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Dr. Del Tackett is the author, architect and teacher for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project, a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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“Render Unto Caesar”
Posted on November 10, 2009
Filed Under The State |
Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher…what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? “Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away. Matthew 22:15-22
Often times, in the midst of a discussion about the state and its role, a student will throw down the “render” verse as if it were the “coup de grace” to the whole issue. Meaning, of course, that whatever the states asks for, we are obligated by the words of Jesus to “render unto Caesar”. Any discussion about some limit to the state’s power or, horrors upon horrors, any talk of civil disobedience, would therefore be a clear violation of this command of Jesus to give to Caesar what Caesar asks for.
However, this interpretation carries with it a great deal of problems…mainly contradictions to the rest of Scripture and even the passage itself.
The Pharisees and the Herodians had joined forces to trap Jesus in His words. The question they put before Him was whether or not they should pay the census tax. If He were to say “no”, then the Herodians, who were strong state supporters, would have all of their ammunition ready to blow Him out of the water. If He were to say “yes”, then the Pharisees, who despised the state, were ready with theirs.
Jesus said neither…and both. They were stunned at His response and left defeated.
So, what did Jesus say?
He used the denarius, a Roman silver coin, as an object for the lesson. He questioned them regarding the image on the coin and the inscription. But the coin is not the heart of the teaching. Jesus’ words are. He is essentially responding to their “test” by telling them that neither of their positions were correct. That what was due to Caesar, should be paid to Caesar. And what was due to God, should be paid to God.
Jesus is affirming exactly what we see everywhere else in the Scripture.
For those who misuse this and declare that Jesus is saying that we are to give to the State whatever it requires, goes beyond the clear teaching in the rest of the Scripture. For example, Jesus was questioned at length by Herod (Luke 23:9), but Jesus didn’t answer him. Here the state was asking…requiring the subject to respond…but Jesus refused. We have many instances of God’s people rightly refusing the king. It is a misunderstanding of the “render” passage to say that whatever the state asks for, we are obliged to give.
Now, some may say this passage is only dealing with money. And the coin, therefore, was more than just an object lesson, Jesus was specifically saying that since the coin has Caesar’s image on it, the coin belongs to Caesar…ALL coins belong to Caesar, so give him his coins.
Now this would be an interesting interpretation to work out in our churches today. If the pastor were to find “money” in the offering plate, he would be obliged to send that to Washington…for it clearly has images of US Presidents engraved upon it. (Maybe someone could split hairs here and say that the pastor could keep a Sacagawea dollar or a Buffalo nickel. But, alas, a Pharisee would argue that the coin also bears the inscription “United States of America” and the pastor would be left retaining only the chickens and turnips.)
We must always be careful to interpret Scripture in light of the rest of Scripture. Recently, we were discussing in class how often times a “handout” to the poor can actually hurt them and we must sometimes exhibit “tough love” instead. We were primarily dealing with the fact that the poor need a job more than anything else. A student countered with the argument that Jesus said that we are to “give to him who asks of you” and therefore His words override anything else. I then asked the student if he were approached by a heroin addict asking him for heroin, would he give it to him? Or if his little child asked to play with a loaded gun, would he provide it? Obviously not.
We must understand the words of Jesus in light of the rest of Scripture. The Word of God is marvelously consistent. We must interpret it in that consistency, not outside of it.
What are we left with here? I think we are left with exactly what Jesus meant. He was saying that which fits with all of the rest of Scripture. God has established the civil magistrate and we are to obey that authority and to give to that authority what is “right to give to him”. We are to be good citizens. But, if that authority asks for us to do what is contrary to God’s righteousness, then we are to refuse. In addition, we are to give to God what God rightfully requires of us. We owe allegiance to both. When there is a conflict…God wins.
So where does that leave us in our little on-going discussion regarding the giving of taxes to support abortion?
Well, let’s see if we can bring all of this together next time.
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22 Responses to ““Render Unto Caesar””
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Very Interesting and eye opening. Many people are confused about this issue and seem to be more than willing to render to Caesar what does not belong to him. As far as I know, Caesar was not living in the United States and in exercising abusive powers. He was even pronounced as the “dictator in perpetuity” and in 42 BC was officially sanctified by the senate as one of the Roman deities. Very interesting thing Jesus was facing during this test and He passed it, the question is “will we?” Also visit http://www.livingwaters.com very good outsources there too.
