Commentary on Acts 5:1-5

By Bob Myhan

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Following the mention of Barnabas, Luke next focuses on a couple who wanted the prestige of having given the entire proceeds of the sale of their property without having to make the actual sacrifice. This pair had the opposite attitude to that of Barnabas. By contrast, we know that Joses had a good and honest heart. He loved God and men, in that order. It was because of this twofold love that he was known as “Son of Encouragement.” When he sold his land, and “brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet,” he was not seeking “the praise of men.” If the attitude of Ananias and Sapphira had been what it ought, they would not have “kept back part of the proceeds,” pretending to be giving all.

Jesus had warned against wrongly-motivated benevolence.

"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." (Matthew 6:1-4)

Notice that Jesus did not prohibit doing "charitable deeds before men” but doing them "before men, to be seen by them."

3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."

The fact that Satan fills our hearts to do evil things does not alleviate our guilt in doing them. The devil cannot make us do anything. We have noticed, in connection with our remarks on Acts 3:26, how the Holy Spirit operates on the hearts of men in conviction and conversion. He does so indirectly. Satan operates on the hearts of men indirectly in order to stimulate and perpetuate stubbornness and rebellion. The main difference between the two indirect operations is this: God appeals to what is honorable and proper in us, while Satan appeals to what is dishonorable and improper. Thus, Ananias - because of his base nature - was more susceptible to the operation of Satan than to the operation of the Holy Spirit, whereas Barnabas – being a man of high caliber – was more susceptible to the operation of the Spirit.

The text does not say that Satan only just now “filled” the heart of Ananias. This had been going on for some time. It is likely that, over the years, Ananias had repeatedly given himself over to such things as “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).

Jesus had said,

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” (Matthew 12:35)

The Christians who were in the churches of Macedonian provide a contrast to Ananias.

Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing ,imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. (2 Corinthians 8:1-5)

Thus, in all likelihood, Ananias had not fully given himself to God. He had not begun to concentrate on things that were true, noble, just, pure, and lovely and of good report. (See Philippians 4:8.)

Peter makes two points, which it would be good for us to notice.

1.     Ananias was not obligated to sell his possessions.

2.     Once he sold a possession, he was not obligated to give all of the proceeds to the church.

To this we may add a third point.

3.     Once he gave the proceeds of the sale to the church, oversight of said funds passed from him to the apostles.

Ananias had not just lied to men. He had lied to God.

5   Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

At various times, throughout history, God has seen fit to make examples of certain ones who disobeyed Him. Nadab & Abihu, the unnamed man who went out on the Sabbath day to pick up sticks and Uzzah come to mind, He does not always punish swiftly and severely.

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.  And Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.'" So Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, "Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp." So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, "Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled. You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you." And they did according to the word of Moses. Leviticus 10:1-7 (NKJV)

(To be continued)

Benevolence and Relief (Part 5)

By Bob Myhan

Another argument often made, in defense of congregational benevolence to those who are not Christians, is the injunction to “do good unto all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). The problem with using this verse for justifying the collective action of a local church is that it simply is not dealing with what local churches are to do, collectively, but what Christians are to do, individually.

While it is true that the epistle is addressed to “the churches of Galatia,” it is clear that Paul is writing to a plurality of “churches” not a functioning collectivity of churches. In fact, there is no authority in the New Testament for a functioning collectivity of churches nor did such a thing exist during the days of inspiration. We will deal more this in our next issue.

There are several indicators that Paul was writing to the churches distributively, rather than collectively. This simply means that he is addressing the individual members of those churches rather than addressing the churches as functioning units.

For example, he writes Jesus “gave Himself for our sins.” Did Jesus give Himself for the sins of the churches or for the sins of the individuals who made up the churches? It is obviously the latter. Paul writes, further, that Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age.” Did Jesus give Himself for our sins “that He might deliver us (congregations) from this present evil age” or “that He might deliver us (individuals) from this present evil age”? Once again, it is obviously the latter.

The “you” who were “turning away” were the same “you” who had been “called … in the grace of Christ.” Were they “called” as congregations or as individuals? Again, it is obviously the latter.

In what way were the false teachers in the churches of Galatia troubling those churches? They were troubling them distributively by compelling the men to submit to physical circumcision as a condition of salvation. (See Acts 15:19-24; Gal. 2:1-3; 5:1-6; 6:12, 13.)

The gospel was preached to them as individuals, not churches.  When they first heard the gospel, there were no local churches in Galatia. Verse eleven also makes it clear that he is writing to the “brethren” who make up the churches, rather than to the churches collectively.

How had Paul “persecuted the church of God”? He had done so by persecuting the members of “the church of God.” (See Acts 8:1-3.)

Thus, the phrase, “church of God,” is used distributively not collectively, here. As a matter of fact, the church of God is nowhere authorized to act as a collective functional unit. The largest and smallest unit of Christians authorized to function collectively is the local congregation.

(To be continued)