THE THINGS THAT ARE CAESAR’S AND THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 6, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: October 6, 2021 from Luke 20:20-26

Theme: We must render to God the things that are God’s—and what we owe to God most of all is the worship of His Son.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Our Lord could not be trapped. Not only was He able to deal with those who sought to ensnare Him, but He was also able to prove great truths about Himself in the process. In the end, those who sought to trap Him ended up being put on the crossroads of decision about Him.

We see that vividly in Luke 20. That’s a chapter that contains what we’ve come to refer to as ‘the temple confrontations’. In them, the religious leaders sought to confront our Lord after He had made His triumphant entry into the city and into the temple. We’ve already studied one of those confrontations. He had cast the money changers and the sellers of doves out of the temple—cleansing His Father’s house. And the religious leaders of the people confronted Him and demanded of Him what authority He had to do that—and who it was that gave Him that authority. Not only did He answer them in such a way as to prove that they already knew where He got His authority; but He then proceeded to tell a parable that showed that they were even rejecting the authority of God Himself. It must have struck the target, because they then sought to lay hands on Him—but could not.

That attempt against Him was a plain and straightforward one. But now, we find that they switched to deception. In Luke 20:20-26, we’re told;

So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent (Luke 20:20-26).

The nature of this encounter is made very clear. Those who came to Him were ‘spies who pretended to be righteous’. They were hired actors. And their purpose was to watch for the right moment to trap Him. Some ancient copies of Luke’s Gospel have Him saying (as it is in the New King James Version), “Why do you test Me?” So, we need to understand that their question wasn’t a sincere one. It was meant to get Him into a bind.

And yet, the question they asked truly is a great one. And many people—both believers and unbelievers—have used this story as a framework for exploring that question. What obligation do we owe to the state, and what obligation do we owe to God? What do we do when those two obligations seem to clash? Who wins? That is a perpetually relevant question. There’s no better authority to answer it than the Son of God Himself.

But that’s incidental to the greater theme of this passage. It isn’t ultimately about human government. Really, it’s about what we do with Jesus Himself. His answer actually shows us that we must render to God the things that are God’s—and what we owe to God most of all is the worship of His Son.

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Now; let’s first consider the whole matter of what we owe to human government. It’s important to remember that the ruling civil authority or government—what we call ‘the state’—is not wrong in expecting that something be owed to it. Human government is not an illegitimate institution. It is, in fact, an institution that owes its existence to the will of God … and that, therefore, ought to be duly respected by us.

Romans 13:1-7 says this:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor (Romans 13:1-7).

What could be plainer than that? To resist the governing authority is to resist God; because God established that governing authority. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we cannot question our government’s decisions, or that we must ignore it when the government does wrong. But the point is that we are obligated, as Jesus’ followers, to honor that authority and give it what is due to it. That would include our taxes; but it would also include our respect, and our proper obedience. God’s people must never be rebels. In fact, there’s a sense in which we are to show forth our reverence toward God by our submission to governing authority. The apostle Peter wrote;

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king (1 Peter 2:13-17).

But that, of course, is not the same thing as believing that the authority of human government is absolute. Civil authority is definitely not absolute. Only God’s authority is absolute. The apostle Peter demonstrated this for us perfectly in Acts 5:29. When the ruling authorities over him at that time demanded that he cease preaching in the name of Jesus—and that he thus disobey the command of our Lord—Peter boldly and respectfully responded by saying, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Any time that human government exercises its legitimate authority we are obligated to obey it. But when it crosses the line into the realm of authority that only belongs to God—and seeks to set God’s commands aside in order to enforce its own—then it is acting illegitimately; and we are obligated to respectfully obey God rather than men … to the point of being willing to suffer the consequences at the hand of ungodly men.

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This gives us the framework for the confrontation we read of in Luke 20:20-26. We’re told in verse 20, “So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.”

Now; who is the “they” in this instance? In Luke’s account, we’re told about it in such a way as to suggest that it was the chief priests and rulers and elders of the people—those who had just been beaten in their last encounter with Him. It may be that they were the ones who arranged this second encounter as a deceptive act, because their straightforward encounter with Him had left them embarrassed and defeated. But when we look at Matthew’s report of the story in Matthew 22:27, we find that it says, “Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.” Matthew tells us that they sent some of their disciples—along with the Herodians (who were those who were committed to the rule of King Herod)—to catch Him in His words. The obvious explanation for this is that it was all of the above. They all hated the domination of the Roman empire over them; but they all wanted to find a way to get Jesus in trouble with the Roman empire and to turn Him over to the Roman governor.

