And great fear came upon all the assembly, and upon all who heard these things.
Ananias and Sapphira had just died after lying about money, and fear spread through the young company in Jerusalem and beyond it. This verse is also the first place Acts calls that company "the church."
This is the first time Acts uses the word "church." That raises a question: did the church begin here?
This is the first distinct mention of the church or assembly. It is spoken of not as something just started, but as a known and already existing body. The church began as a fact on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit... baptized all the saints into one body. There had been saints from Abel; now they in the Holy Spirit became one... The thing was there, not yet so named. Now... they are given that name. God was then establishing, in the gravest way, the reality of His presence by the action of the Spirit Who dwells there.
The fear was not fear of Peter. God Himself was present in that gathering. The couple never reckoned with Him.
They had the folly and madness not to understand that God was there. So when they came and brought only part of the price of the possession, they were lying to God — it was not to Peter and John they were lying. God showed the indignation of His presence, and they fell down dead. There was a wonderful effect in this... It became known that God really did dwell with men, as Solomon said at the dedication of the temple. This was the real presence of God. The church was there, with God dwelling in it and acting in it by the Holy Spirit. He proved it, and His presence made the place holy.
Because God dwelt there, nothing hidden stayed hidden. The couple had misjudged both themselves and the place they stood in.
The story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 tells us two things. The flesh is always in the Christian, and God by His Spirit is in the Assembly. They forgot both facts. God dwelt among His own Assembly. He knew everything, however hard anyone tried to hide it, and He would not allow evil where He dwelt. The guilty pair died, and by this judgment God kept the Assembly consistent with His holy presence, before discipline had been formally given to it.
The verse names two groups — the church, and everyone else who heard. The judgment fell twice, first on the husband and then on the wife.
A punishment repeated like this was so clearly from God that it had to make an immediate and still deeper impression... It was meant as a warning to everyone inside as well as outside.
The two groups learned different lessons.
Great fear gripped all the church as well as others who heard of the matter. Dishonest people would no doubt think twice before linking themselves with the disciples. The church itself also had to feel the truth and holiness of the God they were dealing with.
Outsiders kept their distance.
We read: "None of the rest dared join them." Men were not eager in those days to "join the Church." The presence and power of God there was so obvious that people felt a new life, and a holy one, was needed for such a place. In days of powerlessness and unreality, a profession of Christianity costs nothing and may even bring earthly advantages. Such days draw into the outward fellowship of the Church people who know nothing of God and His saving grace.
Should Christians outgrow this fear?
The fear of God is a very wholesome thing in the hearts of saints, and it is quite compatible with a deep sense of the love of God. Paul had that fear in the light of the judgment seat (see 2 Cor. 5:10-11), though for the unbeliever it will go beyond fear to positive terror. A godly fear, springing from a deep sense of the holiness of God, is much to be desired.
- Presence. God really dwelt among them. The couple lied to Him, not to the apostles, and His presence made the place holy.
- Name. Here Acts first calls them "the church." The body was not new. It began at Pentecost, and now God's presence marks it out.
- Proof. Judgment fell twice, on husband and wife. It warned those inside the company and those outside alike.
- Filter. Fear kept the unreal away. Nobody joined for gain when pretending was exposed so fast.
- Fruit. The fear that follows is healthy, not crushing. It grows from a sense of God's holiness and sits beside a deep sense of His love.
And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders done among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch,
Fear had just fallen on the whole church after the sudden judgment on Ananias and Sapphira. This verse shows what came next. The work did not stop. It grew, and the apostles kept meeting in one well-known corner of the temple.
The signs show something outsiders could see. God Himself was among this gathered company, in blessing and in judgment.
People knew that God was in the midst of His gathered ones. He showed He was there, too, by judging the evil that appeared among them. A holy fear controlled the hearts of men, and we read, "Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles"... So the world knew that God was with His saints. And among the saints themselves there was a healthy fear of anything that would not please the One they knew was with them.
The signs pointed to Christ, not to the apostles. Kelly warns how easily we lose sight of what they proclaimed.
We easily forget this witness to the supremacy of the rejected Messiah, now raised to the right hand of God. We have been used to its absence for so long. And we may think too much of His grace to us, and too little of His glory... But we should not be unmoved by that display, blessed even if partial. It testified to His power over the whole groaning creation, and over those evil spirits who lured man into ruin, into their own rebellion against God.
The verse names the apostles. It does not limit such power to them, as later chapters show.
Clearly, here as at other times, the apostles stood out above all others in doing many signs and wonders. But Acts 6:8 and Acts 8:6-7, 13 show plainly that the power was in no way limited to those whom God set first in the church. Stephen the martyr and Philip the evangelist were both remarkable in that way. Nor can any believer who reads 1 Corinthians 12 seriously doubt that such sign-gifts could be given widely, and apart from all public office... Here, though, those in the front rank did the mighty works. And they did them in full public view, not in a corner.
