Third Book: On the New Testament #

Augustinus Hibernicus (655AD)

Chapter 1: The Vision of Zechariah and the Birth of John the Baptist #

¹ In the forty-first year of the reign of Octavian Augustus Caesar, Zachariah, a priest of the division of Abijah, was serving in the temple, offering the incense sacrifice according to his order. As he carried out his duties, the angel Gabriel, one of those who stand in the presence of the Lord, appeared to him with a swift message from God. The angel declared, “Your wife, Elizabeth, who has been barren until now and is advanced in years, will conceive a son. You shall name him John, and he will be a prophet of the Most High, preparing the way before Him.”

² However, Zachariah, doubting in his heart and hesitant to believe, responded, “How can this be? I am an old man, and my wife has grown too advanced in age for childbearing.” But The angel, undeterred by his hesitation, did not revoke the divine message. Instead, so that God’s word might be fulfilled, he struck Zachariah mute as a sign of his disbelief. The priest remained speechless until the child’s birth, at which point his tongue was loosed. When he wrote the child’s name, he declared, “His name is John”.

³ By divine providence, John later became a living example of repentance through his way of life—his food, clothing, and dwelling all testifying to his mission. As he preached repentance, he bore witness to the call first given to his father at the time of his conception, a call imposed by the angel and sustained until the day of his birth.

Chapter 2: On the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Birth from the Virgin Mary #

¹ The angel of the Lord was sent to Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph, of the lineage of David, and delivered this message to her. By the power of the Holy Spirit, she was to conceive and bear a son without union with a man. He said to her: “The child who will be born, foretold by all the prophets, will be great before the Lord, and in the mouths of all who believe, He will forever be called the Son of the Most High. To Him, the Lord God will give the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will have no end”.

² Rejoicing at these words and filled with faith, the Virgin consented without any hesitation, neither doubting nor disobeying. However, Joseph, her husband, seeing that her womb was swelling—though he had never known her—was troubled in his heart. But so that he would not be distressed by these thoughts, the same angel appeared to him and reassured him about the child conceived and soon to be born, and instructed him to take the Virgin as his wife.

³ Then, when the time was fulfilled, the Virgin gave birth to the Son whom she had conceived without the seed of man and without the pleasure of the flesh, and she bore Him without any harm to her virginity. In this matter, although the work was accomplished outside the usual order of human conception—without the seed of a man—it was not contrary to nature that the substance of flesh taken from the womb of a woman was truly born. He, who by nature assumed nature in a natural way, received true human flesh, entire and whole, though without the sinful afflictions of human passions, through the cooperation of the Holy Spirit from His mother, even though only in the flesh.

⁴ To prevent anyone from considering this event entirely novel or without parallel in God’s creation, we can observe that many living creatures are known to be born without the union of parents. For example, bees grow solely from the warmth of the maternal body without fathers, and various types of birds conceive their offspring in this manner. Furthermore, many birds are capable of laying eggs without the presence of males. Natural philosophers even assert that a similar mode of conception occurs in many species of fish.

⁵ Additionally, worms are generated in flesh without a father, and for this very reason, the Lord did not hesitate to compare Himself to them through the prophet: “But I am a worm, and not a man”. Since the Lord often works through the established order of nature, how can it be said that He acted contrary to nature when He willed that His Son should be born, by the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in the virginal womb without the union of a man?

Chapter 3: The Shepherds to Whom the Angels Announced the Birth of the Infant #

¹ When Christ was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, shepherds who had been assigned to guard their flocks received instruction from the angels. They were told that the King of Heaven had deigned at that moment to take on human flesh according to the law of birth among men. Then, after singing a hymn fitting for such a message to the listening shepherds, the angels returned to heaven.

² In this, we see a fitting order carried out by the angels: that the Lamb who was born should first be announced to shepherds, and that the Shepherd should be made known to those who kept their flocks.

³ In these two children, John and Jesus—the forerunner and the Lord—the order of their births is not without historical significance: one was born of an old woman, the other of a young virgin. Indeed, John, the forerunner of Christ, had to be born of an elderly mother because he was, in every way, the final offspring of the Old Law, its last-born son, as it were. But Christ took flesh from a virgin girl, for He is the beginning of the New Testament and the firstborn of the children who would be born from the New Law.

