Bible Study series: Ananias and Sapphira, husband and wife, meet a sudden death, but why?
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn. Let’s learn together and apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 5:1-11
1 But a certain man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold property, 2 and he misappropriated some of the proceeds and, with his wife being aware, brought some of the proceeds and placed it at the feet of the apostles. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why did Satan fill your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, in order to misappropriate the proceeds of the land? 4 Is it not the case that what remained belonged to you, and once you sold it, the money was authoritatively at your disposal? Why did you put this matter in your heart? You lied not to man, but to God!” 5 When he heard these words, Ananias fell and breathed out his life. And great awe spread around all the people who heard. 6 Some young men got up and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
7 Now, there was an interval of about three hours. And his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. 8 Peter responded to her: “Tell me: did you sell the land for this amount?” And she said, “Yes, that’s the amount.” 9 And Peter said to her, “Why did you agree together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who just buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!” 10 And instantly she fell at his feet and breathed out her life. When they entered, the young men found her dead and carried her out and buried her next to her husband. 11 And great awe spread around the entire church and upon everyone who heard it. (Acts 5:1-11)
Comments:
Barnabas stands in contrast to Ananias, and Sapphira. Barnabas’s gifts were mentioned in the last verses of Acts 4:
34 No one among them was poor, for as many as owned land or possessed houses, sold them, brought the money from the sales, 35 and placed it at the feet of the apostles; it was distributed to each one according to his need.
36 Joseph, surnamed Barnabas by the apostles (which means “son of encouragement”), was a Levite, a Cyprian by birth. 37 Since he owned real estate, he sold it, and brought the money and placed it at the apostles’ feet. (Acts 4:34-37)
I already covered the historical and theological and cultural context of Ananias and Sapphira’s odd behavior in this post:
Why Did Ananias and Sapphira Drop Dead?
Also see Abihu and Nadab, which forms the background to this episode.
Death of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 from a NT Perspective
More OT background: Gehazi was Elisha’s servant, and the servant acted dishonestly for money. He was judged instantly (2 Kings 5:26-27). Achan kept some of the spoils of war when God (and Joshua) said not to do this. He was put under immediate judgment (Josh. 7).
Now let’s begin the commentary.
1-11:
It’s an odd plot. Peter makes clear that the land sales and gift giving was voluntary (v. 5). So why did they concoct this plot? Why didn’t they just stay away? The answer is found in v. 3: “Why has Satan filled your heart…?” This a satanic infilling that stands in contrast to Holy Spirit’s infilling (Acts 4:32). Satan can tempt, harass and attack Spirit-filled believers, but the evil spirit being cannot fill their hearts because the Spirit occupies them (Rom. 5:5).
Peterson, citing other commentators, teaches us that Satan is now attacking the church from within, using the vice of greed to gain access to the Christian community. Let’s hope the churches today are not being attacked from within, due to the vice of greed (comment on v. 3).
Clearly Ananias and Sapphira were never filled with the Spirit and never converted. They stood outside the New Covenant and still remained within the Old. And the punishment inflicted on Old Covenant Israelites when they sinned in the Holy Presence of God was equally severe. Aaron’s two sons were struck down (Lev. 10:1-3); Achan withheld items and was stoned to death (Jos. 7); and Uzzah, who touched the holy ark, was also struck down (2 Sam. 6:6-7). However, those verses say God carried out those punishments or commanded the people to stone Achan and household. It is imperative to distinguish between the two covenants.
These verses from the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:11-15 say that Satan can steal the word, so conversion and discipleship is interrupted and taken away:
11 “This is the meaning of the parable:
The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path: they heard it; then the devil comes and takes the word from their hearts, so that they might not believe and be saved. 13 The ones on the rocky ground: they receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root; they believe for a time, but in the time of testing, they fall away. 14 The ones falling among the thorn bushes: they have heard, but as they go, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they do not produce mature fruit. 15 The ones in the good soil: after hearing the word with a truly good heart, they hold on to it and produce fruit by endurance.” (Luke 8:11-15)
Ananias and Sapphira match the first soil. The devil stole the word from them hearts and filled them hearts before the seed took root, so they were never saved in the first place. They were still part of the old Sinai Covenant.
