Atos 5

ARC · Chapter 5/28

1E um certo varão chamado Ananias, com Saphira, sua mulher, vendeu uma propriedade;

2E reteve parte do preço, sabendo-o tambem sua mulher; e, trazendo uma parte d'elle, a depositou aos pés dos apostolos.

3Disse então Pedro: Ananias, porque encheu Satanás o teu coração, para que mentisses ao Espirito Sancto, e retivestes parte do preço da herdade?

4Guardando-a, não ficava para ti? E, vendida, não estava em teu poder? Porque formaste este designio em teu coração? Não mentiste aos homens, mas a Deus

5E Ananias, ouvindo estas palavras, caiu e expirou. E um grande temor veiu sobre todos os que isto ouviram.

6E, levantando-se os mancebos, pegaram d'elle, e, transportando-o para fóra, o sepultaram.

7E, passando um espaço quasi de tres horas, entrou tambem sua mulher, não sabendo o que havia acontecido.

8E disse-lhe Pedro: Dize-me, vendestes por tanto aquella herdade? E ella disse: Sim, por tanto.

9Porém Pedro lhe disse: Porque é que entre vós vos concertastes para tentar o Espirito do Senhor? Eis ahi á porta os pés dos que sepultaram a teu marido, e tambem te levarão a ti.

10E logo caiu aos seus pés, e expirou. E, entrando os mancebos, acharam-n'a morta, e a sepultaram junto de seu marido.

11E veiu um grande temor a toda a egreja, e a todos os que ouviram estas coisas.

12E muitos signaes e prodigios eram feitos entre o povo pelas mãos dos apostolos. E estavam todos unanimes no alpendre de Salomão.

13E dos outros ninguem ousava ajuntar-se com elles: mas o povo tinha-os em grande estima.

14E a multidão dos que criam no Senhor, tanto homens como mulheres, crescia mais e mais.

15De sorte que transportavam os enfermos para as ruas, e os punham em leitos e em camilhas para que a sombra de Pedro, quando passasse, cobrisse alguns d'elles.

16E até das cidades circumvisinhas concorria a multidão a Jerusalem, conduzindo enfermos e atormentados de espiritos immundos; os quaes todos eram curados.

17E, levantando-se o summo sacerdote, e todos os que estavam com elle (que era a seita dos sadduceos), encheram-se de inveja,

18E lançaram mão dos apostolos, e os pozeram na prisão publica.

19Mas de noite um anjo do Senhor abriu as portas da prisão, e, tirando-os para fóra, disse:

20Ide apresentar-vos no templo, e dizei ao povo todas as palavras d'esta vida.

21E, ouvindo elles isto, entraram de manhã cedo no templo, e ensinavam. Chegando, porém, o summo sacerdote e os que estavam com elle, convocaram o conselho, e a todos os anciãos dos filhos d'Israel, e enviaram ao carcere, para que de lá os trouxessem.

22Mas, tendo lá chegado os servidores, não os acharam na prisão, e, voltando, lh'o annunciaram,

23Dizendo: Achámos realmente o carcere fechado, com toda a segurança, e os guardas, que estavam fóra, diante das portas; mas, quando abrimos, ninguem achámos dentro.

24Então o capitão do templo e os principaes dos sacerdotes, ouvindo estas palavras, estavam perplexos ácerca do que viria a ser aquillo.

25E, chegando um, annunciou-lhes, dizendo: Eis que os homens que encerrastes na prisão estão no templo e ensinam ao povo.

26Então foi o capitão com os servidores, e os trouxe, não com violencia (porque temiam ser apedrejados pelo povo).

27E, trazendo-os, os apresentaram ao conselho. E o summo sacerdote os interrogou, dizendo:

28Não vos admoestámos nós expressamente que não ensinasseis n'esse nome? E eis que já enchestes Jerusalem d'essa vossa doutrina, e quereis trazer sobre nós o sangue d'esse homem

29Porém, respondendo Pedro e os apostolos, disseram: Mais importa obedecer a Deus do que aos homens.

30O Deus de nossos paes resuscitou a Jesus, ao qual vós matastes suspendendo-o no madeiro.

31Deus com a sua dextra o elevou a Principe e Salvador, para dar a Israel o arrependimento e remissão dos peccados.

32E nós somos testemunhas ácerca d'estas palavras, e tambem o Espirito Sancto, que Deus deu áquelles que lhe obedecem.

33E, ouvindo elles isto, se enfureciam, e deliberaram matal-os.

