The account of Ananias and Sapphira has often provoked incomprehension. At first sight, one might think that their fault consisted in not having given the entire proceeds of the sale of their property. Yet Peter clearly points out that nothing obliged them to sell this property or to hand over the whole sum to the apostles (Acts 5.4). The property belonged to them, and they were free to dispose of it as they wished.
The couple's real crime lay elsewhere. Ananias and Sapphira had decided, by common agreement, to secretly keep back part of the proceeds of the sale while letting it be believed that they had given everything (Acts 5.2). They were thus seeking the regard and esteem aroused by the acts of generosity performed by certain believers, notably Barnabas (Acts 4.36-37), without being willing to make the same sacrifice.
Their sin was therefore above all a sin of hypocrisy. They wanted to appear more generous than they really were. This attitude recalls Jesus' warnings against those who performed their pious works in order to be seen by men (Matthew 6.1-2), as well as his rebukes addressed to the who valued outward appearances at the expense of inner sincerity (Matthew 23.27-28).
Peter, however, goes further. He declares that Ananias let Satan fill his heart so as to lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5.3). This lie was therefore aimed not only at the apostles or the Christian community, but at God himself. Peter states precisely:
“You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5.4).
This declaration is one of the most explicit statements in the New Testament about the deity of the Holy Spirit. To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God.
The sin of Ananias and Sapphira thus appears as a combination of hypocrisy, lying and the pursuit of appearances. They wished to enjoy the prestige attached to generosity without possessing the sincerity that was to accompany it. Their attitude reveals that the Christian life cannot be reduced to outward behavior; it demands above all truth of the heart before God (Psalms 51.6).