(Suggested Reading: Joshua 6 & 7; Acts 4:32-37, 5:1-16; 6:1-6; 8:9-24)
Martin Luther, sensing himself under attack, once threw an inkpot at the devil. This was not an act of fanaticism but a keener appreciation of the real opposition of our foe than most believers demonstrate. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” —Eph. 6:12. This Scripture unmasks the real source of the opposition to the early Church. Satan was behind the arrest of the Apostles, and the effort to stop the preaching of the gospel. When he failed he simply shifted his tactics. Unsuccessful in the world his next attempt was to bore within the Church. He cannot reach our new nature, that eternal life we have received from God. But he can reach our old fallen nature if we are not watchful and prayerful. This he did with Ananias and Sapphira. The principle involved here—the love of money—is so important to us spiritually that we must trace it to its source in the book of Joshua and then return to Acts.
Jericho and Achan’s Sin
The last reference to money in the New Testament, summarizing as it does the teaching of the Word on the subject, is full of meaning “for the love of money is the root of every evil” —1 Tim. 6:10. The Scripture does not say that money is the root of every evil. Barnabas used it in the Lord’s work—4:36, 37, as many have done since. But the love of money is the root—the hidden motivator of evil—for the root is underground, suggesting the origin of things and drawing nourishment from the earth. How carefully then the words of Scripture are chosen.
The principles underlying the correct use of money for the believer are given to us on two occasions in the Old Testament. One was when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt; the other when they were entering the promised land. When they left Egypt they “asked of the Egyptians utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing and they gave to them, and they spoiled the Egyptians” Ex. 12:35, 36. Unquestionably this wealth was used to build the tabernacle in the wilderness. It was not unrighteous to exploit the plagues God had brought on the Egyptians. On the contrary it was payment for the wages out of which they had been defrauded during their time of slavery. Applying this to believers, when we are saved, we also take treasure out of Egypt—always in Scripture a figure of the world. The whole purpose of our education and training in man’s eyes is to build for this world. When we are converted and so leave man’s world, the treasure we represented to man is lost as well as we ourselves. Both should now be used for the Lord.
After the desert journey and the crossing of the Jordan the children of Israel were about to storm Jericho, which guarded the approaches to the land. Spiritually this position was the equivalent of the Church of God before Ananias and Sapphira sinned. New instruction on the use of money was given the children of Israel at this juncture. Jericho and all in it was accursed but, and this is important, all the silver and gold and the vessels of copper and iron were holy to the Lord. They were to come in to the treasury of the Lord. In the case of the early Church contributions were voluntary here all belonged to the treasury of the Lord. This shows that all that we acquire down here belongs to the Lord. The Christian is to manage things that don’t really belong to him. So Jericho fell. The people brought everything into the treasury of the Lord as instructed, except Achan. The parallel now with Ananias and Sapphira becomes striking. Achan hid in his tent a goodly Babylonish garment a figure of the cloak of corrupt worldly respectability and a wedge of gold money divides. He hid them in the earth in his tent that is he kept them out of the treasury of the Lord hoping to dig them out later and appropriate them for his own use. He was discovered and put to death as Ananias and Sapphira also were. These judgments cleared the way for later triumphs in Israel and the Church.
First Love
In the beginning the believers were of one heart and one soul. This unity found expression in seeing that none among them lacked in temporal things. Later on, when decline set in, Paul wrote to Timothy “charge those who are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come” 1 Tim. 6:17-19. The need for such exhortations shows how quickly man departed from the freshness of the early conditions, when none said that anything he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. Significantly it was real estate lands and houses the real source of wealth that was sold. The Spirit marks out Barnabas especially in this connection. Disposing of his interests in this world was the start of his spiritual career in the Church, if we may use such an expression. He is in contrast to the rich young man who went away from the Lord when told to sell what he had and give it to the poor. The Lord also told him “and you shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow Me” Mat. 19:16-22. Well, that was too much for the rich young man, and he went away from Jesus. Mark how he went away sorrowful. But Barnabas “having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” This is easier to read than to do, but it marked his entrance into the path of following Christ. This is the apex of the “first love” period the zenith of the primitive Church’s devotedness to Christ. Up to this point failure has not come in. Only the energy of the Spirit has been demonstrated.