34Mas, levantando-se no conselho um certo phariseo, chamado Gamaliel, doutor da lei, venerado por todo o povo, mandou que por um pouco levassem para fóra os apostolos;

35E disse-lhes: Varões israelitas, acautelae-vos, emquanto ao que haveis de fazer ácerca d'esses homens.

36Porque antes d'estes dias levantou-se Theudas, dizendo ser alguem: d'este se acercou o numero de uns quatrocentos homens; o qual foi morto, e todos os que lhe deram ouvidos foram dispersos e reduzidos a nada.

37Depois d'este levantou-se Judas, o galileo, nos dias do alistamento, e levou muito povo após si; e tambem este pereceu, e todos os que lhe deram ouvidos foram dispersos.

38E agora digo-vos: Dae de mão a estes homens, e deixae-os, porque, se esse designio, ou essa obra, é de homens, se desfará,

39Mas, se é de Deus, não podereis desfazel-a; para que não aconteça serdes tambem achados combatendo contra Deus.

40E concordaram com elle. E, chamando os apostolos, e tendo-os açoitado, mandaram que não fallassem no nome de Jesus, e os deixaram ir.

41Retiraram-se pois da presença do conselho, rogozijando-se de terem sido julgados dignos de padecer affronta pelo nome de Jesus.

42E todos os dias, no templo e nas casas, não cessavam de ensinar, e de annunciar a Jesus Christo.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Ananias and Sapphira lie about a donation and suddenly die before the community. The apostles continue healing multitudes, are arrested, freed by an angel, and defended by the respected teacher Gamaliel.

Explanation

The episode of Ananias and Sapphira is one of the harshest in the New Testament: the sin wasn't keeping back part of the money (that was allowed), but lying by pretending total generosity before God and the community. It's a warning about the seriousness of integrity in the life of the young church. Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee, advises caution with practical reasoning: if the movement is of human origin, it will fall apart on its own; if it's from God, no one can stop it — a principle that still helps distinguish passing fads from genuine movements today.

