Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6.

I want to start discussing what we learn from the account of Ananias and Sapphira.  In order to understand the account we need to start with verse thirty-two in chapter four.  There we learn that the believers were united and cared for each other.  In particular, it tells us that no one thought of their property as their own, but instead shared everything they had.  Luke writes that those who owned property would from time to time sell some of it and give it to the Apostles to be used to provide for those in need.  It is here that we are introduced to Barnabas when he sold a field he owned and gave the proceeds to the Apostles.  Now, reading up to that point, it seems like the very early Church was communist, they shared all possessions in common.  However, then we get to the account of Ananias and Sapphira.  They sold property and brought part of the proceeds from the sale of the property to the Apostles.  When Ananias presented the Apostles with the proceeds, Peter confronted him for pretending that he was giving all of the proceeds to the Church, despite intentionally keeping a portion aside for himself.  In confronting Ananias, Peter said that before Ananias sold the land, the land was his to do with as he chose.  And after he sold the land, the money was his to do with as he chose.  Ananias and Sapphira did not die for keeping some of proceeds from selling the land for themselves.  They died for lying about it.

After telling us that the wealthy believers shared their resources in order to provide for the needy, such that as a result there were no needy among the Believers, Luke gives us two examples of how that worked.  By looking at his examples, Barnabas, and Ananias and Sapphira, we see that the members of the early Church shared their possessions according to what they each personally felt was the Spirit’s guidance.  Neither Barnabas nor Ananias and Sapphira were obligated to share their wealth with their fellow Believers.  If Ananias and Sapphira had chosen not to share any of the proceeds from selling their property, that would have been acceptable.  If they had chosen to keep part of the money and only give some of the proceeds while saying that was what they were doing, that would have been acceptable.  What was not acceptable was trying to appear more “righteous” than they were by lying about how much they received for the property they sold.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6.

After the Sanhedrin warned Peter and John not to preach in Jesus’ name under threat, the Believers prayed.  They did not pray for protection.  No, they prayed that God would enable them to speak boldly in the face of these threats.  They also prayed that God would heal and perform signs through the name of Jesus.  We today should have a similar attitude.  Rather than pray for protection for ourselves in the face of persecution, we should seek the courage to speak God’s word boldly in the face of it (we can, however, pray that God protects others who are facing persecution for faithfully following God).

The story of Ananias and Sapphira stands as a grim warning to all of us.  When Ananias lied about how much money he had received for the field he sold, he was not lying just to the Apostles, not even just to the Church, he was lying to the Holy Spirit.  As I was reading this today I was reminded that Jesus told us that the only unforgivable sin was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.   So, I think that this passage gives us more insight into what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is.  Ananias wanted to be seen as holy and sacrificing without actually sacrificing.  He had no obligation to sell the land.  He had no obligation to give any money from the sale of the land to God’s work.  It would have been perfectly acceptable to give some of the money to the Church while keeping some for himself.  Where he went wrong was by keeping some of the money for himself while claiming that what he gave was the entire sum which he had gotten for the sale of the land..

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 4-6.

I am not sure that I ever noticed before that when Luke describes the arrest of Peter and John he says that “the rulers, elders, and teachers of the Law” were present.  He also mentions that the high priest and members of his family were present.  Later, when all of the apostles were arrested, Luke says that it was the high priest and his associates who had them arrested (which sounds to me as more or less the same group), but they called the entire Sanhedrin together for the hearing.  Clearly at this second hearing the high priest and his faction felt that they needed more weight behind their attempt to silence the apostles.  They attempted to use the force of their position and power to silence those whom they felt were spreading dangerous misinformation.  Gamaliel presented one of the foundational arguments about why governments, and everyone else in positions of power, should respect freedom of speech.  The basis of Gamaliel’s argument was that any group built around falsehood will dissipate with time, with no effort on the part of the powerful, and even the powerful will fail to suppress a thought which comes from God.  But there is a little more to what Gamaliel was saying.  If you attempt to stamp out the truth, you will find yourself fighting against God and suffer for doing so

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 4-6.

