Acts 5:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Observe, I ask you, how their whole life is made up of opposites. First there was sorrow because of Christ’s Ascension, then joy because of the descent of the Spirit.

Again there was sorrow from those who reviled them, then joy from the faithful and from the miracle. Again there was sorrow when they were detained, then joy after their vindication.

Here again there is both joy and sorrow. Joy, because they were glorified and received revelations from God. Sorrow, because they deprived their own of life.

Again there was joy because they became renowned, and again sorrow because of the high priest. This may be observed everywhere, just as it can be seen among the holy men of old.

And how, you will say, did “she immediately fall down at his feet and give up the spirit”? It was because she was standing nearby. Thus they themselves brought punishment upon themselves.

Perhaps someone will say that Peter acted cruelly toward them. But what cruelty is there here? If the man gathering wood contrary to the law was stoned, then a sacrilegious person ought much more to be punished, for this money was sacred.

Why did she fall at Peter’s feet? Because she was standing near him. She stood near him so that, if she wished to repent and confess her transgression, she could do so without being ashamed before outsiders, who otherwise would have heard her confession.

“They found her dead, and carrying her out, they buried her.” See how they no longer guard themselves, according to the law, against touching unclean things. Instead, they touched the dead directly and without any caution.

But at this time there occurred the sorrowful event of the moral fall of a Christian couple. A certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold his real property, as other Christians did, to give the proceeds to the apostles for the benefit of the whole Christian community.

Yet they brought the apostles only a certain part of the price, while keeping the rest for themselves. Before the apostles and the other believers, however, they presented themselves as people who had renounced all their property for the common good.

In the deed of Ananias and Sapphira, besides love of money, hypocrisy was also revealed. The first vice was especially dangerous for its own unhappy slaves. The latter, however, could affect the whole Christian community.

“She gave up the spirit”: not by the natural effect of a blow, but by a special action of God, as also happened with her husband; see the note on verse 5.

“Notice this as well: among their own the apostles are strict, but among outsiders they refrain from punishments. Both are fitting.

The latter was necessary so that people would not think they were compelling men, against their will, to turn to the true faith through fear of punishment.

The former was necessary so that those already converted to the faith, and counted worthy of heavenly teaching and spiritual grace, should not be allowed to become contemptible and sacrilegious, especially at the beginning. For this would have given occasion for reproach against their preaching.” Theophylact.

Explaining their guilt to Sapphira, the apostle says that they are tempting the Spirit of the Lord. That is, they are testing whether God knows all things or does not know them, as though He could be deceived.

Thus the chief cause, or foundation, of this act of Ananias and Sapphira was forgetfulness of God’s omniscience and His omnipresence. This also happened with our forefathers after they had sinned; see Gen 3:8.

“They forgot that God sees their deeds and thoughts. If they had kept in mind that God sees everything, both outwardly and inwardly, more clearly than all men, and even more clearly than they themselves, it would never have entered their minds to deal falsely before the apostles.