Hypocrisy: A Weapon of Satan
The first recorded satanic attack against the church in the book of Acts came in the form of external persecution—the political and religious leaders threatened the apostles, commanding them to stop preaching the name of Jesus.
But no sooner had the apostles been delivered from this assault than Satan struck again—this time from within.
Ananias and Sapphira allowed Satan to “fill their hearts” so that they might lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). Concerning this, John Calvin wrote:
“Satan invented a plot to get into that holy company… under color of such excellent virtue; for he has wonderful wiles of hypocrisy to insinuate himself. Satan assaults the Church in this way, when he cannot prevail by open war.”
This is a trumpet call for us to watch over our own hearts. Satan’s goal is clear: pervert the church, and you lose the Gospel.
Eric Alexander put it well:
“Ananias and Sapphira’s sin was in pretending to a godliness to which they were strangers. Their sin was in being more interested in reputation than in reality. That was like a dreadful blight that could have killed the early church. So God rooted it out vigorously.”
God took them out of the church because Satan had filled their hearts to corrupt it.
