5:1-2 "But"introduces another sacrificial act that looked just as generous as Barnabas' (4:37). However in this case the motive was quite different. Ananias' Jewish name means "Yahweh is gracious,"and Sapphira's Aramaic name means "beautiful."Their names proved as ironic as their behavior was hypocritical.
The Greek word nosphizo, ("kept back") also appears at the beginning of the record of Achan's sin in the Septuagint (Josh. 7:1, translated "took"). Ananias presented their gift to the apostles exactly as Barnabas had done (4:37).
5:3-4 Rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to fill him (cf. 2:4; 4:8, 31), Ananias had allowed Satan to control his heart. Ananias' sin was lying. He sought to deceive the Christians by trying to gain a reputation for greater generosity than he deserved. By deceiving the church, Ananias was also trying to deceive the Holy Spirit who indwelt the church. In attempting to deceive the Holy Spirit, he was trying to deceive God. Note the important identification of the Holy Spirit as God in these verses.
His sin was misrepresenting his gift by claiming that it was the total payment that he had received when it was really only part of that.255This is the sin of hypocrisy, a particular form of lying.
"I am a preacher of the Word--a glorious privilege--and if I have prayed once I have prayed a thousand times and said, Don't let me be able to preach unless in the power of the Holy Ghost.' I would rather be struck dumb than pretend it is in the power of the Spirit if it isn't; and yet it is so easy to pretend. It is so easy to come before men and take the place of an ambassador for God, and still want people to praise the preacher instead of giving the message only for the Lord Jesus."256
Achan, as well as Ananias and Sapphira, fell because of the love of material possessions (cf. 1 Tim. 6:10; 2 Tim. 4:10).
"Like Judas, Ananias was covetous; and just as greed of gain lay at the bottom of most of the sins and failures in the Acts--the sin of Simon Magus, the opposition of Elymas, of the Philippian masters' and the Ephesian silversmiths, the shortcomings of the Ephesian converts and the injustice of Felix--so Ananias kept back part of the price."257
Lying to the Holy Spirit is a sin that Christians commit frequently today. When Christians act hypocritically by pretending a devotion that is not theirs, or a surrender of life they have not really made, they lie to the Holy Spirit. If God acted today as He did in the early Jerusalem church, undertakers would have much more work than they do.
5:5 Peter identified Ananias' sin, but God judged it (cf. Matt. 16:19). Luke did not record exactly how Ananias died even though he was a physician. His interest was solely in pointing out that he did die immediately because of his sin.258Ananias' sin resulted in premature physical death. It was a sin unto death (cf. 1 John 5:16; 1 Cor. 11:30).
We should not interpret the fact that God rarely deals with sinners this way as evidence that He cannot or should not. He does not out of mercy. He dealt with Ananias and Sapphira, Achan, Nadab and Abihu, and others severely when He began to deal with various groups of believers. He did so for those who would follow in the train of those judged to illustrate how important it is for God's people to be holy (cf. 1 Cor. 10:6). Furthermore God always deals more severely with those who have greater privilege and responsibility (cf. 1 Pet. 4:17).
5:6 Immediate burial was common in Palestine at this time, as the burial of Jesus illustrates. Evidently some of the younger and stronger believers disposed of Ananias' corpse by preparing it for burial.259Many people were buried in caves or holes in the ground that had been previously prepared for this purpose, as we see in the burials of Lazarus and Jesus.
"Burial in such a climate necessarily followed quickly after death, and such legal formalities as medical certification were not required."260
