Kosmic Warfare. Acts 5:1 - 16, January 24, 2012

 

What is interesting in this section as we come to the first eleven verses of chapter five is why the author of Scriptures includes certain things and how they fit within his basic theme. As we have seen, the book of Acts describes the birth of the church and its initial expansion and development during the first thirty years of the church age. It is a transition book. If we look at the overall structure of the book of Acts we see that at the very beginning the key leader is the apostle Peter, the dominant person up through the seventh chapter. There is evidence of Paul and the persecution of the church in chapter eight, then it goes to Peter in the second half of that chapter and the focus goes back to Paul in chapter nine. In chapters ten and eleven the focus goes back to Peter, it goes back to Paul and the first missionary journey in chapters thirteen and fourteen, and then in chapter fifteen there is a conference in Jerusalem known as the Jerusalem Council where Peter again is the focal point. From the end of chapter fifteen the emphasis shifts to the apostle Paul and we hear nothing more about Peter. There is a transition from Peter to Paul, a transition from Jerusalem to the Gentile nations, and transition from the emphasis on the Jews to an emphasis on the expansion among the Gentiles.

 

As we read through Acts as a whole Luke gives us various progress reports, and these develop as we go through the book. As we come to the end of Acts chapter four we get another progress report. When we get a little bit more of an aerial look at the structure of Acts we see why this episode with Ananias and Sapphira is included and its function within the growth of the church.

 

Acts 4:32 ^NASB “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul…” In  terms of all of history this was a unique unity in the early church. “… and not one {of them} claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.” So they are not emphasizing their personal rights to property over against the desire to share with those who are in need. That is the emphasis. [33] “And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.” So there is an emphasis on the power that the apostles had. There are two ideas there: power, which comes from God the Holy Spirit, and the role of the apostles. At the conclusion of the episode with Ananias and Sapphira in chapter five Luke says, “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people.” There is an emphasis on the miraculous that is being done through the Holy Spirit and the apostles—not necessarily through other Christians. We can’t say that no others did this because we know that there was evidence from both Philip and Stephen that there were others who performed some miracles, but the emphasis is on the apostles to establish their authority as the foundation of the church. Cf. Ephesians 2:20. But the ultimate focus is on their witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Acts 4:34 ^NASB “For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales [35] and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” This laying at the apostle’s feet is stated here and again when Barnabas sells some property in verse 37. This emphasizes the authority of the apostles and their role. It is all about the apostles, and in these chapters it is all about them and their apostolic authority. [36] “Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement).” This indicates something else: the apostles give him a new name, and that becomes the name by which Barnabas is known throughout the rest of the book of Acts and down throughout history. Nobody ever refers to him as Joseph. So, again, it shows the authority the apostles had and this is what Luke is emphasizing here. But that authority that the apostles had is backed by the authority of God the Holy Spirit. He is the unseen power that is behind the apostles.

 

Acts 2:41 ^NASB “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” This is Luke’s first progress report and he is emphasizing the authority of the apostles. This is what he has done from the beginning in chapter one. It is to the apostles that Jesus gives His parting command, v. 8. It is after that that Peter then gathers the believers together in the upper room to come to a decision about replacing Judas, and the last statement that is made in verse 26 is that they cast their lots, the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 

 

In the next paragraph as we would divide it: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” The third person plural pronoun “they” has to be a reference back to the apostles. It is not talking about the 120 who were in the upper room but it is referring to the eleven apostles. The emphasis is on establishing the apostolic credentials through the coming of the Holy Spirit in this miraculous way. God was very clear in giving evidence about the work that He was about to accomplish. The next thing we are told in verse 4 is that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. We have seen that this word “filled” is a different word than we have in Ephesians 5:18, which is a command of the verb pleroo [plhrow], to be filled by means of the Holy Spirit. What we see in Acts usually is a descriptive phrase to indicate a special, unique work of God the Holy Spirit among the apostles. Typically it is used in context preceding some sort of speaking, and it is based on the Greek word pimplemi [pimplhmi] followed by a genitive, which is usually descriptive or indicating content indicating that they are full of the Holy Spirit. This is a description of a unique ministry of God the Holy Spirit. 

