Christianity & CulturePart 12: Render Unto Caesar

Introduction

The geographical context for our discussion on Christ and Culture today places Jesus in Jerusalem after His triumphal entry into the city riding on the colt of a donkey. On the first day of Passion Week, Jesus commences teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem and casts out “those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who were selling doves” (Mt. 21:12). The next day, after lodging in Bethany for the night, He curses the fig tree, confounds the chief priests and elders of the people regarding His authority, tells the parable of the two sons, another about the wicked tenant farmers, and yet another about the marriage feast.

Introduction

We note that the Pharisees continue to be cowardly and cunning in their attempts to destroy Jesus and make every effort to turn popular opinion against Him. But they dare not oppose him directly. After failing in every attempt they had made to entrap Jesus, both in Galilee and Jerusalem, they conspire with the Herodians to trap Him over the issue of payment of the poll-tax. If they can just put Jesus in the position of compromising in regard to the authority of Caesar, the blow would be final and fatal. Then, rejoicing, the Pharisees and Herodians would have accomplished their goal and seen Jesus perish, along with His Messianic claims.

Matthew’s Account

“Then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. Tell us therefore, 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’” (Mt. 22:15-21).

First-Century Context

“Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God did not take place in a historical vacuum.”

F.F. Bruce1910-1990

University of Manchester

The Herodians

• The Herodians were partisans of Herod the Great and his family (cf. Flavius Josephus).

• They were not a religious sect, but rather a court or political party, supporters of the dynasty of Herod (ISBE).

• The Herodians honestly accepted the House of Herod as occupants of the Jewish throne. Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, longed to unite Palestine under his leadership. Yet he was probably unwilling to proceed against Jesus because of His popularity with the people. Nonetheless, he must have been anxious to get rid of this formidable rival.

The Herodians

• N.T. references to the Herodians are found in Mt. 22:16; Mk. 3:6; 12:13.

• “And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him” (Mk. 3:6). [The occasion: Jesus healed the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath].

• “And they were seeking to seize Him; and yet they feared the multitude; for they understood that He had spoken the parable against them. And so they left Him, and went away. And they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him, in order to trap Him in

The Herodians

a statement” (Mk. 12:12-13). This is Mark’s account of Jesus taking the denarius and answering the question about paying tribute to Caesar.

• “An unnatural alliance was formed against Jesus by the Herodian party, who promoted Antipas’s interests in Palestine, and the Pharisees” (F.F. Bruce).

The Pharisees

• The Pharisees were Jesus’ principle theological opponents.• They are mentioned exactly 100 times in the New Testament.• Flavius Josephus says of them: “The Pharisees are a group of Jews

who have the reputation of excelling the rest of their nation in the observance of religion, and as exact exponents of the laws” (Jewish War, I.v.2).

• They promoted a simple lifestyle, believed in the immortality of the soul (unlike the Sadducees) and the resurrection of the body based on their own righteousness, and recognized the supreme authority of the written Hebrew scriptures and oral tradition.

The Pharisees

“Pharisaism is the final result of that conception of religion which makes religion consist in conformity to the Law, and promises God’s grace only to the doers of the Law. It was the scrupulous adherence to legalistic traditions that created the Pharisaic ethos. In most religions there is an ever-present tendency to regard outward formalism as more important than inward disposition of the heart, and in Pharisaism this natural tendency became so strong as to give rise to the modern use of the name Pharisee to describe a self-righteous formalist or hypocrite.” Bruce M. Metzger

1914-2007Princeton Theological Seminary

The Mousetrap Set for Jesus

• Matthew reports that Pharisees “counseled together how they might trap Him in what He said” (vs. 15).

• The Greek word for trap means to “set a snare or trap, entrap.” It primarily means “anything which fastens” or “holds fast,” especially a noose, snare, or net. In the Hellenistic period, it could mean a “mousetrap.”

• The Trojan horse which trapped and destroyed the Trojans was called a wooden “trap.”

