Acts 5:7-11 7Now it happened after an interval of three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8And Peter answered to her, “Tell me, did you pay so much for the land?” And she said, “Yes, that much.” 9But Peter said to her, “Why was it agreed by you together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of the ones who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last; and coming in, the young men found her dead, and after carrying her out, they buried her beside her husband, 11and great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
The second story about Sapphira runs parallel to the first story of Ananias. She was in for two unfortunate surprises. The first was not being aware that her husband had died. After three hours, she came in to the apostles, which was probably at some common meeting location for believers. The text does not say why she went in but possibly to check if anyone knew where her husband was. She had not seen him for a while. Although the backstory is not given, we can imagine that they had made plans to give some of the money from the sale of their land to give to the work of the ministry to the poor and needy. Ananias told his wife that he would be back in a short time, but he never came back. That scenario is one many people fear when we send a loved one on an errand and they do not come back in time. We begin to worry. Sapphira may have been worried about Ananias.
Sapphira appeared to be innocent, coming to see Peter. Peter seems aggressive in his confrontation with her, getting right to the point of the price for the land. She responds innocently and honestly to his interrogation. Her problem was the same as her husband’s, but put in different words: she had tested the Holy Spirit. She was treated as equal in responsibility for the decision along with her husband. She had no opportunity to defend herself, but no defense would be adequate because lying to the Holy Spirit is a big deal. Her quick demise is the other surprise, not only for her but for the whole church. The young men do the dirty work of taking her deceased body out for burial beside her husband.
This story is a shock to the reader and causes us to pause in our thinking about the power of God. Several lessons can be learned from the passage. One is the seriousness of listening and obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we are tempted, the Holy Spirit will warn us about following the way of sin and provide the better alternative of full obedience. Any compromise will be detrimental to our spiritual health. Unlikely that we will fall over dead, but the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and death can take many forms, including our broken relationships with God, others, and ourselves.
A second lesson is how this couple broke the tight fellowship (koinonia) of the early church. They were keeping some of the money to themselves instead of sharing it with those in need. Their selfishness not only hurts themselves (death) but also those in need of help. A lesson from the other side is how Peter dealt with the situation. He was not afraid to speak the truth, even when that truth hurt. His method seems harsh, but he was speaking prophetically, which can be difficult. This situation was unique in Christian history, and it is not recommended to repeat it, but it does provide a broad example of how leaders may need to confront people about sin, especially when that sin will affect other people.
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