Ananias and Sapphira’s Sin
Read Acts 5:1–11
The account of Ananias and Sapphira is one of the most disturbing narratives in the New Testament. It reveals how essential unity within the church is to God, and how seriously God takes deceit that threatens that unity.
As a young Christian, I heard a sermon on this story and it struck me as harsh. I mean come on, I thought in my teenage thinking, the money was theirs. Who cares if they held back some of the money? You see I thought they were struck down because they kept some of the money back. That, of course, isn’t the case. They were struck down because they lied and misrepresented what they were doing. They wanted to be perceived as generous people who were willing to give it all. They broke the agreement. By keeping back a portion of the funds, they were breaking the covenant between themselves and the Apostles and the church. They perpetuated a double sin of combining dishonesty and deceit.
Thankfully, we do not receive immediate judgment for our sins as Ananias and Sapphira did. Such judgment is rare in Scripture. However, we can be sure that sin will be dealt with, and that the ultimate consequence of sin is always death (Rom. 6:23). This story took place to teach us the seriousness of misrepresenting ourselves to the Church to impress someone. But this story also shows the high priority that we must put on being honest and transparent. Ananias dropped dead and great fear came over all the Church. The people saw firsthand that they were dealing with God and not just flesh and blood. This is why we must be careful in all our dealings with God’s people. God is watching and how you treat the Church is how you would treat God.
Ananias and Sapphira suffered death because they lied to God and the Church. Their actions threatened the unity of the local church. We must remember the words of warning from the Lord to Cain, “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:7b.
Questions to think about:
- What would you do if you found out that you had been deceived by someone you trusted?
- How can you help yourself be honest with God and with other Christians?
Questions from WORDsearch, Adult Questions for LESSONmaker (WORDsearch, n.d.).