Acts 5

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Acts 5 shows the young church at its most fearful and its most fearless. Ananias and Sapphira sell a field, secretly keep part of the price, and present the rest as the whole; Peter names the lie as a lie to God, and each falls dead. Signs and wonders multiply, the sick are laid in the streets for Peter's shadow, and the Sadducees jail the apostles. An angel frees them by night and sends them back to preach. Before the Sanhedrin Peter says, "We must obey God rather than men." Gamaliel counsels patience: if this is from God you cannot stop it. The apostles are flogged, released, and go on teaching daily, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name.

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Acts 5 opens with a lie and ends with a song. A couple named Ananias and Sapphira have watched Barnabas sell a field and lay the whole price at the apostles' feet, and they want the same admiration at a lower cost, so they sell a field, keep back part of the money, and present the rest as everything. Nobody made them sell it, Peter says; the lie is the thing, and it was told not to men but to God. Ananias drops dead. Three hours later his wife, given every chance to tell the truth, repeats the lie and dies too, and Luke reports, without softening it, that great fear came over the whole church. Then the chapter swings the other way. Signs and wonders, crowds carrying their sick into the streets so that even Peter's shadow might touch them, more believers every day, and the temple authorities so jealous that they lock the apostles up. An angel lets them out in the night and tells them to go back to the temple and keep preaching, which they do, so that when the council sends for its prisoners, the jail is locked, guarded, and empty, and the prisoners are teaching in the courtyard. Hauled before the Sanhedrin and told they had been ordered to stop, Peter gives the answer the church has kept ever since: we must obey God rather than men. The council would have killed them, but the great teacher Gamaliel talks them down; if this is human it will collapse on its own, and if it is from God you will only find yourselves fighting him. So they flog the apostles and let them go, and the apostles walk out rejoicing that they were considered worthy to be shamed for the Name, and go straight back to teaching.

Bagian kunci

Acts 5:1-11 Acts 5:17-26 Acts 5:27-32 Acts 5:33-39 Acts 5:40-42 Acts 4:32-37

Historical and literary context

Luke's account of the Jerusalem church in the early 30s follows directly on the sharing of goods in chapter 4, where Barnabas sold a field and laid the money at the apostles' feet, which makes the deceit of Ananias and Sapphira a counterfeit of that generosity. The Sadducees, who controlled the temple and denied resurrection, had most to lose from preaching that Jesus was raised. Solomon's Colonnade was the covered walk on the east side of the temple courts. Gamaliel was the leading Pharisee teacher of his generation and, according to Acts 22, Paul's own teacher; the risings of Theudas and Judas the Galilean were recent memories of failed messianic movements. Flogging was the thirty-nine lashes of synagogue discipline.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 11 tell the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira and the fear that followed. Verses 12 to 16 summarize the signs, the growing numbers, and the healings, including Peter's shadow. Verses 17 to 26 narrate the arrest, the angel's release, the apostles back in the temple at dawn, and the officers' confusion. Verses 27 to 32 are the interrogation and Peter's answer, with its compact gospel: the God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed, exalted him as Prince and Savior, and gives repentance and forgiveness. Verses 33 to 39 are Gamaliel's intervention. Verses 40 to 42 are the flogging, the rejoicing, and the daily teaching.

Why this chapter matters

"We must obey God rather than men" has been the charter of Christian conscience against unjust authority from the martyrs to the confessing church, and Gamaliel's counsel, "if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them," has been quoted by every side in every religious dispute since. The story of Ananias and Sapphira is the church's standing warning about hypocrisy in giving and about lying to the Spirit, and the apostles' joy at being "counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name" set the pattern for how the church would understand persecution. Peter's shadow is the first hint of the healing power that would later attach to relics.

Interpretive tension to watch

The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira trouble readers who compare them with Jesus' patience toward sinners; whether Luke presents them as divine judgment, as a shock that revealed the seriousness of the Spirit's presence, or as a story about the founding moment of a community, is debated, and the text does not say that Peter willed their deaths. Gamaliel's speech mentions Theudas before Judas the Galilean, while Josephus places Theudas a decade after this scene, a chronological problem with several proposed solutions. The chapter's enthusiasm for signs and wonders, including a healing shadow, sits uneasily with some traditions' caution about the miraculous.

Pertanyaan untuk pasal ini

  • Ananias and Sapphira were free to keep their money; their sin was pretending. Why does the chapter treat a lie about generosity as a lie to God?
  • "We must obey God rather than men." How do you tell the difference between that and simply doing what you want?
  • Gamaliel says time will show whether a movement is from God. Is that wisdom, or a way of avoiding a decision?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

Tambah ke Catatan
1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Saphira his wife, sold a piece of land, 2 And by fraud kept back part of the price of the land, his wife being privy thereunto: and bringing a certain part of it, laid it at the feet of the apostles. 3 But Peter said: Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, and by fraud keep part of the price of the land? 4 Whilst it remained, did it not remain to thee? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied to men, but to God. 5 And Ananias hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost. And there came great fear upon all that heard it. 6 And the young men rising up, removed him, and carrying him out, buried him. 7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. 8 And Peter said to her: Tell me, woman, whether you sold the land for so much? And she said: Yea, for so much. 9 And Peter said unto her: Why have you agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them who have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out. 10 Immediately she fell down before his feet, and gave up the ghost. And the young men coming in, found her dead: and carried her out, and buried her by her husband. 11 And there came great fear upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things. 12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. 13 But of the rest no man durst join himself unto them; but the people magnified them. 14 And the multitude of men and women who believed in the Lord, was more increased: 15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that when Peter came, his shadow at the least, might overshadow any of them, and they might be delivered from their infirmities. 16 And there came also together to Jerusalem a multitude out of the neighboring cities, bringing sick persons, and such as were troubled with unclean spirits; who were all healed. 17 Then the high priest rising up, and all they that were with him, (which is the heresy of the Sadducees,) were filled with envy. 18 And they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. 19 But an angel of the Lord by night opening the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said: 20 Go, and standing speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. 21 Who having heard this, early in the morning, entered into the temple, and taught. And the high priest coming, and they that were with him, called together the council, and all the ancients of the children of Israel; and they sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the ministers came, and opening the prison, found them not there, they returned and told, 23 Saying: The prison indeed we found shut with all diligence, and the keepers standing before the doors; but opening it, we found no man within. 24 Now when the officer of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were in doubt concerning them, what would come to pass. 25 But one came and told them: Behold, the men whom you put in prison are in the temple standing, and teaching the people. 26 Then went the officer with the ministers, and brought them without violence; for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, 28 Saying: Commanding we commanded you, that you should not teach in this name; and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a mind to bring the blood of this man upon us. 29 But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree. 31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. 32 And we are witnesses of these things and the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to all that obey him. 33 When they had heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they thought to put them to death. 34 But one in the council rising up, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, respected by all the people, commanded the men to be put forth a little while. 35 And he said to them: Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do, as touching these men. 36 For before these days rose up Theodas, affirming himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all that believed him were scattered, and brought to nothing. 37 After this man, rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of the enrolling, and drew away the people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as consented to him, were dispersed. 38 And now, therefore, I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought; 39 But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God. And they consented to him. 40 And calling in the apostles, after they had scourged them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus; and they dismissed them. 41 And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus. 42 And every day they ceased not in the temple, and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ Jesus.

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