Ananias and Sapphira
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- See also: Ananias (disambiguation)
Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, were, according to the Acts of the Apostles, members of the Early Christian church.
[edit] The story
Acts Chapter 4 closes by making the statement that the Christian believers in the early Church considered their possessions to be their own, "but they had all things in common," and that a church member, Barnabas, sold a plot of land and donated the profit to the apostles. It was in this context that Ananias and Sapphira decided that they, too, would like to make such a donation. After the sale they agreed only to give a certain proportion of the money to the apostles, but to say that it was the whole amount.
In Acts 5:2, Ananias presents his donation to Peter, who replies, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" Peter points out that Ananias had every right not to sell the land at all or to do what he wanted to with the profits, but by telling a lie—by saying that he was donating the entire amount—he had lied to God.
Ananias then falls to the ground dead and is carried out. Three hours later, his wife enters and tells the same lie, suffering the same fate.
[edit] Salvation of Ananias and Sapphira
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Primarily within evangelical Protestant Christianity, there is a debate about whether Ananias and Sapphira were saved. Christians who hold to a view of once saved, always saved deny that Ananias and Sapphira could have lost their salvation. Those who believe in the conditional preservation of the saints believe that they were lost. If the lie that Ananias and Sapphira conspired to commit was against the Holy Ghost, then it will be determined by God because he will forgive you if you ask for his forgiveness and repent (turn around from ones old ways)
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Acts 5 at WikiSource
- King James Version Bible Commentary. 1831 pages. Thomas Nelson Publishing: 2005. ISBN 1-4185-0340-1.
