he dishonestly keeps some of the money, effectively embezzling what is rightfully God's.

Acts 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."

Acts 5:2 is a verse from the Bible that tells the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a couple who sold a property and donated some of the money to the church, but lied about giving the whole amount.

The verse says that Ananias, with his wife's full knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds for himself, but brought a portion and laid it at the apostles' feet.

The verse implies that Ananias was not obliged to sell the property or give all the money, but his sin was deceiving the apostles.

Acts 5:1–11 contains the unfortunate story of Ananias and Sapphira. While the story of Peter and John's arrest by the Sadducees shows the beginning of problems outside the church (Acts 4), the account of Ananias and Sapphira reveals issues inside the church. As people listen to the witness of the apostles and come to a saving faith in Jesus, they donate what they have so that everyone in the church has what they need (Acts 4:32–37).

Ananias and Sapphira want to join the wave of altruism, but not completely. God loves generosity, but not shallow performances which attempts to make a fool of Him and His people.

The apostles continue to make hard decisions in the name of Jesus, both inside and outside the church. When Ananias and Sapphira lie to God, the Holy Spirit inspires Peter to pronounce God's judgment on them, protecting the church from the love of the world.

Despite the Sanhedrin's watchful eye—and direct orders (Acts 4:17–18)—the apostles continue to preach and heal openly. The guards arrest the apostles, but the Sanhedrin settles for beating them instead of capital punishment.

The apostles consider it an honor to suffer on behalf of their Savior.

Ananias and Sapphira are two recent converts to the early church in Jerusalem. They're swept up in the communal altruism meant to provide for those who are financially struggling. This likely included a number of new believers from other cities and nations who don't have access to their assets (Acts 4:32–37).

Like Barnabas, they sell a piece of property and give the proceeds to the apostles. Their motivation, however, turns out to be less than pure.

"Kept back" is from the Greek root word nosphizō which also means to embezzle. The same term is seen in Titus 2:10, where the ESV renders it as "pilfering." The point, then, is that this married couple is dishonestly representing their gift. The problem isn't that Ananias and Sapphira had to give the church all the proceeds.

The sin is in lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3). Apparently, they vowed they would donate all the money and then secretly went back on that oath. Jesus points out that the Mosaic law said, "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn" (Matthew 5:33).

He goes on to say we shouldn't make oaths to God, anyway; merely do what we say we will (Matthew 5:34–37). Their vow was unnecessary (Acts 5:4), but since they made it, they needed to either keep it or at least be honest about having made a mistake.

The early church shows how Christian giving is more radical. First, Christians are to give cheerfully and as they feel is appropriate in their heart (2 Corinthians 9:7). Second, we are not necessarily to dedicate ten percent of our income, we are to dedicate everything we have—even ourselves "as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).

Even so, like Ananias and Sapphira, what we own is ours. We should not use the worshipful act of giving to impress others or to try to win favor with God. Selfish intent makes what ought to be good into an act of pride.

More to the point, Ananias and Sapphira seem to want the prestige of charity without the actual cost. Rather than simply admitting that they were giving part of the proceeds, they put on a show of piety.

God doesn't mandate Christians to give away all our possessions. Jesus' often-mentioned challenge to the rich young man was specific to him because despite his love for other people, the man valued his money more than God (Mark 10:17–22).

When we give to God's work, we need to give as we decide in our hearts (2 Corinthians 9:7), not to impress others, but in worship to God (Mark 12:41–44).

Ananias—not the man who Saul met with after His encounter with Jesus (Acts 9:10–19)—has presented some of the proceeds from the sale of a piece of land to the apostles for the care of the church members. Unfortunately, he seems to have vowed to God that he would donate all the money and has decided to bring only part of it (Acts 5:1–2).

He is within his rights to give as much as he decides, but he had already decided to give it all. By going back on his word, and much more so by lying about it to the congregation, he "kept back" or embezzled part of donation. He took that which rightfully belonged to God.

The fact that Satan has filled Ananias' heart is often interpreted to mean he does not have saving faith. Jesus said the church would be infiltrated by those who were not truly Christians, and who would do damage to believers in the church (Matthew 13:24–30).

Because it is so early in the history of the church, God takes care of these "weeds" immediately. In general, though, Jesus says "weeds" will remain undisturbed until the time of judgment.

