Ananias

Act 9:10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Act 9:17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Act 9:18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
Act 9:19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.




Act 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
Act 22:12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
Act 22:13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
Act 22:14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
Act 22:15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Act 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.


Ananias is an interesting New Testament character. He emerges in the Acts of the Apostles for the first time in chapter 9 and then disappears from the Scriptural narrative, only to be mentioned again in the reference above by the Apostle Paul. Yet his role in the history of the church is undoubtedly incredible.

With our observance of Christmas having just passed, I cannot help seeing similarities between Ananias and Mary. Ananias is called devout according to the law by Paul (eusebes or 'godly' being the term rendered as devout, which is why we are looking at his character), while Mary is said to have found favour with God (actually at first I got this mixed up with Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were both said to be righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, which is more similar to the description Paul gives Ananias. But we will see a few similarities with Mary in any case). Both Ananias and Mary were initially startled or troubled by the communication God had with them. They both reasoned with the implications of the message when they had received it: Mary was a chaste virgin about to conceive without a natural chain of events and Ananias was puzzled as to why the Lord would send him to visit the fierce persecutor of the church, Saul of Tarsus.




But the striking feature of Ananias that many have observed in Mary, is the resignation of one's self to do the Lord's will when it has been clearly expressed. Many commentators have gone into great detail concerning the multitude of terrifying possibilities that would have confronted Mary, with her response being "
be it unto me according to thy word." (Lk 1:38). But consider for a moment Ananias, who fully expresses his reasoning to the Lord in the words, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name."
It is simple, Saul was a really bad guy if you were a Christian and he had been fully authorised to arrest anyone that named the name of Jesus Christ.



But the Lord gave His reply, telling Ananias that Saul was to be His chosen vessel and revealing some of the man's ministry activities that were to occur in the future.



There is no "yeah...but" from Ananias. He has 1) Heard the Lord 2) Been somewhat troubled 3) Reasoned within himself and with God 4) Again heard from God and now 5) Goes to do the will of the Lord.

This sequence is very similar to that with which we are more familiar in the Christmas narrative and the reason we can get something out of the comparison between Ananias and Mary is their primary roles and functions in the Story of God. As most of my readers will know, Mary is not some perfect semi-goddess figure that plays a crucial role in our salvation - as the Catholic perversion teaches - but her primary role in world history and in God's will was to be His vessel to carry the Son in her womb and birth Him into the world. Her importance is completely relative to the significance of the ministry and person of Jesus Christ. Similarly, Ananias is not depicted in the New Testament as a super apostle, prophet 0r evangelist, but instead the importance of his role in God's plan is related to the significance of the ministry of Paul the Apostle and the part he played in Paul's "birth."*




So we can see that Ananias is a wonderful example to us of godliness, in that although he did not find the Lord's directives to him completely reasonable by his own initial reckoning, he nevertheless waited on the Lord and as a servant of his Master, responded appropriately to Christ's command. This is birthed out of the man's cultivated attitude of reverence towards God and willingness to follow Him in any situation. In Ananias we do not find a perfect man, but like Simeon and Cornelius we see a godly devotion within his heart that pleases God and makes the disciple a suitable for the Master's use.




There is also an interesting progression with our three godly examples. Simeon is a godly Jew at the time of Jesus' dedication, to whom God reveals His Messiah. Cornelius is a reverent Gentile after the time of Pentecost to whom God reveals His Saviour and His Holy Spirit. And Ananias is a devout Christian disciple also in the post-Pentecost era, who God used in an amazing way to restore sight to Saul of Tarsus and see the beginning of God's workings in the life of a man who would become known as Paul. I think this progression shows that eusebeia has been important to God from ancient times through to now. It seems to please the Lord greatly to interact with those who have a genuinely devout attitude towards Him and His worship.





Is it any wonder why we are exhorted to add to patience godliness as we build up our Christian character?






*I love the fact that Ananias is only refered to as a disciple, without distinction of particular gifts or ministries, as it refutes the Mormon doctrine that only an apostle can lay hands on someone to receive the Holy Spirit. We see in Acts 9:17 that Ananias says he is laying hands on Saul that he might receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Since there is no other record in Scripture of Paul receiving the Holy Spirit, it is safe to conclude that this is precisely where it occurred and God used the hands of an ordinary disciple to do it. Thus, Ananias' position in church history is defined by his being a devout disciple used by God in the development of one of the greatest apostles.