Fun facts

  • Gamaliel was one of the most respected rabbis of his time, grandson of the famous Hillel, and would later be cited as the teacher of the apostle Paul himself (Acts 22:3).
  • Theudas and Judas the Galilean, mentioned by Gamaliel, are also cited by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus as leaders of real revolts against Rome in the first century, confirming the historical backdrop of the account.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Atos 5:1Ananias and Sapphira appear right after the example of Barnabas, who had sold a piece of land and handed over everything to the apostles; the couple follows the same gesture, but in a different way, as seen next.
  2. Atos 5:2Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land and handed over only part of the money, pretending it was the whole amount. The problem was not keeping part for themselves, since the money was theirs to do with as they pleased—it was lying by pretending they had given all of it.
  3. Atos 5:3Saying that Satan filled Ananias’ heart is an expression describing someone giving in to a strong temptation—in this case, wanting to appear generous without really paying the price; it is not a statement about possession in the modern sense.
  4. Atos 5:4Peter makes clear that the problem was never keeping part of the money: before selling, the property was theirs, and after it was sold, the money was still theirs to do with as they pleased. The sin was lying by pretending they had donated the entire amount.
  5. Atos 5:5The sudden death of Ananias, and later of Sapphira, is one of the harshest episodes in the book. The text links the lie to the Holy Spirit with an immediate consequence, but does not explain the mechanism, only records the fear this produced in the community.
  6. Atos 5:6Ananias’ burial happens right away, carried out by young men from the community itself, without the usual time for mourning or notifying the family—a detail that shows the shock and urgency of the scene.
  7. Atos 5:7Sapphira comes in about three hours later, not knowing that her husband had already died and been buried while she was out.
  8. Atos 5:8Peter gives Sapphira the chance to tell the truth, asking her directly whether that was the full amount for which they had sold the property.
  9. Atos 5:9Peter realizes the couple had agreed on the lie together, and announces that the same young men who buried Ananias are ready at the door to carry her out as well.
  10. Atos 5:10Sapphira dies just as suddenly as her husband and is buried beside him, closing out the harshest episode in the early part of the book of Acts.
  11. Atos 5:11The fear that takes hold of the church after this episode helps explain why no one else tried to deceive the community by treating it lightly.
  12. Atos 5:12Solomon’s porch is the same place from chapter 3, a fixed meeting spot for Christians within the temple. It shows that at this early stage they still saw themselves as part of ordinary Jewish religious life, not as a separate group.
  13. Atos 5:13Despite the popular respect for the apostles, no outsider dared to join the group on their own, a mix of admiration and caution after the episode with Ananias and Sapphira.
  14. Atos 5:14Even with that fear, the number of believers kept growing, including both men and women, a detail Luke records more than once in Acts.
  15. Atos 5:15The text records the popular belief that even Peter’s shadow had healing power, without confirming or denying that it actually worked that way. It is similar to a later episode in which cloths touched by Paul heal people.
  16. Atos 5:16The apostles’ fame was no longer limited to Jerusalem: people from neighboring towns brought the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits, and the text states that all of them were healed.
  17. Atos 5:17The high priest and the Sadducees, the religious group that had already arrested the apostles before, act out of envy at their growing success and popularity among the people.
  18. Atos 5:18The apostles are arrested again, this time placed in the common public prison, not just held for a day as the first time.
  19. Atos 5:19An angel opens the prison doors during the night and personally sets them free, a miracle that contrasts with the human attempt to silence their preaching.
  20. Atos 5:20The angel’s instruction is clear: go back to the temple and keep preaching openly, the most public and closely watched place possible—the opposite of hiding.
  21. Atos 5:21The apostles obey right away, going to teach early in the morning, while the religious authorities gather without knowing the prison was already empty.
  22. Atos 5:22The officers sent to fetch the apostles come back empty-handed, finding the jail with no one inside.
  23. Atos 5:23The guards’ report is the strangest detail: the prison was locked and normally guarded from outside, but inside there was no one, reinforcing the miraculous nature of the escape.
  24. Atos 5:24The authorities are left not understanding what is happening, already worried about the consequences of having lost prisoners in such an inexplicable way.
  25. Atos 5:25The confusion grows when someone arrives to report that the very men who had been imprisoned are, in fact, teaching openly in the temple.
  26. Atos 5:26The captain of the temple has to fetch the apostles carefully, without violence, fearing that the people, who admired them, might react by stoning the soldiers themselves.
  27. Atos 5:27Brought back before the council, the apostles face the high priest for the second time, the same kind of formal interrogation as before.
  28. Atos 5:28The high priest complains that the earlier ban was completely ignored, and further accuses the apostles of wanting to bring Jesus’ blood upon the council.
  29. Atos 5:29The apostles’ answer sums up the chapter’s central conflict: when a human authority’s order contradicts what they understand to be God’s command, they choose to obey God.
  30. Atos 5:30Peter repeats the direct accusation against the council, saying that it was God who raised up the very man they killed by “hanging him on a tree,” an expression for crucifixion.
  31. Atos 5:31Peter describes Jesus as exalted by God to be “a Prince and a Saviour,” with the specific role of bringing Israel the chance of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
  32. Atos 5:32Peter presents two witnesses of the resurrection: the apostles themselves, who saw the events, and the Holy Spirit, given by God to those who obey Him.
  33. Atos 5:33The council’s reaction is one of extreme fury, to the point of planning to kill the apostles right there, before the intervention that follows.
  34. Atos 5:34“Gamaliel” was a respected Pharisee and, according to Jewish tradition, Paul’s own teacher. His pragmatic advice to wait and see saved the apostles’ lives at that moment.
  35. Atos 5:35Gamaliel asks the council to think calmly before acting against the apostles, avoiding a hasty decision made only out of the anger of the moment.
  36. Atos 5:36Gamaliel cites the example of Theudas, a leader who gathered about four hundred followers by claiming to be somebody important, but who was killed, and whose movement fell apart on its own afterward.
  37. Atos 5:37The reference to Judas the Galilean recalls an armed Jewish revolt against a Roman census, years before. Gamaliel cites him and another failed leader as examples of movements that died out on their own when they were merely human affairs.
  38. Atos 5:38Gamaliel’s practical advice is simple: do not interfere; if the apostles’ movement is merely of human origin, it will fall apart on its own, as happened with Theudas and Judas.
  39. Atos 5:39But if it is of God, Gamaliel warns, nothing the council does will be able to stop it, and they risk ending up fighting against God Himself without realizing it.
  40. Atos 5:40The council partially accepts Gamaliel’s advice: it does not kill the apostles, but still has them beaten before releasing them, repeating the order not to speak in the name of Jesus.
  41. Atos 5:41Instead of leaving humiliated, the apostles leave rejoicing, regarding the physical punishment as an honor for suffering something in the name of Jesus.
  42. Atos 5:42Despite the official ban, the apostles keep preaching every day, both in the temple and from house to house, not stopping because of the threat.

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