They had been flogged without restraint. Welts rose in ridges across their backs, bruises were blooming, and blood slowly soaked through the fabric of their tunics. When they were finally released, the apostles walked out of the council chamber with the sting still ringing in their ears— and something quieter than defiance settled in their faces.
They were not singing yet. They simply moved— away from the hall of hewn stones, down the steps and back toward the streets and the rooms where their companions waited. The rejoicing would come later; the strange gladness that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.1 But first there was only the walking, the careful breathing, and the decision that had already been made: they would not stop speaking about the risen Jesus.
They had been arrested after the lame beggar had leapt for joy. They had been warned then to speak no more to anyone in Jesus’ name.2 They had prayed for boldness and kept on speaking.3 And now they had been beaten for defying the voices that demanded their silence.
In the early days of this strange new community, the believers had also begun to live in defiance of greed. Lands were sold. Houses were auctioned. The proceeds were carried to the apostles’ feet and distributed to each as any had need.4 Grace rested on them the way the morning light rests on the rooftops. Great power attended the testimony of the resurrected Jesus. The fellowship was learning, day by day, what it meant to belong to one another because they’d each found their belonging in Him.5
Yet even here the old serpent had begun to whisper.6
Ananias and Sapphira watched the others. They saw the fruit their generosity was producing, and wanted its appearance more than its cost. They sold a piece of property, carefully counted the proceeds, and conspired to keep a portion back while presenting the rest as if it were the whole. The land had been theirs. The money remained at their disposal. No one had compelled the gift. What undid them was the lie that rendered their giving into an act of deceit. They would stand before the apostles and the congregation and wear the look of piety while the private reserve stayed hidden— a small, protected, fortress of mine.
But Peter percieved it the moment Ananias laid the portion at their feet.7
He asked him:
“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”8
Ananias heard the words, fell down, and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped the body and carried it out for burial.9
Three hours later Sapphira came in, unaware of what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.”10 But Peter said to her,
“How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”11
She had been given a chance to undo the lie— to reveal the truth— and she chose not to take it. So the truth was revealed in another way. Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.12
The subtle scheme had been exposed. The father of lies had found a foothold even among those who had tasted the Spirit’s power.13 They had been lured into a web of deceit. And like king Saul,14 their goodness had been sacrificed on the altar of appearances. Jesus himself had warned against such hypocrisy.15
And it was far more serious than they were tempted to believe.16
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.17
The presence that had come at Pentecost was now mightily at work among his people. And resistance rose in the religious leaders the way a rooster rises at a stranger’s approach.
But the high priest and all who were with him—the party of the Sadducees—were filled with jealousy. So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. Moonlight settled over the walls. The doors were locked. The guards stood at their posts. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”18
At daybreak the apostles were teaching again.
Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.19
But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported: “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.20
Then someone came and said, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” So the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council.21
And the high priest questioned them, saying,
“We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”22
There was a strange accuracy in the accusation. They were intending to bring Jesus’ blood upon them— only not in the way the high priest feared. The blood the apostles proclaimed was not the blood of condemnation that demanded vengeance.23 It was the blood that “purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God”24— the blood that “cleanses us from all sin.”25
The very blood the council wished to keep at a safe distance was the blood that offered them new life. The apostles were not trying to condemn their guilt. They were offering the only thing that could set them free.26
Peter and the apostles answered:
“We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”27
When the council heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside.28 He reminded the council of the uprisings of Theudas and of Judas the Galilean— movements that had flared and then scattered when their leaders were removed.
“So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”29
His counsel prevailed, though not without cost. The apostles were called back in. They were beaten. They were charged once more not to speak in the name of Jesus, and they were released.30
Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.31
What kind of characters walk out of a flogging with joy?
The apostles could have remained silent. They could have returned to their old jobs and their quiet lives. No human authority required them to stand and speak in the temple. Their courage was voluntary. They were not performing for appearances’ sake. They looked into the eyes of those that wanted them dead and resolved: “We must obey God rather than men.”32
There is a way of standing that refuses both the sneer of those who call conviction naïve and the swagger of those who seek to be seen. The apostles stood firm with real courage. They did not banish fear by telling themselves the worst could not happen. They had already seen the worst happen to Jesus. But they had also seen him return from the grave, and this had freed them even from the fear of death.33
“God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."34
The same word they used for Jesus that day—Leader or founder35—appears again in the letter to the Hebrews:
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”36
What joy did the eternal Son not already possess before he came? The only joy that required the cross was the joy of redeeming his people. He gazed at them. He considered the beauty of their redemption. And that joy made Him brave in spite of the agony He faced.37
“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”38
The apostles had seen that courage. They were witnesses of the resurrection. They had watched the One who held all power lay it down, become vulnerable, take the thorns, and give his life. Their courage was not self-generated. It was the kind that only comes through gazing at the resurrected Jesus.39
The same enemy who had deceived Ananias and Sapphira was still at work in the jealousy of the council, the fears of the authorities, and the sneers of the cynics. Yet the powers that once seemed absolute had already been disarmed. The cross had made a public spectacle of them.40 The schemes continued, but they proceeded from the malice of defeat.41
So the apostles returned to the temple courts and the ordinary houses. They did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.42 The blood that cleanses was continually offered— not as a judgment to be feared, but as the only thing that could make a guilty conscience clean.
The Spirit continued to bear witness and bring conviction. And the fellowship of believers kept moving outward, unstoppable— because it was of God— even to this very day.
This story has been adapted into a version for kids, which can be found here: A Story from Acts 5
Acts 5:41
Acts 4:17
Acts 4:29
Acts 4:35
Ref. Romans 12:4-5
Ref. Revelation 12:9, 20:2
Acts 5:2
Acts 5:3-4
Acts 5:5-6
Acts 5:7-8
Acts 5:9
Acts 5:10-11
Ref. John 8:44
Ref. 1 Samuel 15:10-23
Matthew 6:1-4
Ref. Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13
Acts 5:12-16
Acts 5:17-20
Acts 5:21
Acts 5:22-24
Acts 5:25-26
Acts 5:27-28
Ref. Hebrews 12:24
Hebrews 9:14
1 John 1:7
Ref. Revelation 1:5
Acts 5:29-32
Acts 5:33-34
Note: One of Gamaliel’s students, Saul of Tarsus, would later become the Apostle Paul (ref. Acts 22:3)
Acts 5:38-39
Acts 5:40
Acts 5:41
Acts 5:29
Ref. Hebrews 2:15
Acts 5:31
Hebrews 12:2
Ref. Luke 22:44
Hebrews 12:3 (NIV1984)
Ref. Matthew 5:10-12, Luke 6:22-23
Ref. Colossians 2:15 (NIV1984)
Ref. Revelation 12:12
Acts 5:42
(All Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible, unless otherwise specified)
The story continues here:
The Face of an Angel
In the early days of the gospel movement, the number of the disciples was steadily increasing— and with it the volume of practical needs. The fellowship had all things in common. Bread was broken together and food was received with glad and generous hearts.
Romans 8:31 KJV — What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
...
God used outsiders to give basic Truths. Balaam prophecy about the Messiah, ...
Numbers 24:17 KJV — I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
...
John 18:14 KJV — Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
...
1 Samuel 10:12 KJV — And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
Courage and love is the foundation, joy is the fuel, and faith is the catalyst to the good life with God.