Render to Caesar that Which is Caesar's (Christian Anarchy - Part 4)
Hear that Christians? Straight from the horse's mouth. You need to pay your taxes. Not only do you need to pay them, but the Bible implies that they rightfully belong to the government.
“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's"
Matthew 22:21 (partial) (ESV)
...or so the popular argument goes. But let's dig into the text and see what we can find.
If you haven't been following this series, you can start at the beginning by reading:
- Can a Christian Be an Anarchist?
- All Christians Should Be Socialists
- What Does the Bible Actually Say About Government?
Reading the Verse in Context
This is one of the most misapplied and misused verses in the Bible. Matthew 22:21 doesn't exist in a vacuum. Here is the complete story:
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.[b] 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said,“Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.[c] 20 And Jesus said to them,“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Matthew 22:15-22 (ESV)
The Pharisees (the religious leaders of the time) were always trying to trip up Jesus and get him to say or do something that they could prosecute or something that would reveal him as a sinner.
Oh you sneaky Pharisees, trying to butter Him up with flattery before stabbing him in the back. In this instance, they were setting a trap by posing a no-win question. If Jesus were to answer that they should submit and pay taxes to the Roman authorities His Jewish followers would turn on Him. If Jesus told them that they needn't pay any taxes to Caesar the Romans would have him arrested.
Jesus saw through their trap and instead of giving a simple "yes" or "no" He gave a complex, layered response that all parties would scratch their heads over and that none would hate (or arrest) him for. Well, except maybe the Pharisees because he ruined their trap.
Jesus' answer to the Pharisees suggests that some things do belong to Caesar while others belong to God. But as Henry David Thoreau wrote in his book Civil Disobedience, he left them "no wiser than before as to which was which; for they did not wish to know."
The Pharisees had no interest in gaining wisdom from some small-time Rabbi. Their only goal was to hurt their competition.
For a deeper examination of the meaning of Jesus' words, we'll need to take a few steps back in time...
Historical Context
i. Jewish Tax Resistance
Rome was not a kind master to the Jews. History would later prove just how cruel they could be...
In 63 BCE, Israel was conquered by Rome and turned into a "client state." They were unwilling and unhappy subordinates of the Empire. Roman taxation had led to riots and revolts. Those who worked as tax collectors for Rome were hated by the people.
I hope now it is abundantly clear that the Pharisees thought they had backed Jesus into a corner. Tensions were high. If Jesus said the wrong thing, he would have to face the wrath of the Romans or the Jews.
ii. The Denarius
After the Pharisees had issued their challenge, Jesus asked them to produce a Denarius. The coin would have borne the image of Tiberius along with this inscription:
This is so significant, I can't believe it gets left out of most discussions of this passage. The Romans considered their Emperor a god. The coin displayed a graven image of the Roman god-king Tiberius son of the previous god-king Augustus.
Jesus' answer cleverly undermined the deity of Caesar and gave the glory to the only true God. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's? Caesar is no more than a man. He is owed nothing. Nothing belongs to Caesar. Everything belongs to God.
Even if we are forced into paying tribute, Caesar can have the money. Jesus can have my life. And as for any property that wrongly ended up in the hands of the government, God can still use evil for good. He is the ruler. He is in control.
While I don't think this verse is there for the purpose of telling us that we ought to pay our governments, Jesus did make allowance for the act of paying taxes. It isn't strictly evil to give our money to those demanding it at gunpoint. Right now I pay purely as an act of pragmatism - I'd rather not be thrown in a cage. But I don't pay because I think my property belongs to the politicians. As I said above, it's pretty clear what belong's to God and what belongs to Caesar (even if Jesus' answer was shrouded in mystery), but even if I'm wrong and there is some doubt about what belongs to which, I'm going to do as the Mennonite Reverend John K. Stoner and "give the benefit of the doubt to God."
Fun side note
Jesus drew attention to the fact that the Pharisees were using money in the Temple bearing the image of a false God. This direct violation of the 2nd Commandment would have embarrassed the Pharisees and given Jesus all the power in the discussion.
In Conclusion
This passage is not a command to pay taxes. It doesn't legitimize the act of taxation or the leadership of any governing authorities. In fact, it directs our attention to our only Lord and true Authority - God.
I hope this article was illuminating. I'm going to be out of town for a friend's wedding this weekend so I don't think I'll get around to writing Part 5 until Monday. But please follow me @sethlinson and check back in a few days when I'll be examining the most challenging passage that Christian Anarchists have to face: Romans 13.