 

It is important to understand that because when we get into the sin of Ananias and Sapphira we are told that Satan filled the hearts of Ananias to lie. It is stated that way because it is an intentional contrast with what the Holy Spirit is doing and it opens up our understanding of what Luke begins to describe here in terms of the angelic conflict and the assault of Satan specifically and directly upon the early infant church. At the beginning there is this unique work of the Holy Spirit among the apostles where they begin to speak with other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance, so there is that emphasis on the Holy Spirit. But He is doing this primarily with the apostles because He is establishing apostolic authority in this early stage of the church.

 

Chapter two mentions that there are various signs and wonders that are performed by the apostles, v. 22, and this continues to establish their credentials: “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ” As we get to the end of the chapter there is a description that the apostles are performing various signs and wonders, v. 43. The next episode is in Acts chapter three when Peter and John go to the temple and heal the lame man. That forms the foundation for all the events in chapters three and four, which ends with our summary statement. So all of this fits together, and the focal point here is on apostolic authority.

 

As we look at the overall structure of Acts we see that there is this emphasis on the apostles being present every time the church expands. There is the birth of the church on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem and the spokesman is Peter. There are the eleven there who all are full of the Holy Spirit and who speak in languages that they haven’t learned and there is an emphasis on the miracles there. Then in Acts chapter eight we see the next expansion that comes after persecution that comes on the early church in Jerusalem, they finally scatter. Jesus had told them: “you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” But they were just camped in Jerusalem, they were not getting out into Judea and Samaria at all. With the persecution that arose in chapter eight they are forced out from Jerusalem, and as they go out from there we see the expansion of the church to Samaria which is north of Judea.

The prejudice that the Jews had toward the Samaritans would probably rival the prejudice that any Klu Klux Klansman would have toward an African American. They completely despised the Samaritans. So when the gospel goes to the Samaritans in Acts chapter eight we are told that they responded, but it is not until Peter and John come in vv. 14-16 that they received the Holy Spirit, which shows that the Samaritans can’t be viewed as some sort of secondary work of God. They received the Holy Spirit through Peter and John, the same way everybody else did on the day of Pentecost, which brings this unity into the church. Acts 8:14-16 ^NASB “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” So the Holy Spirit does not come independently of apostolic authority. He comes and the church expands under the authority and direction of the apostles. This prevents fragmentation in the early church. People couldn’t start developing schisms—I am a Samaritan, I’m Jewish, I’m Gentile, and have three separate churches. Later that kind of thing is going to happen but it is prevented at the beginning of the early church. So it is the authority of the apostles that is established in this part of Acts.

Look at this progress report in Acts 2:41 and look at the similarity between it and the one that we read at the end of Acts 4. Acts 2:41 ^NASB “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. [42] They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Luke doesn’t say in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, in the doctrine of the Old Testament, in the doctrine of Jesus; it is in the apostles’ doctrine, because it is what the apostles taught as revealed to them through God the Holy Spirit that lays the foundation for the church. What is the result of that? [43] “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe [fear]…” and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” We see this again in Acts chapter five as a result of what happened with Ananias and Sapphira. Acts 5:11 ^NASB “And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.” Then again in 2:43, there is an emphasis on signs and wonders. “…and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles”—not independently of the apostles, not just every Joe Christian running around speaking in tongues or performing miracles. This is primarily the apostles and those directly associated with the apostles such as Stephen and Philip.

