Acts 5:11

Luke reemphasized the sobering effect these events produced in all who heard about them (Acts 5:5; cf. Acts 2:43). People probably said, "There but for the grace of God go I!"

Here is the first of 23 uses of the word "church" in Acts. The Western (Beza) text used it in Acts 2:47, but it is probably incorrect there. The Greek word, ekklesia, means "called out assembly." This was a common word that writers often used to describe assemblies of people that congregated for political and various other types of meetings. The word "church," like the word "baptism," can refer to more than one thing. Sometimes it refers to the body of Christ as it has existed throughout history, the universal church. Sometimes it refers to Christians living in various places during one particular period of time (e.g., the early church). Sometimes it refers to a group of Christians who live in one area at a particular time, a local church. Here it seems to refer to the local church in Jerusalem.

"When Luke speaks of ’the church’ with no qualification, geographical or otherwise, it is to the church of Jerusalem that he refers." [Note: F. F. Bruce, "The Church of Jerusalem in the Acts of the Apostles," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 67:2 (Spring 1985):641.]

The writers of Scripture always referred to the church, the body of Christ, as an entity distinct from the nation of Israel. Every reference to Israel in the New Testament refers to the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is true in the Old Testament also. [Note: See Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, pp. 132-55; and C. I. Scofield, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, pp. 5-12.]

Ananias and Sapphira presented an appearance of commitment to God that was not true of them. They were insincere, appearing to be one way but really not being that way. Had Ananias and Sapphira never professed to be as committed as they claimed when they brought their gift, God probably would not have judged them as He did. They lacked personal integrity.

"So familiar are we with ’spots and wrinkles’ in the church that we can with difficulty realize the significance of this, the first sin in and against the community. It corresponds to the entrance of the serpent into Eden with the fall of Eve in the OT: and the first fall from the ideal must have staggered the apostles and the multitude. . . . The sin really was not the particular deceit, but the state of heart [cf. Acts 5:3]-hypocrisy and unreality." [Note: Rackham, p. 64.]

Some interpreters have wondered if Ananias and Sapphira were genuine believers. Luke certainly implied they were; they were as much a part of the church as Barnabas was. Are true Christians capable of deliberate deceit? Certainly they are. One writer gave four reasons to conclude that they were real Christians. [Note: Kent, pp. 53-54.]

"It is plain that the New Testament not only teaches the existence of the carnal Christian [1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18] but of true Christians who persisted in their carnality up to the point of physical death. [Note: Dillow, The Reign . . ., p. 64. Cf. 1 Corinthians 3:15; 5:5; 11:30; Hebrews 10:29; and 1 John 5:16-17.]