In this episode, Wes and Andy discuss the workings and heart of the early church: the preaching of the gospel, and the self-sacrificial generosity of people.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is Episode 11 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled Powerful Church Life, Discipline for Sin, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:32-5:11. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
They looked at money and possessions differently, and they were willing to see them in light of eternity and in light of their fellowship.
Well, we’re going to have a very powerful glimpse into what life was like in the early church, and that’s something that we often go to in these early chapters in Acts to see what things were like in the early church. The end of Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, you get some summary statements there of things that characterized their life as they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and prayer. Now we get a sense at the end of chapter 4 of their financial generosity to one another, the fact that they shared everything they had. They looked at money and possessions differently, and they were willing to see them in light of eternity and in light of their fellowship. But then we have a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, that act differently. So, we see also in this chapter in the early church, God’s absolute commitment to holiness and purity. So, we’ve got a lot to talk about in this section.
Wes
Yeah, powerful contrast that we’re looking at in these two chapters today. So let me go ahead and read Acts 4:32 through 5:11.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus, Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But a man named Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it, 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 for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” She said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Andy, how does this section here relate to Acts 4:23-31, and what is it about the life of the church that helps explain the church’s unity here?
Andy
All right. So, in the last section, we saw the incredible prayer meeting that happened after Peter and John had been arrested for the miracle of the lame beggar in the temple. So, they gathered together to pray, and they prayed scripture-saturated prayer on the sovereignty of God. The Lord answered their prayer and shook the place where they were meeting, and everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. So, we see that power fearlessly going ahead with the gospel ministry, not worried at that point about arrest or persecution, but just looking to God to protect them. So, we transition from that into this description of the church’s unity in terms of finances and their possessions.
Wes
Now verse 32 begins, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” Why is it important to understand that the church consists of only true believers in Jesus Christ?
Andy
Yeah, we are absolutely committed to that. As Baptists, that’s one of the things we do with water baptism. We only baptize those who can give a credible profession of faith in Christ. I actually think that is the contribution, the central contribution of the Baptists to church history is that the local church should as much as possible be comprised of genuine believers. What I also get out of this verse here as well is the, I would say, Trinitarian unity that we should be striving for in local church.
Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would all be as one as the Father and the Son are one. He also prayed that we will be brought to that kind of unity so that the world would believe that the Father sent the Son that the world would be converted. So, when the church is of one heart and mind, has this kind of marvelous loving unity, it’s very powerful evangelistically. We’re going to see that as the text unfolds and as the Book of Acts unfolds that people genuinely loved each other. They genuinely cared more about each other than they did about their own possessions, which is an amazing work.
Wes
So, the unity that they have is really a result of the Holy Spirit at work in them. How should we understand the sharing of possessions that happened as result of this unity or oneness?
Andy
All right. So, it says in the text that they were one and heart in mind and that they didn’t claim that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything they had. Now, we’re going to see later in the next chapter how Peter openly asserts that the land belonged to them before it was sold. After it was sold, the money was theirs to do whatever they pleased with it. So, this verse does not vitiate or overturn private ownership. That’s actually why giving means something because it is ours in that sense.
In the Ten Commandments, “Do not steal” (Exodus 20:15), implies private ownership. That’s his ox, his donkey, his house, his money bag filled with silver or gold coins. That’s his stuff, and so there is that sense of ownership, but they weren’t denying that here. What it’s saying is, “Look, my things are yours if you need them. If I see that you have a need, I’m going to give it.” I think the way I would hear this is no one claimed that any of the things they had gotten from God were given only for they themselves to enjoy, but they were given also as a stewardship to be a blessing to other people. I think that’s what it means here.
Wes
That’s great. What a healthy attitude for all of us to have about what the Lord entrusts to us. What do you think it means that great grace was upon them all? What is this grace that is spoken of here and how should we think about God’s grace being manifested in the early church?
Andy
Yeah, God’s grace is powerful and effective. There’s a tremendous power to the working of God here. So, I would look on the use of the word grace here as similar to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. He said, “By the grace of God, I am what I am. His grace to me was not without effect, no, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). So, God’s grace here in this verse has transforming power. There’s a tremendous power to the grace of God. So, the grace of God, of Christ was on all of them. By that grace, the apostles were testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There was a sense of the powerful activity of the Holy Spirit on all of them pouring out goodness and blessing on them, transforming them in their sanctification and moving them ahead in their evangelistic ministry.
Wes
Verse 34 says, “There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.” What made that possible that there was not a needy person among them? Is this a solution for world poverty perhaps?
Andy
Well, I think there were needy persons among them initially, but they brought their need, and those who had surplus brought their surplus. As Paul taught from the whole manna lesson, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little” (2 Corinthians 8:15). So, the needs were met, and I think that’s what it means. No one stayed needy, and so there was this sharing that people would bring the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. They basically severed the tie. They didn’t ask what the apostles did with it. Maybe some of the needs were kept private. They didn’t talk about them. Maybe some of the needs were publicly known, and everyone could rejoice that the generosity of the church could meet that need, et cetera. But there was a sense of pooling resources to meet needs.
It was a tremendous testimony because I think one of these central idols, one of the main idols there is in the world is money. For them to just overthrow and destroy that idol by this kind of grace-filled generosity is so beautiful. So, it was a tremendous testimony to the power of the gospel. Now you ask, is this a solution to world poverty? Well, in one sense it is if everyone would be converted. But we also know that Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13). So ultimately, the world’s going to continue to have problems with haves and have-nots and poverty and all kinds of social struggles because of that, because of the selfishness that remains in the world. But within the church, there should be none of these problems.
Wes
Now, what was it that caused the willingness of people to sell property for the relief of the poor? What does verse 35 teach us about the relationship between the people and the elders and perhaps even about church government today?
Andy
Yeah, it’s beautiful. It says, “From time to time, those who own lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet and it was distributed to anyone unless he had needs.” So, look what it says there. Lands, houses, this is significant real estate. This is a big deal. For them to sell their houses and then give the money away, what it meant is they just saw everything differently. They saw everything in light of eternity. They saw their possessions as temporary anyway. They’re going to be stripped of them at death. So fundamentally they just said, “Look, I’ve got this situation temporarily right now. What can I do with it that will be maximally beneficial for the glory of God?” Among them would be to meet the temporal needs of the church. So, I actually think that the poor among the saints in Jerusalem, in this area, et cetera, were great.
