The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 178

faithfully endured, prepares for new effort, goads to perseverance, and eo defeats the persecutor by the very means of his own wcapons.-J. Vere. 1-6.-The death of ..4.naniaa. Raphael's cartoon manifastly founded, not on the simple narrative of Acts, but on the corrupt Church's falsification of it. The apostles represented on a throne, from which with despotic decree they command men to death. Our object is not to terrify men into religion and ecclesiastical submission, but to win them to Christ; to eave men's lives, not to destroy them. Solemn and awful as the facts are, they are yet beams from the Sun of Righteousness. I. A revelation of THE KINGDOM 011' CHRIST. 1. As the kingdom of light. Wisdom in discernment of spirits and judgment of human character. Distinction between puro and false fellc,wship. Exaltation of the great light-principle of self-sacrifice. 2. As the kingdom of righteousness. The act of Ananias was an act of rebellion a.,.ainst the first law of the gospel, both as a lie and as selfishness. 3. As the kingdom of ~der and peace, The rising brotherhood was the germ of a new human society, in which all men should be blessed. Ananias sinned against the Holy Ghost, i.e. defied and insulted the Spirit in his new work, trampled on the rising life. As a vindication of the kingdom, the sentence, though it looks at first sight unduly severe, was merciful, as a sign, not merely threatening, but inviting. It cleared the light of clouds. II. An instructive example of HUMAN WEAKNESS AND SINFULNESS. A Judas among the apostles, an Ananias among the first believers. ·,.ve must expect such things always. 1. The work of the Spirit is thus shown to be necessary. The deceit of the heart. The power of temptation. 'l'he influence of a multitude in hiding us from our- selves, The possibility of being carried away by a wave of excitement. The lure of ambition. Man and wife encouraging one another; Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The gospel neede<i to lift up even the ties of nature and renew and strengthen them in the grace of God. 2. The Christian Church must be prepared to encounter the facts of human fallibility and sin. We must rest upon the supernatural guidance and support. We must leave judgment in the hands of God. Peter pronounced no sentence. He simply, by spiritual power, proclaimed the truth, and left conviction to work its own work. A great lesson in the exercise of discipline. In the case of the wife, the fact became a prophecy, by inspiration, in Peter's mind. He saw the work of God beforehand. No assumption, III. A PRACTICAL ADMONITION. 1. .Against selfishness and dishonesty. They kept back for themselves part of the price, intending to deceive. 2. Against untruthfulness, which was deliberate, prompted by meanness mixed with ambition and desire of display, daring against the manifest signs of the Spirit. Not a mere lie unto men, but a defiance of God. 3. Against trifling with holy things. They, perhaps, thought that what they kept back would not be needed, but they made light of the Spirit's evident demand. '!'hey did dishonour to the infant Church and to the apostles. 4. Rebellion against the Holy Ghost. He put it into their heart to sell their property and join the Church. They recognized his command to give up all for Christ. They saw what he had done and could do. Yet they did violence to his order and might have produced endless confusion in the Church. Fighting against God is perilous work.-R. Vers. 7-11 (or ver. 11).-Conspiracy against God. While much in the previous paragraph repeated here, a new phase of sin presented. It was distinctly on the ground of deliberate agreement to tempt the Spirit of the Lord that Sapphira's death was added to that of her husband. I. The intimate connection of the proclamation of gospel truth and mercy with THE RENOVATION OF BUMAN SOCIETY. 1. Family life, domestic intimacy, the root of public life. We must choose all our relations with the light of God in Christ. 2. The con- spiracy of Ananias and Sapphira was a blow at the work of the Spirit in raising up a new spiritual life on the b~sis of self-sacrifice and abso)nte truthful~ess: . 3. The awful judgment was a proclamation of mercy-Come and hide under this D1vwe power and be safe. II. A marvellous display of THE BPIBIT OIi' PROPHECY poured out on the apostles. The words of Peter an example: 1. Of the Spirit of truth and grace in him ; he pro- ceeded with the utmost care, publicity, tenderness, pity. The wife had the opportunity  174 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [oH, V. 1-42,