Ananias and Sapphira
Ananias and Sapphira were real believers. We shall meet them in heaven. But what they did was the beginning of the declension of the Church. Ananias, with the full knowledge of his wife, sold a possession and brought part of the sale price to the Apostles, retaining part for himself. Here he duplicated the sin of Achan who hid the goodly Babylonish garment and wedge of gold in his tent instead of bringing them into the treasury of the Lord. But under grace there were no such stringent requirements. Those who sold their possessions did so voluntarily. Peter charges him with that. He could have retained the land and the sale price, but in keeping back part of the sale price he had lied not to men but to God. The secret mover behind all this was Satan. He is only mentioned twice in the Acts—here and in 26:18. Thus he is shown to be the great hidden adversary of the two men whose work, in broad outline, comprises the Acts—Peter and Paul. So Peter says “why has Satan filled your heart?” —the first direct mention of the unseen foe in the Acts. The answer to this question— “Why?” was lack of self-judgment—permitting Satan’s root—the love of money—to find a lodging place in his heart. The love of money displaced the love of Christ and Ananias’ root was, over the centuries, to become a full-grown plant in the professing church. Every evil was to come out of it too—and all in Christ’s name. But of this more later. Certain evils, later to become full blown, can readily be detected in Ananias’ Act. He lied, not to men, but to God. As to lying, the Lord Jesus called Satan a liar and the father of it. But the very division of the sale price, which he denied, spoke more eloquently than his words. The part which he retained spoke of distrust of God. Ananias was really saying that he couldn’t trust God to take care of him through life if he surrendered that part. It spoke of love of self, for he coveted it for the advantages he thought it would confer on him. It spoke of lack of love for his brethren, for if they needed it why was he withholding it? But we could go on. The part which he thought to give to God, had as its basic motive building his reputation in the Church. The fear of God was not before him. How the Lord’s words to the Pharisees, who also were covetous, applied to Ananias— “ye are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
We have already remarked, however, that Satan is mentioned for the first time in Acts in connection with Ananias and Sapphira. Did he not come in to corrupt God’s first work in the garden in Eden? The Church of the living God is the garden of God—that is, God’s enclosure—where His people are to be kept in suited circumstances away from the world. Well, Satan entered both gardens and brought death in to a scene of life. He corrupted Adam and Eve in Eden; Ananias and Sapphira here. And in both cases he brought death to the man and the woman. It was death by God’s sentence in Eden; by Christ’s Apostle here. The severity of the sentence corresponded with the greatness of the work corrupted at its very beginning in both cases. The Lord had said to Peter “whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” —Mat. 16:19. Peter’s action of binding Ananias and Sapphira on earth was ratified in heaven. They died for their sins, like Achan and his family. But then there were those whom Peter loosed on earth and so were loosed in heaven. These are the multitudes who believe and are added to the Lord—v. 14.
This blessing did not flow out until the sin of Ananias and Sapphira had been dealt with. Just so Israel could not take Ai until Achan’s sin had been dealt with. Israel could not advance into the promised land, nor the Church make progress in heavenly things, with sin in the midst. Satan’s attempt to overthrow the Assembly at Jerusalem had been thwarted but he had, nevertheless, planted a root that was to spring up in succeeding centuries.
The Widows of the Greek Jews
Writing to the Corinthians Paul says “neither murmur ye, as some of these murmured, and perished by the destroyer” —1 Cor. 10:10. Thus the murmuring of the Greek Jews against the Hebrews can be traced to its real origin—Satan. Money again is the tool he is seeking to use to foment trouble, though the form of the temptation is varied. Money is a necessity to the very poor. In those days, life expectancy was low by modern standards. In Imperial Rome and ancient Greece, for example, life expectancy was a mere median span of 25-30 years. This left many widows. The Jews provided for them through their synagogues, which served as social centers. In Jerusalem there were many synagogues and returning Jews who had lived abroad had their own. Rightly or wrongly these Grecian Jews felt that their own widows were not being equitably treated in the daily ministration.
The matter of Ananias and Sapphira was a sin against God and was dealt with by an Apostle; the matter of the widows of the Greek Jews solely concerned men and could be delegated. So the twelve apostles called the many disciples together and said— “it is not reasonable that we should leave the Word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the Apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.” So the difficulty was resolved and the efforts of the enemy once more frustrated. Of the seven men appointed by the Apostles the Holy Spirit draws attention to Stephen. But for the moment we must pass on to another attempt by Satan to overthrow the public testimony by the use of money.
Simon Magus
The temptation Satan used in the case of Ananias and Sapphira and the widows of the Greek Jews was inside the Church. In the case of Simon Magus it was outside, in the world. The believer must move in both circles as he passes through this life and Satan will lose no opportunity to beguile him both inside and outside. This is important. We are not merely reading, in Acts, the history of the early Church, but living lessons for our path through this world. Satan hasn’t changed, and he knows that our fallen flesh hasn’t changed either. But thank God “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” 1 John 4:4.
Simon Magus was not a real believer. He believed with his mind i.e. his intelligence convinced him that the miracles of the apostles couldn’t be explained away they were the power of God. But these miracles were done to draw men’s attention to the love of God in sending His Son into the world to save sinners. To be saved one must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with the heart see Rom. 10:9. Simon Magus had not done this. Consequently he had to say “pray to the Lord for me” because, not being born again, he couldn’t pray himself.