Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.”
So they brought Him a denarius.
And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.
This passage describes just one of the many attempts the Pharisees made to trap Jesus – to get Him to make a mistake – and hopefully, peel off a large number of His disciples.
They were not interested in a truthful answer or even a Godly answer. Their only interest was to preserve their own power and discredit Jesus. After all, the Romans were universally hated by the Jews – how could anyone defend paying taxes to Rome?
Jesus’ answer speaks to authority. Interestingly, He managed to address the authority of Rome while driving home the authority of God, exposing the Pharisees for not giving God what is due Him, their honest and true worship.
Let us take Jesus’ question, first, at face value: “Whose image and inscription is this [on the coin]?”
The Greek word translated as “image” in this passage is “eikon” and is defined as a likeness as in that of a statue or profile (such as on a coin). It is the word from which we get our modern word “icon” (this Greek word appears 23 times in the New Testament).
Such an image or imprint on a coin, showing the likeness of Caesar, Jesus was pointing out, indicated that the coin belonged to Caesar, minted and distributed by his authority. The image together with the inscription.
The answer to His question is returned, “Caesar’s.” There is no controversy as to whom this coin belongs. Jesus completely disarms any further argument when He concludes, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
We will take these two assertions separately …
Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
Though difficult for the people of Judea to accept, everything around them, including the currency they used, belonged to Rome. They were a conquered region and people. If the money they used was minted by the Temple, you would imagine they would have no problem paying their offerings to the Temple.
Well, we will come back to that.
Staying on the Roman coins, Jesus gives the obvious recognition that what belongs to Caesar should return to him. He had every right to ask to be given what belonged to him.
Listen to Paul in Romans 13:1-7:
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Taking just verses one and seven together, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
Paul’s teaching is consistent with that of Jesus. Furthermore, it was not a new principle for the people of God – Christians or Jews. It is one’s civic duty to obey the laws of the land and honor those who rule over us.
Listen now to Peter in 1 Peter 2:13-17:
Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men — as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
1 Samual 24 teaches us that though Saul was trying to kill David, David would not disrespect the sovereign king of Israel to attack him. Saul’s conduct did not earn him this respect. Instead, it was David’s respect for God and the authority given to Saul by God.
Saul would soon enough no longer be king and David would take his rightful place on the throne, but that day had not yet come. David did just as Paul also teaches so many generations later, “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” – and Peter, “Honor the king.”
We need to remember that though the government may sometimes treat its citizen badly or it behaves contrary to what we like – we are to respect our government, our president – regardless of who is in power. It is God that has given the government its authority.
This is true today and it was true when the Pharisees questioned whether or not to pay taxes to Rome.
Render to God the things that are God’s
The Jews were no better in giving to God what belongs to Him and this was not a new problem in the time Jesus walked among the Jews. Hundreds of years before, Malachi writes, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.” Malachi 3:8
When God’s people do not respectfully give back to God as He has prescribed today, we are no different than the Jews of old who would rob God in tithes and offerings.”
It would be easy for most of us to increase our contribution on Sunday if we were assured that what we gave was all God asks of us. The fact is, though, it is symbolic of what God actually asks of us: everything!
There is no part of our lives, our possessions, our attitudes, our hearts that do not belong to God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We were bought at a price. We belong to Him.
In Galatians 6:17, Paul declares, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Also from Galatians 2:20, “ … it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me …” And finally, Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
The message is plain, we give to God what belongs to Him. We give ourselves back to God, we are His, and we have His imprint on us if we are His.
Romans 8:9
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
The imprint for all to see is the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
The imprint of Jesus is on our lives – and by it, we know that we belong to Him, just as surely as that coin, the denarius, belonged to Caesar.
What, then, will we hold back from God?
Nothing. How could we? We owe everything to God!
As we consider our lives in the coming days and weeks, we need to do an honest inventory of what we give to God and what we do not. There isn’t a single one of us that will not be impacted by this self-examination.
Paul gives us the stark need for this. He says in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.”
Let us hold nothing back from God. Let us never be found disqualified Let His imprint on us be evident for ALL to see.
Related video: He Who Has Seen Me – Jesus: The Image of God