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.
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