Actschapter 5
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Speaks with:Acts 4×9Acts 5×8Acts 2×6Hebrews 2×3Acts 7×3Acts 19×4
Summary
Chapter summary
Ananias and Sapphira. Signs and wonders; healing by Peter's shadow. Apostles imprisoned and delivered by an angel. Gamaliel's counsel: 'if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it.'
Context
History · Luke — Acts overview
- A. 1–11 Ananias and Sapphira Lie to the Holy Spirit
- B. 12–16 Healed by Peter's Passing Shadow
- C. 17–26 Prison Doors Opened by an Angel at Night
- D. 27–32 We Must Obey God Rather Than Men
- E. 33–42 Gamaliel's Counsel; Beaten, They Rejoice
The outline
A.Ananias and Sapphira Lie to the Holy Spiritvv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.Healed by Peter's Passing Shadowvv. 12 to 16
Read vv. 12 to 16 →C.Prison Doors Opened by an Angel at Nightvv. 17 to 26
Read vv. 17 to 26 →D.We Must Obey God Rather Than Menvv. 27 to 32
Read vv. 27 to 32 →E.Gamaliel's Counsel; Beaten, They Rejoicevv. 33 to 42
Read vv. 33 to 42 →
The world behind this chapter
Acts 5The history
The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not keeping money. Peter says plainly that the field was theirs to sell and the money theirs to keep. What they bought with the lie was reputation — in an honour-and-shame society, the public standing of a great giver, at a discount.
Burial happened fast in that climate, usually the same day, and by law and custom the men of the community carried it out. That is why the young men wrap the body and go straight out to a tomb without waiting for the widow.
Gamaliel was the most respected Pharisee teacher of the generation, and Paul later claims to have studied under him. His argument leans on two failed uprisings — Theudas and Judas the Galilean — that everyone in the room remembered; Josephus records both movements and their collapse.
The flogging that ends the chapter was synagogue discipline, the beating limited by the Law to forty strokes and given as thirty-nine so no one could miscount. It was legal, painful, and shaming.
What it meant to them
For the first hearers, this chapter said the Spirit at work in the church was not a warm feeling but a holy presence. A community that shared everything could only survive if honesty inside it was absolute.
The second half told them what to expect from the authorities: arrest, warning, beating — and rejoicing anyway. The apostles walked out counting the shame as honour and went straight back to teaching.
Sources cited
- F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts (NICNT)
- Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Acts 5. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 30 · The same word
Apostolic preaching's fixed formula 'hanged on a tree (xylon)' (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29) - the kerygma deliberately chooses the Deut-21 curse-word over stauros.
Galatians 3:13→Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
verse_words live corpus (G3586 verified)
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.