Sapphira
Acts 4:36 through to Acts 5:11
Is this more evidence that the book of Acts
is an unfolding of the Gospel of Grace
to mankind as the leaders were given more revelation to understand?
For example,
Peter was not too convinced by his vision,
until he saw the Holy Spirit move on Cornelius and family.
Paul was convinced to do purification ritual and to circumcise Timothy.
Each one of these acts should not be used
as a basis for a final theology on the Gospel of Grace.
So:
Does the text say that God struck Ananias or Sapphira dead?
Were Ananias and Sapphira radical unbelievers?
Were they joining the church just to be part of some new financial action?
(Put in some money, say you are destitute,
and wait for the division of the common fund).
Were Ananias and Sapphira only desirous of the praise
and the prestige in the community?
Were Ananias and Sapphira the first
infiltrators from a group of unbelievers
who wanted to exploit the resources of the church?
Were Ananias and Sapphira so convicted
of their duplicity and deceit
that they brought about their own demise, and/or,
had they allowed the destroyer access to end their lives?
Does this mean that The Holy Spirit
will always protect His New True Church
from destroying and deceptive spirits?
Interestingly,
Ananias means "God is Gracious"
and Sapphira means "Beautiful".
Was Peter, once again, over-exuberant
and acting like an OT prophet mis-using the knowledge,
that Holy Ghost gave him about Ananias?
Is this an example of Peter not waiting
for some follow up information from Jesus?
Should our only response to all of this be,
“There, but for the Grace of God, go I."?
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Ananias
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http://seeinggrace.com/blog/?p=25
James Barron writes :
"The reader must read the context with an understanding that judgment
simply cannot fall on a believer, not on a true believer,
otherwise we don’t have a New Covenant and
all the promises of God relative to the work of His Son are meaningless.
.... every time Luke refers to a believer in the book of Acts he prefaces it by saying,
“a certain disciple named . . .”
But in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Luke writes,
“A man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira . . .”
Because of this one statement one could say
Luke is clearly saying that they were not believers."
... "Also, Peter refers to Ananias as one in whom
“Satan has filled his heart.”
This is the same phrase used of Judas,
and certainly is not a phrase you can use when referring to any believer,
for the believer has a new heart and is filled with the Holy Spirit."
..."Another clue is the reference to
“the rest of the group”
that Ananias and Sapphira came from, being in fear.
The “rest of that group” that Ananias and Sapphira came from,
“dared not try” the same thing.
Ananias and Sapphira saw a good thing
and tried to buy themselves a place among the believers."
... "He has provided forgiveness for all people
and He is constantly reaching out
to the unbeliever in great patience and mercy,
but at the inception of the tiny church He was zealous
to make clear that the only currency
He recognizes in His kingdom is the currency of
faith, not money."
..." Fear of judgment on the believer
is one of the false teachings out there
that many ["leaders"] use to keep the saints walking in obedience
(to a church under a man's control).
It doesn’t work, but they try it any way.
But the New Covenant knows nothing
of a fear of judgment on the believer.
The very “idea” is a misnomer.
As John wrote,
“We have confidence in the day of judgment
and
we have no fear for as Jesus is, so are we in this world.”"
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http://www.crcna.org/pages/verbruggen_acts5.cfm
Mark Verbruggen writes :
..."the first word of Acts 5:1 should be “
But”, not “Now”.
“But a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira,
also sold a piece of property.”
This links our text with what has just been said in the previous chapter.
Acts 4:36-37 tells us that a man called Barnabas sold a field
and gave the money to the apostles so that it could be used
for distribution among the believers who were in need.
His action must have brought Barnabas
much praise and thanks among the believers.
In fact, his name was actually “Joseph”,
but the apostles called him “Barnabas”
which means “Son of Encouragement”.
It is this event at the end of the previous chapter
which now leads into our text.
Acts 5:1-11 is not an interruption in the flow of the book,
rather, it is an integral part of the narrative.
Ananias, moved by what he has just seen Barnabas do,
decides along with this wife, to do the same thing.
The only difference is, his action is motivated
by a completely different spirit than that of Barnabas."
... 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.
Their action was not done for the glory of God
but for the glory of themselves.
... 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.”
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http://www.facebook.com/l/ddee1nRBASxF4hw5pahosnWd4ww/www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQlO4tXZ4M
Joseph Prince speaks in this link.
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http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/2400.htm
John Mark writes :
... "There are Barnabas, a man filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:24),
and Ananias, whose heart was filled with Satan (5:3).
One was utterly truthful, the other a liar.
Here are counterpointed:
faith and unbelief,
selflessness and selfishness,
goodness and deceitfulness,
sacrifice and sacrilege,
trust in God and the worship of self,
("hubris," pride),
total commitment and base hypocrisy.
The setting was "paradise regained."
They had all things in common,
real community:
shared resources,
sensitivity to others’ needs,
security – not in material things, but in the risen Christ.
It’s the closest to Utopia the world has ever seen.
Sinners – even murderers of the Lord Christ –
were repenting and being forgiven and accepted;
the sick were being healed;
great grace was upon them all.
But in the midst of all this beauty and harmony,
the serpent enters the garden again. It’s an horrific story.
And yet, we feel, Ananias and Sapphira
were just ordinary people like us.
Don’t we sometimes engage in "impression management"
to manipulate others’ opinion of us?
Who of us hasn’t sometimes pinched stuff
from our employer for personal use?
Or falsified our tax return a little bit?
Or withheld the truth,
or covered up with a "white lie"?
Their motives were probably pretty ordinary –
perhaps even defensible.
Perhaps their generous or heroic selves were inspired
by the generosity of Barnabas.
Their fearful selves wondered what would happen
in their old age if they gave away all their assets.
Their critical selves asked questions about the "bums"
on the receiving end of these handouts.
Their distrustful selves may have raised questions
about the apostles’ honesty;
the church hadn’t appointed auditors yet !
But in the end their egocentric selves won;
they wanted glory without sacrifice,
the kudos Barnabas had received
without having to pay the price."
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