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The Question about Paying Taxes
Matthew 22:15-22
Good News Translation (GNT)
15 The Pharisees went off and made a plan
to trap Jesus with questions.
16 Then they sent to him some of their
disciples and some members of Herod's
party. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you
tell the truth. You teach the truth about God's
will for people, without worrying about what
others think, because you pay no attention
to anyone's status.
17 Tell us, then, what do you think?
Is it against our Law to pay taxes to the
Roman Emperor, or not?"
18 Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan,
and so he said, "You hypocrites! Why are you
trying to trap me?
19 Show me the coin for paying the tax!"
They brought him the coin
20 and he asked them, "Whose face and name
are these?"
21 "The Emperor's," they answered.
So Jesus said to them, "Well, then, pay to the
Emperor what belongs to the Emperor,
and pay to God what belongs to God."
22 When they heard this, they were amazed;
and they left him and went away.
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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament
Commentary' (Kingsway)
Paying Taxes to Caesar
Later the Jewish leaders
sent some Pharisees,
and Herodians,
to try and trap Jesus.
The Herodians were a sect of
Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the
New Testament as being hostile to Jesus.
In each of these cases their name
is coupled with that of the Pharisees.
The Herodians were probably
a public political party,
who distinguished themselves
from the Pharisees and Sadducees
by the fact that they were
sincerely friendly to Herod the Great,
the King of the Jews.
The Herodians wanted
political independence for the Jewish people.
Unlike the Pharisees,
who sought to restore the kingdom of David,
the Herodians wished
to restore a member of the Herodian dynasty
to the throne in Judea.
Luke calls them spies
who wanted to trap Jesus
into saying something against Caesar,
the Roman Emperor,
so that they might hand him over
to the power and authority
of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
In Jesus' time,
Israel was under the authority
of the Roman Empire,
and the chief ruler of Israel
was the Roman governor.
The Jewish leaders hoped
to accuse Jesus
of being a revolutionary,
of trying to lead a revolt against Rome.
If they could make this accusation against Him,
then the Romans would have Him
arrested and executed.
This was the way the Jewish leaders
hoped to get rid of Jesus.
Therefore, they asked Jesus "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
If Jesus answered that
it was not right,
then they could accuse Him
before the governor
of disobeying Roman law.
However, if Jesus answered
that it was right
to pay taxes to Caesar,
then the ordinary Jews
would be angry with Him
and turn against Him.
No matter what answer Jesus gave,
He would bring trouble upon Himself.
Then Jesus asked to see a denarius,
a Roman coin with Caesar's image on it.
Then He gave the perfect answer:
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's
and to God what is God's."
It is right for people to pay taxes.
Although the Jews had lost their independence,
Caesar had given them many other benefits,
such as roads, peace, security.
The Jews needed to pay for these benefits.
In Jesus' time,
anything that had a man's stamp
or inscription on it
belonged to that man.
A Roman coin had Caesar's inscription on it -
Caesar's image -
and therefore, it belonged to Caesar.
In the same way,
it can be said that man has God's stamp on him.
Man is made in God's image.
Therefore, man belongs to God.
Therefore, we must give taxes to "Caesar,"
and ourselves to God.
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