The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 154

should visit that affront. Honce it comes that we do l,nsUnctively understand Peter'd inepired estimate of it-that it is a" lie unto the Holy Ghost . . . unto God," and a "tempting of the Spirit of the Lor<l." And in thus eetimatin"' the sin, ia. "the light of God's light," Peter remin<le ue of David, who, bowed ia. deepest anguish for tho sins of murder and adultery, nevertheless criee to God, "Against thee, thee only, !:ave I sinned I" 11. PETER'B OWN DIAGNOSIS OJI' THIS BIN TIIA'l' NOW PRESENTED ITSELJI' TO VIEW. There is manifestly a deeper treatment of such a presentation of human nature open to Ill!; but especially was it open to the inspired apostle. Let us follow his guidance more exclusively. It was given to him to conduct us deeper down into the retreats of human hearts, and we do well to use our opportunity to follow him. Peter indis- putably finds these three things. He finds : 1. A proffered interference of Satan. 2. An accepted interference of him, on the part of Ananias. 3, The issue-a "lie to the Holy Ghost." We touch here distinctly the things characteristic of revelation, They are, it must be noted, the things resented not by the scoffer only, but by the rationalise, and by science, simply quoad science. The provinces of revelation and science ia. human. life, however, are neither contradictory nor mutually exclusive, but they are complementary. And the Christian is the rich man because he feels and knows them such. We have then here, from the lips of Peter, the first introduction, since the ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Ghost, of the personality of Satan. a;i the antagonist of the Holy Ghost. His work is immediately what reprodt1ces itself through the human heart, as not merely "a lie,'' but a "lie to the Holy Ghost." So much for the intrinsic work and the presumably most prized object of Satan.. But, again, it is not now Satan, but Anaa.ias, who is standing at the bar of Peter-Peter, an inspired apostle, and laden with the significant attestation of miracle. Aa.d the crucial question upon which Peter arraiga.s Anaa.ias, aa.d is going to found very shortly his stern condemnation of him, is this (though somewhat obscured in Authorized Ver- sion): "How is it that Satan has woo. what ought to be the stronghold of your heart, so that you have' lied to the Holy Ghost'? No physical necessity, no moral necessity, no necessity whatever, was laid on you to sell your possession. at all. And yet you have taken in hand to do this, and 'taken in.to your heart' to do it, with such superadded suggestion of Satan, that you have made your deed the vehicle of a ' lie to the Holy Ghost,' and of sharp death to yourself." 'fhe supreme evea.t follows for Ananias close upon the word of Peter. And a certain irresistible coa.clusion also for us follows close upon the word of Peter-that either we are readia.g a fable and a lie, or that .A.naa.ias was the tool of Satan, and was held responsible for becoming so 1 This is among the very first lessons, ia. the matter of the spiritual relationsh; 1Js and facts of human he:i.rts, taught under the emphatic "dispensation of the Spirit." Aa.d he can scarcely bo envied who risks his own opinion against such a lesson. We cannot consea.t to suppose (though some have supposed it) that Peter's meaning simply amounted to this, that Ananias lied to the Holy Ghost because he lied to him, who was inspired of the Holy Ghost. No; Ananias lied to the Holy Ghost ia. three degrees. He lied to him in bei11~ false to any genuine impulse that he had at first experiea.ced from him; in being false still when he knew that he had forsaken his guidance aa.d yet pretended to be moved practically to join the new society by selling and giving; and, lastly-and this coa.- summates aa.d sufficiently expresses all-in electing to cast in his lot with Satan, in his capacity of arch-antagonist of the Holy Ghost. Upon the whole coa.sideratioa. of the sin of Ananias, it must be concluded that, by human analysis of it, they must indeed be" fools" who "make a mock of sin." Yet, ua.der the searching aa.d deep cuttin:; of Divine analysis as expressed in Scripture, is not the same conclusion. reached with tenfold impressiveness ? ill. THE DIVINE WITNESS AGAINST THIS SIN. 1. It was "a swift witness." The tares are emphatically not allowed to grow with the wheat and abide a later it1?,gment. The reason for delay (Matt. xiii. 29) did not exist here. (1) . .A.a. ua.emu~ eye detects the bad seed. (2) A steady, ua.erring hand ~an uproot t':ie 111 growt~ w1t~o~1t uprooting e.lso the good growth. 2. It was a witness so swift that no _time tor repentance," no interval of grace, is granted-possibly because ~here was literally no_ "place of repentance" (Heh. xii. 17). Was it now that a real 1Ustaa.ce was fot1nd o! the "sin against the Holy Ghost," to be "forgiven, neither in this world. neither  150 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. to11. IV, 1-87.