The Sin of Ananias and Sapphira

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. State accurately what Ananias and Sapphira's sin was — and what it was not.
2. Explain why God dealt so severely with the first recorded sin in the church.
3. Examine his own giving and service for the hidden motive of being seen.

Thesis

The sin that struck Ananias and Sapphira dead was not stinginess and not even mere lying to men; it was hypocrisy before God — the loss of the sense that God inspects the heart — and that sin is as deadly to a congregation now as it was then.

Burden

This is a hard text, and we are tempted to hurry past it. But the Holy Spirit set it down on purpose, near the very birth of the church, as a warning written in plain letters: God will not be mocked in his own house. We are comfortable preaching grace; we are slower to remember that the same book records the holiness of God breaking out against pretended devotion. If we will let this passage do its work, it will press a searching question on every one of us who has ever wanted the credit of a sacrifice we did not really make.

Introduction

These were members of the church at Jerusalem. The church was not many months old, fresh from Pentecost, glad and generous, and this record was written for our warning (1 Cor. 10:11). Boles drew out four movements: the first death in the church, the history of the case, the true nature of their sin, and the results. We will follow that order, for it leads straight to the heart.

I. The First Recorded Death in the Church (Acts 5:5, 10)

The first recorded sin in the Lord's church was lying — and lying about religion. We do not give this event the weight Scripture gives it. It had a fundamental significance: at the threshold of the church's life, the Lord visited the extreme penalty upon a sin of pretended consecration. Why was it recorded? So that the church in every age would know that God sees what men applaud, and that He sets the standard of holiness in His own house (1 Pet. 4:17). What God judged at the beginning, He has not since excused.

II. The History of the Case (Acts 4:34-5:2)

The setting was the generosity of the early church. The need was real — many had exhausted their resources — and many believers sold possessions and laid the price at the apostles' feet. That liberality had drawn the eyes of the world to the church. Into that admired company came Ananias and Sapphira. They sold their property, brought part of the price, and represented it as all. The lie was unnecessary — Peter says the field and the money were entirely theirs to keep or give (Acts 5:4). The deception was not forced on them by need; it was chosen for the sake of reputation.

III. What Was Their Sin? (Acts 5:3-4)

Here Boles is careful, and his precision matters:

1. It was not that they kept back a part — the gift was voluntary, and a portion was a lawful gift.
2. It was not only that they lied to men.
3. It was not only that they lied to God.
4. It was that they lost the sense of God — they acted as though He could be deceived.
5. They failed to recognize God as the Inspector of their lives (Acts 5:4, "thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God").
6. They traded the inward life for the outward glory — they wanted the appearance of full devotion without its substance.

This is hypocrisy in its root: not the failure to give, but the pretense of a holiness one does not have, conducted as though the all-seeing God were not watching.

IV. The Results (Acts 5:11)

1. Great fear came on the church — and fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10).
2. The heart-searching power of God was revealed — the church learned that He reads motives.
3. The sin was bound up with the Lord's treasury — giving is holy ground, not a stage.
4. We are warned not to overrate our liberality — to make less of our gifts, not more.
5. And yet not to under-rate our ability to give — the lesson humbles pride without excusing stinginess.

Application

The danger of Ananias is not ancient; it lives wherever a Christian wants to be thought more devoted than he is. It hides in the gift announced a little louder than necessary, the service done chiefly to be seen, the spiritual reputation carefully maintained over a private life that does not match. Jesus warned of the very same thing in the giving, praying, and fasting of the Pharisees (Matt. 6:1-6). The remedy is not to give less but to give honestly, remembering that "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13). Let your devotion be real, and let it be enough for it to be seen by God alone.

Conclusion

Ananias and Sapphira did not die for keeping money; they died for keeping up appearances before a God who cannot be deceived. The church that buried them learned to fear Him — not with terror that flees, but with reverence that walks honestly. God still inspects His treasury and His people. The only safety is to be, in private, exactly what we profess in public.

Invitation

This text leaves no room for a divided heart. If you have been living a religion of appearances, the call of the gospel is to come into the light and be made clean — for the same God who judges hypocrisy delights to forgive the honest penitent. If you are outside of Christ, hear the gospel: believe on the Lord Jesus, repent, confess Him, and be baptized for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38), and begin a life that needs no pretense. If you are a Christian whose service has drifted toward the praise of men, confess it to God today; He is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). Come while we sing.

Word Study

• "Kept back" (Acts 5:2-3, Gk. nosphizō): to pilfer, to embezzle, to set aside secretly for oneself — the same word used of Achan-like misappropriation; it frames their act as theft against God, not mere thrift.
• "Lied to / against" (Gk. pseudomai pros): to deal falsely before. Peter's contrast (men vs. the Holy Spirit) identifies the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4).

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