lie to the Holy Ghost
Acts 5:3
5:3 lie to the Holy Ghost. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not greed, for they did give a substantial gift to the church. Rather it was pride, desiring the praise of others in the church, and lying, in order to gain that prestige. Even so, it might not seem to be such a crime as to warrant immediate death. The judgment, however, came from God, not Peter, and was accomplished by providential miracle. In this very first church of our church age, it was absolutely vital that hypocrisy not gain a foothold and set a dangerous precedent. Consequently, it was expeditious in God’s eyes, for Him to enact His judgment of death on sin speedily (Romans 6:23) in this case.