Verse 1: “A certain man, Ananias by name, with Sapphira his wife, sold a parcel of land.”

A parcel of land: The land referred to here, more often than not, is related to a field that is used for grazing livestock – cattle, sheep etc

Verse 2: “Withholding from the value of the proceeds, and knowing also his wife, he brought a portion and at the feet of the Apostles he set it.”

Withholding: It would have been acceptable for Ananias to have withheld a portion of the land’s proceeds for himself. Instead what he did was dishonest. He gave the impression that he was setting the full value of what he had sold the land for at the Apostle’s feet, but in reality he had withheld some for himself. Whenever we distort or misrepresent the truth we are not behaving under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but are behaving like the father of all lies – satan.

Knowing also his wife: Sapphira was aware of what he had done. At the feet of the Apostles he set it: In a very submissive manner, outwardly, he laid it at the feet of the Apostles. Ananias gave the money to the apostolic ministry. He wanted to further the work of Messiah. However, God’s work is not furthered by deceit.

Verse 3: “And Peter said: ‘Ananias, on account of what did satan fill your heart that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold from the value of the land?’”

On account of what: Peter wants to know what is going on in Ananias’ thought processes.


Verse 4: “Was it not, when it remained with you, yours? And when it was sold it was still existed to your authority. Because of what did you set your heart to this thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Yours: It belonged completely to Ananias.

Still existed to your authority: Ananias could do what he wanted with the land and when he sold it he could still do what he wanted with those proceeds. He was under no obligation to give the proceeds to the Apostles. They were not asking for it, or demanding it. The problem was that he misrepresented what he was doing. He did not act according to truth but lied.

This thing: literally ‘this pragma(tic)’: This Scripture is instructing the believer that we need to set our heart properly. To put it in the right condition.

Lied to …God: In verse 3 we were told Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit and now we are told he lied to God. When we put those two statements together we can see the divinity of the Holy Spirit and His part in the trinity.

Note on Trinity: The word ‘trinity’ does not appear in the Bible, but what the doctrine of the trinity teaches is found in many places in the Word of God.

The only conclusion we can reach from the above verses is that the Holy Spirit is God. We do not have two (or three) gods but we have ONE God (Deuteronomy 6v4, Mark 12v29).

The Trinity does not speak about multiple gods; it speaks about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons but one God. This may be hard to grasp but anything that we learn about God’s nature is hard for a human mind to grasp.

Verse 5: “And Ananias, hearing these words, fell and he expired. And it came about great fear upon all the ones who heard these things.”
Hearing these words: There was an immediate response.

He expired: This word means ‘to breathe out’. Death, Biblically, is when the spirit of a man, or a woman, exits their body. When the spirit leaves that person physically dies. Physical death is not the same as spiritual death (This is eternal separation from God in a place of eternal condemnation and punishment – in the lake that burns forever with fire and brimstone).

Great fear: All those who heard these things gave God priority, they had a proper fear of God. This is not a fear that causes one to flee. It is a fear that causes one to obey, submit or draw closer to God through obedience.