Title Acts 5:1-11
The incident reported in today's text occurred when Jesus Christ and his gospel were proliferating day by day and covered the city of Jerusalem, and the early church in Jerusalem was rapidly growing explosively. A couple named Ananias and Sapphira one day sold their land to give to the church. But they did not pay the entire price of the sale of the land, but took some of it and hid it, and brought the rest and laid it at the feet of the apostles. Then he lied in front of Peter, who knew the truth by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, as if it was the entire price of the sale of the land, and he fell on the spot and died.
This event can be very shocking and poorly understood at some point. Selling all of one's possessions and giving only half of it would be great and commendable, because it may raise the question of whether it would be too harsh a treatment to cause a couple to die instantly if they didn't give it all. Therefore, we need to examine the significance of this event in a little more detail.
It is said that a man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, sold their possessions and "hidden" some of the price. The Greek word translated "hidden" here is translated as "steal" in Titus 2:10, which is the only recurring occurrence in today's text. The same word is used in Joshua 7:1 in the Book of 70, which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament written in Hebrew. Joshua 7:1 tells the story of the great defeat of the Israeli army, which had easily occupied the strong city of Jericho with Joshua, and went up against the small city of Ai, and explains the reason for the devastation. It is because God was angry with the children of Israel because a man named Achan "has" something completely dedicated to God, that is, he stole God's.
However, Ananias and Sapphira's sin is not only in their dishonesty, stealing God's things. They also tried to deceive with lies. In reality, he did not fully do what he had promised to God, but lied as if he had done it perfectly to gain praise, respect, and fame. He was trying to steal not only God's property, but also praise, respect, and fame from people. And this was by no means accidental. It was a planned crime, just as the couple discussed in advance and kissed well enough to say the same while standing in front of Peter separately. They tried to deceive Peter with that lie, but in fact, as Peter said in verse 3, they had “deceived the Holy Spirit,” and as verse 4 said, “we did not lie to men, but to God.”
This tragic event between Ananias and Sapphira is not just a small incident that happened to a specific individual. We wonder what the author of the book of Acts had intended to put this unfortunate incident in the middle of the history of the triumphant gospel, in which the Christians of the early church were filled with the Holy Spirit and were occupying Jerusalem with amazing power of evidence. is what you should see. It should find its meaning as God's warning to God's people and church. I think it is to remind the church and God's people that in order to truly have the power of witness, they must become a sanctified church and sanctified believers. This is probably the same reason why he recorded such unfortunate incidents as the theft of Achan while recording the victories of the Israelites' conquest of Canaan under Joshua's leadership. I believe it is meant to teach clearly that the victory of God's people can only be gained through being true to God and obeying His Word.
It can be so surprising and embarrassing that God caused both Ananias and Sapphira, who stood before Peter with false and deceitful hearts, to fall and die on the spot. But we shall see the determination of God here. It should be seen as a sign of God's will to make it clear that the Church of God does not tolerate being defiled with lies and hypocrisy. It should be understood to show that God does not want sin to remain with Him even for a moment in His church.
We must not forget that wherever there is the work of the Holy Spirit, Satan always penetrates. We must keep in mind that Satan is the one who never simply ignores the growth of the Church of God. We must always remember that Satan is the one who never condones to stand firm in the faith of the church members. We need to be wary of the work of Satan, who uses all sorts of tricks to defile and overthrow us so that God's people and the church cannot stand in holiness and truth before God.