Ananias and Sapphira: A lie has short legs but it runs faster than the truth

At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, we are told how they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) and Peter preached his first sermon to thousands of people who had come from many different places to celebrate the day of Pentecost. Such was the blessing and anointing of the Spirit upon him, that on that day 3000 people were touched by God’s grace and salvation.

The church in Jerusalem was growing daily in number and holiness. But Luke shows us the reality of a church that was not all righteousness and goodness as we may sometimes think of the early church, it was a church full of sinners but who had repented and been saved by the atonement of Christ. The verses before Acts 5, which is the passage that interests us, tell us that the multitude of believers was of one heart and soul (Acts 4:32). There were no needy because many believers sold their possessions or houses voluntarily, this is important to keep in mind, no one forced anyone to do so, and they brought it to the apostles to distribute it to the neediest.

Among these generous Christians was Joseph, or as he is better known by his nickname “Barnabas”. He sold a piece of land he owned and brought the money to the apostles so that they could distribute it to the neediest. In that same church in Jerusalem, there was a married couple of believers named Ananias and Sapphira. And this is where the story begins.

Right after Barnabas’ donation to the needy, Acts chapter 5 begins with a “But…”, which implies that you are going to see a contrast between what Barnabas did and what Ananias and Sapphira did. Nowhere else in the Bible do we hear about Ananias and Sapphira, we know nothing about their family, or if they had children, or what they did, or how many possessions they had. What the Scripture does show us is that they two agreed to sell a possession. Up to this point, there is no problem, the problem comes later: the donation of Ananias and Sapphira, in appearance, followed the behavior of other believers, but “And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” (Acts 5:2)

The problem was not that Ananias and Sapphira kept part of the money from the sale of the possession because they could do it, no one forced them to give it all. Their problem was that they lied to the apostles and said that they were bringing all the money they had taken from the sale of the possession,. They wanted to give the image of being as generous as Barnabas, and that the brethren in the church in Jerusalem would praise them and think that they had sacrificed by giving everything. They wanted to impress others, to make them think that they were very spiritual and generous, when what they were doing was deceiving and lying, first to the Holy Spirit and then to the believers: “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?” (Acts 5:3)

The apostle Peter learned of the deception, by revelation from God, and confronted Ananias with his sin. “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” (Acts 5:4)

“And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.” (Acts 5:5-6)

It was a divine punishment, here we cannot see that he had a heart attack and died, we can clearly see the hand of God acting directly. Ananias died because of deception, because of a lie.

But there is a second part, three hours later, the biblical account tells us, it happened, that Sapphira entered where Peter was, but without knowing what happened to her husband. Peter gave her the opportunity to repent and asked her: “… Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.” (Acts 5:8-11)

Sapphira, having agreed with her husband about the money, lied to Peter without her voice trembling. She did not even suspect what this lie was going to bring her, if she had repented for a moment, she would have realized that this sinful attitude does not please God, if she had told Peter the whole truth, the end of this story would have been very different.

So how do you live when no one sees you in private? You may give a very spiritual image, but you do not deceive God, He sees your heart. Is there deceit on your lips? Perhaps you think that you do not lie or deceive, but lies have many faces and can present themselves in many ways. Is your life transparent? Do you act honestly in your work? Do you tell half-truths? Do you like people to know about the good works you do so that they can flatter you? Analyze your heart before God, and if there is something to fix, remember that through Christ’s atonement all people can become cleansed from sin and start over.