Acts 2:44 ^NASB “And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common.” That is the same thing as said at the end of chapter four where we get a little more detail. This is a summary statement of what they did; it is not a prescription per se. It shows the generosity and grace orientation of the early church and their desire to take care of one another. [46] “Day by day continuing with one mind …” Again there is this emphasis on the unity that they had in the early church. “… in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, [47] praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” They are still meeting in the temple in Acts chapter five. It is not just the 3000 who were saved but there is the ongoing growth factor that was the work of the Holy Spirit. The real power behind the apostles is the Holy Spirit and Acts is as much the story of the Holy Spirit as it is of the apostles.

Acts 1:8 lays that foundation in Jesus’ parting statement right before the ascension. Then in Acts 2:4 is the mention that they are all full of the Holy Spirit and speak in languages. Peter in his explanation of this, after quoting from Joel 2, says: Acts 2:33 ^NASB “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” The outpouring of the Holy Spirit comes from Jesus, so he connects Jesus and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

The next mention of the Holy Spirit comes in our progress report in Acts 4:31 ^NASB “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and {began} to speak the word of God with boldness.” That indicates content. It is not what it says in the Greek, it says they were full of the Holy Spirit. It is a description of this unique ministry of God the Holy Spirit. And what happens immediately after that? They spoke the Word of God with boldness.

The Holy Spirit is foundational to understanding what happens in Acts 5:3. Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit. In verse 9 he says, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?...” Here is an important doctrine that is revealed in these verses, that is, the doctrine of the personhood of God the Holy Spirit. This was a debate in generations coming out of the 19^th century because there were those in Protestant liberal theology who were denying the personhood of God the Holy Spirit—just a reference to God the Father’s Spirit, not a separate autonomous person. But you can’t lie to an impersonal force, something that is not a specific individual person. But we also see something interesting in verse 9, which is a reference back to verse 3. Testing who? “The Spirit of the Lord.” There are those who think that when we read this phrase that this is again dealing with some sort of impersonal force or is talking about the Spirit of Jesus. Here it is clear from the juxtaposition of “Holy Spirit” in verse 3 and the phrase “Spirit of the Lord” in verse 9 that the phrase “Spirit of the Lord” is just another title for the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. Together these verses emphasize the personhood of God the Holy Spirit, but even more than that they are emphasizing the profound role of God the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and the health of the church. And this is one thing that distinguishes the church age from earlier dispensations. That is, this unique and distinct role of the Holy Spirit as the source of power in the church and in the expansion of the church. It is not based on methodology, on using the right sort of evangelistic tool to expand the church—not that God the Holy Spirit doesn’t use some of these things.

The point here is that in the church age today, especially in the modern church and the modern permutation of American evangelicalism there are more people who have the gift of salesmanship who come up with some new gimmick for evangelism and all it is is taking their natural gift of gab and ability to sell something and apply it to evangelism. But evangelism isn’t salesmanship. Evangelism is ultimately the spiritual issue that is not related to technique. And this is not the work of the Holy Spirit, this is the work of human viewpoint effort. It doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit hasn’t used these types of things, He has. Just because the results are that people are saved doesn’t mean that gives God’s stamp of approval to the methodology. God has saved a lot of people using that human viewpoint methodology despite the fact that it was a human viewpoint methodology, because God honors His Word and the presentation of the gospel. So we have to be careful not to be sucked into thinking that if we just have the right technique then we are going to see spiritual growth and evangelistic results.

God the Holy Spirit is the one who is working in and through the authority of the apostles. We see it emphasized again in Acts 5:32 ^NASB “And we are witnesses of these things; and {so is} the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” That phrase “obey Him” is obeying the command to believe in Jesus as the Messiah promised in the Old Testament—Isaiah chapter fifty-three. Then in Acts 6:3 is another statement related to the apostles. ^NASB “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

