Acts 5:9-13 - Signs and wonders

5:9-11

Peter immediately rebukes her, and the focal point is not that she has tried to deceive men, but that she has sought to test the Spirit. The is an implicit indicator that the Spirit is a person. If we like to men we are doing as if God cannot see what we are doing and does not know the truth. Like her husband, she drops dead, and the text strongly implies that this is a supernatural death. She was then carried out and buried with her husband. Great fear came upon the church, and upon others. We worship a God who acts.

5:12-13

The apostles performed many signs and wonders. Solomon’s Portico was a covered walkway by the side of the temple. We are not told what the signs and wonders were. The people knew about the Ananias and Sapphira incident, and they were filled with fear. The apostles were apparently dangerous people to be amongst! We need to understand that what we need is the presence of God, and this will not always be attractive to people. It is difficult to be certain about what “the rest” means. Either verse 12 means just the apostles were in Solomon’s portico, or “the rest” means the non-disciples. The former seems unlikely, but the latter then does not seem to really fit with the verse 14.