Why did God kill Ananias and Sapphira for lying?

A possession they sold. Its extent or its locality is alike unknown to us. We know it was land (5:3-8), but its realised value, or the amount kept back, these details Luke has not supplied. The two, the husband and wife, were agreed in this act. And Ananias went to the Apostles and laid at their feet a certain part of the sum they had received, whilst professing to bring thither the whole of it. No human witness appeared against them. Very likely the purchaser was a Jew, who had no interest in exposing them. The plan was in their eyes skilfully laid; and seemingly it was being successfully carried out. A character they would earn for liberality as good as that obtained by Joseph the Levite, who was born in Cyprus. Deceit and lying the enemy doubtless hoped would thus get a footing in the assembly; and the leaven working, the Spirit would be grieved, and God must necessarily come in as a Judge, as He had in Eden in the day of the Fall. Such, probably, was the devil's hope. He had succeeded in Eden: would he succeed at Jerusalem? The devil had one object. Ananias and Sapphira, thinking only of themselves, had another. All seemed going on prosperously for him and them, till the man, having brought the money, and laid it at the Apostles' feet, Peter's unexpected attack exposed the whole plot, and confounded the machinations of Satan.

Ananias convicted. — Direct and prompt was the Apostle's challenge. "Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied to men, but to God" (5:3-4). Ananias appears to have been the instigator in this matter; his wife, we are told, was privy to it (2). In Eden the serpent approached the woman. On this occasion he first turned to the man. And Peter addressed him in a way evidently unlooked for. In the place of accepting the gift and commending him, "Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" etc., were the first words of the solemn questions with which he met him. The Apostle, be it observed, speaks to him as professedly a Christian, and holding him responsible for yielding to the temptation (1 Peter 5:8-9). Now the sin was great, far more heinous than he or others might suppose. For in the assembly of Christians, and professedly a member of it, he was in the company of those amongst whom the Holy Ghost dwelt on earth. He had therefore lied to Him in keeping back part of the price of the land when professing to have given up all of it. He might think he had lied only to man. He had really lied to God. And no extenuating circumstances could he plead. For no one demanded that sacrifice of him. No one could force the sale of his property. No one could claim that the price realised should be paid into the relief fund. He was perfectly free to retain the land or to sell it, and when sold he had perfect power over the disposal of its money value. Community of goods, it was thus authoritatively declared, was by no means obligatory. Freedom there was for any to give. Freedom, too, for any to retain their possessions, whether of land or of money, only, whatever was done, was to be done in uprightness. And on this, the first example, we believe, of the contrary, summary and solemn judgment had to be awarded. Ananias, struck dumb, it would seem, for he said not a word, immediately fell down dead, and was carried out for burial. How real and how solemn a truth is that of the Spirit's personal presence in the assembly!

Sapphira, — On all present great fear came. Yet for a few hours the matter could not have been noised abroad; for Sapphira, his wife, came in about three hours after, ignorant of that which had taken place. Taxed by Peter, she stood to that to which Ananias and she had agreed. Judgment was speedily pronounced. "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out." Adam and Eve were sentenced on the day of their fall, and from it there lay no appeal. Ananias and Sapphira were sentenced, so far as this world is concerned, on the day of their deceit, and that solemn sentence was immediately carried out. God's governmental dealing was displayed in the sentence passed on Adam and Eve. His governmental dealing was also displayed in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. The entrance of sin into the world brought death in its train. The first attempt to introduce corruption into the assembly was visibly stamped out, as the bodies of the offenders were carried out for burial. There is a sin to death (1 John 5:16). Such is here exemplified.

Where God is working, however, the opposition of Satan soon becomes apparent. The evil begins (as evil always does) in an underhand manner, but is quickly exposed by God. Ananias and Sapphira certainly did not expect to have their sin discerned as it was. Evidently because others were doing it, they sold land, bringing part of the price to the apostles on the understanding that it was the full price. The power of the Spirit of God present at the time did not allow the falsehood to pass. God revealed the matter to Peter, who speaks most solemnly to Ananias of the wickedness of his lying to the Holy Spirit. He makes it very clear that Ananias had perfect right to keep all the land it he chose to, and when it was sold had a right to keep all or part of the proceeds. But to falsely claim to be giving all was wickedness in the eyes of God. He had lied, not merely to men, but to God.

What lay behind the lie in this case were the twin evils of covetousness and vainglory. Ananias wanted to keep part of the money for himself, and yet gain the reputation of having devoted all to the Lord, as Barnabas had done. Such is the mind of the flesh, even in a saint. How many of us have never had the workings of similar evils in our own hearts? But in this case Satan had been at work, and by the unhappy couple he issued a direct challenge to the Holy Ghost present in the church. The Holy Ghost accepted the challenge, and demonstrated His presence in this drastic and unmistakable fashion. Peter recognized that this was the position, when to Sapphira he spoke of their doings as an agreement "to tempt the Spirit of the Lord."