The place already had a history. Jesus had walked there, and a crowd had gathered there after the lame man was healed.
A porch, or covered row of columns, attached to the temple Herod built. The Lord "walked" there, where there was room for the Jews to gather round Him. John 10:23. When Peter and John had healed the lame man, the people gathered in the same place, and Peter spoke to them. It was probably a quiet part of the outer temple, for the believers met there in the earliest days of the church. Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12.
They chose it for a reason. It was open to all, yet the character of the company kept others from drifting in.
So this became a well-known and frequent stage for the apostles' testimony. It was public and large, close to the temple. They chose it to spread widely the truth that filled their own hearts. But of the rest we read, "none of the rest dared join them." They were marked by holy separation from evil, and by such devotion to God, that no one acting from mere nature would seek to join them. To nature, these servants of Christ had no attraction.
Darby traces their unity to the same power that worked the signs.
Then we get another display of the power of the Holy Spirit, and its effect in making them all of one heart and one mind too. (Acts 5:12.)
Why do such signs not mark the church now? Kelly points to the moment they were given, and to what changed after it.
This power fitted the time when God was opening a vast new reality. He had sent the Holy Spirit down in person from heaven, and the Spirit now made the assembly His lasting home, His temple or house on earth. What honour, too, for Him Whom the Jews had crucified by the hand of lawless men, that these signs and wonders were done "through the name of His Servant Jesus"! Once the name of the Lord was professed throughout Christendom, such signs had no real purpose left, and no fitness either. In that sphere the Scriptures were now accepted as the true and full revelation of God.
- Presence. The signs proved God was in the midst of His people. The same presence that judged Ananias also healed the sick.
- Person. The power honoured the name of Jesus, the rejected Messiah now at God's right hand.
- Hands. The signs came "by the hands of the apostles," yet were never limited to them — Stephen and Philip worked them too.
- Place. Solomon's porch was public, large and familiar — testimony out in the open, not hidden in a corner.
- Purpose. These wonders fitted the founding of the church. Once Christendom accepted the Scriptures as God's full revelation and professed the name everywhere, such signs had no purpose left.
but of the rest durst no man join them, but the people magnified them;
Ananias and Sapphira had just fallen dead, and fear spread through Jerusalem. Outsiders now kept their distance and admired at the same time — was that a loss for the church, or a protection?
This verse follows God's judgment on a lie told inside the assembly. One writer sees that act as God cleaning His own house.
Holiness should surround the house of God, like the white curtains around the tabernacle. Acts 5 shows this in God's dealings with the dreadful sin of Ananias and Sapphira. The fine linen was cleansed, as it were, and the barrier that shut the people of God in from the outside world became visible. "None of the rest dared join them." Great fear fell upon all. They knew they dared not step into such a holy Presence, in case God's judgment fell on them.
Another writer puts the same thing more bluntly: God Himself removed the unreal, and the light inside was so strong that nothing false could survive there.
Just as a wasp in a beehive is killed or driven out, so, if a false person did come in, the light was so great that he was exposed, and went out, or was put out. Would to God that it were so now.
Those who hung back were not the poor. They were people with something to lose.
"The rest" were clearly those who had some place in the world, religious or otherwise. They fear to offend the world that has given them a position; for the more place man gives us, the less we like to forfeit his approval. "The people" — the common people, I suppose — were not so affected by the world's favour or its fear. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain by receiving Christ; and being simple, they received the truth.
The rulers had the most to lose.
The great and the rulers did not dare to link themselves with them. But the people were convinced in their simple way, and they increased the number and importance of the Christians in the holy city. We always see fear on the part of the great and of the religious rulers. They could persecute, but they could not join the Christians, because that would compromise their power. As Paul says, "not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth." The reproach of Christ is always linked to His name wherever there is faithfulness.
Something in the character of these believers repelled anyone drawn by mere advantage.
Holy separation from evil marked them, and such consecration to God that mere nature did not seek their company. These servants of Christ held no attraction for it. The cross of their Lord was a living reality to them. Anything that did not carry its flavour, or the flavour of the Master's holy and heavenly ways, had no place in what they loved or how they lived.
One writer sets those days beside our own.
Men were not eager in those days to "join the Church." The presence and power of God there was so plain that people felt they needed a new life, and a holy one, for such a place. In days of weakness and unreality, calling yourself a Christian costs nothing and may even bring worldly advantage. Such days draw people into the Church's outward fellowship who know nothing of God and His saving grace. But such a dead weight of flesh holds back real spiritual progress more than we can measure.
The crowd's hesitation looks like lost ground. Read alongside the next verse, it turns out to be protection.
