Cleansing, growth, and persecution of the church (Acts 5)

Acts 4 ended with a discussion of the church finances.  A number of people were selling their belongings and giving what they had to the church common fund.

This continues into Acts 5.  Ananias and Saphira are a married couple who sell a piece of property to contribute to the common fund.  They provide a portion of the proceeds, but pretend that is the entire amount.  They both conspire to do this.

Peter supernaturally knows that they are lying about how much they received for the property.  He tells that Ananias that he cannot cheat got and Ananias immediately falls dead.  

Later, his wife Saphira comes by and she does not know what has happened Ananias.  Peter asks her if the amount they gave to the church was the full amount that they received from the sale of the property.  She answers yes.  Peter rebukes her and she falls dead.

This story does not stand for that we must give everything we have to the church.  However, I am sure it has been misused like that in the past.  There are plenty of other places in the Bible that show that personal wealth is OK.  For instance, in the Old Testament, God never required more than 10% as regular tithe, although there were offerings.

Here, Ananias and Saphira are essentially tithing, but pretending to be giving everything.  This is lying and stealing.  God cannot accept this blight while the church is in a fledgling state.  So, they are killed.

This story also does not stand for capital punishment for lying and stealing.  Again, if we look to the Old Testament, both of these were non-capital punishment offenses.  

However, it did show that when the church was in a fledgling state, God was not going to tolerate these attitudes.  

It also shows that people are morally responsible for their own decisions, even if married.  This is because Ananias and Saphira are evaluated separately by Peter.

Aft this cleansing of the church, the church enters a season of growth and apostles healed many.  They also regularly met at Solommon's Colonade.

This catches the attention of the rulers in Jerusalem who begin to persecute the church.  The apostles are rounded up, arrested, and thrown in jail.  In the middle of the night, an angel of God releases them and tells them to go back to the temple courts and preach.  The apostles go back the next morning and preach about Jesus.  

This confuses the priests and Sanhedrin because they thought the apostles were still in jail.  In fact, the jail door is still securely closed with the guards stationed.

The apostles are all arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin again to be questioned.  Peter again leads the defense of the group and preaches about Jesus.  The Sanhedrin wants to kill all of the apostles when a Pharisee named Gamaliel defends them.

Gamaliel gives a speech pointing out several other charismatic leaders who came and went other the years.  The leaders had large groups, but when the leader died, the group eventually disbanded.  Gamaliel warns the Sanhedrin that if God is not with the apostles, this group will eventually come to nothing.  If God supports the apostles, then they should not oppose it because they cannot win against God.

This convinces the Sanhedrin into just flogging the apostles and letting them go.  Gamaliel comes close, but does not quite say it, that if God supports the apostles, then the Sanhedrin and Jewish nation should get behind this new Jesus movement.

The apostles rejoice because they suffered for Christ.  They probably received a similar flogging to what Jesus got before he was crucified. 

They continue preaching in the temple courts.

In case you were counting, John and Peter have been arrested three times and jailed twice.  The text suggests that the ten others were all arrested twice and jailed once.  

All twelve have now been flogged once.

We are also seeing seasons of growth and persecution.