You Are Not Fooling God

Chapter 5

The new Messianic Kingdom was still in its infancy. There is a question that must be asked, will this be just another Jewish religion? In the Jewish religion of the day there was corruption that had existed throughout the history of the Jewish people. There were many good leaders in the history of the Jewish people, but almost everyone was noted to have made some mistake in their leadership. It was through manipulation and corruption that the religious leaders led in the time of Christ. This is clearly seen in the crucifixion of Christ. Would the church be just a copy of this same type of leadership?

Many believe that the judgment on Ananias and Sapphira was a harsh one. They told one lie and they were immediately, one by one, struck down to death. Many of us might worry that if God acted like this toward us, we all would have died not long after our own conversions. Why does God deal with this situation in this way?

I believe the answer is consistent with the rest of the chapter.

Immediately following, the text says that many were healed by a variety of illnesses and demon possessions. The high priest rose up with the Sadducees and threw the apostles in prison. An angel frees them and commands them to stand in the Temple and preach the words of life (5:20). When the officers arrived at the prison to bring them to the council to be judged, they found God had already judged and freed them. The words of life are that Jesus was murdered and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins are available to Israel. First, God decides who is guilty and who is innocent.

Gamaliel argues that if this is just another strange teaching, it will come to nothing. But if it is from God, “you cannot overthrow it – lest you even be found to fight against God” (5:39). Therefore, second, God decides what will stand and what will fall.

Now to Ananias and Sapphira, this was bigger than, “they sinned; now they need to repent of their sin.” God provided a final judgment of guilt making clear the kind of corruption and hypocrisy that would not stand in the church. Doing what is right because it is right is the standard, but often we are tempted to not take this standard seriously. The two people on trial probably believed that their actions were well within their right to do. I do not believe that they could not have kept back part of the money if they needed it. What I know is that they claimed to be giving their all when they were not. This will not be tolerated in regard to Christian influence.

God is the judge, and corruption and hypocrisy will not stand in the church. The questions we need to ask ourselves are, “are we giving our all?, and “are we holding anything back?”