The first thing I want to comment on is the way in which Luke changed how he reported numbers.  Back in chapter 2, after Peter’s speech on Pentecost, Luke reported that the number of believers rose to around 3,000.  Then in today’s passage, after Peter and John had healed the lame man, Luke reports that the number of men who believed rose to about 5,000.  So, before Pentecost, the number of believers was around 120, after Pentecost it was around 3,000, and after this incident it rose to well over 5,000 (I would assume that the number of women believers was at least similar to the number of men who believed, but it may have been much higher).

However, that is not the main thing I want to write about today.  Rather, I want to write about Peter and John’s response to the Sanhedrin’s threats, and the prayer of response which the Believers offered up when they heard about it.  First, Peter and John asked if the Sanhedrin believed that they should listen to the Sanhedrin over listening to God.  Should we listen to human authorities or to God?  Then, Peter and John gave their answer to that question: they could not help but speak that which God directed them to speak.  I hope their question is as much of a rhetorical question for you as it was for the two of them.  Next I want to look at how the Body of Believers responded to the threats.  Now the obvious part of their response was that they prayed.  But we can learn a lot from what they prayed.  They did not pray that God would protect them from the threats which had been issued against them should they continue to preach in the name of Jesus.  Instead, they prayed that God would make them bold in the face of those threats.  Do we share their faith to pray that God make us bold in the face of threats?  I am not sure that I have the faith to take that position.  I strive to reach the place where I will pray to stand firm against threats rather than praying for protection from them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6

There are two lessons from today’s passage that I want to touch on today (well, perhaps part of my thoughts on the first one represent a third lesson).  When Peter and John were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin was concerned about the fact that they were spreading “misinformation”.  So, they ordered Peter and John to stop preaching in Jesus’ name.  Then, when they continued to preach in Jesus’ name and even went so far as to tell the Sanhedrin that they would not stop doing so, the Sanhedrin wanted to kill them.  However, they did not because Gamaliel gave them a piece of advice to which we would do well to listen.  Gamaliel essentially told them that if there was no truth to what the apostles were preaching, they would soon fade away and become irrelevant.  On the other hand, if the apostles were preaching the truth attempting to silence them would only put them into conflict with God.  Combining what Gamaliel says here with what Jesus said about truth (“You will know the truth and the truth shall make your free”) tells us how to respond to misinformation: speak the truth and allow people to determine for themselves whether they wish to believe the truth or a lie.

Which brings us to the response of the believers to the threat of persecution for speaking the truth about Jesus; they prayed.  But they did not pray for protection.  They prayed for courage to continue speaking the truth in the face of opposition.  Actually, they prayed for two things, courage and miraculous signs.  This prayer fits in with the response which Peter gave the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” There is nothing wrong with praying for protection from persecution, but our first thoughts should be to pray for courage and for expressions of God’s power to reveal the truth of what we preach.

In between Luke’s two accounts of confrontations with the Sanhedrin he tells about how the Believers took care of each other.  First, we have Luke tell us that the Believers shared everything  they had so that there were no needy people among them.  This sounds like communism: those who had wealth gave of it to the apostles to give to those in need.  However, we have what Peter told Ananias. “The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours…”  So, what can we learn from this?  Those of us who have great possessions should give as God guides us to help those in need.  But it is up to each of us to decide how much of what we have we should give.  Barnabas was blessed and honored because he sold his property and gave the proceeds to care for the needy.  Ananias was not condemned because he did not give all of the proceeds from selling his property.  He was condemned for lying about it.  Ananias wanted the honor of caring which Barnabas got without the sacrifice.  This also fits in with Peter’s answer to the Sanhedrin.  It is not up to human authority to determine how we obey God.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6

When the Jewish Council ordered Peter and John to stop teaching in the name of Jesus, they responded that they would obey God rather than man.  Then when Peter and John returned to the other Believers after being threatened, the entire group prayed for courage in the face of these threats.  They did not pray for protection from persecution.  They prayed for courage to be faithful in the face of persecution.  In fact they prayed that their testimony would be even more noteworthy.  They sought to spread the word of God in the face of persecution and welcomed that persecution as a sign that they were faithfully following Jesus.  Further, we see that this prayer was not mere braggadocio.  A short time later, the Apostles were arrested while preaching in the Temple and thrown in jail overnight for a trial the following day.  They were miraculously freed from prison.  And what did they do with this freedom but go back to the Temple and start preaching again.