Continuing Controversies
TRANSLATION
(13) And they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. (14) And when they came, they said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity, not swayed by others’ viewpoints, but teach God’s ways truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? (15) Should we pay them or not pay them?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” (16) When they brought it, he said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” And they said to him, “Caesar’s.” (17) Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” And they were amazed by him.
(18) Then the Sadducees who say that there is no resurrection came to him. They asked him, (19) “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but leaves no child, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. (20) There were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and, when he died, he had no children. (21) And the second married her and died leaving no offspring. And the third likewise, (22) and the seven also and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died. (23) At the resurrection, whose wife will she be, for all seven had married her?” (24) Jesus said to them, “Are you not misguided since you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? (25) When the dead rise, they neither marry nor are they given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. (26) But as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses in the place concerning the burning bush, how God spoke to him saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ (27) He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are severely misguided.”
OBSERVATIONS
Three groups of Jews were mentioned in this passage. The Pharisees, religious conservatives who advocated strict adherence to the Law of Moses, the Herodians who were Roman sympathizers, and the Sadducees, religious liberals who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. These widely disparate parties, normally in constant conflict and dispute, had united to oppose Jesus. Both questions posed by Jesus’ enemies were cleverly devised to ensnare the Savior and discredit his ministry if he dared answer them. In the first case, he astounded the Pharisees and Herodians by using a Roman denarius as an object lesson, an approach that turned the tables on them and left them dumbstruck. In the second case, he answered the Sadducees’ convoluted case study directly with such a powerful grasp of the implications of God’s Word that his opponents were again left speechless.
Repeated words in this segment included “Caesar” (four times in vss. 14, 16, & 17), “pay” (found twice in vs. 14), “things” (found twice in vs. 17), “resurrection” (vss. 18 & 23), “brother” (three occurrences in vss. 19 & 20), “wife” (four times in vss. 19, 20, & 23), “rise” (vss. 23 & 25), “misguided” (vss. 24 & 27), and “dead” (three times in vss. 25, 26, & 27).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus skillfully responded to the Pharisees’ question regarding paying taxes to Caesar. (13-17)
II. Jesus skillfully responded to the Sadducees’ question about the resurrection of the dead. (18-27)
IDEA STATEMENT
For those who bear God’s image, submission to God’s will and his word is the only possible response.
APPLICATION
Consider the significance of Jesus’ statement, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The things that belonged to Caesar referred specifically to the things that bore Caesar’s image, namely the coins minted by the Roman Empire. In other words, human governments have the right to collect taxes from those who benefit from living under their administration. But that left Jesus’ hearers without a specific answer to the question implied by the phrase, “the things that are God’s.” The answer, upon reflection, should be framed in terms similar to the first answer, namely, “Whatever bears the image of God belongs to him.”
The Book of Genesis contains a statement that was certainly well known to the Pharisees who had attempted to confound Jesus with their question about taxes: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). The point of Jesus’s response emerged from an understanding of how God had created human beings. Just as every Roman coin bore Caesar’s image, so every human being likewise bears the image of God. In fact, it is God’s image stamped on us that differentiates us from all other created things. If all Roman coins marked with Caesar’s image essentially belonged to Caesar, then it follows logically that all who are stamped with God’s image clearly belong, body, soul, and spirit, to the one who created them for his glory. Giving back to God the things that are God’s lay at the heart of Jesus’ response. Only those who bow in submission to the one who stamped them with his image, thus marking them as his possessions, are prepared to reflect his glory in their lives.