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Acts 5:1-11 – Guess Their Names
Ironically, his name means “God is gracious.” Irony is found again in the meaning of her name – “beautiful.” Let’s see if you can figure out the real names and why this is ironical.
Both had been blessed by God financially. You could say that God had been very gracious to them. In fact, since they were Christians, they had been blessed by God’s grace spiritually too.
In their day, they were not the only people blessed by God both spiritually and financially. But there were plenty who had only received God’s grace spiritually, but not materially. There were some who were rich and many who were poor.
Many of those to whom God had been gracious to materially, offered a beautiful thing, they shared God’s physical gifts with those who possessed little except God’s spiritual gifts.
The man whose name means “God is gracious” and the woman whose name means “beautiful” likewise joined the others in choosing to be gracious by doing a beautiful thing in giving to their needy neighbors.
And yet the two then decided not to be gracious and did something very ugly. They lied. They had sold a piece of their property but kept to themselves the amount they had sold it for. Instead of being gracious, they were greedy. Instead of doing something beautiful, they did something ugly. Instead of following the godly examples of others, they allowed Satan to fill their hearts.
His name might mean “God is gracious,” and her name might mean “beautiful,” but both Ananias and Sapphira were anything but. They were greedy and ugly.
Are we living up to the name Christian?
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