ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Acts 5

Acts 5:2 The couple kept back . . . some of the proceeds. “Kept back” means in a secret and dishonest way.

Acts 5:3 Satan “filled” their hearts just as the Spirit had “filled” the community for witness (4:31). Ananias must have claimed that he was giving all the money to the Lord’s work. His sin was the lie, claiming to be doing more than he did.

Acts 5:4 Ananias did not have to give anything to the church. Peter accused Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit (v. 3). Here he says that he has lied . . . to God, showing that the Holy Spirit is a person and that he is divine.

Acts 5:5 great fear. Fear of the Lord is a common theme in Acts. It refers either to fear as godly awe, reverence, and devotion (as in 2:43; 10:2; 13:26) or fear of God’s displeasure and fatherly discipline (as in 5:5; 11; 16:29; 19:17; see also Heb. 12:7–10).

Acts 5:9 Peter accused Sapphira of testing the Spirit, an expression that echoes OT passages about testing the Lord (compare Ex. 17:2; Deut. 6:16). This is another indication of the Spirit’s deity (see note on Acts 5:4).

Acts 5:10 The text does not specify whether Ananias and Sapphira were “false” believers or if they truly belonged to the Lord despite their obvious sin.

Acts 5:12 The Christians had prayed for God to grant them the power to perform signs and wonders (see 4:30). This was mightily fulfilled through the apostles, especially in the events taking place in Solomon’s Portico, where the believers often witnessed.

Acts 5:13 None of the rest dared join them. Some take “them” to refer to “the whole church” in v. 13, and “they” in v. 12 to refer to all the believers. Others understand “them” in v. 12 and “they” in v. 13 to be the apostles.

Acts 5:15 his shadow might fall on some of them. The Holy Spirit was so powerful in and around Peter that those who came near him experienced healing (compare 19:12).

Acts 5:17 filled with jealousy. These Sadducees were “jealous” to keep their own influence and power (compare 7:9; 13:45; 17:5).

Acts 5:20 words of this Life. Words of salvation and eternal life. Early Christianity may have been called “the Life” as well as “the Way” (see note on 9:1–2).

Acts 5:21 It was daybreak, and a crowd would be gathering at the temple for the morning sacrifices. council, all the senate. The Sanhedrin.

Acts 5:30 hanging him on a tree. See note on 10:39; see also Deut. 21:22–23.

Acts 5:34 Gamaliel, the most prominent rabbi of his day, was Paul’s teacher (22:3). He belonged to the Pharisaic minority on the Sanhedrin, but had considerable influence.

Acts 5:36–37 Gamaliel cited two examples of failed movements. The first was a revolutionary named Theudas, and the second Judas the Galilean, who is said to have come “after him.” Judas the Galilean is well known. He led a tax revolt in a.d. 6. Although there is no other historical record of “Theudas,” he was probably a leader of a revolt following the death of Herod the Great in 4 b.c.

Acts 5:40 This time the Sanhedrin enforced their command by beating the apostles. The text does not say whether it was with the maximum of 39 stripes prescribed by Jewish law (see 2 Cor. 11:24) or with fewer stripes.