Study No. 5 One Heart – One Soul Chapter 4:32 – 5:42
All things in common.
We have spoken about this in a previous study … was this a wise thing for them to do? The question is, of course, was it something God lead them to do?
We are not told what prompted them to do this, or who was the person to whom God first gave the idea. And that really doesn’t matter. But I think it might be important to note that this is not ‘a ministry to the poor’ in the modern sense. In other words, this is not a ministry in which many, if not most of the Christians are living, sleeping and eating in their fine homes and giving all their extra money from sales of extra properties to the church so that the church could have a large feeding program for the poor.
Rather, what we are seeing is EVERYONE eating their meals together. Rich or poor. The language used here “No-one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had” is very different from having a ‘feed the poor’ program. We could say, this church had no poor people in it. V34
We are not told how many weeks or months have gone by since they began doing this, but we get the sense that time is passing; For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph – Barnabas
Why is the transaction of this one person singled out? I think only for the reason that we are supposed to the contrast between this person and the couple that are now going to be mentioned … and also because this is not the last, by far that we will hear about Barnabas. This is our introduction to him.
Ananias and Sapphira
We now read of a couple who may have been wealthy. They are believers and are part of the Jerusalem congregation. They have received the Word. Perhaps they had received the Word … with joy. (this doesn’t always mean all that much Mt 13:20 "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;)
Caught up with the excitement of the growing church and then feeling pressured to follow suit with what others were doing, they found themselves in a dilemma. It would appear they were not in total agreement with having all things in common. They wanted to appear in agreement but secretly wanted to maintain independent financial security. What part of that was wrong? The first part. Peter said there was nothing wrong with using the money as they wished.
Peter questions Ananias.
- His question is very direct, almost as if he has some inside knowledge of their transaction and decision to lie about the price they received for the property.
- His question started with “Why?” God’s question to Adam in the garden started with ‘What’. Does it make a difference in the way we ask a question?
- He pronounces an accusation “You have lied to God’. Is lying to God serious?
It is the one thing that scripture says that God cannot do.
Tit 1:2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began
is singled out as a specific charge against those ending up in the lake of fire.
Re 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Ananias drops dead.
-Did Peter know this would happen to him? Why or why not?
It is interesting to note how different things were from them from the way they would be if they happened here in our time.
- Ananias is buried immediately – without contacting any authorities or even reporting his death.
- without informing his wife and family.
- Did Ananias go to hell? Our answer may be in the verse below.
Peter questions Sapphira
He asks regarding the price for which the property sold. This question does not open the door for her to say, ‘He made me agree to it! I am just a wife, what could I do?”
He pronounces a consequence for her complicity in this. v9
Sapphira drops dead
The result of these two deaths
Great fear
On the whole church
On those who heard about it.
Apostles performed many miracles – Why and how? Because the church is pure.
1Co 5:5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 ¶ Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
Solomon’s Porch
A contradiction?
Ac 5:13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.
Ac 5:14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
“None of the rest” has been a puzzle to most commentators. The most common view, none of the rest of the wealthy individuals, such as Ananias and Sapphira
Join them – either means become Christians … or it could mean join in with those who had contributed property. Or it could me to join with the apostles in the sense of being close to the leadership group.
Miracle ministry continues to grow. 14-16
Apostles arrested – re-arrested, beaten.
Peter lays the foundation for civil disobedience – 29 Civil Disobedience is often referred to as a non-violent act intended to call attention to an unjust law, in order to get it changed. That does not really fit here. The apostles are not political and they are not involved in changing of laws. They are simply obeying God rather than man. In what kinds of situations might you do the same thing? When and where would you draw the line? Is being a Christian against the law in any parts of our world today? Do you think the world will become more tolerant of Christianity in general in the future? –see Rev. 13:13-18
Intervention by Gamaliel 34-39. This man is mentioned one other time in scripture. Acts 22:3 ¶ "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
Set Free – this sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. An angel sets them free. What would this say to the people who knew of their arrest? What would it say to the leaders of the Jewish council? What would it say to the Apostles to whom it happened?
Civil disobedience continued. 42 Ro 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shal] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
:36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
************************************************************
Extra Study for Acts 6: 1 - 15
Ac 6:3 Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Compare the requirements for service that are listed above with those of I timothy 3:8-13
We have spoken about this in a previous study … was this a wise thing for them to do? The question is, of course, was it something God lead them to do?
