What Commandment did Saphria & Annanias Violate

Acts 5:3 - But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit

(vs 4)..."You have not lied to men but to God."

What was the net effect? "great fear came upon all who heard of it." (vs 5) and "And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things." - (vs 11)

Peter was who he said he was, an apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Peter had been filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4 on the day of Pentecost. An attempt to deceive him was an attempt to deceive God.

The sin was not in the keeping back, that was fine. It was theirs and they could do with it as they pleased. When they lied to God, by lying to Peter who was filled with the Holy Spirit, God sentenced them to death though the inspired apostle, Peter.

Clearly, this could not happen today.

 

I don't see why not. As far as I know, the Holy Spirit is still around and given as a counsellor to Christ's followers. Whether God chooses to deliver the same punishment to those who commit similar sins is up to His sovereign will.

 

The context -
(end of Acts 4 and the beginning of Acts 5)
- shows the church at Jerusalem in the midst of revival and growth.

An important piece of information - "There were no needy persons among them."

This was because -
"For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need."

An incredible move of the power of the Holy Spirit was at work in the church.

Evidently, there was appropriate honor being given to those who were able to sell lands and houses. Barnabas was one who was noted.


"Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira", thought that they could deceive the leadership by selling their property, and giving a part of the proceeds, and acting like they had given all.

They must have been deceived themselves. Most people in a community know the value of property. If I sold my house, which might be worth $100,000, and then said that I donanted the entire sale, and gave only $50,000, it wouldn't take a room of rocket scientists to know that I was being deceptive.

To be openly deceptive in the midst of a major move of God can prove deadly.

Also, another important point is that there was agreement between a husband and a wife to try to pull this deception.

The Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Peter wisdom and discernment to understand what was going on. In this specific case, the penalty for this was death, to both the husband and the wife.

The result was:
" Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events."

After writing this, I am reminded why so many don't want the gifts of the Holy Spirit operational in their churches today. We would probably have a lot more funerals than we could handle.

 

Surely nobody on this board thinks they are filled with and speak by Holy Spirit like one of the apostles were, do they?

A simple study would show that the signs and wonders were to confirm their spoken word (Matt 16:20). The word has been confirmed (past tense - Heb 2:3) by the various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, therefore it does not need "re-confirming" by more miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. They didn't have the completed (or "perfect" as in I Cor 13) word. We do. If the bible is truly all sufficient (II Tim 3:16-16), we don't need the Holy Spirit to talk to us directly. If that were the case, then the word is not all we need and II Tim 3:16-17 is false. We have already been given all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Pet 1:3).

If anyone claimed to have the same measure of the Holy Spirit as one of the apostles, then you would know when someone is lying to you. You could heal all manner of diseases. You could heal ALL (Acts 5:16), without any excuses about someone having a lack of faith.

Here is a challenge. Here is my claim: The Holy Spirit does not talk to anyone directly today, other than through the written word of God. If this is a lie, then I am lying to you, which is the same as lying to God, and I would be guilty of the same sin as Annanias. Someone strike me down for lying to God.

However, if I am telling the truth, which I am, then I am not guilty.

God knows who I am, does anyone doubt that? Does God know the answer to these questions? Ask the Holy Spirit for the answer to the following questions.

What is my middle name? Is it Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, Bartholomew, Simon, Judas, Thaddaeus, James, John, or Paul, or none of the above? If none of the above, what is the correct answer?
How many miles does my vehicle have on it?
How much money do I have in my wallet right now?

Did Peter know that the amount of money that Annanias brought was different than the amount he sold the land for?

 

So Peter was 99% full of the Holy Spirit while we are only 2% full? And punishments for sins against the Holy Spirit depend on the Holy Spirit fullness meter of a person being lied to? Interesting theories but I'm not buying it.

 

So which commanment did they violate?

 

the 9th. thou shalt not lie.

 

who's my neighbour SMM?

everybody. as in the parable of the "good" samaritan.

the pharisee asked "who's my neighbour?" and then Jesus went on to explain that everybody is his neighbour. that's esentially what he said. right?

the scripture about annanias and sapphira says "...thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. and ananaias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost..."

 

Yeah, and to build on this point, this shows how the letter kills, because following "commandments" only, you can still sin unto death! Also, rather than "doing away with all law" as people accuse us, we see that being out from under the letter actually becomes more binding!
So it's not about "which commandment" we keep, or which one was violated, for God's will is far more than written commandments.

 

ecclesiastes 12: 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

 

"so its not about "which commandment" we keep, or which one was violated, for God's will is far more than written commandments"

the thing is - the law has been written on our hearts - and its God's will that we follow them. that verse in ecclesiastes was in response to that...

 

They lied to God....

 

haha. i like that Dahlen - nice, short, and to the point answers... i think that's what BB discussions should be more like - otherwise you get those super long posts that you dont bother to read - and when you respond to them - you obviously miss something and then there's an argument about the thing you missed and then there's this and that and this and that.... etc.

SMM - what sides are there? what side are you on? and what does the other side believe? then i'll answer your question to more detail.