What Belongs To Caesar?

Matthew 22:15-22 NIV

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

We are looking at Jesus’ last week on earth. He must have known his time was so close. Chapter 22 alone contains a lot of teachings. Jesus taught them The Parable of the Wedding Banquet (v 1-14), Paying Tax to Caesar (v 15-22), Marriage at the Resurrection (v 23-33), The Greatest Commandment (v 34-40), and Whose Son the Messiah Is (v 41-46).

Let’s focus on our reference scripture for today. The Pharisees at that point were nervous regarding the way Jesus got so influential. They decided to cook up something fast to trap him in his words. So, they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.

See the way they introduced the question. They began by giving Jesus compliments. I mean who wouldn’t love to hear others say that he is a person of integrity? They thought they had him cornered. You know, they gave that standing ovation introduction to put him on a pedestal where he had to live up to the reputation.

The funny thing is the owner of discernment has no blind spot. He knew what they were trying to do, so he asked for a coin. I can imagine them hurrying to bring one out, joyous that the plot is working.

When Jesus got it, He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. Note his reply (v21) “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

King James Version uses “render” which means return to the owner. That money was made by Caesar therefore, it belonged to his economy. Jesus was saying pay your taxes, perform your civic duties as a Christian. Christianity and lawlessness are not synonymous.

Likewise, we, made in the image of God belong to God so, we must give ourselves back to him.

Romans 12:1-2 MSG

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 6:13 KJV

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Within my social environment, I observe people misconstruing our anchor text to say that a Christian must perform some customary traditional rites in the events of marriages or other ceremonies. Anything done in reverence to any other god is idolatry! Any spiritual exercise required of a believer that does not conform to scriptures is idolatry!

Rendering to Caesar is paying due taxes; notifying with gifts the elders of indigenous communities as a way of respectfully inviting them, or seeking their knowledge and input in those events. Worship does not belong to Caesar and must not return to Caesar.

The spirit of God will grant us the wisdom to delineate the difference.