Lying to the Holy Spirit

Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”
–Acts 5:3

Theologian Lewis Sperry Chafer said that God cannot treat a Christian’s sin lightly. “It may be a secret sin on earth,” he wrote, “but it is open scandal in heaven.” We see this in the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. They lied about how much money they had given to the church from the sale of their land. In verse 3, Peter confronted Ananias: “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?”

Peter said Satan had filled Ananias’s heart. Now, if you’re a Christian, you cannot be possessed by Satan. Ephesians 1:13–14 says you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit as “God’s own possession.” Christians cannot be owned by demons, but they can be influenced by demons. In fact, a few months earlier, Peter himself had been influenced by Satan. When Jesus told His disciples that He was going to suffer and be killed, Peter said there had to be another way. Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). Peter allowed himself to be used by Satan as a stumbling block. In Acts 5, Peter accused Ananias of being similarly influenced by Satan.

Then Peter continued, “Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God” (v. 4). When you lie to another Christian, you’re lying to the Holy Spirit who indwells that Christian. So to lie to another Christian is the same as lying to God.

Notice how Ananias’s sin was judged: “As he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last” (v. 5). Three hours later, Sapphira came to the church, not knowing what had happened to her husband. When Peter asked her about the sale of their property, she lied too–and the same judgment came upon her. In the greatest understatement in the New Testament, Luke concluded, “Great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things” (v. 11).

God does not treat our sin lightly. That’s why it is important that we allow every area of our lives to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that Satan cannot gain a foothold.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Sin in the Church,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2021.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. 5, Christology (Dallas Seminary Press, 1948), 277.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.