⁴ Thus, in the forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus, during the time of Herod, king of the Jews, when the power of dominion had been taken away from the Jewish people, Jesus Christ the Lord was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, from the lineage of David, of the Virgin Mary. It was fitting that this should happen at the very moment when the succession of kings and high priests descending from the line of Jacob had come to an end—so that He, who is King and High Priest forever, might then be born.

Chapter 4: The Magi from the East and the Guiding Star #

¹ At the birth of that child whom the prophets of both Israel and the Gentiles had foretold as the Savior of all people, Magi from the land of Havilah were led by a star. Undertaking a long journey, they came to Him bearing gifts. After presenting their offerings and worshiping the child for a time, they returned home—not by the same route they had taken to arrive, but by another way, having been warned by divine command.

² Concerning this star, the Gospel account explains that it served as a guide for the Magi on their way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. However, those who believe that the Magi had this star as their guide throughout their entire journey—from their homeland all the way to Jerusalem—cannot support this claim from the authority of the Gospel.

³ For while the Magi were still in their own land, they saw a star surpassing all others in brilliance. Whether through their own knowledge or through angelic revelation, they understood that this star signified the birth of a king and a divine ruler, the one foretold in both their own prophecies and in those of the Israelites, who was to arise from Israel. Thus, they traveled to the land of Israel. Upon arriving in Jerusalem—the capital of the entire region—they inquired about the newborn King, who was also God.

⁴ When the oracles of the Israelite prophets were consulted, it was discovered that this ruler was to be born in Bethlehem. Then, with deceptive words from King Herod attempting to mislead them, they eagerly continued their journey.

⁵ Upon leaving the city, they soon arrived at their guide on the journey to Christ, following the star. Regarding this star—whether it should be understood simply as a star, or as an angel, or even as the Holy Spirit—while none of these interpretations contradict the Catholic faith, since each has been discussed, we leave the choice to greater authorities, granting our humble intellect the freedom to consider the possibilities.

⁶ For if one prefers to take it simply as a star, how did it deviate from the course of other stars in leading the travelers? The nature of stars, as established from the beginning of creation, is to remain fixed in the firmament of heaven, as is made clear by the authority of the Book of Genesis: “God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.”

⁷ If, therefore, it remained in the firmament, how could it serve as a guide for those journeying between Bethlehem and Jerusalem? And if it moved through the air like an arrow—albeit at a slightly slower pace to allow the travelers to follow—it would have had to abandon its fixed place and course in the firmament. Yet Scripture does not describe even the greater lights (the sun and the moon) doing this, except in extraordinary signs when they either stood still or moved backward. Unless, perhaps, this fire in the air, which received such a ministry, was called a “star” because of its resemblance, as we have often seen in other cases.

⁸ Or, if it was an angel who carried out this ministry in the form of a star, what contradiction is there? After all, angels assume many different forms when they appear to humans. Thus, an angel spoke to Moses from the burning bush on Mount Horeb with a face like fire. Likewise, an angel appeared to Joshua, the son of Nun, outside the camp at Gilgal in the form of an armed soldier. And in the ascent of Elijah, angels took on the form of a chariot and horses of fire.

⁹ And when Elisha opened the eyes of his servant, angels were revealed in the same forms. They appeared to Abraham and Lot in the form of travelers. Likewise, an angel spoke to Manoah and his wife, appearing to them in the form of a prophet. Clearly, in this instance as well, an angel became the guide of the Magi, transforming into the likeness of a star and shining with the brilliance of the brightest celestial body.

¹⁰ Indeed, even in the imagery of John’s vision in the Apocalypse, this interpretation is not contradicted: “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.” Thus, if in a spiritual sense stars are called angels, what prevents us from considering the star in this passage to be an angel as well?

¹¹ Or, if it was neither an angel, nor a fixed star of the firmament, nor any other kind of fire, then we may conclude that this star was the Holy Spirit. Just as He later descended upon Jesus at the Jordan in the bodily form of a dove, so too did He lead the Gentile worshippers, in the form of a star, to the manger of the Lord, newly born in the flesh. It was of Him that Balaam the astrologer spoke in his prophecy: “A star shall arise from Jacob.”

