Acts 5 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Acts 5:1-11

1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3 Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’

5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, ‘Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that is the price.’

9 Peter said to her, ‘How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.’

10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

A. Find Out:

1. What had this couple done? v.1,2
2. What did Peter say had happened? v.3
3. What more did he say they had done? v.4
4. What happened to Ananias? 5,6
5. What did Peter ask Sapphira & what was her reply? v.7,8
6. What happened as a consequence? v.9-11

B. Think:

1. What was the sin of this couple?
2. What gift of the Spirit was seen in action here?
3. What was the effect on the church of all of this?

C. Comment:

  We have noted previously that it was the practice of the early church to care for one another and provide for the needy, even of selling personal property to provide funds for that purpose. Now there seems to have been no pressure to do that and it seems to have been an entirely spontaneous thing. Ananias and Sapphira decide to do the same thing but instead they hold back part of the proceeds. Now we may be wrong but that does not seem to be the problem. The problem that is identified is that they lied and misrepresented what they had done, making out that this was the full price obtained.

When Ananias presents it, the Holy Spirit gives Peter the knowledge of what has happened and as he confronts Ananias with it, Ananias drops dead. The same thing later happens to Sapphira who also lies about the money. God has moved sovereignly and seriously!

What was it that made this couple do this? It may be that they had good intentions of helping the needy but their faith failed at the last minute and they held onto some of their money. It may be that they wanted to appear good by giving to the needy but again their faith wasn’t complete. Whatever it was the Lord showed that He would not accept this in His early church !

D. Application:

1. God looks for generosity in us.
2. Lying IS a sin.

Passage: Acts 5:12-16

12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought those who were ill into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were ill and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

A. Find Out:

1. Who was doing what? v.12
2. What was their standing and yet what happened? v.13
3. Yet what was still happening? v.14
4. What was happening when they went around Jerusalem? v.15
5. Who came from where? v.16a
6. And what happened? v.16b

B. Think:

1. What seems to have attracted so many people?
2. How must preaching have accompanied this?
3. Why do you think the people feared to join them?

C. Comment:

Again Luke tells us about the amazing things that the apostles were doing (as in 2:43 and 4:33) by the power given by the Lord. It seems to be part of the apostolic office to have equipping with power and that used for the glory of God. We have just seen that power exercised in the previous passage relating to Ananias and Sapphira. It may be that dimension of power that brought a sense of awesome fear, so that people did not just turn up to listen when the church was gathering, because they recognised that the awesome holiness of God was there!       

Yet people kept coming to the Lord! How? Well Luke goes on to explain. The power of the Lord for healing was go great that wherever Peter went the word also went and crowds turned out to get healed. In fact they came from all the towns around as they heard what was happening. Now it seems fairly obvious, that for them to believe in the Lord they also had to hear the Gospel preached, and we can assume that with the healing Peter also brought the message as Luke showed in chapter 3.

Thus more and more people were saved and added to the church. It was happening just as it had previously happened with Jesus. Crowds came to be healed and when they had been healed they heard the message and believed: this was a message that worked! 

D. Application:

1. God used power and word together to add to His church.
2. Do we let Him use both together or does our unbelief hinder Him?

Passage: Acts 5:17-26

17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 ‘Go, stand in the temple courts,’ he said, ‘and tell the people all about this new life.’

21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin – the full assembly of the elders of Israel – and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 ‘We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.’ 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.

25 Then someone came and said, ‘Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.’ 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

A. Find Out:

1. Who responded how and did what? v.17,18
2. But what did the Lord do and say? v.19,20
3. So where did the apostles go to do what? v.21a
4. Meanwhile what was happening? v.21b
5. What confusion followed and how was it resolved? v.22-25
6. So what did they do, how did they do it and why? v.26

B. Think:

1. What was the motivation of the religious leaders?
2. How were they clearly against God?
3. What similarities and differences are there to Peter’s 1 st imprisonment?

C. Comment:

For a second time Peter is in prison (see Acts 4:3) and again it is the activity of the high priest, the temple guards and the Sadducees who bring this about. It is the “power people” who take action. In some ways this is both a sad but also an hilarious incident.

