Acts- Ac.5:1-11 “The spirit of lying”

“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.”(vv.1-5)

The conjunction ‘but’ used at the beginning refers to an event led by the indwelling Spirit, and every member of the church had agreed to it accordingly.”And 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.”(4:32) They were ‘of one heart and one soul’ that served as a sign of the unity of the Spirit. Consequently they lacked nothing but had great grace to be content and be equipped for the building up the church of God.”And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all./ Neither was there any among them that lacked.” What did the grace signify? The building program the church embarked on cost them nothing! Nothing towards contingencies, depreciation or for the book keeper. The Unity of the Spirit poured in resources from heaven where the memorial of seven lamps of the Spirit gave the unity its power (“and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”-Re.4:5). The church was being built upon the risen Christ and the work was the acts of the Apostles with one accord with heaven. So there was nothing that the grace of God had not covered for the enterprise.

The Spirit has cited the case of Ananias and Sapphira to the sin which was no less or great than the sin of Adam and Eve. Ananias was the head who possessed the land and as such could have done whatever he pleased. Sapphira would not have had any rights by prevailing custom to do a transaction. Ananias is is set down in place of Christ the head in relation to the church. In the case of Adam it was Eve who was deceived . Here we have Ananias lying before the apostle who asks, “why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? The Spirit uses this cautionary incident to warn the believers of the seducing spirits that may come in if let. St Paul warned Timothy,”Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;/ Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1 Ti.4:4)

Ananias kept back part of the sale proceeds while agreeing before God and men something else. What the church had resolved was,”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.”(4:34-35). In practice Ananias defrauded all those who were intended recipients by the grace of God. It was like a slap in the face of the holiness of the Lord God. In our times how many TV evangelists profess the name of Jesus Christ and defraud him in order to keep up their celebrity status? In short they hold truth in unrighteousness by their concord with Belial.

Here we see God was quick to punish Ananias and his wife for their humbug. “And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things./ And by the hands of the apostles were many signs. “(vv.11-12). This was indeed a sign since punishment came swift and sharp for all to be forewarned.

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.

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.