Some people may have admired the generosity of the saints and would have joined them. But they were no true members of Christ, and would only have been sources of trouble and weakness. This discipline held back the rush of mere outward professors, but it did not stop God's true work. "And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women." That is what we ought to see.
Who kept them out? One writer answers plainly.
You see, God guarded them, and kept off those who ought not to be there. "But the people held them in high esteem."
This state of things did not last. One writer looks ahead to the false teachers in John's letters.
The appearance of these antichrists, even this early, was a sign of the last time; the power that would have kept them out was ebbing away. In the beginning, when it was said, "None of the rest dared join them," they would have found no place among the saints. That time was now past.
- Presence — God judged the lie of Ananias and Sapphira. His presence drew the line between the church and the world.
- Cost — Joining now had a price. Those with a place in the world would not pay it; the rulers could persecute, but they could not join.
- Attraction — The cross was a living reality to these believers. Nothing about them appealed to mere nature.
- Filter — Keeping false professors out was protection, not loss. The true work went on, and multitudes still came to the Lord.
- Esteem — The holiness that scared off the calculating won the people's respect. When that power faded, the barrier faded with it.
and believers were more than ever added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;)
Just before this verse, two members of the young church in Jerusalem died for lying to the Holy Spirit. Fear spread through the city — and yet the church grew, so who was doing the adding?
Such a judgment looks like it should have emptied the room. One writer traces the effect on believers and on outsiders.
All were, for the time at least, made serious. Hypocrisy received a warning and a check. Who that was not real would dare to join the company of those who had such power, and had used it? Even so, the work of God went on. The enemy tried to spoil it and failed completely. The Spirit was working in power as much as ever. The crowd could see the signs and wonders done by the apostles, while the Word dealt with souls, so that the number of true believers greatly increased.
The previous verse says none of the rest dared join them. That restraint was not a loss. It held back the false and left the door wide open to the real.
There may have been those who were impressed with the generosity of the saints, who would have joined themselves to them, while being no true members of Christ and only sources of trouble and weakness. This action of discipline held back the rush of people who only professed faith, but it did not stop the true work of God… That is what we ought to see. Believers brought under the Lordship of Christ. Such become a source of real help and joy.
The verse does not say the apostles added them, or that names went on a roll. One commentator contrasts this with the way people join churches today.
Men did not join themselves to it, as people join churches today; the joining was done by the Lord Himself. Those whom He saved He joined to the Church by His Spirit.
That phrase also settles what a large following is worth.
A great following is easily obtained, but if it is all hollowness and unreality, what is it worth? To be "added to the Lord" is to be brought into living touch with a Person. So we come back to the question of all questions: "What do you think of Christ?"
Those with something to protect held back. Those with nothing to lose came in freely.
"The rest" were clearly those who had some standing in the world, religious or otherwise. They fear to offend the world that has given them a position; for the more place man gives us, the less we like to lose his approval. "The people" — the common people, I take it — were not so affected by the world's favour or its fear. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain by receiving Christ; and being simple, they received the truth. Among them were found plenty of real souls.
The naming of women is not filler. It picks up a thread already running through the early chapters of Acts.
"Women" had been named pointedly in Acts 1:14. At that time the disciples, however closely they were found together, were still only so many people clinging to the Lord in faith and giving themselves up with one accord to continual prayer. The one Spirit had not yet come down from heaven to unite them, baptizing them all into one body. The prophecy of Joel, applied to the gift at Pentecost, assumes the share women were to have in the promise of the Father, and its mighty consequence (Acts 2:17-18).
The verse names the people added only as "believers." The word behind that label is worth a look.
The Greek word for "to believe" comes from the Greek word for "faith." It is the word behind "believers" in Acts 5:14. Scripture uses this same word again and again for those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved, as in John 3:15-18.
Some treat this increase as a one-off of the early days. One writer refuses that, and turns the verse into a question for the present.
"Multiplied"! Increase in numbers! Surely this will come by the preaching of the gospel. Are we multiplying? Someone may tell us that there is nothing in numbers. That easy saying is likely a cover for a lack of earnestness, drive, warmth and prayer… Blessed multiplication! The early church shows us what this means, and we may well take it to heart.
- Holiness first. God's judgment checked hypocrisy and warned every onlooker. The work of God went on.
- Filter, not famine. The same discipline that held back those who only professed faith left the true work untouched. It kept trouble out, not blessing.
- Added by the Lord. No one joined himself; the Lord did the joining. Being added to Him means living touch with a Person.
- Open to all sorts. Those with a position in the world hung back. Common people had nothing to lose, and they received the truth — men and women alike.
- Multiplication expected. The early church's growth stands as our example. Brushing numbers aside can mask a lack of prayer and earnestness.