Reflections on Acts 5

Acts 05 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Ananias and his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property.
   
2. But they agreed to cheat and keep some of the money for themselves. So when Ananias took the rest of the money to the apostles,
   
3. Peter said, "Why has Satan made you keep back some of the money from the sale of the property? Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit?
   
4. The property was yours before you sold it, and even after you sold it, the money was still yours. What made you do such a thing? You didn't lie to people. You lied to God!"
   
5. As soon as Ananias heard this, he dropped dead, and everyone who heard about it was frightened.
   
6. Some young men came in and wrapped up his body. Then they took it out and buried it.
   
7. Three hours later Sapphira came in, but she did not know what had happened to her husband.
   
8. Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the property for this amount?" "Yes," she answered, "that's the amount."
   
9. Then Peter said, "Why did the two of you agree to test the Lord's Spirit? The men who buried Ananias are by the door, and they will carry you out!"
   
10. At once she fell at Peter's feet and died. When the young men came back in, they found Sapphira lying there dead. So they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
    
11. The church members were afraid, and so was everyone else who heard what had happened.
    
12. The apostles worked many miracles and wonders among the people. All of the Lord's followers often met in the part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch.
    
13. No one outside their group dared join them, even though everyone liked them very much.
    
14. Many men and women started having faith in the Lord.
    
15. Then sick people were brought out to the road and placed on cots and mats. It was hoped that Peter would walk by, and his shadow would fall on them and heal them.
    
16. A lot of people living in the towns near Jerusalem brought those who were sick or troubled by evil spirits, and they were all healed.
    
17. The high priest and all the other Sadducees who were with him became jealous.
    
18. They arrested the apostles and put them in the city jail.
    
19. But that night an angel from the Lord opened the doors of the jail and led the apostles out. The angel said,
    
20. "Go to the temple and tell the people everything about this new life."
    
21. So they went into the temple before sunrise and started teaching. The high priest and his men called together their council, which included all of Israel's leaders. Then they ordered the apostles to be brought to them from the jail.
    
22. The temple police who were sent to the jail did not find the apostles. They returned and said,
    
23. "We found the jail locked tight and the guards standing at the doors. But when we opened the doors and went in, we didn't find anyone there."
    
24. The captain of the temple police and the chief priests listened to their report, but they did not know what to think about it.
    
25. Just then someone came in and said, "Right now those men you put in jail are in the temple, teaching the people!"
    
26. The captain went with some of the temple police and brought the apostles back. But they did not use force. They were afraid that the people might start throwing stones at them.
    
27. When the apostles were brought before the council, the high priest said to them,
    
28. "We told you plainly not to teach in the name of Jesus. But look what you have done! You have been teaching all over Jerusalem, and you are trying to blame us for his death."
    
29. Peter and the apostles replied: We don't obey people. We obey God.
    
30. You killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross. But the God our ancestors worshiped raised him to life
    
31. and made him our Leader and Savior. Then God gave him a place at his right side, so that the people of Israel would turn back to him and be forgiven.
    
32. We are here to tell you about all this, and so is the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to everyone who obeys God.
    
33. When the council members heard this, they became so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles.
    
34. But one of the members was the Pharisee Gamaliel, a highly respected teacher. He ordered the apostles to be taken out of the room for a little while.
    
35. Then he said to the council: People of Israel, be careful what you do with these men.
    
36. Not long ago Theudas claimed to be someone important, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed. All his followers were scattered, and that was the end of that.
    
37. Later, when the people of our nation were being counted, Judas from Galilee showed up. A lot of people followed him, but he was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
    
38. So I advise you to stay away from these men. Leave them alone. If what they are planning is something of their own doing, it will fail.
    
39. But if God is behind it, you cannot stop it anyway, unless you want to fight against God. The council members agreed with what he said,
    
40. and they called the apostles back in. They had them beaten with a whip and warned them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Then they let them go.
    
41. The apostles left the council and were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus.
    
42. Every day they spent time in the temple and in one home after another. They never stopped teaching and telling the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

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In this chapter we see the futility of opposing God. Our first demonstration of this futility involved a couple in this early church. A husband and wife, for whatever reason, followed suit with what was happening in the church at that time. Acts 4:34-35 says that "all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet." Did Ananias and his wife Sapphira feel pressure by what everyone was doing to sell their own property and bring the proceeds to the apostles? We are not told their reason, but the couple brought only a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their property to the apostles. The fact that it was only a portion was not the real problem, however. The problem was that they misrepresented their offering, indicating that it was the full proceeds. As Peter pointed out to Ananias, the proceeds were at his disposal to do with as he wished. He didn't have to bring it to the church. So why bring it and then lie about it? Again, we do not know the reason. Even Peter wondered why they did it. But we do know it was motivated by Satan who had "filled (their) heart to lie to the Holy Spirit."

It seems that the reason for this deception is unimportant. What is of significance is the contrast here between being "filled by Satan" and being "filled by the Holy Spirit." Is there no middle ground? It seems not. Our hearts are either filled by one spirit or the other - either Satan's spirit or God's Spirit. But we hold the key to our hearts. Neither of these spirits fills our hearts without our permission. Satan may gain entry through deceit, but not without our permission. Our perception, then, is affected by the spirit that fills our heart, and if it is Satan's spirit that fills it our perception will be tainted. We will not see things as they really are. But we can choose to give access to God's Spirit instead, and this will be the best deterrent against Satan's spirit. As long as we seek God and the things of God, it will be His Spirit that fills our hearts and He will give us a true perspective of things, including a recognition of the lies of Satan.

The actions of Ananias and Sapphira may well have been an attack of Satan from within the church, opposing God's work through the church. But it was futile. What happened next was opposition from outside the church. Despite the warnings of the Sanhedrin not to teach in Jesus' name, the members of the church were boldly meeting regularly in the temple complex, in Solomon's Colonnade, performing "many signs and wonders" among the people. This caused the high priest and his colleagues to be filled with jealousy, and so they took action by arresting the apostles and putting them in jail. But again, God was not going to be opposed. "An angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said, 'Go and stand in the temple complex, and tell the people all about this life.'" When the Sanhedrin convened the next morning to deal with the apostles' offense, they found that the guards were guarding an empty jail and that the apostles were back out teaching in Solomon's Colonnade.

This refusal to obey their orders, along with Peter's accusation that they "murdered" Jesus, whom God raised up, enraged the Sanhedrin to the point of wanting to kill the apostles. At this point a respected Sanhedrin member, Gamaliel, cautioned them against taking such action by saying if "this work is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God." So instead of killing the apostles they flogged them and then released them.

So, also, was this opposition to God futile. The religious leaders could not stop what God was doing. They needed to take the advise of Gamaliel and consider whether this movement was of men or of God. If it was of God, not only should they stop opposing God, they should also join Him.