“And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)”
My Notes
What Does Acts 5:14 Mean?
"And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." After the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-11) and the resulting fear that fell on the church (5:11), Luke records a paradoxical result: more people joined, not fewer. Multitudes — both men and women. The divine judgment that killed two members for lying didn't scare people away from the church. It attracted them. The holiness that seemed harsh produced growth that marketing couldn't.
The phrase "both of men and women" is Luke's note of gender inclusivity in the early church's growth. Women are explicitly counted among the new believers — a detail worth recording in a culture that often counted only men.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Would genuine holiness (including consequences for deception) attract or repel people from your community?
- 2.What does the growth after Ananias and Sapphira teach about what people are actually looking for in a faith community?
- 3.How does manufactured niceness compare to genuine holiness as a growth strategy?
- 4.Where does your community need more authenticity (even if it's uncomfortable) rather than more programs?
Devotional
Two people just died for lying to the Holy Spirit. Fear fell on the whole church. And then: more people joined. Multitudes. The holiness that killed produced the growth that programs couldn't.
Believers were the more added. Not despite the judgment. After the judgment. The sequence is deliberate: Ananias and Sapphira lie and die (v. 1-10). Fear falls on the church and everyone who heard (v. 11). And then — multitudes added. The same event that should have scared people away drew them in.
The holiness is the attraction. In a world of fake religion and compromised institutions, a community where God takes sin seriously enough to enforce consequences has a credibility that niceness alone can't produce. The death of Ananias and Sapphira proved the church wasn't just another religious club. Something was genuinely different here. Something real. Something dangerous. And people were drawn to the danger because the danger meant the presence was authentic.
Multitudes both of men and women. Luke counts the women. In a culture where crowd counts typically measured only men ("about five thousand men," 4:4), Luke specifies: women joined too. The early church's growth was gender-inclusive from the beginning — women were counted, valued, and included in the expanding community.
The growth pattern is counterintuitive by every modern strategy: you don't grow a church by demonstrating that God kills liars in your midst. You grow it by making people comfortable. Except the early church didn't try to grow at all. They just lived under genuine divine authority — and the genuineness attracted what programs couldn't.
The people who joined after Ananias and Sapphira were joining a community where honesty was non-negotiable and God was terrifyingly present. They weren't looking for comfortable religion. They were looking for real religion. And the deaths proved it was real.
Genuine holiness produces genuine growth. Manufactured niceness produces manufactured attendance. The early church had the first. And multitudes came.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And believers were the more added to the Lord,.... That is, to the church, as in Act 2:47 over which Christ was Lord and…
And believers - This is the name by which Christians were designated, because one of the main things that distinguished…
And believers were the more added to the Lord - Believers:
1. Those who credited the Divine mission of Christ.
2. That…
We have here an account of the progress of the gospel, notwithstanding this terrible judgment inflicted upon two…
And believers were the more added to the Lord In the Greek it is clearly seen that the words rendered to the Lordbelong…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture