And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” '
Peter then asked her as to whether the land had been sold at the price stated. Perhaps he even held out the money that had been handed over to show her. She was to be given the chance to repent. But she was quite determined in her crime and quite hardened, and she confirmed the price that her husband had stated. She too was ‘full of Satan', hardened in her sin.
This bears all the marks of an official enquiry, and a deliberate attempt to make public what was happening and obtain evidence in the sight of all. Peter was not acting here like a pastor, or even like an adjudicator. He was bringing out in public that the offence for which sentence had already been passed was genuine, and that she was totally unashamed about it. He was here but an instrument in the open revelation of God's wrath. God had made the choice. He simply carried it through knowing its inevitability.