To quote Dr. Del:
“The Word of God is marvelously consistent. We must interpret it in that consistency, not outside of it.”
We as Christians know in our sinful hearts that our Creator and His Son [...who is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being... Hebrews 1:3 (NIV)] cannot lie. With this fact firmly planted in our hearts and minds, we should readily understand that when we are confused by or think we see contradiction in the inspired word of God, we must immediately assume that we don’t truly comprehend what is being presented to us in the context of Scripture as a whole. As Del has aptly and correctly stated: “We must always be careful to interpret Scripture in light of the rest of Scripture.” I couldn’t agree more! False theology and heretical doctrine will result when biblical text is purposefully parsed, and the context of Scripture as a whole is disregarded. When looking for Scriptural support for a line of reasoning, especially for a worldly matter, it is highly seductive to be selective of the verses that support your position; to exclusively pay attention to and present them as a proof text for your argument, and doing so at the clear expense of Scripture as a whole.
In its entirety, Scripture is a symphony in which there is no discord. If you think you hear a sour note, then you should check the context of the phrase being played. If you’re like me, you’ll find that it was your own instrument (understanding) that was out of tune…!
In Christ…
Dan…
Del’s discussion intersects with another related discussion I am having with a friend about Romans 13:1-2 about rebelling against God’s authority and whether the Founding Fathers of our country were wrong in rebelling against England. He sights the Scripture that says, “he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted.” So were the Founding Fathers wrong to rebel against the King of England with violence?
Brian,
You and your friend might benefit from a discussion that happened on the Truth Project Forum a couple of years ago on that very subject. Dr. Tackett even joined in!
Founding Fathers & Rebellion Discussion
It explored many aspects of the question, and also considered the conflicting viewpoints on the subject of Norman Geissler and Francis Schaeffer.
Worth checking out!
Many have said that we must obey all authorities.
The Constitution states that “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land;”
So, our authority in the US is the Constitution, and all laws made in pursuance thereof; NOT the president, NOT the Congress, NOT the Supreme Court.
The united states was created by the Constitution, which was created by representatives of the citizens of the several states. So the creature, the US, is not greater than the creator, We, The People, through our elected representatives. Any action by any branch of the government, and any legislation which is passed by any legislative body, which is repugnant to the Constitution, is not law, is not legitimate, and bears no responsibility to be obeyed, as ruled by the supreme court in the case of Marbury v. Madison.
Thus, we owe NO responsibility to obey any “authority” repugnant to the Constitution. We are only told to render unto Caesar that which IS “Caesar’s”, not all to which “Caesar” lays claim.
Excellent! This looks great! THANKS!
Many disjointed thoughts packaged in a single (rambling) post:
TTPAdmin1 - Fantastic link; thanks for the post! It would seem I have many more books to read! The forum thread alone may take up the rest of the week…
As Vick pointed out - why limit the discussion to the United States? American ethnocentrism is difficult for me to overcome!
“We must always be careful to interpret Scripture in light of the rest of Scripture.”…”We must understand the words of Jesus in light of the rest of Scripture”
Reading a bit between the lines; is the Dr. revealing an “analogia fidei” presupposition/hermeneutic? It would seem that this “hinge” to the above argument might imperil the “Render unto Caesar” interpretation for the majority of the readership?
Excellently said, and I look forward to the next installment.
Part of the problem is that Christians (like the rest of the culture) are intellectually lazy. It is much easier to read a short verse and that’s that. It is much harder to read in context, and not just a paragraph or even a book, but the entire bible! That takes a lot more effort both time wise and mentally. And most Christians just do not have the desire to put forth that effort.
It’s a very sad state of affairs and leads to such misunderstanding of Scripture, and therefore wrong living!
Brian,
Another aspect of the discussion about justification of the American Revolution would be to consider that it possibly wasn’t the Founding Fathers as individuals rebelling against the King but 13 separate, established governments rebelling against an unrighteous governing power with just causes. The proper question may be, “Was the American Revolution a Just War between governing authorities?”
Btw……great read! Thanks for the insight.
