The Bible for beginners for 13 October 2023

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 5, verses 1-16

¹ After that Ananias and Sapphira his wife for their hypocrisy at Peter's rebuke had fallen down dead, ¹² and that the rest of the apostles had wrought many miracles, ¹⁴ to the increase of the faith

¹But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

²And 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.

³But 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?

⁴Whiles 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.

⁵And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

⁶And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

⁷And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

⁸And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

⁹Then 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.

¹⁰Then 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.

¹¹And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

¹²And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

¹³And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.

¹⁴And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

¹⁵Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

¹⁶There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

Read more:Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 5

NOTES

We human beings are an amazingly inconsistent people. How frightening it can be for us to step beyond the line after which there is no return. How much we want to leave ourselves a backup option, an alternate runway...

Against the background of the spiritual rise of the first Christian community, the episode with Ananias and Sapphira looks like something wild and frightening. Meanwhile...

Describing the life of the first Christian community, the sacred writer draws attention to those manifestations of the power of the Kingdom that should have been obvious to everyone. Healings, conversions, the freeing of the possessed from the power of dark forces - all this was well known and described in...

Describing the life of the first Christian community, the sacred writer draws attention to those manifestations of the power of the Kingdom that should have been obvious to everyone. Healings, conversions, the freeing of the possessed from the power of dark forces - all this was well known and described in the Gospels, and in the earliest Christian times, when the Gospels had not yet been written, accounts of these events were passed from mouth to mouth. And now, before the eyes of many, something similar was taking place. The history of the Kingdom in the world continued.

There was something more as well: to leave prison through a locked door was something altogether incredible... but the risen Jesus also passed through locked doors, and they were no obstacle to Him. In the untransformed world such a thing is impossible; in the Kingdom it is entirely possible. The author of the book describes what is happening precisely as something happening in the Kingdom. What is taking place is not the spread of a new religion through Jerusalem and Judea, but the spread of the Kingdom there. It is a spread to which, naturally, each person responds in his own way. The religious authorities are also forced to respond somehow: everything that is happening is becoming too visible.

Visible, and frightening. Frightening because it is uncontrollable and unpredictable. Frightening in the way anything is frightening to any authority simply because it is authority. The religious authorities of Judea were no exception: power is always power first of all, and whether it is secular or religious is a secondary question. What frightens the temple leadership and the whole Sanhedrin most of all is the spread of a new name by which one can be saved. This is understandable: a new sacred name means a new path to God.

What is this new path? Who can make use of it, and how? What does all this mean for the former paths? The apostles and all the members of the new movement are obvious and explicit messianists; they speak constantly about the Messiah, whose name for them is equivalent to the name of God. They speak about the Kingdom. What is this Kingdom? Is there a place in it for the Temple? For the old priesthood? Or will everything in this new Kingdom be new: the Temple, the priesthood, and worship? And what about earthly authority?

All these questions gave no peace to the temple leadership and the spiritual leaders of the traditional Synagogue. If the spiritual leaders of the new movement had first coordinated their activity with the Sanhedrin, or at least notified it, everything would have been different. But they did nothing of the kind. Meanwhile, the Temple and the Sanhedrin watched the new messianists tensely. Who were they: allies or competitors? And the further things went, the more obvious it became both to the Temple and to the traditional Synagogue that these new messianists would not become their allies.

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