ACC ~ Acts 5 v1 - 11

OVERVIEW:

In the last two verses of Acts 4, Luke gave the example of Barnabas, who literally enacted the community ideal of unlimited generosity. He now passes to an example of the opposite. Modern commentators point out that the word translated “kept back” often refers to misappropriation or even theft of funds, and that the fault of Ananias and Sapphira was that they declared the money gained from the sale of their property belonged to the community and then kept some of the community’s money for themselves. This sin, which is variously described as lying to the Holy Spirit, lying to God and testing the Holy Spirit, serves to show the true nature of the community of believers, just as Jesus’ words to Paul reveal another dimension of the same reality: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5; 22:8; 26:15). The Fathers note especially those aspects of the story that seem most important to Luke. They point out that the sin of Ananias and Sapphira consisted in being false to what they professed to be doing, thus committing a sin against God (CHRYSOSTOM, AMMONIUS, ARATOR, BEDE, BASIL), while also sinning through avarice (CASSIAN). They discuss the interior dynamics of what is meant by Satan entering their heart (CHRYSOSTOM, AMMONIUS, GREGORY OF NYSSA, BEDE). They see this event as a warning for all the faithful (CHRYSOSTOM, JEROME, BEDE).

5:2 | Ananias Kept Some of the Proceeds

A SIN OF SACRILEGE. CHRYSOSTOM: If for gathering sticks one could be stoned to death, much more, it may be argued, ought he be stoned for committing sacrilege. This money was sacred. For the person who withdraws his possessions after he has chosen to sell them and distribute them would be guilty of sacrilege. And if this person, who is taking from his own possessions, is sacrilegious, much more so is he who takes from what is not his own. And do not think that because the consequence now is not the same, the crime will go unpunished. Do you see that this is the charge brought against Ananias, that having made the money sacred, he then took it? For were you not able, says Peter, even after the sale to use the proceeds as your own? For you were not forbidden, were you? Why then after you had promised? See how the devil made his attack from the very beginning, how in the midst of such signs and wonders this man became insensible as a rock! … For sacrilege is a most grievous crime, insolent and full of contempt. We neither forced you to sell, says the apostle, nor to give the money after you have sold. You chose to do so of your own free will. Why then did you steal from the sacred treasury? HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 12.

5:3 | Why Has Satan Filled Your Heart?

THE ONE WHO COOPERATES WITH SATAN IS CUT OFF. CHRYSOSTOM: “Why has Satan filled your heart?” he says. If it was Satan who did this, why is the man responsible? Because he admitted the influence of Satan and was filled with it. He must be set right, he says. But he could not be set right. For the one who has seen such things and gained nothing from them, neither would he gain much by anything else. Therefore the matter could not simply be passed over, but, like gangrene, had to be excised to prevent it from infecting the rest of the body. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 12.

THE SPIRIT READS OUR HEARTS. GREGORY OF NYSSA: And of the Holy Spirit also, Peter says to Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart, to lie to the Holy Spirit?” showing that the Holy Spirit was a true witness, aware of what Ananias had dared to do in secret, and by whom the secret was made known to Peter. For Ananias became a thief of his own goods, secretly, as he thought, from all people and concealing his sin. But the Holy Spirit at the same moment was in Peter, and detected his intent, dragged down as it was to avarice, and gave to Peter from himself the power of seeing the secret, while it is clear that the Spirit could not have done this had it not been able to behold hidden things. ON NOT THREE GODS.

A HUMAN SOUL DRAWN TO MALICE. BEDE: “Why has Satan filled your heart?” Here it must be noted that the soul and mind of a person can be filled according to substance by no creature but only by the creating Trinity, because only according to the operation and instigation of the will is the soul filled by those things which are created. Now Satan fills someone’s mind and the core of his heart, not, to be sure, by going into him and into his senses—if I may put it this way, entering the doorway of the heart—since this is a power of divinity alone. But like a crafty, wicked, deceitful and fraudulent deceiver, he draws the human soul toward dispositions for malice by thoughts and enticements of vices, of which he is full.” Therefore Satan filled the heart of Ananias, not by his own entering in, but by the injection of the venom of his malice. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5.3.

WARNING TO OTHERS. JEROME: For having made a vow they offered their money to God as if it were their own and not his to whom they had vowed it; and keeping back for their own use a part of that which belonged to another, through fear of famine which true faith never fears, they drew down on themselves suddenly the avenging stroke, which was meant not in cruelty toward them but as a warning to others. In fact, the apostle Peter by no means called down death upon them, as Porphyry foolishly says. He merely announced God’s judgment by the spirit of prophecy, that the doom of two persons might be a lesson to many. LETTER 130.14.

5:4 | Lying to God

BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR PROMISES. ARATOR: But inasmuch as a changed intention bears the crime of deceit, and when there is, moreover, confirmation of a promise, it is proper to stand firm and not wish to violate what was first [promised] by what follows; it is more just to preserve a permanent right than to withdraw it. The punishment of the two established a warning for all, lest anyone should call [back] gifts which a solemn promise requires him to owe. Reflect, you of true faith, and consider the words of Peter, which are bright with blessed teaching, “Whoever persuaded you to be deceitful?” And he concluded by judging, “You do not deceive people by saying such things; you lie to God.” The teaching that condemns the wicked strengthens the holy. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THEY LIED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. BEDE: Peter said above that Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit. It is therefore clear that the Holy Spirit is God and that the error of Macedonius had been condemned before he was born. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5.4.

A LIE TO THE SPIRIT IS A LIE TO GOD. BASIL THE GREAT: Peter’s words to Sapphira—“How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? You did not lie to men, but to God”—show that sins against the Holy Spirit and against God are the same. And thus you might learn that in every operation the Spirit is closely conjoined with, and inseparable from, the Father and the Son. While God works the differences of operations and the Lord the diversities of administrations, the Holy Spirit is present also, administering in his own power the distribution of the gifts according to each recipient’s worth. ON THE SPIRIT 16.37.

5:5 | Ananias Fell Down and Died

WE ARE WARNED. BEDE: It was not on account of [this] accusation that Peter gave such a severe sentence to the transgressors, but in the Spirit he foresaw future weeds that would by their deformed character adulterate the simplicity of the church. For from these the worst type of Sarabaits reportedly arose. Although by no means did they give up their possessions, they pretended to preserve apostolic discipline. He did not allow the culprits to be healed by any repentance, but in order to strike fear into the generations to come, he took care to cut the noxious shoot out by its roots. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 5.5.

THE SIN OF ACQUISITIVENESS. JOHN CASSIAN: And so if against those who did not covet other persons’ goods but tried to be sparing of their own, and had no desire to acquire but only the wish to retain, there went forth so severe a sentence, what should we think of those who desire to amass wealth, without ever having had any of their own, and, making a show of poverty before people, are before God convicted of being rich, through the passion of avarice? INSTITUTES 7.25.

5:11 | Great Fear in the Church

THE NECESSITY OF BEING JOINED TOGETHER. CHRYSOSTOM: None groaned, none lamented, all were terrified. For as their faith increased, the signs also multiplied, and great was the fear among their own company. For things from without do not war against us so much as things within. If we are welded firmly to each other, no war will be difficult to bear; what would be terrible is to be separated and divided. Now they went about in the marketplace, and that with boldness. They even waged an attack and prevailed in the midst of enemies and so fulfilled that saying, “Rule in the midst of your foes.” This was a great miracle, that they, arrested and cast into prison, were able to do such things. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 12.