The poverty level was great because we learn in John 9, even while Jesus was still ministering, the official ruling on Jesus was that he was not the Messiah, actually was demon-possessed. That was their official ruling. Beyond that, that if any Jew claimed that Jesus was the Messiah, they would be put out of the synagogue. They would be effectively blackballed in every respect from Jewish society. What did that mean for them economically? It meant they would be poor. If they were carpenters, they couldn’t sell their furniture. If they were potters, they couldn’t sell their pottery. If they were farmers, no one wanted to buy their crops. They would be constrained to poverty, and so there would be needs. So, people said, “All right. This is a significant issue. We’re willing to give a significant amount for the glory of God and to meet the needs of the brothers and sisters. Then the second part is they put it at the apostles’ feet.
There is no question about whether the apostles will deal forthrightly and uprightly with it. First of all, there’s a plurality of them. There’s a sense of checks and balances there. Everyone can see what each other is doing. But beyond that, the apostles were just so obviously trustworthy men. They were men of good reputation, and the church trusted them to make wise decisions, and this makes sense. Even today, in healthy churches, we see this pattern of plural leadership, of plurality of elders. So oftentimes in our church, people give money to benevolence, what we call our benevolence fund, and it’s up to the elders to distribute it. So, we distribute the money according to the needs that we are aware of and that many people are not aware of because there’s sometimes a desire for privacy in these matters. So, it’s put at the apostles’ feet and the cord is severed, and they say, “Whatever you think is best with this money, we want you to do it.”
Wes
At the end of chapter 4, what do we learn about Joseph or Barnabas in verses 36 and 37, and how does he live up to this name throughout the New Testament?
Andy
Yeah, I would say Joseph is one of the most forgotten names in history. Nobody knows Joseph, this guy, but they know Barnabas. Once you read the Bible, you know about Paul and Barnabas and their missionary journey and all that, and Barnabas is a great man. We’re going to learn more about him later. He is going to come into our account in significant ways. But his original name was Joseph, and he was a Levite, so he was in the tribe that was originally given the responsibility for the animal sacrificial system. So, it’s really quite marvelous. He’s from the island of Cyprus, and so that’s what we learn about him. But he had a nickname, and a nickname was Barnabas, a “bar” meaning son, and then “of encouragement,” that’s the name. That Jewish way of naming somebody means that that character trait completely characterizes who they are. Judas was called a son of perdition or a son of lostness, so he’s characterized by lostness.
Wes
Wow.
Andy
Barnabas is characterized by being an encourager, and we’re going to see this in many, many cases. He is going to show up in Acts 9 when Saul of Tarsus is converted, and Barnabas speaks a word on his behalf to the church at Jerusalem and takes him in. We’re going to see it again in Acts 12, I think it is. When the Gentile church starts flourishing in Antioch, Barnabas goes there, and he’s a good man, and he says much to encourage the people and et cetera. So, he’s going to be a hero that we’re going to follow. Anyway, we learned from him that he followed this pattern we’ve been discussing, which is selling a field that he owned. He brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet, so he was generous.
Wes
The end of chapter 4 then really sets the stage for a contrasting story that we pick up in chapter 5 beginning in verse 1. How does Acts 5:1-11 connect here to this previous section? How do the actions of Barnabas in Acts 4 that we just talked about contrast with those of Ananias in Acts 5?
Andy
Yeah, it’s just one of those literary techniques from English class compare and contrast. That’s one of those essays you used to do. So, we learn sometimes by imitation. We learn also by warning and by saying, “Hey, don’t do this.” So, there are encouragements in scripture to behave a certain way and then there are warnings to not behave a different way. So, I think there’s a very clear contrast being set up between Barnabas on the one hand with his generosity and then Ananias and Sapphira with their selfishness, I guess, at one level. Even worse than that, they’re lying, and so clearly these two are set up. I think the overall effect is to teach us, the readers, to think a different way about money and possessions and eternity so that we can live in light of the gospel in how we spend our money. So, we’re going to get to Ananias and Sapphira and that by way of warning.
Wes
All right. So, what did Ananias and Sapphira choose to do with their property that we’re told they owned, and what’s the significance of them putting the money at the apostles’ feet?
Andy
Well, the way it’s written here is first of all, they sell a piece of property, so they’re fitting in with what the pattern has been. Many people were doing this. My guess is that there might’ve been some kind of community pressure on the wealthier ones, those that did have properties that they could sell. So, these would be above and beyond where they were living ’cause there’s no sense, as Paul himself said, that one is impoverished so that the needs of other poor people can now be met. That makes no sense to just move the poverty from one person to the other, but there are some that would have surplus. They would have lands or houses that they didn’t need.
So, I think there would be a sense of expectation that if you had this, you were going to give it. It could be, it seems that they didn’t really want to do it. I think they felt maybe resentful. They felt like, “Look, I don’t want to do this, but I guess we really have no choice. So, I’ll tell you what? Why don’t we split the difference? So, we’ll sell it, but we’ll keep some of the money.” And the text is written, “Ananias kept back some of the money for himself,” so there’s this selfishness here. Furthermore, his wife’s definitely in it, so it’s written, so she’s guilty in this too. Her complete knowledge is involved in this, and so what’s going on? I think there’s a fundamental greed or covetousness that is implied here.
Then there’s a desire for public recognition that Jesus specifically warns about in Matthew 6:1,2: “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before others to be seen by them. If you do, you’ll have no reward from your Father in heaven. So, when give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret because the hypocrites announce their giving with trumpets. Well, we have a sense of them announcing their giving, but it’s not honest. They aren’t what they appear to be. They really are hypocrites. They’re like whitewashed tombs. They look good on the outside, but the reality’s different. So, there’s some covetousness. There’s some love for a vain glory, a desire to be honored in a way that isn’t right, hypocrisy, and then fundamentally, the lying. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Wes
So how does Peter answer Ananias in verse 3, and where does Peter get his information?
Andy
Yeah. Well, let’s take the second question first. It must be that the Holy Spirit told him. So, this is amazing. The Spirit is revealing things to the apostles, and it’s just scary to be around a bunch of prophets. You remember that story of Elisha and his servant Gehazi, I think it was that went after Naaman, the Syrian that he had healed from leprosy. He had offered to give him a bunch of stuff and Elisha said, “No, I don’t want anything.” He went back, and so Gehazi is like, “Man, you let him get off too easy.” So, he runs after him and gets a bunch of stuff and brings it back. Then I always picture Elisha not looking at him but saying over his shoulder, “Gehazi, where have you been? Where’d you go?” It’s like, “I didn’t go anywhere.”