¹² This signifies, of course, the radiant light of Christ’s spiritual grace, by which the night of the Gentiles’ unbelief is illuminated. Just as the Holy Spirit later descended upon the apostles in tongues of fire in the upper room of Zion, so too did He, in the form of a star, lead the Magi to the Lord.

Chapter 5: On the Baptism of Christ #

¹ This child, therefore, surpassed his age in knowledge until, upon reaching his thirtieth year, he came to the Jordan. There, John—the son of Zechariah, whom we mentioned earlier—was baptizing the people, preparing them to believe in the one who was to come. The Lamb himself was the first to receive baptism, washing in the waters of the Jordan as a sign of confession. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and he heard the Father speaking from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom my soul is well pleased”. With these signs, he saw the heavens opened, and thus, baptized, he ascended from the waters of the river.

² The Lord Jesus did not go to baptism because he needed the sacrament or cleansing of water, for he bore no stain of either personal or original sin. Rather, he did so to purify the waters, which—though God had not cursed them due to Adam’s sin—were nevertheless affected by the curse upon the earth that contained them. He also did this so that no one would neglect the sacrament of Baptism, seeing that even he, who was without sin, entered its waters. Likewise, he submitted to being baptized by one lesser than himself, lest anyone look down upon being baptized by an inferior. And he did so in order to conceal himself for a time from the devil, who, seeing him baptized among sinners, might assume he needed purification and thus fail to recognize him until the time of temptation was fulfilled.

³ He saw the Holy Spirit descending upon him at his baptism, heard the voice of the Father from heaven declaring him to be His Son, and beheld the heavens opened before him. Not that the Son of God lacked any of these things before his baptism, but rather to reveal the power of the sacrament of Baptism. For he did not begin to receive the Spirit at that moment—he who is believed to share the same substance as the Holy Spirit. Nor was it then that the Father first proclaimed him as His Son, for He had already said, “From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you”, meaning before all the angelic creation, which is often referred to as “Lucifer” in Scripture.

⁴ Neither was it at that moment that the heavens first opened to him, for it is written, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool”. Rather, the Holy Trinity manifested all these signs at the Lord’s baptism so that each of us might understand what we receive through the sacrament of holy Baptism. For in that moment, one who has been cleansed from the stain of sin receives the Holy Spirit. Then, by the grace of adoption, God the Father acknowledges them as His child. And then, they are granted the opening of the gates of the heavenly kingdom and are recognized as a fellow citizen of the celestial homeland, a companion of the holy angels.

⁵ Although the Holy Spirit is said to have descended upon the Lord in a bodily form, it is beyond doubt that he did not take the shape of a dove from among the birds but rather formed it from the air. For there was no necessity for the Holy Spirit to assume a body from the birds, since they, having remained bound to their ordained natural law without transgression, had no need for redemption. Being neither eternal nor rational creatures, they did not require the Spirit to take their form in order to free them from the consequences of sin.

⁶ However, because the Son assumed a true human body, it was fitting that the Holy Spirit should also descend upon him in a visible, bodily form, and that the voice of the Father should be heard in a physical manner from a cloud through the air, reaching human ears. Furthermore, the Father and the Holy Spirit appeared at the baptism through a cloud and the image of a dove because these signs bore a connection to the nature of water. Since the Son had chosen water from the earth as the element for the mystery of Baptism and creation, it was fitting that the Father should speak through a watery cloud and that the Holy Spirit should take on a form drawn from that same cloud, imitating the body that was first formed from the waters in the beginning. In this way, the entire Trinity manifested its unified will, as it has always been.

Chapter 6: On Christ’s Temptation and Fasting #

¹ After the Lord Jesus was baptized in the water, He immediately came up from it, deliberately giving the devil an opportunity to tempt Him. He went into the remote wilderness, where He fasted for forty days and forty nights without any human food to sustain Him. There, He was tempted in three ways—the same three in which the first man, Adam, was deceived. But unlike Adam, Christ overcame Satan with three firm responses.

