by Tiffany Lott

Created on: November 29, 2008

When you read this question, immediately you want to say, "Yes, there's no question. It's in the Bible." But in all reality, the Bible does not specify how Ananias and Sapphira died. However, if you read the text, and use some common sense, it's easy to come to the conclusion that it was God would struck Ananias and Sapphira.

The story is told in Acts 5:1-12 and begins with Ananias. He and his wife, Sapphira, had sold some land, and gave tribute to God by laying it at the apostles' feet. They made it appear as though they were so good as to give away all of their profits, but they did not. They kept back some of the profit for themselves, and Peter knew about it.

He confronted Ananias first, and directly asked him why he would do that because in doing so he was not lying to Peter as much as he was lying to God Himself. Ananias was tempting the Holy Spirit with his lies. There was no reason to lie because God did not ask Ananias to sell his land and donate it. It was his own possession, and he could have kept what he wanted out of it. God was not angry because Ananias kept the money, but that he lied about keeping the money.

After Peter confronted Ananias, Ananias died. Three hours later, Sapphira was brought in. Notice, she had a chance to tell the truth. She was being tried as a separate individual. Peter asked her if this was how much money they sold the land for, and she said, Yes. Peter explained to her what she and her husband had done. They had lied to God, and then she too, died.

After each Ananias and Sapphira died, the scripture goes into such detail to document how the young men arose, wrapped Ananias up, carried him, and buried him. Throughout the Bible, if someone was killed or punished, it records that information; it wasn't said here that Peter slew Ananias as punishment. If they went into as much detail about the burial, wouldn't you think they would have recorded the details of the death as well? Maybe they did record what they knew to have happened. Ananias just "gave up the ghost". The same thing happened with Sapphira; the King James Version states she "yielded up the ghost." It was as though they just fell down dead with no reason other than God's doing. In addition, the text is found within the New Testament, after Jesus died and was resurrected. They were no longer under the law where people would be punished by death for something as lying. They were under grace through faith.

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