It is first sad because we have the supposed religious leaders clearly acting against God. The apostles are simply healing and teaching and doing good wherever they go, and what they are doing MUST be the power of God. You cannot attribute it to anyone else! The warning is obvious! Where there is religious orthodoxy and tradition there is always a danger of rejecting the present work of God. Fear and jealousy so easily rise up in the spiritually power-less, when the spiritually power-full are moving. May we be careful not to oppose the work of God.

But then there is an hilarious aspect to this. The religious establishment seek to take strong action to quell what they see as a threat and lock up the apostles. So God quietly takes counter measures and simply releases His men and tells them to carry on what they are doing. In the meantime the establishment carries on in blissful ignorance and then in confusion. The Lord will not be put off by a few silly religious men and simply carries on about His business!

D. Application:

1. “Religion” opposes the work of God. Beware!
2. God will not be stopped by the puny activities of men!

Passage: Acts 5:27-32

27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,’ he said. ‘Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.’

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead – whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’

A. Find Out:

1. With what did they charge the apostles? v.27,28
2. What principle does Peter again state? v.29
3. What does Peter say they had done? v.30b
4. What had God done? v.30a,31a
5. Why? v.31b
6. Why were they sure of these things? v.32

B. Think:

1. Why, again, were the religious leaders upset?
2. How does Peter show that he is not afraid of them?
3. What about the Gospel does Peter show he understands?

C. Comment:

Peter and the others are brought before the ruling Council again where they have only recently rejected the threats of these religious leaders. The leaders charge them with two things: first that they are disobeying the command of the Council and second that they were telling everyone the Council were to blame for Jesus’ death.

In response to this Peter picks up where he had left off the last time he had been before them, by declaring that it was more important to obey God than to obey man. That deals with the first charge. Then he goes on to point out that in fact they had killed Jesus, they were the ones (not the only ones though!) who had caused Jesus’ death. That deals with the second charge.

But Peter doesn’t stop there. The truth of the matter, he continues, is that God raised Jesus from the dead and then raised him up to heaven, and we know that is true because we saw it. Not only that, God confirms that this was Him at work because he has sent His Holy Spirit to all who obey Him, so they continue to know His power flowing today. You can’t refute this; it has happened! Peter also shows he completely understands the Gospel because, he says, this was all to bring the possibility of repentance and subsequent forgiveness to men and women, even here in Israel today.

D. Application:

1. The best person to speak is the person who is a witness! Peter is!
2. The truth must be told. It is the truth!

Passage: Acts 5:33-42

33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honoured by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: ‘Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.’

40 His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

A. Find Out:

1. What was the Sanhedrin’s first response? v.33
2. How was Gamaliel described? v.34
3. How many examples did he give? v.35-37
4. What was his conclusion and what did they do? v.38-40
5. What was the apostles’ reaction to this? v.41
6. What did they continue to do, and where? v.42

B. Think:

1. What was Gamaliel’s objective?
2. How did that differ from the main body of the Sanhedrin?
3. What example do the apostles give us in this passage?

C. Comment:

The response of the religious leaders to Peter’s speech is fairly predictable: they were furious! Their power and authority is being rejected and they are being made to feel guilty about Jesus’ death. In the heat of the moment, they call for death to the apostles. Not exactly an example of statesmanlike behaviour we might expect from such leaders!

However Gamaliel, who is highly respected, obviously is more of a statesman and brings reasoned argument to bear to prevent hasty and wrong action. His words have effect and the Sanhedrin is calmed and the apostles escape with a beating.

The response of the apostles at this point is excellent! Instead of going out bruised and cowed, they go out thrashed and rejoicing! They recognised that Jesus had warned about this (see Matthew 10:17 ,18,22), and they were not put off! Indeed, quite to the contrary it seems, even more they carried on, both in homes and in the temple courts, telling about Jesus. Nothing would stop these Christians!

The example here is challenging. Here in the West we know so little of persecution. The example of these earliest followers of Jesus should challenge us to determine to push on sharing the Gospel, despite whatever may come our way in the form of opposition.

D. Application:

1. Leaders should not be hasty but should give wise consideration.
2. The church will NOT be stopped when God is with it.