Acts 5:3-4  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? 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.”

New Testament scholar Richard N. Longenecker writes:

“Probably no account in Acts has provoked more wrath from critics than this one has. Commentators have complained about the difficulty of accepting the death of both husband and wife under such circumstances and have questioned Peter’s ethics in not giving them an opportunity for repentance and in not telling Sapphira of her husband’s death. Even more difficult for many is the way the story portrays Peter, who appears to be without the compassion or restraint of His Lord.”

Even Jesus did not treat Judas, whose sin seems infinitely more heinous than that of Ananias and Sapphira, with such cold, unfeeling severity, but gave him every opportunity to repent. Longenecker continues:

“Many have felt it impossible for a leader of the early church to have shown such harshness over a relatively ‘slight’ offense and have doubted that the church would have wanted to preserve such an account. Many, therefore, have taken this to be a fictitious story…But Peter did not view the action of Ananias and Sapphira as merely incidental. He spoke of it as inspired by Satan and as a lie to…God”

And that really is the crux of the matter. What Ananias and Sapphira did was not really as much an offense against Peter and the Jerusalem church community as it was a direct, calculated attempt to deceive and lie to Almighty God!

People often view their slights and wrongs to fellow believers as not really being all that serious. “After all, we’re just human, right?” But in view of the case of Ananias and Sapphira, we should all realize that our sin is primarily against God, the One whose blood purchased our redemption by His grace. Remember David’s great prayer to God of confession and penitence? “Against thee, thee only have I sinned.” (Psalm 51:4 KJV)

If only we would see our sin from the proper perspective, perhaps we wouldn’t do it as much.

just a thought

jack

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