~Seth
"This is one of the most misapplied and misused verses in the Bible. Matthew 22:21 doesn't exist in a vacuum."
Bingo!!
Well done. There's a very important nuance that you missed here.
Who bears God's image? The Pharisees would recognize the trap right away for all the reasons you gave, plus this one. And I think this is the main point of the passage, with all the rest simply complementing it. He didn't even give an inch that the denarius should be given to Caesar, but offered a clear command that would pierce to the heart.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, having just shown that the coin bears his image. Render unto God what is God's, because you bear His image.
Ouch!! Jesus's challenges to the religionists of His day always bore some sort of accusation or conviction. This one had several barbs.
Looking forward to Rom 13, and Peter's parallel command. Good stuff.
Oh man, you're right. That's such a good point. Thanks for bringing this up. I wish my upvote was more valuable because you deserve some reward for adding this to the discussion!
I'm constantly amazed by how much there is to unpack in this text. Though I'm sure the same could be said for most passages.
Thanks bro. Got your note and tip. :)
Awesome post and great discussion!
There is another case that should be included where Jesus discusses this same topic:
Psalm 24:1
I've got an essay on this very topic that a man named Jeffery F Barr wrote in 2010. I am going to re-read it tonight or tomorrow and see if I can't add to the topic from what I've learned from his essay, my own studies, and from this article that you posted here. I look forward to this.
By the way, I believe anotherjoe hit the nail on the head.
Sounds great! I'm looking forward to reading what you have to add.
Most do think of these passages as a pro-tax message. Even Just Martyr believed that this passage was a strict endorsement to pay taxes when he wrote, " And everywhere we, more readily than all men, endeavor to pay to those appointed by you the taxes both ordinary and extraordinary, as we have been taught by Him..."
As I read from Jeffery F Barr's essay on this subject I learn that Tiberius was a pedophile, a sexual deviant, a murderer, an oppressor of millions, and he claimed to be a god over all. Is Jesus really telling us to pay our dues to men of this ilk? Is that the only message Jesus had for the Jews who lived under this false man-god? Surely that is not the only message that we have been given to walk away with? No, it is not.
Jeffery's essay points out, along with John Howard Yoder, that it is very possible that Jesus must have opposed the Roman tribute tax previously. Yoder states in his book, The Politics of Jesus; vicit Agnus noster:
Something from a previous event led them to believe Jesus would answer wrongly and either then be rejected by the Jews for disobeying the Torah or the Romans for disobeying the Roman law. By disobeying the Torah Jesus would be denying His rabbinical authority as a teacher of the law; by disobeying the Roman law He would most forwardly be rejecting the authority of the Roman state. Jeffery's essay has this to say:
Jesus asked them to produce the coin in question. Sethlinson, you smacked this one in the face with your points. There were three main groups of workers who would have been paid in the mint of the Caesar. These were the Roman soldiers, officials, and the Jewish leaders in collaboration with the Romans. When Jesus asks them to produce the coin which bears the image of the false man-god on it they seem to be able to produce it very quickly. By so readily bringing forth this coin in the temple they have just implicated themselves within the very trap they hoped to catch Jesus in.
Jesus uses a counter question in this confrontation and He uses two distinct rabbinical elements. By invoking the word "image" in his counter question Jesus has brought their question and His answer back to the Torah. It is here that He is pointing at the First Commandments, which forbade the worship of false gods and the crafting of any image of a false god.
When Jesus invokes the word "inscription" He is pointing at one of the most important prayers a pious Jew can recite called the Shema. The Shema is based on Deut. 6:4-9,11:13-21 and Numb.15:37-41 as follows:
Jesus uses the Shema to point that the inscriptions of God are to be written upon our hearts and our minds, taught to our children, and kept near us. It is God's inscription that is to be important and first in our lives not the inscriptions of a false-man god.
Jesus closes His answer with the famous lines of, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s." Well, what is Caesar and what is God's?
To the religious Hebrew everything belonged to God. The hearts, minds, children, land, profits, everything was to belong to God. Jesus reminded the questioners of this when He brought up the "image" and "inscription" points. At the other end of the spectrum the Caesar also claimed that everything belonged to him; land, money, goods, worship, and Jerusalem all was claimed by the Caesar. Again, how was Jesus to respond to the trap between the Hebrew law and the Roman law of governance?
Barr tells us this, and I believe he has his finger on something good here:
Source: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1I--mLmYADqD5U_Hmv-_ztlasKSAmT2gHI8R1E8S_XUI