It is also possible that Ananias and Sapphira are believers. In that case, this might be an extreme example of 1 John 5:16 in action. When a believer is in unrepentant sin to the point it hurts others and the reputation of the church, God may choose to take that believer "early," from a human perspective.

Ananias' belief that he could lie to God is ridiculous. In Psalm 139:1–16, David goes into great detail about how God knows everything about him. God knows Ananias' actions, thoughts, habits, and the words he will speak before he can get them out of his mouth.

He cannot hide from the Holy Spirit, whether in the land of the dead, the bottom of the sea, or the darkest night. It's a wonder Ananias thought he could hide from his lies in the church.

Lying to the Holy Spirit means to pretend to be something you are not, to go through the motions of living the Christian life without really meaning it in your heart of hearts.

It is a matter of life and death. According to Jesus in Matthew 12:31, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Acts 5:1-11 speaks about identity and allegiance, where Ananias and Sapphira lied directly to the Holy Spirit in claiming to be saved or sealed with the Holy Spirit, when they were not.

Two members of this group were Ananias and his wife, Sapphira; they also had sold a field. Part of the profit from their sale was kept back by the couple, and Ananias only laid a part of the money at the apostles’ feet. However, Ananias made a pretense of having given all the proceeds. This hypocritical show may have fooled some, but not Peter, who was filled with the power of the Spirit.

Peter knew instantly that Ananias was lying—not just to him but to God—and exposed his hypocrisy then and there. Ananias fell down and died (Acts 5:4). When Sapphira showed up, she, too, lied to Peter and to God, saying that they had donated the entire proceeds of the sale of the land to the church.

When her lie had been exposed, she also fell down and died at Peter’s feet.

Some speculate that these two deaths were from natural causes. Perhaps Ananias died from shock or guilt, but Peter pronounced Sapphira’s death before she died, and the coincidental timing and place of their deaths indicate that this was indeed God’s judgment.

The question is why. Why would God kill two people for lying?

God’s reasons for bringing about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira involve His abhorrence of sin, the hypocrisy of the couple, and the lesson for the rest of the church, both then and now.

It can be easy today to gloss over the holiness of God, to forget that He is righteous and pure and that He hates sin wholeheartedly. This particular sin of hypocrisy in the church was dealt with swiftly and decisively.

Were Ananias and Sapphira saved? We believe they probably were. Their story is told in the context of the actions of “all the believers” (Acts 4:32). They knew of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3), and Ananias’s lie could have been an earlier promise that he would give the whole amount of the sale to the Lord.

But the best evidence that they were children of God may be that they received discipline: “If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all” (Hebrews 12:8; see also 1 Corinthians 5:12).

Ananias and his wife had conspired to garner the accolades of the church; but their conspiracy led to the sin unto death.

The case of Ananias and Sapphira illustrates the fact that even believers can be led into bold, flagrant sin. It was Satan that had filled their hearts to lie in this way (Acts 5:3) and “to test the Spirit of the Lord” (verse 9).

Covetousness, hypocrisy, and a desire for the praise of men all played a part in their demise.

The sudden, dramatic deaths of Ananias and Sapphira served to purify and warn the church. “Great fear seized the whole church” (Acts 5:11). Right away, in the church’s infancy, God made it plain that hypocrisy and dissimulation were not going to be tolerated, and His judgment of Ananias and Sapphira helped guard the church against future pretense.

God laid the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira in the path of every hypocrite who would seek to enter the church.

Furthermore, the incident involving Ananias and Sapphira helped to establish the apostles’ authority in the church. The sinners had fallen dead at Peter’s feet. It was Peter who had known of the secret sin and had the authority to pronounce judgment in the church (see Matthew 16:19).

If the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira had succeeded in fooling Peter, it would have severely damaged the apostles’ authority.

The sad story of Ananias and Sapphira is not some obscure incident from the Old Testament regarding a violation of Mosaic Law. This occurred in the first-century church to believers in Jesus Christ.

The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a reminder to us today that God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), that He hates sin, and that He is concerned for the purity of His church (1 Corinthians 11; 1 John 5).

As Jesus told the compromising church in Thyatira, “All the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds” (Revelation 2:23).