Next, in Acts 5:1-11, God is never said to strike them down. Maybe what the great scholar F. F. Bruce wrote is correct: Ananias and Sapphira died of shock in an environment charged with the Holy Presence of God (1990, p. 164). Add the factor of Satan filling their hearts (by unity with her husband Sapphira’s heart was influenced by Satan too), it is possible that Satan struck them down or so weakened their constitution that they could not take the shock of his being exposed and her discovering the death of her husband.
As noted at the link to Why Did Ananias and Sapphira Drop Dead?, God uses law enforcement and the judiciary (Rom. 13:4), particularly those who live within the New Covenant.
The lesson for us is that Satan can mislead believers to listen to bad teaching, use defective reasoning, and behave badly. They can get caught in sexual affairs and shady finances, for example, and then justify it from their own evil desires. The solution is to stay close to the clear teaching of Scripture and a wholesome, loving, and Bible-based church. Claim Eph. 6:16: Put on the shield of faith that quenches the fiery arrows of the enemy. (I pray that verse every day).
We will never know for sure this couple’s backstory, so maybe we should place them in God’s hands.
“Breathed out his soul-life”: It literally means “out-soul.” It could be translated creatively as “he desouled.” But standard translations are “expired,” “gave up the ghost,” “breathed his last,” or just plain “died.”
“church”: v. 11 is the first mention of this word in Acts, though the reality behind the noun already existed—they was a church before Luke used the term. In Greek it is ekklēsia (pronounced ek-klay-see-ah) and the meaning has roots in both Hebrew and Greek. It literally means “the ones called out” or “the called out” or “the summoned” who gather together. It describes an assembly or gathering.
Some extra-enthusiastic and super-confident Renewalists say that from this definition, they can “legislate” events to happen (or something). Of course, they overstate the basic meaning of the word outside of the church context. Just because an assembly can legislate in the pagan world does not mean Christians can now do this in the Spirit world. Further, another legislative body was the Council (boulē, pronounced boo-lay), the upper chamber of the rich landowners. They had to approve of the lower chamber’s legislation. If we take the historical context too far, then where is the Council? So, to judge from the historical context, the church as the ekklēsia cannot legislate. Instead, these extra-human-centered Christians should simplify things and ask God for his intervention. Prayer to our loving Father is sufficient, without complications or convoluted trends and ideas that promote human-centered power.
Please see these posts for BDAG’s (a thick Greek lexicon) fuller definition.
Fellowship is so important for believers. Don’t believe the lie circulating in American society, particularly in social media, that not going to church is good enough. People who skip constant fellowship are prone to sin and self-deception and satanic attacks. We need each other.
This link has a list of the famous “one another” verses, like “love one another.”
Further, since American Christianity is undergoing discussion on the sizes of churches, let me add: the earliest Christian community met either in houses (Acts 2:46) or in Solomon’s Colonnade in Jerusalem (Acts 3:11; 5:12) or a large number in Antioch (11:26), which could hold a large gathering—call it a mega-church—and presumably in mid-sized gatherings. Size does not matter, since it varies so widely.
Moreover, one thing that impresses me about all those above references, is that the apostles, as they planted churches, were guided by the Spirit—always—and they were also deliberate about setting them up and establishing them. Planning is Scriptural. So, wisdom says: listen to the Spirit and plan. Listen as you plan and be ready to drop your plans at a moment notice, when the Spirit says so. God will grow the church as we proclaim the good news.
The Spirit is a person who can be lied to. Here are posts about the Spirit in the area of systematic theology:
The Spirit’s Deity and Divine Attributes
The Spirit in the Life of Christ
The Spirit in the Church and Believers
I like how Bruce summarizes this startling episode:
The incident shows, too, that even in the earliest days the church was not a society of perfect people. Luke’s picture of the primitive community is no doubt idealized, but it is not over-idealized. Lest the readers should overestimate the unity and sanctity of the first believers, he has recorded this incident which not only illustrates his honest realism but is intended also to serve as a warning to others (1988, p. 104).
Bruce does not assume that Ananias or Sapphira were truly converted; he is not sure (comment on v. 11), but if they were (and I say they were not because the Parable of the Sower says they were not), then either way they do indeed serve as a warning.
GrowApp for Acts 5:1-11
1. To avoid Ananias and Sapphira’s fate, we must go all in completely, entering the New Covenant by the born again experience and salvation by grace through faith, and being filled with the Spirit.
2. Have these wonderful experiences happened to you?
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
For the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 