Cornelius

Well after nearly six months since I last posted, here we are again.

I have decided to complete the series I began with Simeon and after looking at Cornelius and Ananias and possibly some other uses of the terms for 'godly' and 'devout', the blog will be put on ice indefinitely. When starting this site, I did not anticipate running a personal one, but a team one. Since this has not proved possible due to unforeseen developments and the various commitments of myself and others, I have made the decision to leave the blog as an archive of articles and to continue serving its other intended purpose as a hub for numerous Christian sites I have found interesting or beneficial.



But more on that later and on to Cornelius.

Act 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,

Act 10:2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.

Act 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.

Act 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

Immediately we note that Cornelius was a centurion, a man of authority in the Roman Empire. But he was not an oppressor of the Jews, but one who honoured the God of Israel. What we see accompanying the quality of being devout in the description of Cornelius is the example he set that we ought to take note of in our considerations. 1) He feared God with all his house. This centurion of the Italian band feared God, which Proverbs calls "the beginning of knowledge" (1:7). He was neither a Jew nor an idolater, but a Gentile who honoured God and - as we see by following the passage - was honoured by God. Also worthy of note is that all the members of the centurion's house were also aligned with his right attitude towards God. We see this as an aspect of godly headship in the home through other Scriptures such as: Joshua 24:15, 1 Timothy 3:4 & 12 and also in the households of certain new converts being baptized along with the named member: Acts 16:15, 16:31-34.



2) He gave much alms to the people. Charity expressed in generousity and donation-style giving is a very basic religious exercise and indeed many professing irreligiousity also practice some form of giving to the poor. Regardless of this, Christians cannot afford to neglect this issue, since it is clearly a good thing to be practiced and our Lord taught on how to give alms (Matt 6:1-4) and made further mention of giving them in the Gospels (Lk 11:41 & 12:33). Cornelius was not slack concerning generousity, but he involved himself in it to the extent that it could be remarked about him by Spirit-inspired Scripture that he gave much in his alms.



3) He prayed to God always. Again, the inclusion of always emphasises that the man in question committed himself to regular, consistent prayer. He did not pray to Roman idols or pagan spirits of another land, but to the One True God. He also, it seems, prayed in the manner of the Jews, since an angel appeared to him during his prayer at the ninth hour, which was the Jewish hour of prayer (see Acts 3:1). It is also evident from Cornelius' own account, that he was practicing fasting in conjunction with prayer (Acts 10:30).



God remembered his prayers and alms and arranged for him to hear the gospel by the Apostle Peter. It is obvious that this incident can principally be understood as an example of God's plan to fill Gentiles with the Holy Spirit, but since we are looking at the example of godliness here, I will little else of that matter, since it is the main focus of discussions on the passage.



Cornelius was also described as a just or righteous man in verse 22 of this chapter, as well as it being noted that he was of good report among all the nation of the Jews. Many of the Jews no doubt were willing to accept this man as a righteous Gentile and may have had great personal regard for him on account of his conduct and almsgiving. Nevertheless, he still would not have been wholly accepted by the Jews in a religious and social sense, as Peter's response suggests in verse 28, "Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation..."

Not so in the Kingdom that God was establishing through the gospel. When the Holy Spirit came upon those in Cornelius' house who heard and believed, it revealed what God's decree was on the issue. As Peter concluded, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" (10:47).

Being baptized meant being accepted into the Christian community and thus, the gospel and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was not exclusively for Jews, but for all who believed and were quickened by the gospel.



Cornelius' devotion did not make him a Christian, but as we can see, the centurion in Caesarea was already desiring to worship God in the right manner and with the right attitude. We can hardly expect him to have prayed less, become less righteous and forsaken almsgiving when he received the Holy Spirit, but rather to have gone on in the empowerment of God to do even greater things that were pleasing to the Lord.



Our lesson is simple. We are saved through no merit of our own, only receiving the precious gift through faith and repentance. However godliness is a quality to be sought after for our Christian life after coming under Christ's authority and the example of Cornelius is one we would do well to consider when pursuing it.

Simeon of Jerusalem

Luke 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name [was] Simeon; and the same man [was] just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

I would like to take a look at the men of the New Testament described as being devout, as examples of godliness from the Holy Scriptures.