We see the development of this in terms of the opposition which comes from Satan. Acts 5:3 ^NASB “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back {some} of the price of the land?” So there is something not just generated from Ananias’s own greed or desire for approbation and recognition but Satan is the one who has influenced him in this direction. We also see as we get down to the summary statement in vv. 12-16 at the conclusion of this progress report: “Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.” So what happens now in Acts 5 is that the growth of the church is now placed within the context of the angelic conflict. We see Satan’s first clear attack on the infant church. This is also something emphasized by Luke several times, both in the Gospel and in Acts. He brings attention on the fact that ultimately Satan is behind the opposition to the church. There are three enemies of the church: the sin nature, our very own little traitor against God; second, the world system which just imitates Sata. Satan’s thinking is the thinking of the world system (kosmos/kosmoj), which we refer to as the cosmic system. The cosmos is Satan’s way of thinking, that the creature can operate independently of the creator and find meaning and happiness and joy in life. But Scripture teaches that ultimately, no matter what kind of temporary pleasure there might be, there is always going to be a collapse; it never lasts. Only when the creature is obedient to the creator is there going to be peace and joy and stability.

Jesus warned Peter prior to the crucifixion when He predicted that Peter would deny Him three times. He said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.” This can be applied in some sense to all Christians throughout the ages, that Satan is attacking and testing the church. In the high priestly prayer in John 17 Jesus prays to the Father that Satan not harm us.

Summary of Acts chapter 5: It focuses on a specific couple, Ananias and Sapphira. The Hebrew name that would be behind Ananias is Hananiah, meaning “Yahweh is gracious.” The wife’s name, Sapphira, comes from a Hebrew or Aramaic word meaning “beautiful” and so they have names that are indicative of their Jewish roots. They come and sell a possession of land. But, Acts 5:2 ^NASB “and kept back {some} of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet.” His wife is aware of it; it is a conspiracy between them. There is nothing wrong with what they have done to this point. There was nothing mandated that they sell and give all of the proceeds to the church; there’s no mandate that they give any of it to the church. This was a voluntary decision which is at the essence of giving in the church age; it is based on individual volition. It is never to be drummed into people that they give a certain amount. What they do though is they come and they say that they have given all the money that they made from the land, and that is the deception. This really is a power play on the part of Ananias and Sapphira. They want to have recognition as much as the apostles and the prophets and everybody else who seem to have God the Holy Spirit working in their life and so there is a desire on their part for this sort of recognition and honor that comes from others in the body of Christ. So there is in a sense an issue of competition with the apostles in thinking that they can put one over on them. They don’t understand the authority and the role of the apostles and that they are privy to information that no one else is. It is a subtle form of rebellion against the apostles because they are lying to them.

Peter confronts them and recognizes what the ultimate source of this temptation is. This first of all reminds us a little bit of what happens in Genesis chapter three. This is probably intentional on the part of Luke that we think of the temptation of Eve to disobey God and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and of Adam. In the garden there was a serious penalty imposed (spiritual death) and the consequence of being removed from the garden. When we read this we see this parallel. There is the man and his wife and the temptation that comes from Satan. Acts 5:3 ^NASB “But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back {some} of the price of the land?’” Then Peter makes it very clear in his explanation that he had every right of disposal of his own private property without having to deceive anyone. [4] “While it remained {unsold,} did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” The emphasis is still on personal responsibility even though there is an external influence from Satan. Then we have the results. Acts 5:5 ^NASB “And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.” Great fear was the result. It is going to be repeated in verse 11.