² In the devil’s three temptations, all the roots of sin are present; but in Christ’s three replies, which directly opposed the devil, all righteousness is revealed. Through this confrontation, the enemy is both condemned and defeated, and freedom and redemption are prepared for humankind. For in this event, Satan tried to exalt himself above his Creator, seeking to overpower the One under whom he had once held dominion—namely, humanity. Yet through the victorious help of the Lord, man now rises above the devil himself.

³ As Satan tried to bind the One who was free from all restraint, he himself became bound. Meanwhile, the one held captive in his prison—meaning humanity—was set free and cast off his chains. While the devil attempted to resist One stronger than himself, it was the weaker creature—man—who was now strengthened to resist the evil one. And the Lord commanded the devil, who had already been cast down from heaven to earth, to now, in terror, descend even further—from the earth into the depths of hell.

⁴ The Lord, in His incarnation, was able to endure a forty-day fast without endangering His life. This was because the divine Word, who had previously sustained Moses through the air for forty days—twice—was now internally nourishing Christ’s own body, filling His limbs and nerves with life. Why, then, is it written that after fasting for forty days and forty nights, the Lord Jesus became hungry, while neither Moses nor Elijah are said to have experienced hunger during their own fasts of such length?

⁵ Our Redeemer willingly endured hunger and fatigue after such a long period of fasting in order to provide the tempter with an opportunity to test Him, and to make it known that He truly bore the full substance of human flesh. Therefore, even in this fast, He performed nothing beyond the bounds of human experience. He did not exceed the time period in which others—namely Moses and Elijah—had fasted before Him. Thus, He fully participated in the human condition, and His actions remained within the realm of ordinary human possibility, even as He was God incarnate.

Chapter 7: On the Miracles of the Gospel up to the Walking on the Sea #

¹ Having overcome the adversary and completed His forty-day fast, Jesus began to call the people of Israel to the way of salvation throughout Judea and Galilee. From among them, He set apart twelve men—His chief disciples—as a special act of divine election.

² To affirm His authority not only over the visible world but also over the unseen and interior reality—namely, the healing of souls—He also visibly healed physical bodies with sovereign power, without resistance from any ailment. Thus, as He went about Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, He saw crowds burdened by every kind of sickness. Some were deprived of the joy of sight due to blindness. Others were disfigured by leprosy covering the surface of their bodies. Still others were crippled, unable to walk. All these He healed.

³ In the case of the paralytic carried by four men, we see three divine works: his sins were forgiven, his present physical affliction was healed by a single word, and the secret thoughts of those present were answered, as only God, who searches hearts, can do. This shows that some suffer bodily illness due to the stains of the soul.

⁴ How could the mute man remain silent when the Word of God the Father called forth a response from him? The One who gave speech to a donkey’s mouth—could He not loose the tongue of a mute man and grant him words?

⁵ And when the Light of Justice, who had come into the world, appeared—how could the blind fail to see? How could the devil remain in a man, when Christ, the one who had cast him down from heaven for his rebellion, had come to drive him out?

⁶ In the miracle of the five loaves and two fish, which fed five thousand men, three things stand out as especially worthy of awe: the scarcity of the materials, the vast number of those satisfied, and the abundance of fragments left over.

Chapter 8: On the Lord Walking Upon the Waves #

¹ When the Lord sought His disciples from the shore, He had to walk upon the sea to reach them. The reason for this miracle was Peter’s faith—so that if Christ alone had walked on the water, some might doubt the reality of His human body. But when Peter, a man born of a man and a woman, walked upon the water as well—through the power and command of Christ—there could be no doubt that the Son born of the Virgin had a true human body.

² Still, one might ask: did the bodies of Jesus and Peter become lighter in nature so that the water could hold them? Or was the substance of the water itself strengthened, so that it could support human bodies? Either possibility would not be against nature, for when the Lord commands, nature bends to His will. He could have either solidified the water, or lightened human flesh. Consider that, as ancient stories tell, the warriors living in the far regions of Scythia were said to practice riding even on the ears of their horses, and were so trained in swimming that they could dive deep and stay submerged for long periods. If such things are possible for human beings by training and natural skill, why should it be surprising if, by the Lord’s command, human flesh was made lighter? Especially when we consider that the resurrected bodies will be so transformed that they will not only be able to stand on water, but even on clouds and in the air, as the Apostle says: “We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”.

