Ananias & Sapphira – A Closer Look (Acts 5)

After the earlier post on The Providence of God in Acts 1-10 I received the following email that I thought was interesting and I wanted to address it here to see if anyone had any other thoughts on the matter…

Good Morning Matthew …

As a “New Garment” Christian, I don’t allow myself to fall for many of the “old garment” fables.

For instance … claiming that God “killed” Anannias and Sapphira is not true because scriptures does NOT support this. For instance, we all know perfectly well that neither the OT or the NT state a thief or a liar should be SENTENCE TO DEATH. On the contrary, Eph 4:28 and Provs 6:30 both say to “put the thief to work”. Further, it is also not written anywhere that liars should receive death. In fact, Peter LIED THREE TIMES about knowing Jesus, and Judas STOLE from the money bag…and neither were “killed” by God. (Judas killed himself.)

Please be also advised the Hebs 13:8 states God NEVER changes His mind or His ways. And He will not DEFY His own word … not even to illustrate a point just once ! ! !

Therefore, it would be truer to say that … the devil killed these people. Based on John 8:44 Jesus said anyone who “works” for the devil “belongs” to the devil. He also identifies the devil in John 10:10 as the true killer of mankind. Therefore, the devil owned them “legally” and was in fact their “father”. Additionally, they were married and of one flesh. This means they carried equal parts of the same demon spirit … which is why they dropped dead, exactly the same way!

Please do not think for one moment that the devil cannot kill people and “collect them” to hell whenever he wants to. Notice that hell is stacked full with MILLIONS of people as we speak, whom the devil claimed and collected … legally.

While I applaud the attempt to keep a systematic view of God’s dealings with people I think there are a few things that need to be addressed.

The overarching principle behind her argumentation is that God cannot change and will not contradict himself. Heb 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Because of that she says God would apply the same punishment to a thief and/or a liar across the board. Peter lied three times and he didn’t die so God couldn’t kill another person for lying since he didn’t kill Peter for it. She then appeals to two verses that say thieves should be put to work, not death. If all of that is true you would have to draw the same conclusion she did. If God didn’t kill them who did? The devil?

Hebrews 13:8 in context is an exhortation for the Christians being written to to continue in their faith and not waiver. In 13:7 they are told to, “remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. In 13:9 they are told to not be, “carried away by all kinds of strange teachings…” Why not? Because just as Jesus Christ has always been the same, we are not to waiver. In context this verse does not say God or Christ cannot change their mind or deal with people differently (See Romans 9!). God never changes who he is or his attributes: such as holiness, omniscience, etc. But God does and has dealt with people differently even in the pages of scripture.

If there is even one case where God punished two people differently for the same offense in scripture then the above argument that God could not kill Ananias and Sapphira cannot stand. Again, I respect the angle taken to come to that conclusion and think there are some really good motives to think that way but I don’t think it really stand when the context of the scriptures mentioned and additional scriptures are taken into account.

Murder:

• What God said – Numbers 35 is clear that someone who murders another is to be punished by death.
• God doesn’t always do it the way he laid it out:
  • Moses murders an Egyptian in Exodus 2:11-13 and receives no punishment from God.
  • David has Uriah murdered and commits adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11-12). Nathan’s charge against David, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own…” (12:9). It is clear that the guilt for this murder is on David’s hands even though he did not personally kill him. God sees him as guilty of murder.

Adultery:

• What God said – Lev 20:10 – “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.”
• God doesn’t follow through with that toward David & Bathsheba (see references above)

Stealing:

• What God said – Leviticus makes it clear that the punishment for stealing is restitution and often a repayment of more than what was stolen (Exo 22:7, Lev 6:1-7, etc)
• This is not the case with Achan who stole at Ai and was punished with death (Joshua 7)
• God said what Achan had done – “They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions…” (Joshua 7:11) Achan’s confession of his sin – “I coveted them and took them…” (7:21). The penalty – “Then all Israel stoned him…” (7:25).

What about Jesus who forgave people of their sins unlike others who had committed the same sins but had to offer sacrifices? The list could go on and on. The point is, God doesn’t treat everyone the same. Does that mean God changes? Of course not.

I see a lot of similarities between Achan and Ananias/Sapphira. They both stole (God says that his people had lied as well which points toward Achan). Both moments were times when God’s people were trying to define themselves as a holy people/nation. Achan’s sin came as the people were finally going into the promised land and God was teaching them to be holy. Ananias and Sapphira’s sin came as the church was being established and God was teaching them to be holy. God doesn’t need to use Satan to do his dirty work. Satan doesn’t need to be legal to kill someone. The point is, God doesn’t contradict himself to treat two people different. It happens all over the place in scripture and doesn’t mean there are contradictions or violations.

Any thoughts?

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Joshua 10 – Divine intervention

I mentioned a couple of posts ago something I had never noticed about the parable of the sower. I wanted to point out something from Joshua 10 that had also escaped me.

This is the story where God makes the “sun stand still.” The Amorite cities and their rulers hear of what the Israelites have done to Jericho and Ai. They learn that even the more powerful Gibeonites have become the servants of the Hebrews. Five of their kings with their respective armies come to attack the Gibeonites and Joshua comes to their rescue. I always thought that was pretty noble considering they had just decieved the Israelites. But Joshua keeps his word to them.

Anyway, God helps them win the battle by doing four things: 1) confusing the enemy, 2) making the “sun stand still”, 3) sending down “large hailstones” (NIV) to kill the enemy, and 4) I will mention in a minute. We can talk about the problems that come from reading the Bible as a science book all day but that is not the one that jumped out at me. It was the “large hailstones” (Josh. 10:11). These two words literally mean “large rocks.”A few verses later Joshua’s men corner the five kings in a nearby cave and Joshua gives the order, “Roll large rocks up to the mouth of the cave, and post some men there to guard it” (10:18). This phrase for “large rocks” is exactly the same phrase used for “large hailstones” just a few verses earlier. Now I am sure cave entrances come equipped with a handly supply of large rocks laying around but wouldn’t it be interesting if they just took the rocks God dropped down and used them to close up the cave. The fourth way God helps them gain the victory could have been by supplying the rocks to close up the cave to trap these five kings. Coincidence? Israel is a very rocky place. Maybe so. Provision for the victory? Who knows.

I wonder how many times we underestimate the extent God goes through to ensure the victory for us. I wonder how often he is rescuing me from things I didn’t even see or was aware of.