There are three episodes in the Old Testament that are similar to this. Already alluded to is Genesis chapter three. But the second maybe less familiar to us. This is the sin of Achan in Joshua chapter seven. This happened at the end of the Battle of Jericho, and prior to the battle God had given the Israelites specific orders that they were to annihilate every man, woman and child, every domesticated beast, and that they were to take whatever valuables they found and that would be set apart to God in the temple. Achan, in an act of disobedience to God and selfishness, disobeyed God’s instructions, takes some of the booty for himself and buries it under his tent. But spiritual disobedience has consequences not only in our own individual lives but also in the lives of other people. At this infant stage of the early Israelite nation God is going to make it clear that the battle is His and He is the one who makes all the rules. So He comes down very hard on Achan. There has to be a cleansing of the nation and so Achan is executed, along with his entire family and all of his good are confiscated. So there are consequences that extend beyond just the individual. It seems rather harsh to us but God is doing something significant in these kinds of episodes in showing that He is not this kind of wimpy little God who is going to say Oh well they’re sinners, we understand that. This is a foundational element where God is establishing His authority and the importance of obedience to God within the organization—in that case with Israel and in this case with the church. There is another example that occurs in 2 Kings 5:25-27, the sin of Gehazi the servant of Elisha. This is the episode where Naaman the Syrian has come to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy. After he is healed of his leprosy he returns back and wants to give a big reward to Elisha. Elisha rejects it but Gehazi decides he wants a little bit of that reward, so he gets away from his master Elisha and secretly follows after Naaman and gets a reward. Elisha knows what has happened and asks Gehazi where he has been. And because he lies to Elisha the leprosy from Naaman goes on to Gehazi. It is harsh, but what we see is that this is a pattern from Genesis chapter three on that God is serious about His Word and not lying to God. In Acts He is protecting the early church.

One other thing about Peter’s statement to Annias. He says, Why has Satan filled your heart?” There have been some who have suggested that this is demon possession or Satan possession, that Satan possessed Ananias. But that is not the verbiage here. We may say in English, for example, “Jealously has filled your soul.” We put jealousy as the subject of the verb and we talk about jealousy as the content of something that fills someone’s soul. But that is an English idiom, let’s not read that back into the Greek here and into the language of the New Testament. Satan is the subject of the verb and he performs the action of the verb, which is indicated by the fact that this is an aorist active indicative of pimplemi [pimplhmi] again. What does he do? He fills the heart for a purpose to lie. It is influence. Satan isn’t the content. When we look at all these other passages that use the same verb in relation to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who is the content of the filling, is in the genitive case. It isn’t the Holy Spirit they are filled with something else, it is that they are full of (genitive clause) the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit being the content of the filling. If Satan is the content of the filling, Satanic possession, it would be “he was full of Satan.” So it was not demon possession or Satan possession whatsoever. Ananias as a believer cannot be filled with or indwelled by Satan, this was an external influence. Satanic or demonic influence is the influence of thinking that ultimately goes back to Satan who is the prince of the power of the air, the god of this age who is blinding the minds of unbelievers—2 Corinthians 4:4. In this case because of Peter’s statement it is believed that there is a direct Satanic involvement here in his influence on Ananias.

The result is fear. This is reinforced in verse 11. We also see it in Acts 9:31—“walking in the fear of the Lord.” This is more than just respect for God, this is a serious respect; not fear in the sense of being afraid but it is a recognition that the consequences, God is real, and I am not going to disobey Him. The last thing you want to do is have God deal with you in terms of divine discipline. Then in Acts 19:17 ^NASB “This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.”

What happens here is that Ananias dies instantly. That is what the surprise is here. He doesn’t get a chance to change his mind, confess his sin or repent; it is the sin unto death. Peter confronts Sapphira with the fact that what they had done was to try to test God, which is an idea that is evident in the Old Testament in various places when Israel disobeys God and puts Him to the test as to whether or not He is going to be true to His Word. We can see examples of that in Exodus 17:2, 7; Numbers 14:22; Deuteronomy 6:16. This is provoking God to judgment by disobeying Him. So she then dies immediately, v. 10.

Then we get a summary of the progress report in vv. 12-16. Again there is the same kind of thing that we have in Acts 2. Acts 5:12 ^NASB “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. [13] But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.” The idea here is that people are hesitant to join them because of what has just happened. There is a fear of the Lord that has come upon them. [14] “And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to {their number,} [15] to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.” There was the same kind of thing going on as in the ministry of Jesus. [16] “Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.” So again we have this idea of the spiritual warfare and the role of demons.