Acts 5:3-4
Acts 5:3-4: 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 men but to God."
The issue. Trinitarians use Peter's question to Ananias as "proof"
that the Holy Spirit is a divine being. They say, "One cannot
sin against an attribute. One cannot lie to something that is not
sentient. Thus, the Holy Spirit must be a "person" within the Godhead."
But in their attempt to find "proof" for their theory, they
ignore the plain meaning of Peter's words and the overwhelming evidence
of other Scriptures.
When writing about the Holy Spirit, the apostles had no reservations
about interchangeably using verbs associated with things rather than
people. For example, Paul tells Timothy "to stir up the gift
of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God
has not given us a spirit of fear . . ." (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
We usually stir liquids and mixtures, not people. Several writers
use the verb "pour" to describe God's use of the Spirit
(see Proverbs 1:23; Isaiah 32:15; 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29; Joel 2:28-29;
Zechariah 12:10; Acts 2:17-18, 33). A person cannot be poured.
On the other hand, many verses show that the Holy Spirit "speaks,"
"tells," "declares," "convicts," "guides,"
"hears," and others. By themselves, these verbs can give
us no conclusive proof that the Holy Spirit is or is not a divine
being.
"lie to the Holy Spirit." To understand what Peter meant by "lie to the Holy Spirit,"
we must see if the context explains what he meant. At the end of Acts
5:4, Peter makes a parallel accusation: "You have not lied to
men but to God." "God" is translated from theos, the
general Greek word for deity. In the broadest sense, Peter accuses
Ananias of sinning against God (see Genesis 20:6; 39:9; Leviticus
6:2; Psalm 51:4).
When he speaks to Sapphira later on in the story, Peter repeats the
accusation in a slightly different way: "How is it that you have
agreed together to test [tempt, KJV] the Spirit of the Lord?"
(Acts 5:9). Here, Peter uses "Lord" from the Greek kurios,
meaning "master" or "lord." In this verse the
Holy Spirit is shown to be the possession of God.
Thus in these three parallel verses, Peter clarifies what he meant:
Ananias and Sapphira had tried to deceive God, who was present in
them and in the apostles by the power of His Spirit. Did they not
realize, Peter asks, that through His Spirit God knew not only what
they were doing, but also their hearts?
Reference: "Lying to the Holy Spirit" by Richard T. Ritenbaugh
