Sharp practice in the ordinary commerce of life was as common then as now, but a higher standard of probity must prevail among the followers of Christ. Ananias, in the effort to gain a reputation for greater generosity than he had actually earned, tried to deceive the believing community, but in trying to deceive the community he was really trying to deceive the Holy Spirit, whose life-giving power had created the community and maintained it in being. So real was the apostles’ appreciation of the