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Acts 5:3-4 (ESV):

3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

Did Ananias lie to the Holy Spirit (v3), God (v4) or both? Or should we rather understand Peter's words as implying that God and the Holy Spirit are one and the same?

Related questions

  • Simple answer, The Holy Spirit, who is also God. – Adam May 01 '21 at 18:12
  • This is a "have you stopped beating your wife" question. It assumes that the Holy Spirit is distinct from God rather than providing for the possibility they are two names for the same entity. – Dottard May 01 '21 at 21:23
  • @Dottard exactly. Verse 4 is actually affirming that the Holy Spirit IS God. Seems a strange question to ask from a passage that is a classic affirmation of the trinity. – Adam May 01 '21 at 21:48
  • "classic affirmation of the trinity" Does this verse say or expressly state the doctrine of the trinity? Can you please cite a verse where the trinity is plainly and unequivocally stated? Is this verse's subject about the trinity? When David said in 2 Samuel 12:9-13 that he sinned against God, did he not sin against Uriah? Aren't all sins against God? When Joseph told Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39:9 that he will be snning against God if he sleeps with Potiphar's wife, would that mean Potiphar is God? Is it not a sin against Potiphar's wife and Potiphar if he sleeps with Potiphar's wife? – Alex Balilo May 04 '21 at 02:49
  • @Spirit Realm Investigator It is the same to ask: "In a sentence: 'Wow, dear Robert, you are going to visit Rome! That means you are going to visit not an ordinary city, but the Eternal City', is Robert going to visit Rome, or the Eternal City, or both?" – Levan Gigineishvili Feb 18 '22 at 19:26

6 Answers6

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This is a question about understanding the scriptures. The HS is the spirit of God not another person in a trinity. If the HS is another person then Jesus has two fathers.

Matthew 1:18

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

2 Corinthians 1:3

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

agarza
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Bertrand Gloudon
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    Welcome to Bible Hermeneutics SE and thank you for your contribution. When you get a chance, please take the [tour] to understand how the site works and how it is different than others. – agarza Feb 18 '22 at 14:01
  • @Bertrand Gloudon I don’t see how you made you’re case that the Holy Spirit doesn’t belong to the Trinity. You also didn’t exegete Acts 5:3-4, so how does that make your case to assert that Jesus being a child of the Holy Spirit thus invalidates the Spirit being of the same nature as God? – Cork88 Jun 21 '22 at 19:00
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The contrast between "man" and "God" here is the same as that between "man" and God" in Galatians 1:1:

Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by [a] man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead

The difference between receiving apostleship from a fellow man, and from receiving from Jesus Christ who is "God" who "made his dwelling among us" (John 1:1, 14), is that between man and God pure and simple; if Jesus is only a man, then Paul received his mission and apostleship from man, or from men, but if He receives it from Jesus, as recorded in Acts, He receives it from the Christ, who is "of the seed of David, as to the flesh, but aforetime declared the Son of God in power, as to the Holy Ghost" (Romans 1:3-4).

Namely,

Acts 5:4 Whilst it remained, did it not remain to thee? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied to men, but to God.

Ananias 'did not lie to men but to God,' because he lied to Holy Spirit who is God (the Spirit of God, and not the Father or the Son) according to the New Testament.

Sola Gratia
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To lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie to God. The text itself states that fact very clearly. But when you go on to ask, “Are God and the Holy Spirit one and the same?” you fail to state one ‘what’. One Person? One Being? One God? Until this ambiguity is clarified, the question is incomplete.

However, mainstream Christianity maintains that there is one Being of God, subsisting in three uncreated, co-equal personalities known to us in scripture as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Holy Spirit, nor is the Holy Spirit the Father, neither is the Son either the Father or the Holy Spirit. Yet all three constitute the one, Almighty God, who alone is to be worshipped. That is mainstream Christian teaching, which shows the need to be clear by what you mean when you ask, “one and the same” – one and the same ‘what’?

Anne
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  • This answer is based more on eisegesis than hermeneutics. The "Son" died, so do you believe these three "personalities" are not co-immortal? And if they are not co-immortal, how can they be "co-equal"? Furthermore, if they are "one Being," how does one-third of a being die? The Bible does not support such a manner of reasoning. A hermeneutical answer needs scriptural explanation, not merely the presentation of opinion. – Polyhat May 02 '21 at 15:47
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    @Anne - being ontologically rigorous with what is meant by 'what' can be quite complicated. –  May 02 '21 at 15:54
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    @SpiritRealmInvestigator Tell me about it! (Smiles). – Anne May 03 '21 at 08:15
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    @Polyhat All these questions you ask go beyond the initial Q of the OP. But as he ended his comments with a further Q, I would suggest that has already been delved into deeply on this site many times, so reference could be made to those. I won't enter into a debate here about the latter issues as I was just sticking to the initial Q. I believe the text itself clearly answers, that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, which was equally to lie to God. I quoted Christian scholars in that definition of the One Being of God subsisting in 3 personalities. This is common knowledge even if some disagree. – Anne May 03 '21 at 08:20
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1 Corinthians 2:11

For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Did Ananias lie to the Holy Spirit (v3), God (v4) or both?

Both.

Should we rather understand Peter's words as implying that God and the Holy Spirit are one and the same?

With respect to the Ananias incident, Peter thought that God and the Holy Spirit were the same. They shared the same knowledge and were offended by Ananias.

  • There is a problem using only 1Cor... Jesus in his ministry said He was the image of the father and that he knows the fathers will, and that no one comes to the father except through Him. So in that we have a conflict that needs explaining here. – Adam May 01 '21 at 18:17
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    Can you show me exactly the two propositions that conflict? –  May 01 '21 at 18:21
  • @Adam - can you answer Tony's question? I'm interested in knowing the answer too. –  May 02 '21 at 18:58
  • You should be able to answer the question of conflict yourself. Read the two quoted texts and it's rather simple...the Triune Godhead explains it. The Trinity is a doctrine based on rational logical thinking. Anyone who doesn't do that will struggle with such a doctrine and then things like this question popup. – Adam May 02 '21 at 21:27
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    @Adam "Rational logical thinking": You mean the kind that says 1+1+1 = 1 ? – Polyhat May 03 '21 at 00:30
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Ananias lied to God, who is also identified as the Holy Spirit. According to the Bible, there is only one God: the Father.

"But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Corinthians 8:6)

Jesus himself says as much (see John 17:1-3). And Jesus says that God is a spirit.

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)

The scriptures of Jesus' time made plain that God is holy:

"For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:..." (Isaiah 43:3)

Note that this also declares that God is "One."

Naturally, if "God is a Spirit" and God is "the Holy One," then God is a Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God.

"Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy." (Leviticus 19:2)

Ananias and Sapphira thought they were concealing something from their church brethren, when in reality they were lying to God--who knows everything and who saw fit to reveal the matter to the church lest others do similarly. They were made to be examples to the others so that all would reverence God and fear to sin so boldly against Him.

