Sadly the wonderful days of blessing in the early church would be interrupted by Satan now attacking. In this passage the attack is from inside, by leading two professing Christians Ananias and Sapphira astray.

They sold some property and they kept back some of the money for themselves (v1-2). They could hold money back, but it appears Ananias presented the rest of the money to the apostles as being for the whole sale. The problem here was their dishonesty in trying to look more generous than they were.

Peter’s strong rebuke highlights the serious of what Ananias was doing in lying to God the Holy Spirit (v3). Ananias had been led astray by the devil, who was seeking to harm the church.

We see here that what Ananias would have seen as a harmless lie to men was actually a serious lie to God (v4). God expects honesty and truth to reign within His church, not lies and deceit.

The result was that Ananias (v5) and then Sapphira were struck down dead (v10). This led to a fear seizing the church and community (v5 & 11).

Lying, like all sin, is no trivial matter. Are you always fully truthful?