The Danger of Lying to God

THE dramatic account of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) immediately after the mention of Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37) draws a stark contrast between two kinds of people. On the one hand, Barnabas serves as a positive model of sincere faith, as evidenced by his open-handed generosity. On the other hand, Ananias and Sapphira serve as negative models.

Externally, they appeared the same. Like Barnabas, they sold land and brought money to the church, where they “laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:37; 5:2). But internally, they had a radically different commitment.

The sins that Peter named—lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3) and testing the Spirit (Acts 5:9)—indicate that they were playing games with God. Peter noted that the source of their deception was Satan. As the ultimate liar (John 8:44), Satan had filled their hearts with lies, in contrast to the Holy Spirit, who fills the heart with truth (Acts 14:16-17; Ephesians 5:6-21). And like Israel, they were testing the Spirit (1 Corinthians 10:1-13), testing the limits of what He would permit, trying to see how much they could get away with.

God dealt severely with this couple by making an example of them. As a result, fear came upon the church (Acts 5:5, 11)—not a cringing fear of dread, but a heightened respect for God’s holiness, His moral purity. The incident still stands as a bold warning to believers today about relating to God.

Courtesy of Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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