The story of Acts chapter 5 is a profound one in the history of the early church. It is also the background for one of my favorite CCM songs from the Resurrection Band, but I digress. In order to properly understand the events in chapter 5 we must have the proper context. In chapter 2:45 we see that after Pentecost some believers sold possessions and goods and then gave to those in need. This practice evidentially continued because at the end of chapter 4 we see similar actions. One man named Barnabas went so far as to sell a field and brought the money to the Apostles so they could give the proceeds to other believers in need.
Acts of charity were imperative in the early church. The Jewish nation had rejected Jesus the Messiah and therefore would not look favorably upon Jewish people who became followers of Jesus. Because the church, up until chapter 10, is exclusively Jewish those who chose to follow the apostles teaching would be persecuted and need to band together and share resources to survive.
This is the back story so to speak of what was surrounding the happenings when a husband and wife also sold some property. From Scripture we learn that Ananias and Sapphira sold some property, held back some of the profit, but portrayed it as the full price when they gave the money to the apostles. I don’t believe they had to give any money to the Apostles but from the context of chapter 4 they evidentially wanted whatever recognition Barnabas had received for what he had done without actually doing it. By misrepresenting what they had done in order to get human praise they became guilty of lying to God.
My impression, and it is only mine not from Scripture, is that Ananias had devised this plan and convinced his wife to go along with it. Unfortunately for Sapphira when she had the chance to tell the truth she didn’t and her fate was the same as her husband. This is a lesson for me as a husband, father, and leader. I should never allow other to become guilty with me because I am a leader. Leaders have a great responsibility to lead and others may benefit or suffer for our choices. I believe this lesson applies to all whether young or old. We all have people we influence and it is important that we do so wisely. We should always seek to please God and not ourselves and follow the example of Jesus who humbled himself to become sin for us and was willing to be separated from God the Father for our benefit Philippians 2:5-8.
The effect of the death of these two on the early church was that they were seized with great fear. Remember that the church was in its early development and the book of Acts is transitional. It was imperative that sin was dealt with quickly and dramatically so it was not repeated by others. I believe only the apostles were able to deal with sin this way and that is why we don’t see more people struck dead today for what might seem like a petty sin. The whole of Scripture teaches that God never changes but evidentially our impression of sin has. Most times we tend to look the other way when we know a fellow believer is living in sin. If we really want to see the power of God like was evident in the book of Acts I believe we must see sin for what it is and do everything we can to remove it from our lives and from the lives of other believers. Please church be the church and see sin for what it is. Sin is what separates us from God our Father and causes death both physically and spiritually.