Polyhat
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  • -1 it doesn't answer the question – Adam May 01 '21 at 18:12
  • I agree - this is a rant that does not answer the question. – Dottard May 01 '21 at 21:20
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    @Dottard The question asked if it were the Holy Spirit or God; and this answers it saying that they are one and the same, giving Biblical support to the definition. How does that fail of answering the question, and why would one consider it a "rant"? – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 21:26
  • @Dottard I did not ask the question, and do not have moderator abilities to edit it. – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 21:29
  • Sorry - my mistake - I should have said - editing the answer. – Dottard May 01 '21 at 21:33
  • @Dottard Well, I've tried to clarify the answer. The problem is that saying "God" or "Holy Spirit" or even "both" all tend to lead the reader to an incorrect conclusion in thinking of them as separate entities, when in fact they are not. This makes the answer difficult, given the wording of the question. – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 21:45
  • @Polyhat this text is a validation of the trinitarian view...there are three individuals that make up God. The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. People who dissagree with the trinitarian view ignore texts such as this one in Acts because this is one of the places where the Holy Spirit is clearly defined as God. We already know from doubting Thomas in the upper room after the resurection that Jesus is God (thomas fell at Jesus feet saying "My Lord and My God"), and there is no argument from anyone that The Father is God. The picture is complete with this passage in Acts. – Adam May 01 '21 at 21:52
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    @Adam The Trinity is a doctrine that first came into being at the council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. None of the Biblical authors believed it. Notice that in Matthew 28:19, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Spirit) are all ascribed one "name": What is that name? It is "Jesus." One has only to see how the disciples fulfilled this command. (See Acts 2:38; 8:12,16; 10:48; etc.) The Bible is plain that "God is one" (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29, etc.). The word for God in Greek, Theos, is always singular, never plural. – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 21:59
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    @Polyhat - your assertion "The Trinity is a doctrine that first came into being at the council of Nicaea in A.D. 325." is not true and often made by people trying to discredit the trinity doctrine. Matt 28:19 is the great trinity proof text. Question to you - what do you think of Jesus, was He God or not? – Dottard May 01 '21 at 22:29
  • @Dottard Jesus was a human being possessed by God. See Prov. 8:22. If Jesus were only God, then you have hermeneutical problems, for the Bible must contradict itself. Compare, e.g. James 1:13 with Matthew 4. It's my understanding that this is a site focused on hermeneutics, not eisegesis. That being the case, the Trinity can have no standing here, for even the word itself makes no appearance in all of Sacred Writ. The Bible makes no mention of Trinitarian vocabulary such as coeval, coeternal, etc. If Jesus were God, and God is immortal, how would he have died? Only humanity died. – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 22:39
  • The problem with Prov 8:22 is that the verse is talking about WISDOM and NOT Jesus. Trinitarians do NOT say Jesus was either only God or only human - He was both. Agree with your last sentence. – Dottard May 01 '21 at 22:45
  • @Dottard If Jesus was both God and human, as you say, then was humanity God? Was God human? Or did the two entities remain distinct? According to the Bible, only the latter option can be supported. If, then, they are distinct from each other, there is still only one God-being involved: humanity does not create a new God-being. Jesus, in John 14, is clear that the Father (God) was in him. This agrees with Prov. 8:22, although you wish to interpret it rather narrowly. – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 22:48
  • @Polyhat - this is NOT the place to debate different theological positions. You are an Arian - wear that badge with pride but do not try to convince others. Here we seek to understand the message of the Bible as we find it. Of the hundreds of people on this site, no two would fully agree but that does not prevent productive, rational, courteous discussion of these Bible messages from helpful different points of view. – Dottard May 01 '21 at 22:56
  • @Dottard If you consider that I have not been "productive, rational, courteous" here, please accept my sincerest apologies, for I intend to be all of those. I didn't come here for debate, and am a little surprised to encounter it. – Polyhat May 01 '21 at 22:59
  • @Polyhat - I did not suggest you had not been discourteous, etc. Just that you post appeared to be off topic by supporting a theological position. – Dottard May 01 '21 at 23:06
  • @Polyhat I am happy for rigorous debate. When people are passionate about their philosophy it steams from deep held beliefs...even if those beliefs may be wrong, to the person, they form a basis for who one is. It's a big deal to alter ones views, it requires change and change requires a philosophical version of conflict. I personally am here to learn, affirm or deny my beliefs. That is important. Absolutely the Trinity is not a Nicene Creed view.. Jesus for example applied it fundamentally himself when teaching how to pray in The Lords Prayer (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) – Adam May 02 '21 at 21:18
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It is possible that he lied to the entire Trinity as laid out in John 14:16, since that is Jesus's strong language explaining the Trinity, and thus a likely basis for such serious action in Acts.

John 14:16 (NASB)

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever;

Jesse
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