After  the  failure  of  these  two  attempts  to  silence  the
apostles,  their  work  seems  to  have  gone  forward  for  a
season  without  opposition  and  with  increasing  success
(5:  41;  6:7).  The  attacks  upon  it  bv  the  Sadducees,
who  were  not  popular,  would  be  a  recommendation  of
it  to  most  of  the  Jews.  But  while  enemies  without  the
church  were  striving  vainly  to  check  its  gi'owth,  more
subtle  enemies  within  were  threatening  its  spiritual
life.  That  life  demanded  constant  recognition  of  the
Holy  Spirit  and  obedience  to  His  promptings;  and
these  high  requirements  were  as  yet  imperfectly
realized;  the  very  existence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  a
new  teaching  (cf.  19:2).  Two  prominent  members
of  the  church,  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  thought  they
could  succeed  without  detection  in  an  attempt  to  serve
both  God  and  mammon,  and  might  gain  the  credit  of
complete  consecration  at  the  cost  of  a  lie  to  the  apos-
tles. Envious  of  the  reputation  Barnabas  had  won  by
his  generosity,  they  too  sold  a  field  and  brought  the
money  to  the  apostles, — ^but  only  a  part  of  it,  though
they  professed  to  bring  the  whole.  The  deceit  was
quickly  discovered,  and  was  denounced  by  Peter
sternly  as  a  lie  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  not  merely  to
men.  In  this  day  of  beginnings,  when  the  dispensa-
tion of  the  Spirit  was  still  new  to  all,  there  must  be
no  relaxing  of  ethics,  and  no  encouragement  to  believe
that  emotion  may  serve  as  a  substitute  for  holiness.