Wes
Hunched over his desk-
Andy
Yeah, there you go.
Wes
… comes in the door-
Andy
I didn’t go anywhere.
Wes
“Where you been?” “Nowhere. I didn’t go anywhere,” guilty child walking into the room.
Andy
He says, “Did not my spirit go with you? I saw you and what you’re doing.” You’re dealing with a prophet. So again, it’s important for us to realize the real issue here isn’t Peter. The issue is the Holy Spirit. The issue is the omnipresent, omniscient and Holy God. He’s with you everywhere. He sees everything you do.
Fundamentally, this is what Joseph in Egypt at Potiphar’s house knew. Potiphar’s wife is grabbing hold of him, wants him to sleep with her. He said, “How could I do this great evil and sin against God? God, as Job says, sees my ways and counts my every step. He knows everything I’m doing.” So fundamentally here, they’ve forgotten that God knows everything, and God sees everything.
So, the Holy Spirit is clearly the issue here because Peter says, “You have lied to the Holy Spirit,” and it was the Spirit said they lied to me. By the way, this is probably the main textual proof in the Bible of the personality of the Holy Spirit, also with the statement, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom your seal for the day of redemption,” in Ephesians 4:7. So if the Holy Spirit were an impersonal force like electricity or something like that, you can’t lie to it, but he’s a person and you can lie to the Holy Spirit. So that’s proof of the personality of the Spirit. All right, so what happened? Well, Peter says that Satan filled Ananias and Sapphira’s heart with this: Satan is active and tempts us. So, the temptation came from Satan, and he filled the heart of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Spirit and then to keep back some of the money that they had received from the land.
Wes
So, Andy, how does verse 4 then help clarify our understanding of the “all things in common” language that we mentioned earlier and that also shows up in Acts 2? So, Acts 2 and Acts 4 speak of having all things in common. How does verse 4 help clarify our understanding of that?
Andy
Okay, so what Peter says is, “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold, and after it was sold, wasn’t the money yours to do with as you saw fit to?” Fundamentally the land was yours, the money was yours. That’s not the problem. That’s not the problem. If you decide to keep some of it, you’re free to do that. Jesus said, “The poor you’ll have with you, and you can help them whenever you want.” I always add a codicil, and we’ll talk about that on Judgment Day, how much that was. But it’s up to you. How much do you want to do for the poor? The poor you’ll always have with you. No matter how much you give, there’ll always be more poor people. So fundamentally, the idea here is, it’s up to you what you decide to do with your stuff, but it does ultimately belong to God. So, there should be no feeling of community compulsion here.
You’re not being told to do anything with your money by us. It’s whatever you want to do, whatever you want to do, but it’s yours to do with as you see fit. Now the principle of stewardship is, truly, it is ultimately God’s. Everything belongs to him, but it is yours to make a decision so we can therefore give to the Lord. Even though it is the Lord’s, we do give to the Lord’s work, and he sees that it was giving to the Lord. So, this, I guess, destroys the concept of communism in which what ends up happening is the principle of sharing all things in common is forcibly laid on top of the entire population. So, the government then forcibly takes lands and houses and gold and silver, and luxury items, forcibly takes them from the wealthy aristocracy in Moscow and various other places, St. Petersburg and different places, and then distributes it as it sees fit.
the issue is not that he kept back part of the for himself, the issue is that he lied about it.
Well, what ends up happening is the oligarchy, the ruling class becomes the new aristocracy. That’s what ended up happening. But the fact is the logic behind it is, it isn’t yours. It isn’t yours. It belongs to the state. Well, this says, “No, no, it actually is, it’s yours. I already said it, I alluded to it with the Ten Commandments; there could be no law against stealing if everything belongs to everybody. So, it’s like everything belongs to everybody. That’s not your cloak, that’s our cloak, and I’m going to grab it. So fundamentally here, this is an important statement, didn’t it belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold, the money was yours? So, the issue is not that he kept back part of the for himself, the issue is that he lied about it.
Wes
Yeah, and Peter makes clear that he’s lied not to man. Peter’s not personally offended that he’s been lied to, but that Ananias has lied to God. Again, a powerful argument for the deity of the Holy Spirit as well. So, the personality and the deity of the Holy Spirit on full display here, which is-
Andy
Awesome.
Wes
… a beautiful thing.
Andy
It really is. Yeah.
Wes
Why does Ananias pay such a high price for his lie, and what immediate effect does his death have on the people that are there?
Andy
Yeah, I just think we underestimate the link that was made from the very beginning between sin and death. “You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat of it, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Now, it’s interesting that he says that “in the day you eat of it.” Some translations just say, “When you eat of it.” Well, we know that Adam didn’t drop down dead in the garden, but he was immediately under the death sentence. He was effectively on death row. So, here’s the thing, we just forget that the wages of sin is death, that we’re so used to sin, we’re used to our own sins. We’re used to God being forgiving and gracious. As soon as we commit a sin, we deserve to die immediately, to drop down dead. The smallest so-called sin, the slightest sin, we deserve to die.
Now, I find it interesting that though there are many things for which the Old Covenant establishes the death penalty. You read about it in Leviticus and over and over, it’s like if anyone does these things, he shall be stoned to death. There’s lots of capital punishment in the Old Covenant for spiritual infractions. One of them, for example, is if you had sexual relations with your father’s wife, your stepmother, you would be put to death. It’s right in the Levitical holiness code. But in 1 Corinthians 5, the exact same situation happens in the church of Corinth.
A man has his father’s wife, and Paul doesn’t say put him to death, he says, “Expel him from your fellowship.” So clearly, there’s a sense in which though we deserve to die, God is gracious in giving us time to repent. But we get stunned sometimes when God strikes people dead. If you look across the Bible, how many people does God instantly strike dead? How many times did that happen? You got Nadab and Abihu. We got Ananias and Sapphira here. You got certainly King Herod when he was struck down by an angel of the Lord and was eaten by worms and died. We got the 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night struck down. God kills people. Instantly. So here we have an example of this that everyone deserves to die even for lying. Then when we combine this with the scripture that says, “All men are liars,” that’s scary, isn’t it, at that point?
Wes
Yeah. Yeah.
Andy
I think that that lesson was not lost. Everyone was afraid when they heard about this, great fear seized everyone.
Wes
So, God’s apparent slowness in dealing with sin shouldn’t cause us to be presumptuous or think that we’re getting away with it. But really, as it says, the kindness of the Lord is meant to lead us to repentance, that we would see God as being gracious and merciful. In this season, we would repent and turn back from our sin.
