The story of Ananias and Sapphira is found in Acts 5, and it is a truly sad story.
The story begins with a description of the early church in Jerusalem, a group of believers so filled with the Holy Spirit that they were of one heart and mind. So knit together were the hearts of the people that they held all their possessions loosely and willingly shared them with one another, but not because they were forced to do so, but because they loved one another. Those who sold land and houses gave of their profits to the apostles, who distributed money to those in need.
Two members of this group were Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, who also sold a field. Part of the profit from their sale was kept back by the couple. Ananias gave only a part of the money to the apostles, but represented it as the total sum he had acquired. This hypocritical show could not deceive Peter, who was filled with the power of the Spirit, but knew instantly that Ananias was lying. Ananias fell down and died (Acts 5:4). When Sapphira showed up, she, too, lied to Peter and to God, saying that they had donated the entire proceeds of the sale of the land to the church. When her lie had been exposed, she also fell down and died at Peter’s feet.
While some speculate that these two deaths were from natural causes, Peter's pronouncement of Sapphira’s death before she died, and the coincidental timing of their deaths suggest that this could have been God’s judgment. But why would God kill two people for lying?
God’s reasons for bringing death to Ananias and Sapphira include His abhorrence of sin, the hypocrisy of the couple, and the need for a lesson for the rest of the church. While we can be tempted to gloss over the holiness of God and His hatred for sin, we must also understand that this particular sin of hypocrisy in the church had to be dealt with swiftly and decisively.
But, were Ananias and Sapphira saved? There are differences of opinion on this. Their story is told in the context of the actions of “all the believers” (Acts 4:32), and they also knew of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3). However, Peter stated that It was Satan that had filled their hearts to lie in this way (Acts 5:3) , which should be impossible if he and his wife were in fact, spirit-filled, believers. Ananias and his wife had conspired to garner the accolades of the church rather then the approval of God, and may have feigned belief in search of status within the community.
The sudden, dramatic deaths of Ananias and Sapphira served to purify and warn the church. “Great fear seized the whole church” (Acts 5:11). The incident also helped to establish the apostles’ authority in the church. It was Peter who had known of the secret sin and had the authority to pronounce judgment in the church (see Matthew 16:19). If the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira had succeeded in fooling Peter, it would have severely damaged the apostles’ authority.
