Bible Commentaries

The hypocrisy of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, and their awful death, Acts 5:1-11. The apostles work many miracles, and the Church of God is increased, Acts 5:12-16. The high priest and the Sadducees, being incensed against the apostles, seize and put them in prison, Acts 5:17, Acts 5:18. The angel of God delivers them, and commands them to go to the temple, and proclaim the Gospel, Acts 5:19, Acts 5:20. The high priest, having gathered the council together in the morning, sends to the prison to have the apostles brought before him, Acts 5:21. The offers return, and report that they found the prison shut, and the watch set, but that the men had got out, Acts 5:22, Acts 5:23. A messenger arrives in the meanwhile, and says that the apostles are preaching in the temple, Acts 5:24, Acts 5:25. The captain and officers go and bring than before the council, who expostulate with them, Acts 5:26-28. The apostles defend themselves, and charge the council with the murder of Christ; and assert his resurrection from the dead and ascension to the right hand of God, Acts 5:29-32. The council are confounded, and purpose to slay the apostles, Acts 5:33. Gamaliel gives them seasonable and prudent advice, Acts 5:34-39. The council agree to it, but, before they discharge the apostles, beat them, and command them not to teach in the name of Jesus, Acts 5:40. They depart rejoicing in their persecution, and continue to preach Jesus Christ, Acts 5:41, Acts 5:42.

But a certain man named Ananias - Of these unhappy people we have no farther account than what is recorded here. In reference to birth, connections, etc., their names are written in the dust. The import of his name, חנניה chananiyah, the grace or mercy of the Lord, agrees very ill with his conduct.

Kept back part of the price - Ananias and Sapphira were evidently persons who professed faith in Christ with the rest of the disciples. While all were making sacrifices for the present necessity, they came forward among the rest, pretending to bring all the money they had got for a possession, κτημα, (of what kind we know not), which they had sold. A part of this price, however, they kept back, not being willing to trust entirely to the bounty of Providence, as the others did; thinking probably, that, as the whole was their own, they had a right to do with it as they pleased. And so they had: they were under no necessity to sell their possession; but the act of selling it for the ostensible purpose of bringing it into the common stock, left them no farther control over it, nor property in it; and their pretense, that the money which they brought was the whole produce of the sale, was a direct lie in itself, and an attempt to deceive the Holy Spirit, under whose influence they pretended to act. This constituted the iniquity of their sin.

Why hath Satan filled thine heart - The verb πληροειν, which we translate to fill, Kypke has showed by many examples to signify, to instigate, excite, impel, etc., and it was a common belief, as well among the heathens as among the Jews and Christians, that, when a man did evil, he was excited to it by the influence and malice of an evil spirit. It is strange that, by the general consent of mankind, sin against God has been ever considered so perfectly unnatural, and so evil in itself, that no man would commit it unless impelled to it by the agency of the devil. The words of St. Peter here prove that such an agency is not fictitious: if there had been no devil, as some wish and perhaps feel it their interest to believe, or if this devil had no influence on the souls of men, Peter, under the agency of the Holy Spirit, would not have expressed himself in this way; for, if the thing were not so, it would have been the most direct means to lead the disciples to form false opinions, or to confirm them in old and absurd prejudices.

To lie to the Holy Ghost - Ψευσασθαι το Πνευμα το Ἁγιον, To deceive the Holy Spirit. Every lie is told with the intention to deceive; and they wished to deceive the apostles, and, in effect, that Holy Spirit under whose influence they professed to act. Lying against the Holy Ghost is in the next verse said to be lying against God; therefore the Holy Ghost is God.

To keep back part of the price - Νοσφισασθαι απο της τιμης. The verb νοσφιζειν, νοσφιζεσθαι, is used by the Greek writers to signify purloining part of the public money, peculation. The word is used here with great propriety, as the money for which the estate was sold was public property; as it was for this purpose alone that the sale was made.

Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? - See the note on Acts 5:2, and see that also on Acts 2:44 (note).

Fell down, and gave up the ghost - Πεσων εξεψυξε, Falling down, he expired, breathed his last: "Gave up the ghost" is a very improper translation here. See the notes on Genesis 25:8, and on Matthew 27:50 (note). Two things may be remarked here:

1. That the sin of this person was of no ordinary magnitude, else God would not have visited it with so signal a punishment.

2. That Peter must have had the power to discern the state of the heart, else he had not known the perfidy of Ananias. This power, commonly called the discernment of spirits, the apostles had as a particular gift, not probably always but at select times, when God saw it necessary for the good of his Church.

The young men arose - Some of the stout young men belonging to the disciples then present, who were the fittest to undertake a work of this kind, which required considerable bodily exertion.

Buried him - This was on the same day in which he died. It was a clear case that he was dead, and dead by a judgment of God that would not be revoked. As therefore it was no case of suspended animation, there was no reason to delay the burial.

To tempt the Spirit of the Lord? - So the Holy Ghost, God, and the Spirit of the Lord, are the same person.