Andy
Fundamentally, and I think for us to go honestly to God when we’re confessing sin and say, “Lord, I know I deserve to die for this. I deserve to die. I deserve the rest of my life to be forfeited because of this.” I think that’s a very serious way to deal with that. I think we should deal with it mostly, though, with our own sins or then corporately, but not individually. For you to say to another individual, “You deserve to die for this,” that’s very harsh, although, it is true. But for me as a pastor to preach this, I think, would be beneficial.
Wes
Absolutely. What’s the significance of Sapphira’s separate trial and death?
Andy
The significance is that both men and women are accountable to God, equally accountable. Adam and Eve both had to give an account for what they did. So, men and women alike will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for themselves. I also picture it as that we’re alone. You may live decades and decades with your wife, with your husband, your spouse, decades, but Judgment Day, you’re going to stand alone. So fundamentally, we need to understand that we are accountable for what we did, and we cannot blame other people. So, this is a picture to me of what Judgment Day is like, that solitary aspect, me and God, and me giving account for what I’ve done.
Wes
How about Peter’s response? What’s the significance of Peter’s response to and rebuke of Sapphira in verse 9?
Andy
Okay, so she comes in and the text says she didn’t know what happened. Peter gives her a chance and says, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got from the land?” I don’t think she could have possibly known that this was her one chance to tell the truth. Think about that, it’s scary. Sometimes you only get one chance to tell the truth. There’s a situation here where she has this one opportunity to tell the truth. There’s a story in my pastoral ministry here, I won’t give any details, but there was a man who was committing adultery; he was in an affair, an adulterous affair with another woman.
His wife became suspicious and hired a private investigator and had proof positive that this was going on and brought that evidence to the leadership of our church. But her husband didn’t know that she had hired a private investigator. Me and two other godly men who are still in the church met together with this man, and he was a very powerful, wealthy man. We asked him, I read him this story, and I said, “Sometimes we only get one chance to tell the truth, now I’m asking you, are you in an adulterous relationship?” He said, “I’m absolutely not.” Six months later, he was dead from cancer that none of us in that room at that point knew that he had. He may have had it, but we didn’t know it, he didn’t know it. So, it may have been an entirely new thing that God struck him with at that point.
Wes
Wow.
Andy
It’s scary for me, even now, Wes, to tell you that story because I’m under that same thing. Sometimes we only get one chance to tell the truth. Now, what’s so beautiful about that story is in the end, he thoroughly, completely, and deeply repented of his sin, knowing that he had been stricken with this. And it was connected in discipline for his sin. He died well. And he died forgiven by his wife and died. But it’s still a sad story, and it’s scary too. So, the idea here is that sometimes we only get one chance to tell the truth, and so for me that holiness is very serious. Another thing I mentioned to you right before we came on is the three As in redemptive history. You’ve got Adam, Achan, and Ananias.
Both of them come in at beginning points in redemptive histories. The beginning of all of human history, Adam, then Achan took that Babylonian robe and a wedge of gold and some other things and hid it. This was in Jericho where the Israelites were told in no uncertain terms, “You get nothing from Jericho. The whole thing belongs to me. You’re going to destroy it, burn it all.” He lied, and God struck him down, and then you got Ananias here. So, at the beginning of the church history, at church history, there’s the same lesson: God is holy, and sin deserves death.
Wes
It’s so good for us to feel the weight of that because I think in our Western materialistic world where even as we’ve already mentioned, sometimes there’s an apparent slowness in God’s dealing with sin, we don’t see a direct correlation. We can think, “Well, perhaps God isn’t as concerned with sin now as He was in that day.” But the same holy God who strikes down Ananias and Sapphira cares about our sin and offers us the opportunity to repent and turn to Christ.
Andy
Another theme that comes out here is just the essential irrationality or insanity of sin. He says, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? How could you do this?” There is no answer. It’s that whole why question where we ask God, “Why did you let my son die?” Or, “Why was I struck with this disease?” Or, “Why didn’t I get that job I was hoping for?” That’s fine, so we ask God the why question. Well, he asks us some too. The only problem is, we have no answer. When he says effectively to Sapphira, “Why did you do this? How could you do this?” There is no answer, and she has no answer. How could she possibly give an answer? Again, look what the text says, “How could you agree together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” You can’t do that. So, we see the power of the Spirit of God here, and then the judgment comes.
Wes
Right. So, Ananias and Sapphira meet the same end as a result of their sin, of having agreed together to lie to the Spirit.
Andy
Yeah, it’s pretty striking. Peter says, “Behold the feet of those who buried your husband are standing at the door, and they’re going to carry you out also.” She was alive when he spoke those words. How did Peter know? But he’s a prophet, he was an apostle, and God told him what he was going to do. So even before she was even dead, he knew and he said, “They’re going to carry you out.” As soon as he said that she fell down dead. Not a hand touched her. She was not murdered. She was put to death by God, so it’s just a very, very powerful moment.
Wes
Now, we spoke of the fear a moment ago that overtakes all those who observe this. Is the kind of fear described in verse 11 at the conclusion of this chapter a good thing? What final thoughts do we have as a result of our conversation today?
Andy
Wes, I got to say before I answer that question, something popped in my mind just a few minutes ago that I’d never thought of before, and I just think it’s interesting where she ended up. She fell down at his feet. That’s a very place that they put the money. Isn’t that interesting?
Wes
Wow.
Andy
She didn’t give the money, put it at the apostles’ feet, so she ends up falling down his feet. I don’t know what to make of that. I just noticed it. At any rate, there’s a healthy, holy, pure fear that Psalm 19 says, “The fear of the Lord is pure.” So, there is, I think, a reasonable fear of sin here that should keep us ourselves from sin. That’s the power of holy fear, the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom. So final lesson here I would say is positively the end of chapter 4, let’s be generous. Let’s give money.
He’s holy, he’s omnipresent. You can’t escape him, and so live your lives always openly in the fear of the Lord. Live your lives in holiness to the praise of his glory.
Let’s find ways that we can benefit other members of the church, other Christians that are needy. Let’s make certain that there are no needy persons amongst us. As it says in Galatians 6, “As you have opportunity to let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the household of faith.” Then secondly, the warning here is, understand God is omniscient. He’s holy, he’s omnipresent. You can’t escape him, and so live your lives always openly in the fear of the Lord. Live your lives in holiness to the praise of his glory.
