Acts 5
McGeeCHAPTER 5THEME: Death of Ananias and Sapphira; second persecutionAs we come to chapter 5, we are continuing to see the effects of the great sermon that Simon Peter gave. Also we are introduced to the first defection in the church, followed by the death of Ananias and Sapphirawho were Christians, but were not living on the high spiritual level of the early church. At the end of chapter 4 we were introduced to a man by the name of Barnabas. He will be before us again. He was one of the wonderful saints in the early church, a true man of God. He was the first missionary partner of the apostle Paul when they went into the difficult Galatian area, and yet God marvelously blessed their ministry there. Barnabas had given quite a sum of money to the church. He had made a generous contribution, and everyone was talking about it. I imagine he received a great deal of publicity for his generosity. Remember that in the early church they had all things common. It reveals the fact that they were on a high spiritual level to be able to do this. Now the first defection comes in. Having all things common could not continue and did not continue simply because of the carnal nature that is in mankind.
Acts 5:1
DEATH OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRAIt is obvious that they were imitating Barnabas. They saw that he got a certain amount of publicity, and they thought it would be nice if they could get that kind of publicity too. They wanted it. I have found that there are people who will give in order to be noticed. I recall a meeting with businessmen in Pasadena when I was a pastor there. We were planning to start a youth organization, and we were asking these men to give donations for the founding of this movement. It was decided that donations would not be made public. I was informed that one of these men would contribute very little if he were not given the opportunity to speak out publicly to let everybody know how much he was giving. It is quite interesting that he contributed a small amount. After the meeting he confided in one of the men that he had intended to give about ten times that amount, but he had expected to be able to stand up or at least raise his hand to indicate how much he had given. You see, pride is still in human nature today. That was the condition of Ananias and Sapphira.
Acts 5:2
There was nothing wrong with the fact that they kept back part of the money. They had a right to do that. The property had been theirs and they had the right to do with the money whatever they wished. Today, we in the church are under grace. We are not constrained to give any certain amount. Someone may say we ought to give a tithe. In the early church they were giving everything they owned. Ananias and Sapphira did not give all but kept back part of it, which they had a right to do. Their problem, their sin, was that they lied about it. They said they were giving all when actually they were keeping part of it for themselves. I don’t like to have people sing the song that talks about putting “my all” on the altar. Unfortunately, that makes liars out of the people who are singing. We need to be very careful about the songs we sing. A vow to the Lord should never be made lightly. Ananias and Sapphira said they were laying all on the altar, but they were lying about it.
Acts 5:3
The sin of this man and his wife was that they lied about it.
Acts 5:4
There are people today who deny that the Holy Spirit is God. You will notice that Simon Peter believed He was God. First he says, “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” Then he says, “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” The Holy Spirit is God.
Acts 5:5
There are those today who think that Simon Peter caused the death of this man, Ananias. They even blame him for his death. I want to absolve him of this crime. Simon Peter was probably as much surprised as anyone when Ananias fell down dead. I don’t think that he knew at all what was going to happen. Do you know who struck Ananias dead?
God did. Do you feel that you want to bring charges against God? Do you want to call the FBI to tell them that God is guilty of murder? May I say to you, if you can give life, you have the right to take it away. This is God’s universe. We are God’s creatures.
We breathe His air. We use bodies that He has given to us. My friend, He can take our bodies any time He wishes to. God is not guilty of a crime. This is His discipline within the church. God is the One who is responsible for the death of Ananias and Sapphira.
Acts 5:6
Simon Peter knows what will happen to her. He did not know what was going to happen to Ananias, but now it is quite obvious what will happen to this woman.
Acts 5:10
There are two things that amaze me about this incident. One is the fact that a lie, such as these two were living, could not exist in the early church. There was a holiness of life in the church. Ananias and Sapphira, although they were saved, lied to the Holy Spirit and were removed from the company of believers. They had committed the sin unto death. “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (1Jn_5:16). This was a sin unto death which Ananias and Sapphira committed. This kind of sin could not exist in the early church. There was defection in the church and it required discipline. However, after this experience the church would never be as pure as it was before. Up until this time they had all things in common. This incident almost ruined them. We shall see more of this in the next chapter. Fear came upon all the church, and fear came upon people who heard of these things. Power would continue in the church, and multitudes would be saved. Yet the church would never be as pure as in those first days of existence. The other amazing thing is the spiritual discernment of Simon Peter. This also is lacking today. I was very much amused at a young man who came to me in a Bible class not long ago. He told me he had the gift of discerning of spirits and he could tell truth from error. Then he quoted one of the worst heretics today. I questioned him again about his gifts of discernment of spirits, of truth and error, and then asked him whether he approved of the man whom he had just quoted. “Oh yes,” he said, “this man speaks the truth.” I told him that I didn’t believe he had any special gifthe just thought he did. Today the worst kind of hypocrite can get into our Bible churches. They are not good at coming to Bible studiesI have discovered that, but they can hold offices and even run the church. If those who lied to God in our churches were to drop down dead, we would have a lot of funerals. The undertakers would be doing a land-office business.