Roman emperors considered themselves a God (Roman citizens and those ruled by the Empire were therefore caught up in that same lie)- Consider that Jesus in His reply is questioning that mindset…When Jesus says “and to God the things that are God’s”- He is saying that Caesar is NOT God and that ALL that we have is God’s gift to us.
Both Jesus and the ones he was addressing were pious Jews with great knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. When He mentioned, “Image”, it would immediately remind everyone that man is created in the image of God - so the coin goes to Caesar, while we who bear the image of God belong to Him.
Also, Jesus turned the tables on his interrogators immediately when he asked them for a coin and they produced one. An observant Jew wouldn’t even want to look on such an image, let alone have one. People would pay an intermediary to buy the Roman coin and pay the tax so that they wouldn’t have to deal with it! So, Jesus shows them to be hypocrites right off the bat when they have the blasphemous coin in their posession.
Thanks for TTP and for the blog!
In the USA, We The People are Caeser . . .
Great link from TTPAdmin- I hadn’t seen that previous thread.
Once again Geisler is wrong (as he often is) and Schaeffer was right (as he almost always was). I have read ‘Christian Manifesto’ but not Geisler’s book. It doesn’t surprise me that Geisler sets upa straw man for his own purposes.
The order of authority in the United States is unique in all of history. God created man; man created government; government creates special interests. Each level of creation retains a literal life and death authority over that which it created. We the People are under God’s authority and government is (or should be) under our authority. We do not elect kings - we elect public servants. Of course, it has all been gradually turned upside down.
The world, and Christians too, seem constantly in search of one-size-fits-all answers to questions that simply don’t have black-and-white solutions. God requires us to think and, most of all, to seek His wisdom when we’re confronted with situations such as these. Believers are not entitled to check their brains at the door of conflict. For most of these problems, there are no ‘pat’ answers. The easiest choice we’ve ever made has been to follow Christ; it has only gotten more complicated from there!
Well put. I have benefited much from scholars who have done their research to paint the setting (time and place, era, culture, etc.), which explains the context of passages of scripture much more. Does anyone know of any resources that help point out these types of ‘context’ that is significant of the Bible?
Freedom of Speech. Rendering unto God what is God’s. the 139th Psalm. Will God hold me responsible for the taxes I pay every year,if they
are used to pay for abortions? I am personally
horrified at the idea, which is what motivates me
to e-mail my Senators, Representatives and Congressmen and even our President Elect. With
respect and kindness. To speak to my fellow
workers with Godly passion and truth and encourage them to be active. Yes, pat answers are hard, but Jesus promised that His Holy Spirit
would lead every one of us, who have Him, to truth and the path to walk on, the words to speak. It isn’t just abortion, this whole nation
is in need of renewal and revival of God’s people.
the government proper is not our caesar. the constitution is our caesar. the implications of this realization are inspiring.
From reading the concluding lines of the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience , “We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”, Dr. Tackett were you there helping the writers? Dr.Tackett TTP and the 761,000 trained are having an impack!!
“In its entirety, Scripture is a symphony in which there is no discord. If you think you hear a sour note, then you should check the context of the phrase being played. If you’re like me, you’ll find that it was your own instrument (understanding) that was out of tune…!” ~ Dan H.
Beautifully said Dan! I agree with you and Dr. Tackett about the inerrancy of Scripture, and I also love what you wrote about the act of singling out select verses to prove a point as being seductive. Too often, it seems that we as sinful, self-centered human beings are tempted to twist Scripture to say what we want it to say - we want to shape God’s Word around our views rather than allowing it to shape us. Our goal in interpreting Scripture should not be to further our own point, but to search and dig for the pure truth of God’s Word and work to further it. As Dr. Tackett said, we should interpret all Scripture in light of all the rest of Scripture. John MacArthur once said in one of his excellent sermons that “Scripture is its own interpreter.” If one passage doesn’t make sense, search the rest of the Bible! Chances are God will help you to clear up the dilemma if you’re sincerely searching for His truth.
Also, thank you to Vik for the livingwaters link. Great stuff! Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have some amazing resources!
To everyone else on this discussion, awesome comments! I’ve enjoyed reading them and pondering your various points on this subject.