• “The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me” (Ps. 140:5).

The Mousetrap Set for Jesus

• The compound word is strictly a hunting expression: “To lay a snare,” “to set a trap,” “to entice into or catch in a trap.”

• The word only occurs once in the New Testament – in our text in Matthew 22:15. The Pharisees are trying to get Jesus in their power. “They consult together how they can lay a trap with a (specific) saying and thus ensnare Him in His own words about paying taxes to the Roman state. Jesus will then be broken in this conflict with Rome. The phrase ‘how they might trap Him in what He said’ (‘how to entangle him in his talk,’ ESV) brings out very well the crafty and destructive aspects of the action” (Kittel’s).

Proverbs 12:13

“An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.”

Two Possible Answers

• Question: “Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?”• Yes, it is lawful, or no, it is not lawful.• Pharisees: They resented having to pay taxes to a foreign ruler and

believed the emperor who demanded these taxes was a blasphemer.• Herodians: The very prestige of King Herod Antipas and his partisans

depended upon the payment of tribute. Hence, they favored the tax.• The capitation (per head) tax was collected by the procurator from

every male in Judea and was paid into the imperial treasury.• At first glance, Jesus seemed to be in a bind – trapped.

The Trap

• If Jesus answers, “Yes,” he would be alienating the Pharisees and every devout Jew. The emperor’s image was on the coin and was worshiped as, in some sense, divine.

• If Jesus answers, “No,” he exposes Himself to the charge of treason. • These possibilities inform us of the reason the Herodians and

Pharisees united in their efforts to trap Jesus. It seemed to be a clever arrangement.

• They were crafty and flattering in their opening remarks to Jesus: “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any” (Mt. 22:16).

Understanding the Denarius

• A denarius was a Roman silver coin worth about 18 cents• The denarius was a laborer’s average daily wage (Mt. 18:28;

20:2,9,13; 22:19). The word is used 15 times in the N.T.• “Due to constantly changing monetary values it is impossible to

indicate with any degree of accuracy what such coins would be worth today in American or in English money” (Hendriksen).

• When Jesus said, “Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax” (vs. 19), they produced one so quickly that it must be assumed that it must have been readily available during Passover when pilgrim‘s arrived in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire.

The Denarius

TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AUGUSTUS (Tiberius Augustus Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus)

Jesus’ Answer

• First, a question: “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” Caesar’s.• His answer: “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and

to God the things that are God’s” (Mt. 22:21).• First, in history, up to this point, religion and state were intertwined.

Israel was a theocracy. In pagan governments, the gods of the people were the gods of the state. States were not divorced from gods. States and religion did not occupy distinct spheres.

• Jesus is not advocating an absolute dichotomy between God and Caesar, or between church and state, or between Christ and culture.

Jesus’ Answer

• Second, all human beings are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) and God’s law is written on their hearts. “If we give back to God what has his image on it, we must all give ourselves to him” (Carson).

• “God always trumps Caesar.”• We may be obligated to pay taxes to Caesar, but we owe everything,

our very being, to God. • Paul insists that Christians pay their taxes to Caesar. “For because of

this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Rom. 13:6-7).

Jesus’ Answer

• Jesus does not concede that God and Caesar are parallel authorities. All that we have and are is God’s. God never relinquishes His Godhood.

• Jesus insists that Caesar, pagan and idolatrous Caesar, receive his due.• Therefore, no charge of sedition could be made against Jesus.• Caesar was to be paid only what was his due. “The divine honor

which the emperor claimed but which is due to God alone must be refused” (Hendriksen).

• Caesar’s kingdom is not a physical kingdom AND a spiritual kingdom.

Conclusion

“Christ’s kingdom is not of this world; a true Theocracy is not inconsistent with submission to the secular power in things that are really its own; politics and religion neither include, nor yet exclude, each other: they are side by side, in different domains. The State is divinely sanctioned, and religion is Divinely sanctioned – and both are equally the ordinance of God” (Edersheim).