Wes
This has been Episode 11 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 12 entitled The Persecution Escalates, where we’ll discuss Acts 5:12-42. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is Episode 11 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. This episode is entitled Powerful Church Life, Discipline for Sin, where we’ll discuss Acts 4:32-5:11. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
They looked at money and possessions differently, and they were willing to see them in light of eternity and in light of their fellowship.
Well, we’re going to have a very powerful glimpse into what life was like in the early church, and that’s something that we often go to in these early chapters in Acts to see what things were like in the early church. The end of Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, you get some summary statements there of things that characterized their life as they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and prayer. Now we get a sense at the end of chapter 4 of their financial generosity to one another, the fact that they shared everything they had. They looked at money and possessions differently, and they were willing to see them in light of eternity and in light of their fellowship. But then we have a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, that act differently. So, we see also in this chapter in the early church, God’s absolute commitment to holiness and purity. So, we’ve got a lot to talk about in this section.
Wes
Yeah, powerful contrast that we’re looking at in these two chapters today. So let me go ahead and read Acts 4:32 through 5:11.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus, Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But a man named Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it, 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 for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” She said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
Andy, how does this section here relate to Acts 4:23-31, and what is it about the life of the church that helps explain the church’s unity here?
Andy
All right. So, in the last section, we saw the incredible prayer meeting that happened after Peter and John had been arrested for the miracle of the lame beggar in the temple. So, they gathered together to pray, and they prayed scripture-saturated prayer on the sovereignty of God. The Lord answered their prayer and shook the place where they were meeting, and everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. So, we see that power fearlessly going ahead with the gospel ministry, not worried at that point about arrest or persecution, but just looking to God to protect them. So, we transition from that into this description of the church’s unity in terms of finances and their possessions.
Wes
Now verse 32 begins, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” Why is it important to understand that the church consists of only true believers in Jesus Christ?
Andy
Yeah, we are absolutely committed to that. As Baptists, that’s one of the things we do with water baptism. We only baptize those who can give a credible profession of faith in Christ. I actually think that is the contribution, the central contribution of the Baptists to church history is that the local church should as much as possible be comprised of genuine believers. What I also get out of this verse here as well is the, I would say, Trinitarian unity that we should be striving for in local church.
Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would all be as one as the Father and the Son are one. He also prayed that we will be brought to that kind of unity so that the world would believe that the Father sent the Son that the world would be converted. So, when the church is of one heart and mind, has this kind of marvelous loving unity, it’s very powerful evangelistically. We’re going to see that as the text unfolds and as the Book of Acts unfolds that people genuinely loved each other. They genuinely cared more about each other than they did about their own possessions, which is an amazing work.
Wes
So, the unity that they have is really a result of the Holy Spirit at work in them. How should we understand the sharing of possessions that happened as result of this unity or oneness?
Andy
All right. So, it says in the text that they were one and heart in mind and that they didn’t claim that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything they had. Now, we’re going to see later in the next chapter how Peter openly asserts that the land belonged to them before it was sold. After it was sold, the money was theirs to do whatever they pleased with it. So, this verse does not vitiate or overturn private ownership. That’s actually why giving means something because it is ours in that sense.
In the Ten Commandments, “Do not steal” (Exodus 20:15), implies private ownership. That’s his ox, his donkey, his house, his money bag filled with silver or gold coins. That’s his stuff, and so there is that sense of ownership, but they weren’t denying that here. What it’s saying is, “Look, my things are yours if you need them. If I see that you have a need, I’m going to give it.” I think the way I would hear this is no one claimed that any of the things they had gotten from God were given only for they themselves to enjoy, but they were given also as a stewardship to be a blessing to other people. I think that’s what it means here.
Wes
That’s great. What a healthy attitude for all of us to have about what the Lord entrusts to us. What do you think it means that great grace was upon them all? What is this grace that is spoken of here and how should we think about God’s grace being manifested in the early church?
Andy
Yeah, God’s grace is powerful and effective. There’s a tremendous power to the working of God here. So, I would look on the use of the word grace here as similar to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. He said, “By the grace of God, I am what I am. His grace to me was not without effect, no, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). So, God’s grace here in this verse has transforming power. There’s a tremendous power to the grace of God. So, the grace of God, of Christ was on all of them. By that grace, the apostles were testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There was a sense of the powerful activity of the Holy Spirit on all of them pouring out goodness and blessing on them, transforming them in their sanctification and moving them ahead in their evangelistic ministry.
Wes
Verse 34 says, “There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.” What made that possible that there was not a needy person among them? Is this a solution for world poverty perhaps?
Andy
Well, I think there were needy persons among them initially, but they brought their need, and those who had surplus brought their surplus. As Paul taught from the whole manna lesson, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little” (2 Corinthians 8:15). So, the needs were met, and I think that’s what it means. No one stayed needy, and so there was this sharing that people would bring the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. They basically severed the tie. They didn’t ask what the apostles did with it. Maybe some of the needs were kept private. They didn’t talk about them. Maybe some of the needs were publicly known, and everyone could rejoice that the generosity of the church could meet that need, et cetera. But there was a sense of pooling resources to meet needs.
It was a tremendous testimony because I think one of these central idols, one of the main idols there is in the world is money. For them to just overthrow and destroy that idol by this kind of grace-filled generosity is so beautiful. So, it was a tremendous testimony to the power of the gospel. Now you ask, is this a solution to world poverty? Well, in one sense it is if everyone would be converted. But we also know that Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13). So ultimately, the world’s going to continue to have problems with haves and have-nots and poverty and all kinds of social struggles because of that, because of the selfishness that remains in the world. But within the church, there should be none of these problems.
Wes
Now, what was it that caused the willingness of people to sell property for the relief of the poor? What does verse 35 teach us about the relationship between the people and the elders and perhaps even about church government today?
Andy
Yeah, it’s beautiful. It says, “From time to time, those who own lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet and it was distributed to anyone unless he had needs.” So, look what it says there. Lands, houses, this is significant real estate. This is a big deal. For them to sell their houses and then give the money away, what it meant is they just saw everything differently. They saw everything in light of eternity. They saw their possessions as temporary anyway. They’re going to be stripped of them at death. So fundamentally they just said, “Look, I’ve got this situation temporarily right now. What can I do with it that will be maximally beneficial for the glory of God?” Among them would be to meet the temporal needs of the church. So, I actually think that the poor among the saints in Jerusalem, in this area, et cetera, were great.
