NOTES for Act 5:1-11
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, |
2 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. |
3 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? |
4 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. |
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. |
7 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. |
11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. |
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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... In everyday life this may work, but spiritually, as today's story about Ananias and Sapphira shows, it does not. And now it is fairly easy to understand what was wrong with Ananias's "worldly wisdom"; how much more in that time, when the will of God was not sought but simply known and seen within oneself, because the Spirit filled them.
This story was practically the first serious attempt by the devil, as we now understand it a completely useless attempt, to take revenge for the Resurrection. He had already tried to destroy the very young Church from the outside through those same Pharisees and scribes so dear to him. Through those whom Christ also accuses of inconsistency. After all, if they had loved and relied on the Lord with all their soul and had been sincere to the end in their faith, including their faith in the words of Moses, then "you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me" (John 5:46). But for them, as for all of us, it is more convenient to choose how and what to believe from what is offered, and what to leave to our own judgment.
Still, God won again. Now the evil one is trying to collapse from within the building founded by his enemy. Yet we know that "the gates of hell shall never prevail" against the Church (see Matt. 16:18), even now, when in many ways it is weaker than the community of the first apostles. And then, in the times described in the first several chapters of Acts, the Lord's power was so clearly upon His faithful that a person who allowed not the Spirit of the Lord but the spirit of the evil one to enter him, while also claiming a share in salvation, simply could not survive. It was so physically impossible for sin to remain before the face of God. Unfortunately, we manage to do that now...
Readings for 24 April 2026
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