³ Alternatively, if one prefers to believe that the water itself was solidified, that is also reasonable. Water, having an earthly density, can be frozen into ice that becomes even harder than dry ground, strong enough to support many people—and it can later be melted again by warmth. Or perhaps even without freezing, by the natural properties of water, large pieces of wood, human bodies, animals, and entire ships—such as the Liburnian vessels—are able to float upon its surface.

⁴ Therefore, if such natural support was made firm by divine command, it is no wonder that Peter began to sink when he doubted—for even the earth refused to support unbelievers when the Lord willed it, as happened with Dathan and Abiram.

Chapter 9: On the Other Virtues of Our Lord Jesus Christ #

¹ In the governance of the natural world, two kinds of order can be observed. First, there is the ordinary or lower order of things, which refers to the regular course of nature—such as when water is transformed into blood in living creatures, or when salty sea water becomes sweet through the processes of evaporation, cloud formation, or filtration through the earth. Then there is the higher and extraordinary order, which is recognized in miracles—such as when, in an instant, God turned the waters of Egypt into blood, or when He made bitter water sweet by the addition of a piece of wood.

Chapter 10: On the Loaves and Fishes That Fed Thousands #

¹ For this reason, we see that bread, in the ordinary or lower order, grows from a small seed into a great harvest over a long period, and thus becomes nourishment for countless people. But in the higher order, through a momentary act of divine blessing, bread is multiplied from a small amount of matter. The same is true of fish: by God’s original blessing—when it was said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas”—they were caused to increase and abound. And now, by the same higher order and by the power of Christ’s present blessing, their flesh was multiplied to feed the crowds.

Chapter 11: On the Vision of the Lord on the Mountain Speaking with Moses and Elijah #

¹ Although in this manifestation of the Lord, His face shone with the brightness of the sun, it was not His human flesh itself that radiated light. Rather, it was the divinity hidden within His body that allowed a portion of its own light to be seen outwardly by the onlookers—granted to them only as much as they were able to bear. So then, why did His garments become as white as snow, when the radiance came neither directly from His flesh nor from His divinity? Perhaps it was that just as the divinity shone outward through the flesh, so too the flesh, being illumined by the divinity, radiated light through the garments.

² As for Moses and Elijah, they appeared in this vision either because they are the foremost representatives of the Law and the Prophets—being thus brought to their fulfillment in Christ—or because their prior manifestations serve as types that are now surpassed by the clarity of Christ’s glory.

³ Moses’ face had once shone so brightly that the Israelites could not look at him directly, and Elijah had been taken up in a fiery chariot. Yet when compared to Christ, even these wonders are overshadowed. Scripture tells us that both Moses and Elijah fasted for forty days, yet it is only of Jesus—while these two are present—that the voice of the Father is heard, bearing witness to Him as His beloved Son.

⁴ Still, while Elijah came to this vision in his body—since he had not yet died—what should we say of Moses? Did he also appear again in the body for this vision? Or was his presence merely a visible likeness formed from the air, in the manner that Samuel once appeared in vision? And if Moses truly came clothed in his own body, did he then, in that moment, complete his resurrection—one that for all others is reserved only for the last day? On this question, the Church Fathers are in agreement and do not differ in their teaching: they affirm that since the Lord met with His three disciples and with Elijah—not in imaginary forms but in real bodies—Moses too must have appeared in his own true body, taken up again from the tomb.

⁵ Yet, if the Lord Jesus is rightly believed to be “the firstborn from the dead”, then Moses’ body, after this vision, must have been returned once more to the grave, until that final day when all will rise again in full reality.

⁶ We must understand both aspects carefully, just as Scripture recounts two different cases: one, the son of the widow, who had died and whose soul was begged by the prophet to return to him; and the other, of a dead man of whom Paul said, “his soul is in him”. In both cases, Scripture speaks truth, for it cannot lie. But how can it be understood that the soul could be hidden within the limbs of a dead body? Unless, perhaps, we believe that the soul—though incorporeal—can still be present in the body in a hidden way.