The poverty level was great because we learn in John 9, even while Jesus was still ministering, the official ruling on Jesus was that he was not the Messiah, actually was demon-possessed. That was their official ruling. Beyond that, that if any Jew claimed that Jesus was the Messiah, they would be put out of the synagogue. They would be effectively blackballed in every respect from Jewish society. What did that mean for them economically? It meant they would be poor. If they were carpenters, they couldn’t sell their furniture. If they were potters, they couldn’t sell their pottery. If they were farmers, no one wanted to buy their crops. They would be constrained to poverty, and so there would be needs. So, people said, “All right. This is a significant issue. We’re willing to give a significant amount for the glory of God and to meet the needs of the brothers and sisters. Then the second part is they put it at the apostles’ feet.
There is no question about whether the apostles will deal forthrightly and uprightly with it. First of all, there’s a plurality of them. There’s a sense of checks and balances there. Everyone can see what each other is doing. But beyond that, the apostles were just so obviously trustworthy men. They were men of good reputation, and the church trusted them to make wise decisions, and this makes sense. Even today, in healthy churches, we see this pattern of plural leadership, of plurality of elders. So oftentimes in our church, people give money to benevolence, what we call our benevolence fund, and it’s up to the elders to distribute it. So, we distribute the money according to the needs that we are aware of and that many people are not aware of because there’s sometimes a desire for privacy in these matters. So, it’s put at the apostles’ feet and the cord is severed, and they say, “Whatever you think is best with this money, we want you to do it.”
Wes
At the end of chapter 4, what do we learn about Joseph or Barnabas in verses 36 and 37, and how does he live up to this name throughout the New Testament?
Andy
Yeah, I would say Joseph is one of the most forgotten names in history. Nobody knows Joseph, this guy, but they know Barnabas. Once you read the Bible, you know about Paul and Barnabas and their missionary journey and all that, and Barnabas is a great man. We’re going to learn more about him later. He is going to come into our account in significant ways. But his original name was Joseph, and he was a Levite, so he was in the tribe that was originally given the responsibility for the animal sacrificial system. So, it’s really quite marvelous. He’s from the island of Cyprus, and so that’s what we learn about him. But he had a nickname, and a nickname was Barnabas, a “bar” meaning son, and then “of encouragement,” that’s the name. That Jewish way of naming somebody means that that character trait completely characterizes who they are. Judas was called a son of perdition or a son of lostness, so he’s characterized by lostness.
Wes
Wow.
Andy
Barnabas is characterized by being an encourager, and we’re going to see this in many, many cases. He is going to show up in Acts 9 when Saul of Tarsus is converted, and Barnabas speaks a word on his behalf to the church at Jerusalem and takes him in. We’re going to see it again in Acts 12, I think it is. When the Gentile church starts flourishing in Antioch, Barnabas goes there, and he’s a good man, and he says much to encourage the people and et cetera. So, he’s going to be a hero that we’re going to follow. Anyway, we learned from him that he followed this pattern we’ve been discussing, which is selling a field that he owned. He brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet, so he was generous.
Wes
The end of chapter 4 then really sets the stage for a contrasting story that we pick up in chapter 5 beginning in verse 1. How does Acts 5:1-11 connect here to this previous section? How do the actions of Barnabas in Acts 4 that we just talked about contrast with those of Ananias in Acts 5?
Andy
Yeah, it’s just one of those literary techniques from English class compare and contrast. That’s one of those essays you used to do. So, we learn sometimes by imitation. We learn also by warning and by saying, “Hey, don’t do this.” So, there are encouragements in scripture to behave a certain way and then there are warnings to not behave a different way. So, I think there’s a very clear contrast being set up between Barnabas on the one hand with his generosity and then Ananias and Sapphira with their selfishness, I guess, at one level. Even worse than that, they’re lying, and so clearly these two are set up. I think the overall effect is to teach us, the readers, to think a different way about money and possessions and eternity so that we can live in light of the gospel in how we spend our money. So, we’re going to get to Ananias and Sapphira and that by way of warning.
Wes
All right. So, what did Ananias and Sapphira choose to do with their property that we’re told they owned, and what’s the significance of them putting the money at the apostles’ feet?
Andy
Well, the way it’s written here is first of all, they sell a piece of property, so they’re fitting in with what the pattern has been. Many people were doing this. My guess is that there might’ve been some kind of community pressure on the wealthier ones, those that did have properties that they could sell. So, these would be above and beyond where they were living ’cause there’s no sense, as Paul himself said, that one is impoverished so that the needs of other poor people can now be met. That makes no sense to just move the poverty from one person to the other, but there are some that would have surplus. They would have lands or houses that they didn’t need.
So, I think there would be a sense of expectation that if you had this, you were going to give it. It could be, it seems that they didn’t really want to do it. I think they felt maybe resentful. They felt like, “Look, I don’t want to do this, but I guess we really have no choice. So, I’ll tell you what? Why don’t we split the difference? So, we’ll sell it, but we’ll keep some of the money.” And the text is written, “Ananias kept back some of the money for himself,” so there’s this selfishness here. Furthermore, his wife’s definitely in it, so it’s written, so she’s guilty in this too. Her complete knowledge is involved in this, and so what’s going on? I think there’s a fundamental greed or covetousness that is implied here.
Then there’s a desire for public recognition that Jesus specifically warns about in Matthew 6:1,2: “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before others to be seen by them. If you do, you’ll have no reward from your Father in heaven. So, when give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret because the hypocrites announce their giving with trumpets. Well, we have a sense of them announcing their giving, but it’s not honest. They aren’t what they appear to be. They really are hypocrites. They’re like whitewashed tombs. They look good on the outside, but the reality’s different. So, there’s some covetousness. There’s some love for a vain glory, a desire to be honored in a way that isn’t right, hypocrisy, and then fundamentally, the lying. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Wes
So how does Peter answer Ananias in verse 3, and where does Peter get his information?
Andy
Yeah. Well, let’s take the second question first. It must be that the Holy Spirit told him. So, this is amazing. The Spirit is revealing things to the apostles, and it’s just scary to be around a bunch of prophets. You remember that story of Elisha and his servant Gehazi, I think it was that went after Naaman, the Syrian that he had healed from leprosy. He had offered to give him a bunch of stuff and Elisha said, “No, I don’t want anything.” He went back, and so Gehazi is like, “Man, you let him get off too easy.” So, he runs after him and gets a bunch of stuff and brings it back. Then I always picture Elisha not looking at him but saying over his shoulder, “Gehazi, where have you been? Where’d you go?” It’s like, “I didn’t go anywhere.”
Wes
Hunched over his desk-
Andy
Yeah, there you go.
