Sapphira: A Fallen Woman
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Sapphira's shocking tale should strike fear in our hearts, as in "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10). But Sapphira and her husband were fearless—and foolish.
In the first century, Christians willingly shared their resources, encouraged by believers such as Barnabas, who "sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4:37), a public expression of devotion to God.
When the leaders heaped praise on Barnabas for his sacrifice, Sapphira and her hubby, Ananias, decided to earn a few accolades of their own. They "also sold a piece of property" (Acts 5:1) and put their profits "at the apostles' feet" (Acts 5:2), with one little difference: Ananias secretly pocketed some of the proceeds "with his wife's full knowledge" (Acts 5:2).
I always wondered, What's the problem? Couldn't they spend their income as they pleased?
Yes, they could. They were under no obligation to sell their property to support the young church. But once they chose to lay the proceeds at the apostles' feet, Ananias and Sapphira openly gave that land to God, while other believers bore witness.
Their hypocrisy, not the amount of their money, was the real issue that made their sin so heinous. As Jesus once charged the Pharisees, "You appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:28).
Secrets and Lies
We can imagine Ananias and Sapphira singing, "All to Jesus, I surrender," with their fingers crossed behind their backs, thinking Peter and the other apostles couldn't discern the truth. "Having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5), Ananias and Sapphira ignored the Holy Spirit, newly bestowed on the true followers of Christ.
But Peter saw right through their hypocrisy and blamed the "father of lies" (John 8:44) for their deceitful behavior. "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?" (Acts 5:3).
We hold our breath, waiting for Ananias to fall to his knees—confessing, repenting, begging for mercy, something.
He fell down, all right. "And died" (Acts 5:5).
The same phrase was used when Jael drove a tent peg through Sisera's head—"and he died" (Judges 4:21)—a verb reserved in Scripture for someone struck dead by divine judgment. Make no mistake: God called the shot.
The news spread, and "great fear seized all who heard what had happened" (Acts 5:5)—a healthy, holy reverence for a God who wouldn't be mocked.
Jesus had warned his followers, "Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven" (Matthew 12:31). Ananias's death was proof believers weren't to trifle with the Holy Spirit. Jesus also had warned his followers, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test" (Matthew 4:7), yet Ananias had done exactly that: tested the Holy Spirit, to his own demise.
Originally published in: Today's Christian Woman, 2008, March/April, Vol. 30, Issue 2, Page 60
Related Topics:
Honesty, Integrity, Lying, Money
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Barbara Dixon(Registered User)
I enjoyed the story and the way it was applied to our lives today. Great writting.
Apologist
I will say upfront that this passage completely baffles me. It is hard for me to believe that God will chose to kill some one because of this kind of offense. As with the many commentaries on this passage, this article has to demonize the people to an extreme extent in order to justify the minor offense as one which deserves death. It conjures imagery and fill in details which are not spelled out in the Bible but rather fabricated. I feel that this type of interpretation simply gives more credence to the non-believer's criticism that we simply see and interpret the Bible to suit our purpose. We have to face the fact that there are many other offenses which are much more heinous in both action and intent, which simply go unpunished. How can God be a god of mercy if he so easily strikes people down????
sam
wonderful exortation. it reminds me the prize that each of us has to pay for the commitments we made with God. How many times i had personally verbalized my commitments in the midst of some grave trials and once i am eased out of that again i draw back to my formal position. when we commit ourselves God takes that seriously probably we may not.Once again i want to make this occasion to recommit myself to God and live out those commitments in the daily walk of life
God's_child
To Barry's post below about Christians not believing the scriptures but only believing "in" the scriptures. The difference if this happened in today's church is that autopsies can be conducted which would prove that nothing within the church caused their deaths. And surely God is wise enough to do it in a way for these modern times, showing that only HE could have caused their deaths.
Beauty
Yes, there is the need to confess all our undercovered sins to God and to the church if the Spirit says so, that is the only way we can live and not die.. Thank you for sharing this with millions of women out there.
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