Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 5:1

"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession," — Acts 5:1 (ASV)

The details of the conspiracy are concisely stated. A certain Christian man named Ananias (meaning “God is gracious” in Hebrew) and his wife, Sapphira (meaning “beautiful” in Aramaic), wanted to enjoy the acclaim of the church as Barnabas had, but without making a genuine sacrifice. So they too sold a piece of real estate and pretended to give the full price to the apostles for distribution to the needy, though they conspired to keep back part of the money for themselves. Luke’s language here seems to draw a parallel between the sin of Achan just as the Israelites began their conquest of Canaan (see Jos 7) and the sin of Ananias and Sapphira as the church began its mission; both incidents come under the immediate and drastic judgment of God and teach the people a sobering lesson. This is very likely how the early church saw the incident as well.