In result Satan's challenge was made to serve the interests of the Lord and His gospel, as the following verses show. In the first place, this episode put great fear upon all who heard of it, and even upon the church itself. Here is indicated something which is very lacking in the church today — to say nothing of men generally. 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.

Some sins are such, from their circumstances, as to oblige God to take away the one sinning from the earth, in His righteous government. If the testimony to His name be compromised, so that His glory demands it, He may be obliged to remove such an one from the earth, where it is his privilege to serve the Lord. Of this kind, no doubt, was the case of Ananias and Sapphira; the circumstances of their falsehood aggravated the crime; they lied to the Holy Ghost. Many who bear the name of Christians have, alas! lied since, though not in such a way that demanded the immediate judgment of God. The conduct of the Corinthians at the Lord's Table also called for extreme discipline on His part.

Ananias and Sapphira were lying to the Holy Spirit. Swift judgment followed as to their earthly existence. They were cut off by death. The sin they had done was "a sin unto death" and the sentence, physical death, was immediately carried out. Peter is still in the foreground. We must remember here the words of the Lord which He spake to Peter, after this disciple had confessed Him as Son of God. "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). The same words concerning binding and loosing the Lord addressed to all the disciples (Matthew 18:18). The binding and loosing refers to discipline on earth. It has nothing whatever to do with forgiveness of sins or eternal salvation. Peter here exercises this authority, it was the first discipline. We must likewise remember that these events happened on Jewish, on kingdom ground. The witness was still to the nation. The sudden judgment which came upon Ananias and Sapphira was a strong witness to the nation that the Holy One of Israel, Jehovah, dwelt in the midst of this remnant, who believed in the One whom the nation had rejected. When the kingdom is established on earth and the Lord Jesus Christ rules in righteousness, then, no doubt, every sin will be swiftly judged by death.

A lie is a great sin, particularly in a Christian. But it has too often been since early days without entailing death. The Spirit first given, and the great grace in all, and the marked power which prevailed gave a lie in that day its special evil in God's sight. The hypocrisy and deliberate agreement of the pair too, each denying Peter's solemn charge to each, so aggravated the case as to make it a marked sin unto death. For it was a lie made the more intolerable by the wondrous blessing which God was just giving in honour of His Son. How odious then in particular to pretend to a degree of devotedness that was utterly false! And so it was at Corinth: they were profaning the Lord's Supper besides by their misconduct.

There is “a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16-17), when God removes from the scene of testimony one who evidently is no longer suited to represent God in this world. Ananias and Sapphira were removed by death for lying to God’s servant, which was accounted as a “lie to the Holy Ghost” (Acts 5:3). Many since that day have lied in the things of God and have not been removed, and God’s mind in the matter is surely seen in the “great fear” that “came upon all the church,” and in none of the rest daring “to join himself to them.” God intervened in His government at Corinth when they were behaving badly at the Lord’s Supper, as it is written, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Cor. 11:30). Lack of self-judgment, and assembly judgment, brought the righteous judgment of God in His government of the assembly, and it was a voice for the assembly, His judgment coming that the saints “should not be condemned with the world” (verse 32).

Amongst those who brought to the apostles the proceeds of property sold were Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). These brought part only of the sum realized. This would have been doubtless acceptable enough both to God and to the apostles had they been open and frank about it. But the evil pair agreed together to represent the amount as the whole, and in so doing they became guilty of a grievous sin. They wished apparently to be regarded by their brethren as devoted and unworldly, like Barnabas and many others. How often has human opinion ensnared men's souls! Ananias, who tendered the money, was promptly challenged by Peter: "Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" There lay the enormity of the sin. God the Holy Spirit had come from heaven to make the Church His temple (1 Cor. 3:16). As surely as God filled both the tabernacle and the temple with the Shekinah — the visible token of His presence amongst His people Israel — so now in this more favoured age God has granted His Spirit from on high, first to form the Church, and then to inhabit it during the entire absence of the Lord in heaven. Ananias and his wife ignored this mighty fact, even as multitudes who profess and call themselves Christians do to-day. But just as Jehovah resented the affront of Nadab and Abihu in the opening days of the Israel age (Lev. 10), so in like manner He resented the affront of Ananias and Sapphira in the opening days of the Church era, and this for the warning of the people of God to the end.

To introduce a contrary element into such an atmosphere as this that had been created was a most serious thing. To have anything to do with the movement was to have to do with the Spirit of God, for, the movement was His. To bring in falsity and deceit was a sin of no ordinary magnitude, it was to lie to the Holy Spirit.

Ananias and Sapphira evidently thought that their lie would go undetected. They were going to put the matter to the test, for, as Peter says, they had "agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord." When thus tested, He was found to be omniscient, all-discerning, holy and powerful. The sin met with instant doom.

This sin is not to be confounded with any of those of which we have spoken, though it must assuredly have greatly grieved the Holy Spirit. Others have lied in the same way that Ananias and his wife did, lied about money, lied about property, lied for the sake of gain. Yet others have lied far more foully and persistently. Wherein, then, lay the peculiar awfulness of the sin that made Peter say to the guilty individual; "Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" (Acts 5:3).