There is Simeon (eulabehs), Cornelius (eusebes) and Ananias (eusebes) as well as groups of men who were described in such a way. We will begin by looking at Simeon...

From the Scripture above we see that "devout" was part of a package that made up Simeon's character. He was firstly just (dikaiaos), the same word elsewhere for righteousness, meaning that Simeon was judged to be in accordance with the law of God. We know that only Jesus kept the law perfectly, but some Jews, such as Paul were able to claim a strict adherence to the law that gave them a form of righteousness. As Christians we know that our righteousness comes from Jesus Christ by God's grace through the faith we place in Him and this element of justness and righteousness is also revealed in the rest of Simeon's character.

In being devout, Simeon had a specific reverence and fear of God that determined the reality of his life. This kind of devotion and reverence (eulabehs) is connected closely with the attitude factor of eusebeia. It is also inseparable from his righteousness, as Simeon's deeds are measured closely by his consciousness of the holiness and awesome majesty of the God he served and he lived his life accordingly.

Two other things about Simeon are revealed in this verse.
1) He was waiting for the consolation of Israel.
Israel, God's chosen nation was in distress, under Roman rule and yearning for something else. The religious programs of the Pharisees and Sadducees attempted to demonstrate the justness and devout posture of life described above, while the Zealots were keen to throw off the shackles of Imperial rule with an armed revolution. But there was a hope that God would free Israel from its predicaments and that promise in proper theology was centered around the figure of the Messiah. Simeon lived in expectation that God was to do something wonderful in Israel in the midst of the situation of the day and he had a messianic expectancy for his lifetime as we see later.

2) the Holy Ghost was upon him.
This is crucial in the journey between covenants, as the Holy Ghost had been present in many great instances throughout the Old Testament, but was coming in a new and marvelous way in the age brought in by the Messiah. But the presence of the Holy Ghost in Simeon's life demonstrates God's favour and election in his life, as seen in the Old Testament prophets and others.

Luke 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

Like the prophets, Simeon had a specific revelation from the Spirit of something that was to come. The Anointed One of God was to come during the life of this devout man. It is amazing to see that with his just and devout character, expectation of the fulfillment of God's promise and the presence of the Holy Ghost in his life, God chose to involve this man in the early days of the greatest life upon the earth - the life that was cut off for the eternal salvation of fallen mankind.

Luke 2:27-28 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Here at the same time, we see a simultaneous obedience between Mary and Joseph carrying out their duty for the Holy Child they had been entrusted with and Simeon following the lead of the Holy Spirit in obedience and expectation with relation to the promise of God in the Scriptures and the personal revelation God had entrusted to him by the Spirit. Simeon is given the immense honour of taking up the Saviour of the world in his mortal hands and his response is to give glory to God, blessing his Lord - a sign of his attitude of holy reverance before God.

Luke 2:29-30 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

The earnest expectation of Simeon's just and devout life before God was now fulfilled in the coming of Christ. Likewise as Christians we have seen God's salvation in Christ and should find great fulfillment in this. But in another sense we are like Simeon, in that we await with earnest expectation the coming of Christ in glory and many older Christians long to see this awesome event before their time on earth expires. How wonderful that day shall be to see God's salvation with our own eyes and depart with Him from the corrupt age we now live in!

Luke 2:31-32 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Here the nature of Christ is described by Simeon as the realisation of God's promise. He is the ensign of God to all people (Is. 11) and a light to the Gentiles for God's salvation all over the earth and the one who restores the preserved of Israel (Is. 49:6). Jesus Christ is unmistakenly recognised as the Messiah Simeon had been waiting for.

Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this [child] is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Our last account of Simeon is his blessing to others and his glorification of Christ. He further identifies Jesus as Messiah in this revelatory message to Mary.

Simeon gives us an example of what it means to be devout as a part of being godly. We can see how his character was built upon that which bought pleasure to God and that he was chosen both to have the Spirit upon his life and to bless his expected Messiah as part of God's plan.

We must rightly conclude with this final description of Christ, being amazed that He transformed the world with His coming, becoming the demise (fall) of those who rejected Him as Messiah and remained in their sins and the resurrection (rising up) of those who placed their faith in Him.
He will surely be spoken against (and certainly is today, perhaps more than ever before) and bring out into the open the things which men imagine to be secret in their hearts. If Simeon's example does not provoke us to godliness and reverential fear, then this account of our Lord and Saviour surely should!