Wes
… comes in the door-
Andy
I didn’t go anywhere.
Wes
“Where you been?” “Nowhere. I didn’t go anywhere,” guilty child walking into the room.
Andy
He says, “Did not my spirit go with you? I saw you and what you’re doing.” You’re dealing with a prophet. So again, it’s important for us to realize the real issue here isn’t Peter. The issue is the Holy Spirit. The issue is the omnipresent, omniscient and Holy God. He’s with you everywhere. He sees everything you do.
Fundamentally, this is what Joseph in Egypt at Potiphar’s house knew. Potiphar’s wife is grabbing hold of him, wants him to sleep with her. He said, “How could I do this great evil and sin against God? God, as Job says, sees my ways and counts my every step. He knows everything I’m doing.” So fundamentally here, they’ve forgotten that God knows everything, and God sees everything.
So, the Holy Spirit is clearly the issue here because Peter says, “You have lied to the Holy Spirit,” and it was the Spirit said they lied to me. By the way, this is probably the main textual proof in the Bible of the personality of the Holy Spirit, also with the statement, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom your seal for the day of redemption,” in Ephesians 4:7. So if the Holy Spirit were an impersonal force like electricity or something like that, you can’t lie to it, but he’s a person and you can lie to the Holy Spirit. So that’s proof of the personality of the Spirit. All right, so what happened? Well, Peter says that Satan filled Ananias and Sapphira’s heart with this: Satan is active and tempts us. So, the temptation came from Satan, and he filled the heart of Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Spirit and then to keep back some of the money that they had received from the land.
Wes
So, Andy, how does verse 4 then help clarify our understanding of the “all things in common” language that we mentioned earlier and that also shows up in Acts 2? So, Acts 2 and Acts 4 speak of having all things in common. How does verse 4 help clarify our understanding of that?
Andy
Okay, so what Peter says is, “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold, and after it was sold, wasn’t the money yours to do with as you saw fit to?” Fundamentally the land was yours, the money was yours. That’s not the problem. That’s not the problem. If you decide to keep some of it, you’re free to do that. Jesus said, “The poor you’ll have with you, and you can help them whenever you want.” I always add a codicil, and we’ll talk about that on Judgment Day, how much that was. But it’s up to you. How much do you want to do for the poor? The poor you’ll always have with you. No matter how much you give, there’ll always be more poor people. So fundamentally, the idea here is, it’s up to you what you decide to do with your stuff, but it does ultimately belong to God. So, there should be no feeling of community compulsion here.
You’re not being told to do anything with your money by us. It’s whatever you want to do, whatever you want to do, but it’s yours to do with as you see fit. Now the principle of stewardship is, truly, it is ultimately God’s. Everything belongs to him, but it is yours to make a decision so we can therefore give to the Lord. Even though it is the Lord’s, we do give to the Lord’s work, and he sees that it was giving to the Lord. So, this, I guess, destroys the concept of communism in which what ends up happening is the principle of sharing all things in common is forcibly laid on top of the entire population. So, the government then forcibly takes lands and houses and gold and silver, and luxury items, forcibly takes them from the wealthy aristocracy in Moscow and various other places, St. Petersburg and different places, and then distributes it as it sees fit.
the issue is not that he kept back part of the for himself, the issue is that he lied about it.
Well, what ends up happening is the oligarchy, the ruling class becomes the new aristocracy. That’s what ended up happening. But the fact is the logic behind it is, it isn’t yours. It isn’t yours. It belongs to the state. Well, this says, “No, no, it actually is, it’s yours. I already said it, I alluded to it with the Ten Commandments; there could be no law against stealing if everything belongs to everybody. So, it’s like everything belongs to everybody. That’s not your cloak, that’s our cloak, and I’m going to grab it. So fundamentally here, this is an important statement, didn’t it belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold, the money was yours? So, the issue is not that he kept back part of the for himself, the issue is that he lied about it.
Wes
Yeah, and Peter makes clear that he’s lied not to man. Peter’s not personally offended that he’s been lied to, but that Ananias has lied to God. Again, a powerful argument for the deity of the Holy Spirit as well. So, the personality and the deity of the Holy Spirit on full display here, which is-
Andy
Awesome.
Wes
… a beautiful thing.
Andy
It really is. Yeah.
Wes
Why does Ananias pay such a high price for his lie, and what immediate effect does his death have on the people that are there?
Andy
Yeah, I just think we underestimate the link that was made from the very beginning between sin and death. “You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat of it, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Now, it’s interesting that he says that “in the day you eat of it.” Some translations just say, “When you eat of it.” Well, we know that Adam didn’t drop down dead in the garden, but he was immediately under the death sentence. He was effectively on death row. So, here’s the thing, we just forget that the wages of sin is death, that we’re so used to sin, we’re used to our own sins. We’re used to God being forgiving and gracious. As soon as we commit a sin, we deserve to die immediately, to drop down dead. The smallest so-called sin, the slightest sin, we deserve to die.
Now, I find it interesting that though there are many things for which the Old Covenant establishes the death penalty. You read about it in Leviticus and over and over, it’s like if anyone does these things, he shall be stoned to death. There’s lots of capital punishment in the Old Covenant for spiritual infractions. One of them, for example, is if you had sexual relations with your father’s wife, your stepmother, you would be put to death. It’s right in the Levitical holiness code. But in 1 Corinthians 5, the exact same situation happens in the church of Corinth.
A man has his father’s wife, and Paul doesn’t say put him to death, he says, “Expel him from your fellowship.” So clearly, there’s a sense in which though we deserve to die, God is gracious in giving us time to repent. But we get stunned sometimes when God strikes people dead. If you look across the Bible, how many people does God instantly strike dead? How many times did that happen? You got Nadab and Abihu. We got Ananias and Sapphira here. You got certainly King Herod when he was struck down by an angel of the Lord and was eaten by worms and died. We got the 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night struck down. God kills people. Instantly. So here we have an example of this that everyone deserves to die even for lying. Then when we combine this with the scripture that says, “All men are liars,” that’s scary, isn’t it, at that point?
Wes
Yeah. Yeah.
Andy
I think that that lesson was not lost. Everyone was afraid when they heard about this, great fear seized everyone.
Wes
So, God’s apparent slowness in dealing with sin shouldn’t cause us to be presumptuous or think that we’re getting away with it. But really, as it says, the kindness of the Lord is meant to lead us to repentance, that we would see God as being gracious and merciful. In this season, we would repent and turn back from our sin.
