What Sin Caused God To Take The Lives of Ananias and Sapphira?

I have a question. What did Ananias and his wife Sapphira do in Acts 5:3-4 that would cause God to take their lives so quickly? I have always considered this to be blaspheming. Am I wrong? It couldn’t be because they lied; I know we would all be dead. The Holy Spirit had led them to sell their property so that it could be shared by all and out of greed (representative of the acts of sin through Satan) they thought they knew better than God of where that money should be allocated. I believe they promised the whole amount to share among all and then reneged on that promise. Matthew 5:33-36 It is better not to promise anything and then if the spirit leads then to share or as Christ put it not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing (not giving Satan a foothold into the decision) Matthew 6:3-4.

Excerpt From The Answer

The Holy Spirit knows our hearts and intentions. We often differentiate within the Trinitarian Godhead, that the Holy Spirit is someone different. The Holy Spirit is God. He’s the Spirit of Christ and He indwells the believer and nothing we do is beyond His gaze. It’s hard to nuance our hearts and motives, but most Christians don’t understand that sin begins in our hearts. In Matthew 5-8, Jesus explains that looking at someone with lust in your heart is still committing adultery. 

So the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is wonderful news but the believer has to respond to conviction. This is a sobering passage. God most likely won’t strike us down for being deceptive, but we are commanded to submit to the control of The Holy Spirit. We need God’s word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people to keep us from the temptation to fall off the rails.

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