We are not told what prompted them to do this, or who was the person to whom God first gave the idea. And that really doesn’t matter. But I think it might be important to note that this is not ‘a ministry to the poor’ in the modern sense. In other words, this is not a ministry in which many, if not most of the Christians are living, sleeping and eating in their fine homes and giving all their extra money from sales of extra properties to the church so that the church could have a large feeding program for the poor.
Rather, what we are seeing is EVERYONE eating their meals together. Rich or poor. The language used here “No-one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had” is very different from having a ‘feed the poor’ program. We could say, this church had no poor people in it. V34
We are not told how many weeks or months have gone by since they began doing this, but we get the sense that time is passing; For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph – Barnabas
Why is the transaction of this one person singled out? I think only for the reason that we are supposed to the contrast between this person and the couple that are now going to be mentioned … and also because this is not the last, by far that we will hear about Barnabas. This is our introduction to him.
Ananias and Sapphira
We now read of a couple who may have been wealthy. They are believers and are part of the Jerusalem congregation. They have received the Word. Perhaps they had received the Word … with joy. (this doesn’t always mean all that much Mt 13:20 "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;)
Caught up with the excitement of the growing church and then feeling pressured to follow suit with what others were doing, they found themselves in a dilemma. It would appear they were not in total agreement with having all things in common. They wanted to appear in agreement but secretly wanted to maintain independent financial security. What part of that was wrong? The first part. Peter said there was nothing wrong with using the money as they wished.
Peter questions Ananias.
- His question is very direct, almost as if he has some inside knowledge of their transaction and decision to lie about the price they received for the property.
- His question started with “Why?” God’s question to Adam in the garden started with ‘What’. Does it make a difference in the way we ask a question?
- He pronounces an accusation “You have lied to God’. Is lying to God serious?
It is the one thing that scripture says that God cannot do.
Tit 1:2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began
is singled out as a specific charge against those ending up in the lake of fire.
Re 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Ananias drops dead.
-Did Peter know this would happen to him? Why or why not?
It is interesting to note how different things were from them from the way they would be if they happened here in our time.
- Ananias is buried immediately – without contacting any authorities or even reporting his death.
- without informing his wife and family.
- Did Ananias go to hell? Our answer may be in the verse below.
Peter questions Sapphira
He asks regarding the price for which the property sold. This question does not open the door for her to say, ‘He made me agree to it! I am just a wife, what could I do?”
He pronounces a consequence for her complicity in this. v9
Sapphira drops dead
The result of these two deaths
Great fear
On the whole church
On those who heard about it.
Apostles performed many miracles – Why and how? Because the church is pure.
1Co 5:5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 ¶ Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
Solomon’s Porch
A contradiction?
Ac 5:13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.
Ac 5:14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
“None of the rest” has been a puzzle to most commentators. The most common view, none of the rest of the wealthy individuals, such as Ananias and Sapphira
Join them – either means become Christians … or it could mean join in with those who had contributed property. Or it could me to join with the apostles in the sense of being close to the leadership group.
Miracle ministry continues to grow. 14-16
Apostles arrested – re-arrested, beaten.
Peter lays the foundation for civil disobedience – 29 Civil Disobedience is often referred to as a non-violent act intended to call attention to an unjust law, in order to get it changed. That does not really fit here. The apostles are not political and they are not involved in changing of laws. They are simply obeying God rather than man. In what kinds of situations might you do the same thing? When and where would you draw the line? Is being a Christian against the law in any parts of our world today? Do you think the world will become more tolerant of Christianity in general in the future? –see Rev. 13:13-18
Intervention by Gamaliel 34-39. This man is mentioned one other time in scripture. Acts 22:3 ¶ "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
Set Free – this sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. An angel sets them free. What would this say to the people who knew of their arrest? What would it say to the leaders of the Jewish council? What would it say to the Apostles to whom it happened?
Civil disobedience continued. 42 Ro 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shal] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
:36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
************************************************************
Extra Study for Acts 6: 1 - 15
Ac 6:3 Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Compare the requirements for service that are listed above with those of I timothy 3:8-13