seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.
When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.
25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
The first commentary I read this morning was bible-studys.org.Ananias and Sapphira were not required of God to give their possessions. They decided between themselves to sell the land and lie to the apostles (representing the work of the Holy Ghost on earth), and hold back part of the money.
Communal sharing is still being practiced some weeks or months after Pentecost, but it was totally voluntary. Ananias’s sin was not that of keeping back part of what he sold, but his hypocrisy about it.
The sin here is not in Ananias not bringing all the money for the land, but in the fact that he brought part of the money and told the apostles that he had brought all. To lie to man is one thing, but to lie to God is an entirely different thing. The sin here is lying.
We see that this turning away from the beautiful workings of the early church and lying to the Holy Ghost brought sudden destruction. Ananias and Sapphira conceived this crime together, they both sinned and they met with a common fate and were buried together.
This whole message is not saying, to be a Christian you must sell everything and give it to the church. It is saying that it is a great sin to lie to the Holy Spirit of God. Their sin was lying.
We see here that, great astonishment gripped all the people. No more people joined the group possibly for fear of their weaknesses causing them trouble like Ananias and Sapphira.
The people magnified them. This included the Jewish rulers. This unity and also this happening with the two that lied to the Holy Spirit put fear and great respect for these disciples in all of them."
We see jealousy coming forth here. This high priest and these Sadducees could not deny that the miracles were done. They knew that they did not have the power to heal people, and they felt that people would stop coming to the temple and would follow these apostles instead.
Meanwhile.... back at the jail.....
These officers have an amazing tale to tell these rulers. The door was still locked, the guards were still on duty, and yet the imprisoned apostles had disappeared.
The very last place these rulers of the temple thought they would find these apostles would be in the temple teaching. They would have expected them to run to safety, not to come into the temple.
"Gamaliel” was a respected Pharisee, a prominent teacher at Jerusalem, a member of the Jewish high council (the Sanhedrin), and the teacher of Paul. Jewish tradition states that Gamaliel’s grandfather was Hillel, the prominent rabbi who represented the liberal wing of the Pharisees in opposition to the more rigid, and conservative wing led by Shammai.
This Gamaliel is advising the temple leaders to just let the apostles of Jesus alone and let them run their course. If they are not of God, these things that they teach will die out and the followers of this Jesus will be scattered.
The commentaries all say that those two new Christians.... Ananias and Sapphira..... "stole" the money they kept back. I don't see here where Ananias made any promise to give everything he had to the church. Jesus required His Apostles leave everything behind..... and there were a lot of Disciples who left everything behind..... but I don't see that giving everything up was a requirement for joining the church. In the previous chapter it said that the people sold their property and brought it all to the church..... I knew that was going to show up again.... even in my own family there are people who believe that the sin those two people died for was keeping back some of their wealth.... a little savings account....
The sin wasn't in holding back a little..... the sin was lying about it.
NOW.... this is how I would interpret this..... Peter, who attacked an unarmed man from behind with a sword when Jesus was arrested...... Peter, who lied about his association with Jesus even when Jesus was being tried and beaten...... was getting into the groove of being a church leader. Peter..... who had been such a coward.... was now the big honcho.... with over 5,000 people listening to every word he said..... and now.... he's preaching anger.....
I say he's preaching anger because he preaches about how the Temple leaders and the Romans murdered Jesus. He wasn't preaching love and acceptance.... he was preaching hate and greed..... rather than standing up for a Risen Christ who only wants us to Love God with all our hearts and souls... rather than standing up for the Risen Christ who only wants us to love one another and treat each other they way we wish we could be treated..... Peter is politicizing the crucifixion.... IMHO
I think this chapter shows that Satan had already gotten into the church..... through Peter.... who had not forgiven himself. Jesus forgave Peter.... but Peter didn't forgive himself. I think Peter took his own self loathing out on that couple.... and the power of the Holy Spirit.... at his disposal.... and he misused it.
I see this chapter being exploited by cults and fake preachers. I guess I also see a lot of leaders of the different churches sweeping those fake preachers and the damage they have done.... under the rug.
Upon this rock.... yeah.... great rock..... but Jesus was the cornerstone.... not Peter.... Peter was just a rock..... not even bedrock.... just rock. I am wondering now.... when Jesus said "upon that rock I will build" was He being sarcastic?
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