Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 5, verses 1-11
1 After that Ananias and Sapphira his wife for their hypocrisy at Peter's rebuke had fallen down deadJohn, Chapter 5, verses 30-47
17 He answereth for himself, and reproveth them, showing by the testimony of his Father, 32 of John, 36 of his works, 39 and of the Scriptures, who he isJohn, Chapter 6, verses 1-2
1 Christ feedeth five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes5
5:30 I can do nothing of myself - It is impossible I should do any thing separately from my Father. As I hear - Of the Father, and see, so I judge and do; A because I am essentially united to him.See Joh 5:19.
5:31 If I testify of myself - That is, if I alone, (which indeed is impossible,) my testimony is not valid.
5:32 There is another - The Father, Joh 5:37,and I know that, even in your judgment, his testimony in beyond exception.
5:33 He bare testimony - That I am the Christ.
5:34 But I have no need to receive, etc But these things - Concerning John, whom ye yourselves reverence, I say, that yemay be saved - So really and seriously did he will their salvation.Yet they were not saved. Most, if not all of them, died in their sins.
5:35 He was a burning and a shining light - Inwardly burning with love and zeal, outwardly shining in all holiness. And even ye were willing for a season - A short time only.
5:37 He hath testified of me - Namely at my baptism. I speak not of my supposed father Joseph. Ye are utter strangers to him of whom I speak.
5:38 Ye have not his word - All who believe have the word of the Father (the same with the word of the Son) abiding in them, that is, deeply ingrafted in their hearts.
5:39 Search the Scriptures - A plain command to all men. In them ye are assured ye have eternal life - Ye know they show you the way to eternal life. And these very Scriptures testify of me.
5:40 Yet ye will not come unto me - As they direct you.
5:41 I receive not honour from men - I need it not. I seek it not from you for my own sake.
5:42 But I know you - With this ray he pierces the hearts of the hearers. And this doubtless he spake with the tenderest compassion.
5:43 If another shall come - Any false Christ.
5:44 While ye receive honour - That is, while ye seek the praise of men rather than the praise of God. At the feast of pentecost, kept in commemoration of the giving the law from Mount Sinai, their sermons used to be full of the praises of the law, and of the people to whom it was given. How mortifying then must the following words of our Lord be to them, while they were thus exulting in Moses and his law!
5:45 There is one that accuseth you - By his writings.
5:46 He wrote of me - Every where; in all his writings; particularly Deu 18:15, Deu 18:18.
6
6:1 After these things - The history of between ten and eleven months is to be supplied here from the other evangelists. Mat 14:13; Mar 6:32; Luk 9:10.
5
5:1 But a certain man named Ananias - It is certain, not a believer, for all that believed were of one heart and of one soul: probably not baptized; but intending now to offer himself for baptism.
5:2 And bringing a certain part - As if it had been the whole: perhaps saying it was so.
5:3 To lie to the Holy Ghost - Who is in us. And to keep back - Here was the first instance of it. This was the first attempt to bring propriety of goods into the Christian Church.
5:4 While it remained, did it not remain thine? - It is true, whosoever among the Christians (not one excepted) had houses or lands, sold them, and laid the price at the feet of the apostles. But it was in his own choice to be a Christian or not: and consequently either to sell his land, or keep it.And when it was sold, was it not in thy power? - For it does not appear that he professed himself a Christian when he sold it.Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? - So profanely to dissemble on so solemn an occasion? Thou hast not lied to men only, but to God also. Hence the Godhead of the Holy Ghost evidently appears: since lying to him, Act 5:3, is lying to God.
5:5 And Ananias fell down and expired - And this severity was not only just, considering that complication of vain glory, covetousness, fraud, and impiety, which this action contained: but it was also wise and gracious, as it would effectually deter any others from following his example. It was likewise a convincing proof of the upright conduct of the apostles, in managing the sums with which they were intrusted; and in general of their Divine mission. For none can imagine that Peter would have had the assurance to pronounce, and much less the power to execute such a sentence, if he had been guilty himself of a fraud of the same kind; or had been belying the Holy Ghost in the whole of his pretensions to be under his immediate direction.
5:7 About the space of three hours - How precious a space! The woman had a longer time for repentance.
5:8 If ye sold the land for so much - Naming the sum.
5:10 The Church - This is the first time it is mentioned: and here is a native specimen of a New Testament Church; which is a company of men, called by the Gospel, grafted into Christ by baptism, animated by love, united by all kind of fellowship, and disciplined by the death of Ananias and Sapphira.