In a perfect world, I think that everyone could do good things without seeking credit. However, pride has been with us since the Garden of Eden, and continues to challenge humankind today.
In Acts 5:1-10, we find a well-known account of Ananias and Sapphira. They have some land, and they presumably see other people selling land and giving the money to the apostles. So, they sell this land, and give money to the apostles. However, they don’t give all of it away: they keep some of the proceeds for themselves.
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Acts 5:1-2 NIV
I encourage you to read the entire passage (i.e., Acts 5:1-10) before answering the following question: Why were the couple struck down so that they died? What was Ananias’s and Sapphira’s sin, here? Was it not giving everything from the sale to the apostles? Was it lying? Was it trying to get something past the Holy Spirit? Was it pride?
Maybe it was more than one of those options, or something else that you came up with. Conventional teaching on this passage (which seems to me like a good fit for the text) is that the sin was not in holding back some of the proceeds, but in lying and saying that the donated amount was the full price they had received. This couple seems to be trying to get full recognition from others – and perhaps from the Holy Spirit Himself – for a partial gift.
To corroborate this conclusion, we can consider the following verses:
- Verse 3, where Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit (and verse 4, where he had lied to God).
- Verse 4, where Peter describes how Ananias had other options.
- Verse 8, where Peter asks Sapphira specifically if the donated amount was the full proceeds from the sale.
- Verse 9, where Peter describes how the couple had conspired “to test the Spirit of the Lord”.
In addition to what we can read in the Scripture, a commentator [Gaertner, p.106] points out a couple more things:
- Apparently, “kept back” in verse 2 has the connotation of embezzlement. The Lookout agrees, and matches this word up with the Greek translation of Joshua 7:1, “to describe what Achan did with “devoted things” from the defeat of Jericho.” (which he took in violation of orders).
- There is some precedent for making a commitment in advance to give the proceeds of selling possessions, and so this couple may have promised the whole amount in advance of the sale. If that’s the case, it gives modern-day “pledge cards” a whole new perspective!
We might quote 2 Corinthians 9:7 in other circumstances, but I think that this passage from Acts reminds us just how important it is to give cheerfully.
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV
Note what the opposite of giving cheerfully is here (i.e., reluctance or compulsion). If we feel like you have to give something, or if we are giving despite not wanting to, I guess that God could still use what we give for the benefit of others, but something needs to change in us: If our hearts and minds aren’t consumed with gratitude to God for what He has given us, what He has done for us, and who He is, I suggest that this is where work needs to be done inside of us.
If we consider our “right” to own as much as we want to be more important than the needs of others in the body of Christ, money doesn’t need to be extracted from us through guilt or coercion: instead, we need to put our material possessions in perspective, remembering that they are just temporary at best, and that they are all owned by God, anyway.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for October 1, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, October 1, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Acts, by Dennis Gaertner. © 1993 College Press Publishing Co.
- New Testament History: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Acts, by Gareth L. Reese. © 1976, College Press Publishing Company.
Those Who Sin Differently 