⁷ Some, wishing to avoid the difficulty of interpretation, suggest that in the case of Eutychus, he had indeed died after giving up his soul, but because the soul soon returned, Paul could rightly say, “his soul is in him”. However, Scripture is silent on whether the soul departed and then returned. As for the other six persons who were raised from the dead in Scripture, of whom it is said neither that their souls departed nor returned, it remains without ambiguity that they were indeed dead and were brought back to life by divine power.

Chapter 12: On the Eclipse of the Sun at the Lord’s Passion #

¹ The darkening of the sun at the time of Christ’s Passion was not a typical eclipse caused by the moon passing in front of the sun. Such eclipses happen during a new moon, but this occurred during a full moon—specifically, on the fifteenth day of the month. This timing ensured that no one could mistake it for a natural event. At midday, deep darkness covered the sun so completely that for three full hours, stars were visible in the sky, as the Gospel recounts: “It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, because the sun’s light failed”.

Chapter 13: On the Bodies of the Saints Emerging from Their Tombs After the Lord’s Resurrection #

¹ The saints came out of their tombs after the resurrection of the Lord, as recorded in the Gospel: “The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many”. But they returned again to their tombs—just as we remember was said of Moses—awaiting, in those resting places, the final resurrection of all at the end of time. As the Apostle writes: “Though all of these were approved because of their faith, they did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, so that they might not be made perfect without us”.

² So, are we to believe that Moses and these saints rose twice—once in this miraculous event, and again at the final resurrection—after they had already died once due to Adam’s sin? Far be it from the Catholic faith to claim that someone who dies once must rise twice. Unless, perhaps, someone wishes to argue that Moses and the others died twice—but there is no written record stating that those who appeared in this way had actually risen from the dead. Instead, Scripture says they either lived, or appeared, or came forth from their tombs.

³ The word “resurrection” in Scripture is reserved either for those who, after death, returned to life and lived again in this world (as in rare miracles), or for Christ alone, or for the future resurrection of all the dead. The appearance of these saints after Christ’s resurrection, then, does not belong to normal human life, nor to the final resurrection. Rather, it served as a confirmation of the Lord’s resurrection and a sign to inspire belief in the resurrection of souls from the underworld. Just as in the case of those raised from the dead in Scripture, there is a resemblance to resurrection, but not the full, final rising to eternal life. Indeed, from a state of complete death, no one returns to immortal life except the Lord Himself—until the last day. And from a true resurrection, no one ever returns to death again.

Chapter 14: On the Food Taken by the Lord After the Resurrection #

¹ Learned theologians have long inquired how the risen body of Christ, which was glorified and spiritual, could consume physical food. After all, all faithful believers affirm that the resurrected body is spiritual, as it is written: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body”.

² Therefore, although the bodies of the resurrected will not need to eat, it is rightly believed they will retain the power to eat if necessary. This is supported by divine examples, such as the angels who appeared to Abraham by the oak of Mamre and partook of food. Yet, they did not eat in the way we do—digesting food through stomach and intestines. Rather, it seems that once they received the food, they simply tasted it, and it was wholly and immediately transformed into their spiritual nature—not partially, but entirely.

Chapter 15: Peter Heals a Paralytic #

¹ The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are fittingly described in Scripture—as a dove descending upon Christ, and as tongues of fire upon the Apostles. We have already spoken about the division of tongues and the miraculous powers given to the Apostles after receiving the Spirit. These signs validated their mission and the apostolic call to poverty and almsgiving.

² When Peter said to the paralytic, “Rise and walk”, he was obeying the command of the Master: “Take no gold, nor silver”. Peter, freed from the snares of unrighteous wealth and devoted solely to God, was able to release the man bound by illness with just a word of authority—healed by divine power, not human wealth.

Chapter 16: The Power of Peter #

¹ See how great the apostolic power is in Christ: when Peter rebuked Ananias, merely by the authority of his words, he bound him to death; and in the same power of command, he loosed Tabitha from the bonds of death. Therefore, Ananias and Sapphira were struck down quickly in the sight of the Church to show the extent of apostolic authority and to demonstrate how grave a sin it was to withdraw what had been offered to the Church. Through this, others were warned by their example.