Acts 5:12
Notice that the apostles exercise the apostolic gifts. Gifts of healing and gifts of miracles were sign gifts which were given to the apostles. They did many signs among the people. The discipline in the church had put a fear on the people and had stopped the revival. Yet there were those who were still being saved. Believers were being added to the Lord. We know that by A.D. 300 there were millions of people in the Roman Empire who had turned to Christ.
Acts 5:15
May I compare this to modern faith healing? Modern faith healers never heal all the people who come to them. Have you ever noticed that? The apostles had sign gifts, friend. No one in the church since then has had those gifts. People were healed, every one of them. They emptied the hospitals. This was the power of the early church. We must remember that at that time there was no written New Testament. The church is built on Jesus ChristHe is the Cornerstoneand the apostles were witnesses to Christ. The sign gifts were given to them to demonstrate the fact that they spoke with God’s authority. Today we have a written New Testament as our authority.
Acts 5:17
THE SECOND PERSECUTIONWe have seen that there was discipline within the early church. Now we find that there is persecution from without. When the apostles exercised their gifts, they produced a reaction. Notice that the Sadducees are leading in the persecution. It was the Pharisees who had led in the persecution against Jesus; it is the Sadducees who lead the persecution against the early church. So the apostles are arrested for the second time and are put into prison.
Acts 5:19
This translation should be “an angel” and not “the angel.” In the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord was none other than the preincarnate Christ, but now Christ is the Man in glory at God’s right hand, and He is the One who is directing the activity of His apostles. Today, unfortunately, much of the time His hands and His feet are paralyzed because the people in the church are not moving for Him in this world. Jesus Christ wants to move through His church. He wants to move through you and me if we will permit Him. This is not Christ who appeared here; it was an angel.
Acts 5:20
This is the same sort of thing that happened at the resurrection of Christ. The stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out; He was out before the stone was rolled away. The stone was moved to let those on the outside come in. The same thing happened here. The doors did not need to be opened to let the apostles get out. They were out long before the doors were unlocked.
Acts 5:24
People were listening to the apostles. They were good witnesses. They were real missionaries. Jesus had said that the gospel was to go out, first in Jerusalem. We see that this has been done"Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine."
Acts 5:29
The apostles were obeying what their Lord and Master had told them to do. Believers are commanded to obey civil authorityexcept when it comes in conflict with the commandment of God.
Acts 5:30
Jesus Christ was hanged on a tree. It was not a nice, smooth piece of timber with a crossbar, as we see it pictured today. It was a tree.
Acts 5:31
This is still the message to the nation Israel in Jerusalem today.
Acts 5:33
Gamaliel wants the apostles excused so that he can talk to the Sanhedrin. This Gamaliel was an outstanding man and greatly respected. (He was the teacher of the apostle Paul, by the way.)
Acts 5:35
He is giving sage advice.
Acts 5:39
Gamaliel gives examples of men who had started uprisings and had a following, but after they were killed, their followers disbanded. Now he advises them that the same thing will happen to Jesus and His followers.
Acts 5:40
If these men were innocent, they should have let them go. If these men were guilty, they should have held them and punished them. Beating them and then letting them go was a sorry subterfuge. They should have listened to Gamaliel a little more carefully. Things aren’t much different today. There is that gray line between guilty and not guilty. The courts today let people off by giving them some light sentence. My friend, if a person is guilty, he should be punished. If he is not guilty, he should be let go with no sentence.
Acts 5:41
These apostles were marvelous men. They were rejoicing that they could suffer for the Lord Jesus. They continued to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? It is a Person! It is Jesus Christ. Do you have Him today? You either do or you don’t. You either trust Him, or you do not trust Him. Either He is your Savior, or you do not have a Savior. That is the message. The apostles did not cease to teach and to preach Jesus Christ.