Abstract
In the present study an interpretation is offered of Acts 5.1-11 in the light of some Hellenistic parallels to this passage. Two methods of interpretation are reconciled: the content-based examination of the religio-historical excommunication narrative and the more literary-based examination of rule miracles of punishment. It is claimed that neither approach excludes the other, but highlights completely different aspects of the text; and that both contribute to the meaning of the whole. The conclusion states that we encounter here in the Ananias and Sapphira story a highly stylized form of excommunication given shape with the help of the literary form of the rule miracle of punishment. The Hellenistic parallels show that the first-century reader may very well have been familiar with stories about severe punishment as a sanction for blasphemy or lying.
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