The fraud of Ananias and Sapphira
1 Another man named Ana nias, in agree ment with his wife Sapphira, likewise sold a piece of land;
2 with his wife’s knowledge he put aside some of the proceeds, and the rest he turned over to the apos tles.
3 Then Peter said to him, “Ana nias, how is it that you let Satan fill your heart and why do you intend to deceive the Holy Spirit by keeping some of the proceeds of your land for yourself?
4 Who obliged you to sell it? And after it was sold, could you not have kept all the money? How could you think of such a thing? You have not deceived us but God.”
5 Upon hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. Great fear came upon all who heard of it;
6 the young men stood up, wrapped his body and carried it out for burial.
7 About three hours later Ana nias’s wife came but she was not aware of what had happened.
8 Peter challenged her, “Tell me whether you sold that piece of land for this price?” She said, “Yes, that was the price.”
9 Peter replied, “How could you two agree to put the Holy Spirit to the test? Those who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out as well.”
10 With that, she fell dead at his feet. The young men came in, found her dead and carried her out for burial beside her husband.
11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of it.
12 Many miraculous signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. The believers, of one accord, used to meet in Solo mon’s Porch.
13 None of the others dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
14 So an ever increasing number of men and women, believed in the Lord.
15 The people carried the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and on mats, so that when Peter passed by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
16 The people gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.
The apostles arrested again
17 The High Priest and all his supporters, that is the party of the Sadducees, became very jealous of the apostles;
18 so they arrested them and had them thrown into the public jail.
19 But an angel of the Lord opened the door of the prison during the night, brought them out, and said to them,
20 “Go and stand in the Temple court and tell the people the whole of this living message.”
21 Ac cordingly they entered the Temple at dawn and resumed their teaching.
When the High Priest and his supporters arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin, that is the full Council of the elders of Israel. They sent word to the jail to have the prisoners brought in.
22 But when the Temple guards arrived at the jail, they did not find them inside, so they re turned with the news,
23 “We found the prison securely locked and the prison guards at their post outside the gate, but when we opened the gate, we found no one inside.”
24 Upon hearing these words, the captain of the Temple guard and the high priests were baffled, wondering where all of this would end.
25 Just then someone arrived with the re port, “Look, those men whom you put in prison are standing in the Temple, teaching the people.”
26 Then the captain went off with the guards and brought them back, but without any show of force, for fear of being stoned by the people.
27 So they brought them in and made them stand before the Council and the High Priest questioned them,
28 “We gave you strict orders not to preach such a Savior; but you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend charging us with the killing of this man.”
29 To this Peter and the apostles replied, “Better for us to obey God rather than any human authority!
30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a wooden post.
31 God set him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
32 We are witnesses to all these things, as well as the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When the Council heard this, they became very angry and wanted to kill them.
34 But one of them, a Pharisee named Gama liel, a teacher of the Law highly respected by the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin. He ordered the men to be taken outside for a few minutes
35 and then he spoke to the assembly.
“Fellow Israelites, consider well what you intend to do to these men.
36 For some time ago Theudas came forward, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed and all his followers were dispersed or disappeared.
37 After him, Judas the Gali lean appeared at the time of the census and persuaded many people to follow him. But he too perished and his whole following was scattered.
38 So, in this present case, I advise you to have nothing to do with these men. Leave them alone. If their project or activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.
39 If, on the other hand, it is from God, you will not be able to destroy it and you may in deed find yourselves fighting against God.”
The Council let themselves be per suaded.
40 They called in the apostles and had them whipped, and ordered them not to speak again of Jesus Savior. Then they set them free.
41 The apostles went out from the Council rejoicing that they were considered worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of the Name.
42 Day after day, both in the Temple and in people’s homes, they continued to teach and to proclaim that Jesus was the Messiah.
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Acts, Chapter 5
• 5.1 As children many of us were taught about the wonders God did in the past, as if God only acted in those days. The Jews of that time thought exactly the same way. The Bible spoke of the time of Moses when those who rebelled against God’s prophet were killed by divine inter vention (Num 12:1; 16:1; 17:16). God continues to work in the Christian com munity, and the ordi nary believers of Jeru salem suddenly discover that Peter, the fisherman, is not inferior to Moses. See also Acts 13:11; 1 Cor 11:30.
