Peter asks Sapphira a plain question about the price, naming the sum her husband had brought. Gill says Peter was "naming the sum of money which Ananias had brought." The question let Sapphira speak for herself. She had been "privy to" the plan (Acts 5:2), but she had not yet told the lie with her own mouth. Peter's next words show he already knew the two had "agreed together" (Acts 5:9).

Sapphira answered, "Yea, for so much" (Acts 5:8). Barnes notes that this was true in part, since that sum had been received, "but it was also true that a larger sum had been received." Peter replied, "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out" (Acts 5:9). She fell down at once and died, and was buried by her husband (Acts 5:10). "And great fear came upon all the church" (Acts 5:11).

Sapphira arrived "about the space of three hours after" her husband, and the text says she came "not knowing what was done" (Acts 5:7). So she answered without knowing what had happened to Ananias.

Barnes explains "agreed together" (Acts 5:9) as "Conspired, or laid a plan," and to "tempt the Spirit of the Lord" as acting as if the Spirit of the Lord could not detect the crime. Gill renders her reply as meaning "just that sum, and no more."

This question shows that each person answers to God for their own words. Sapphira had agreed with her husband, but Peter asked her directly, and she chose her own answer. Her lie was not only to Peter; Peter says the two had agreed "to tempt the Spirit of the Lord" (Acts 5:9), acting as though God would not see.

The story ends with "great fear" on "all the church, and upon as many as heard these things" (Acts 5:11). God was teaching His church at its beginning that He is present among His people and cannot be deceived. The verses that follow show the church growing anyway: "believers were the more added to the Lord" (Acts 5:14).