I have heard it explained before but nothing seems to stick. Each time I read this story I can't help but to think that the punishment is much too severe. This is maybe related to the fact that I can see a lot of imperfection and hypocrisy in my own devotion to God. If God was to deal with my dishonesty the same as he did with Ananias and Sapphira, I would be dead many times over. So I will try to find the answer to this question myself and maybe I can learn from it to change my ways in my approach to serving God, something that is based on scripture, and something I can live with.
So the question is why did God punish Ananias and Sapphira by death? What was their crime and was the punishment fitting for the crime? Was the event "special" because of the context of a very young church at the time? What can we apply to the church today? What can I apply to me today?
The BibleGateway commentary points to these basic scriptural principles:
- God acts to preserve the integrity of the community that the gospel produced in order that we can have increase confidence in the truthfulness of the message itself (Luke 1:4). What Ananias and his wife Sapphira did was lying to the Holy Spirit and embezzlement (not unlike the sin of Achan in the Old Testament). This is similar to Satan's direct attack on Christ's mission (Luke 4:1-13) or indirectly through his apostles Judas (Luke 22:3) and Peter (Luke 22:31). Ananias showed not simply a lack of honesty (in bringing only a part of the sale price), but also a lack of integrity (in bringing only a part while pretending to bring the whole). For Ananias it was the possibility of being praised for his generosity while keeping a secure nest egg for his wife (Hebrew ktubah, or dowry paid to a wife in the case of a unilateral divorce or at his death).
- God's discipline has its deterrent value. Some divine punishment can be very severe. For example, in the Old Testament the punishments for partaking of the priestly tithe while ritually unclean and the strange fire of Nadab and Abihu (Aaron's sons) are the closest parallels (Lev 10:1-7; 22:9). Another example is Uzzah (see my previous blog "Why did Uzzah have to die"). What happened to Ananias and Sapphira lead to great fear among the Jewish Christian bystanders (Acts 5:11; 19:17). For Christians today this is still a temptation: to so luxuriate in the love and grace of God that we do not take seriously the consequences of our deliberate sinning. But God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7-8).
So the commentary concludes: the message of this for Christian and non-Christian alike is self-evident. Christians must realize that the selfless, transparent fellowship of the church must never be violated by selfish hypocrisy. Further, it is proper to employ discipline to guard the church's integrity, unity and purity. For the non-Christian, this account is a warning: Think twice before joining this holy fellowship. Are you willing to pay the price--fully renouncing wicked ways and full-heartedly embracing Christ and other believers in his body, the church?
Rev. Mark Verbruggen of the Christian Reform Church in Sioux Center Iowa has a nice sermon on this story. He entitled it Ananias and Sapphira: A Lesson in Grace.
He too explained the severity of their sin: Hypocrisy is a destructive force within the community of God’s people. If Satan cannot destroy the church from without, he will attempt to destroy it from within. The theologian John Stott writes that Ananias and Sapphira were not so much misers as they were thieves. “They wanted the credit and the prestige for sacrificial generosity, without the inconvenience of it. So, in order to gain a reputation to which they had no right, they told a brazen lie. Their motive in giving was not to relieve the poor, but to fatten their own ego.”
He further pointed out that: If Luke writes the book of Acts in order to record for us the work of God the Holy Spirit among the community of believers, he also wants to inform us of a different spirit which is also at work in the world and in the church. Our text serves as a warning for us today. The first century Christian Church was not a perfect community and neither are we. There has never been a time when God’s people were perfect. We need to be on guard against the work of the unholy spirit. F.F. Bruce writes, “The story of Ananias is to the book of Acts what the story of Achan is to the book of Joshua. In both narratives an act of deceit interrupts the victorious progress of God’s people.”
So why were they put to death for their actions? Aren’t all of us at some time or another guilty of the same sin? The answer is “Yes, we are”. So why aren’t we punished with a death sentence? The short answer is the grace of God. Psalm 103:10 says that the Lord “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” That’s grace. Grace is not something we can demand from the Lord. It’s not something we can earn. So why was this couple in our text denied grace and made to pay for their sin with capital punishment? Ultimately the answer to this question is left to the Lord himself.
He did explained further the follow up of this story and how the young church was transformed. Maybe the story of Ananias and Sapphira was what was needed to make this happen.
We continue to hear of miracles in countries where the gospel was not allowed and how the persecuted church continues to suffer and yet the church continues to grow. We who live in free countries have many lessons to learn from our suffering brothers.
So this is what I take from the story of Ananias and Sapphira:
- I am more confident because God loves his church and will do what it takes to keep her pure
- I am more appreciative of the compassion and the grace of God (as in Psalms 103: 8-12)
- I should be more responsive to the Holy Spirit in the area of integrity, especially in my participation within his church
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