So; how did they do this? They crafted a very clever question. In verses 21-22, we read;

Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (vv. 21-22).

These were not sincere inquisitors. They were hired actors—“spies”—who only “pretended to be righteous”. Look at how they tried to butter-up the Lord; calling Him ‘Teacher’, and saying insincerely that they knew He taught ‘rightly’, and that He didn’t show ‘favoritism’, and that He ‘taught the way of truth’. If they had really believed what they were saying, they wouldn’t have been doing what they were doing right then. But they were hoping that the Lord would be flattered by all this talk—and would thus be careless in His words.

They put on a show of sincerity as if they were asking a pressing question with pure motives. And look at the question itself. They asked, “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” The tax that they were referring to was the poll tax that Caesar had placed on the Jewish people. And the thing that they pretended to be concerned about was whether or not it was right for them as Jewish people—as the chosen people of God—to pay taxes to a pagan emperor. Were they somehow disobeying God in doing so? Should they do so? Or, should they refuse to pay tribute to Caesar as a man who thought of himself as a kind of god? It’s that age-old question … except that, in this case, it was asked insincerely—and was being used as a trap.

And consider carefully what a trap it was! If Jesus had answered, “Yes, it is right to pay taxes to Caesar”; then they would be able to turn the Jewish people against Him as a traitor. If He truly was the long-awaited Deliverer of His people, then how could He say such a thing? But if He had answered, “No, it’s wrong to pay taxes to Caesar”; then all they needed to do was to report His words to Caesar. They tried to use this very same argument against Him in His trial later on; because in Luke 23:2, the people made the accusation before Pilate—stating only part of the truth and twisting His words when they said,

“We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2).

But in this encounter in the temple, our Lord was not fooled. We’re told in verse 23 that “He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, ‘Why do you test Me?’” This reminds us of what was said about Jesus in John 2:24-25; that “He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” He could not be trapped—not even by the best. He said to them in verse 24, “Show Me a denarius.”

A denarius was a Roman coin that was about the size of a quarter, but that was worth an entire working man’s day’s wage. Some have suggested that He asked for one because He didn’t have one of His own. But what’s more likely was that He asked them to show Him one of their own—from out of their own pocket, as it were—to prove that they themselves didn’t seem to have any problems with using Roman money when it suited them. He held it up so all could see it; and asked, “Whose image and inscription does it have?” And they couldn’t wiggle out of it. They answered and said, “Caesar’s.” They knew that they themselves might even be in trouble if they didn’t answer the question!

And then comes our Lord’s response. In verse 25, He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And consider—if we may put it this rather ‘human’ way—what a ‘brilliant’ answer that was! His answer recognized that there was something that truly belonged to Caesar. That was his coin. His name and his face were on it. And if he wanted it back from them, then they were obligated to give it to him. This affirms to us that we are obligated to render to human government that which it has a right to expect from us. Even our Lord paid taxes (as a certain ‘fishing story’ reminds us). No one could have accused our Lord of saying anything wrong in this answer.

But He also affirmed that they must also render to God what belongs to God. Caesar doesn’t get it all. Caesar doesn’t dictate to God what God may have; but God dictates to Caesar what Caesar may have—and that which is owed to God must not be neglected. And consider carefully what it was that was owed to God right then. It was that His Son be honored and revered; and that His chosen people receive Him as their long-expected King. As Jesus said in John 5:23;

“He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23)

And these pretenders—and the ungodly leaders who had hired and sent them—were not rendering to God what was God’s. They were honoring neither the Father nor the Son whom He sent.

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The story ends with these words in verse 26; “But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.” Once again, our Lord won.

But let’s be sure that we learn the greater lesson of this passage. We must render to God the things that are God’s—and what we owe to God most of all is the worship of His Son And if we render unto God what belongs to Him faithfully as we should—when we receive His Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master; and obey the Father by obeying our Lord’s commands—then we will also rightly be able to render to Caesar what truly belongs to Caesar …and not what does not belong to him.

EA