The couple’s sin does not consist in having kept part of their goods. Nobody was forcing them to sell their property and to give the money to the community. They wanted to deceive the apos tles and give the impression they were donating everything, when in fact they were not.
We must be very careful when we speak of God’s punishment. For a Christian, the only punish ment is to be forever separated from God. Death itself does not mean that God wants to punish us. Yet the deaths of Ananias and Sap phira served as a warning and a sign for the others.
Here the word church appears. Its exact meaning is “the assembly gathered by God,” and before Jesus’ time, the Jews used it to mean the new people that God was going to form in the messianic age. The believers continue to be proud of being Jewish, of being the people of God; nevertheless, little by little, the Holy Spirit separates them from the official community. They are already aware that they are the new people (Ps 22:32) gathered by God. The Church still means only the Christian community of Jerusalem. As other communities arise – other churches – “the Church” will refer to the entire people of God.
• 12. So an ever-increasing number of men and women, believed in the Lord (v. 14). All the Jews believed in God who spoke through the prophets. It was easy for them to believe in the prophets of the past after the religious authorities acknowledged them and placed their warnings in all the books of the Bible. But it was quite a different thing to recognize Jesus as the prophet that God had sent them but whom they had rejected. The text states that to believe in the Lord and join the community are two inseparable steps. A person cannot belong to Jesus without belonging to the new people he has brought to life through water and the Spirit.
Verses 15-16 do not hesitate to compare Peter to Jesus.
• 17. Could this confrontation of the apostles with the rulers of the people be similar to what happens today in many countries when the Church denounces violations of human rights?
There are many Christians who say: it is not the same, since the apostles in their time were persecuted for proclaiming Jesus; whereas now, only Christians involved in politics are punished.
This, however, is not true. In Jesus’ day, the Jewish peo ple were both dominated and divided. Jesus spoke as a totally free man, teaching a way towards free dom, which today we would call non-violent action. The au thor ities did away with him to defend the security of their nation (Jn 11:48) and their own political system. For the disciples of Jesus, to be con verted meant to acknowl edge com plicity with those who put Jesus to death and to take the path indi cated by him. Since they were living among op pressors and re sent ful peo ple, this was a very dangerous road (Lk 21:12-16).
In fact, when the priests judged Peter and John, they only demanded that they break away from this man (Jesus) whom they had legally condemned.
Proclaiming Jesus means preaching universal reconciliation (Eph 2:14), which is achieved at all levels of human life, including the economic and political. The Church would not be following Christ, nor would it be proclaiming Jesus as the only Savior (5:31), if it refused to be con cerned that entire nations are condemned to die slowly through lack of food, edu cation, and health. This crit ical concern, however, would not be Christian preaching if it did not con vince us to believe in the saving plan of God.
• 33. Gamaliel was one of the most re nowned among the masters of the Law. Here we see the open mind of this old Jewish teacher who knows that God’s ways are not always the ways of humans.
If their project or activity is of human origin (v. 38). Jesus had said something similar (Mt 15:13). Yet that does not seem evident. Are we not aware of many false doctrines that last? If they have lasted for centuries, perhaps it is due to the fact that in spite of the error and the evil they sow, they contain useful or necessary principles for a given time, or for certain human groups. Perhaps they make very important statements that the Church should proclaim but cannot or does not want to do. Experience shows that the majority of humans are not ready to embrace the Christian faith: must God abandon them because of that? Can we, who have Christ, say with certitude that such and such a one is not “the prophet.” Maybe God’s will is that he be the prophet of a certain group and help them in their searching for God (Acts 17:27).
Gamaliel was Paul’s teacher in Jerusalem for doubtless three or four years, a little after these events (Acts 22:3). Paul’s conversion will be providentially prepared through contact with this open and sincere man, and equally so through the death of Stephen (7:54-60).