Andy
Fundamentally, and I think for us to go honestly to God when we’re confessing sin and say, “Lord, I know I deserve to die for this. I deserve to die. I deserve the rest of my life to be forfeited because of this.” I think that’s a very serious way to deal with that. I think we should deal with it mostly, though, with our own sins or then corporately, but not individually. For you to say to another individual, “You deserve to die for this,” that’s very harsh, although, it is true. But for me as a pastor to preach this, I think, would be beneficial.
Wes
Absolutely. What’s the significance of Sapphira’s separate trial and death?
Andy
The significance is that both men and women are accountable to God, equally accountable. Adam and Eve both had to give an account for what they did. So, men and women alike will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account for themselves. I also picture it as that we’re alone. You may live decades and decades with your wife, with your husband, your spouse, decades, but Judgment Day, you’re going to stand alone. So fundamentally, we need to understand that we are accountable for what we did, and we cannot blame other people. So, this is a picture to me of what Judgment Day is like, that solitary aspect, me and God, and me giving account for what I’ve done.
Wes
How about Peter’s response? What’s the significance of Peter’s response to and rebuke of Sapphira in verse 9?
Andy
Okay, so she comes in and the text says she didn’t know what happened. Peter gives her a chance and says, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got from the land?” I don’t think she could have possibly known that this was her one chance to tell the truth. Think about that, it’s scary. Sometimes you only get one chance to tell the truth. There’s a situation here where she has this one opportunity to tell the truth. There’s a story in my pastoral ministry here, I won’t give any details, but there was a man who was committing adultery; he was in an affair, an adulterous affair with another woman.
His wife became suspicious and hired a private investigator and had proof positive that this was going on and brought that evidence to the leadership of our church. But her husband didn’t know that she had hired a private investigator. Me and two other godly men who are still in the church met together with this man, and he was a very powerful, wealthy man. We asked him, I read him this story, and I said, “Sometimes we only get one chance to tell the truth, now I’m asking you, are you in an adulterous relationship?” He said, “I’m absolutely not.” Six months later, he was dead from cancer that none of us in that room at that point knew that he had. He may have had it, but we didn’t know it, he didn’t know it. So, it may have been an entirely new thing that God struck him with at that point.
Wes
Wow.
Andy
It’s scary for me, even now, Wes, to tell you that story because I’m under that same thing. Sometimes we only get one chance to tell the truth. Now, what’s so beautiful about that story is in the end, he thoroughly, completely, and deeply repented of his sin, knowing that he had been stricken with this. And it was connected in discipline for his sin. He died well. And he died forgiven by his wife and died. But it’s still a sad story, and it’s scary too. So, the idea here is that sometimes we only get one chance to tell the truth, and so for me that holiness is very serious. Another thing I mentioned to you right before we came on is the three As in redemptive history. You’ve got Adam, Achan, and Ananias.
Both of them come in at beginning points in redemptive histories. The beginning of all of human history, Adam, then Achan took that Babylonian robe and a wedge of gold and some other things and hid it. This was in Jericho where the Israelites were told in no uncertain terms, “You get nothing from Jericho. The whole thing belongs to me. You’re going to destroy it, burn it all.” He lied, and God struck him down, and then you got Ananias here. So, at the beginning of the church history, at church history, there’s the same lesson: God is holy, and sin deserves death.
Wes
It’s so good for us to feel the weight of that because I think in our Western materialistic world where even as we’ve already mentioned, sometimes there’s an apparent slowness in God’s dealing with sin, we don’t see a direct correlation. We can think, “Well, perhaps God isn’t as concerned with sin now as He was in that day.” But the same holy God who strikes down Ananias and Sapphira cares about our sin and offers us the opportunity to repent and turn to Christ.
Andy
Another theme that comes out here is just the essential irrationality or insanity of sin. He says, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? How could you do this?” There is no answer. It’s that whole why question where we ask God, “Why did you let my son die?” Or, “Why was I struck with this disease?” Or, “Why didn’t I get that job I was hoping for?” That’s fine, so we ask God the why question. Well, he asks us some too. The only problem is, we have no answer. When he says effectively to Sapphira, “Why did you do this? How could you do this?” There is no answer, and she has no answer. How could she possibly give an answer? Again, look what the text says, “How could you agree together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” You can’t do that. So, we see the power of the Spirit of God here, and then the judgment comes.
Wes
Right. So, Ananias and Sapphira meet the same end as a result of their sin, of having agreed together to lie to the Spirit.
Andy
Yeah, it’s pretty striking. Peter says, “Behold the feet of those who buried your husband are standing at the door, and they’re going to carry you out also.” She was alive when he spoke those words. How did Peter know? But he’s a prophet, he was an apostle, and God told him what he was going to do. So even before she was even dead, he knew and he said, “They’re going to carry you out.” As soon as he said that she fell down dead. Not a hand touched her. She was not murdered. She was put to death by God, so it’s just a very, very powerful moment.
Wes
Now, we spoke of the fear a moment ago that overtakes all those who observe this. Is the kind of fear described in verse 11 at the conclusion of this chapter a good thing? What final thoughts do we have as a result of our conversation today?
Andy
Wes, I got to say before I answer that question, something popped in my mind just a few minutes ago that I’d never thought of before, and I just think it’s interesting where she ended up. She fell down at his feet. That’s a very place that they put the money. Isn’t that interesting?
Wes
Wow.
Andy
She didn’t give the money, put it at the apostles’ feet, so she ends up falling down his feet. I don’t know what to make of that. I just noticed it. At any rate, there’s a healthy, holy, pure fear that Psalm 19 says, “The fear of the Lord is pure.” So, there is, I think, a reasonable fear of sin here that should keep us ourselves from sin. That’s the power of holy fear, the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom. So final lesson here I would say is positively the end of chapter 4, let’s be generous. Let’s give money.
He’s holy, he’s omnipresent. You can’t escape him, and so live your lives always openly in the fear of the Lord. Live your lives in holiness to the praise of his glory.
Let’s find ways that we can benefit other members of the church, other Christians that are needy. Let’s make certain that there are no needy persons amongst us. As it says in Galatians 6, “As you have opportunity to let us do good to all people, especially those who belong to the household of faith.” Then secondly, the warning here is, understand God is omniscient. He’s holy, he’s omnipresent. You can’t escape him, and so live your lives always openly in the fear of the Lord. Live your lives in holiness to the praise of his glory.
Wes
This has been Episode 11 in our Acts Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 12 entitled The Persecution Escalates, where we’ll discuss Acts 5:12-42. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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