In a recent brief note on Luke 20:22 we ventured the opinion that Jesus evaded giving a direct answer to the question, “Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar, or not?"
Several of our readers have taken rather strong exception to this suggestion, which they seem to think reflects adversely on our Lord’s character. For example, one of our critics writes: “Jesus gave a clear unmistakable answer that it was right to pay tribute to Caesar, and struck a further subtle blow, to the effect that such was God-ordained because of their forefathers’ failure to give God His due. Had their forefathers done so, the Jews of Christ’s day would not have been in the humiliating position of paying tribute to Caesar, since God would not have delivered them into Caesar’s hand. As to the defining of what was Caesar’s and what was God’s, the questioners knew this themselves, and Jesus knew that they knew. There was no need for him to waste words on that score.
"They asked, ‘Is it lawful…?’ and Jesus answered that question without any doubt as to what was implied by his words, that it was lawful to pay tribute to a Gentile Emperor. Surely the underlying theme of the question was this: ‘Here we are in a position of being required to pay tribute to a Gentile Emperor. Now if you are the Messiah and King of the Jews, as you claim, what are you doing about it seeing your subjects under this humiliation? Ought we to pay, or ought we not to pay? Let us see what our King says.’
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Author: P. H. Adams
Keywords: tribute, pay tribute, paying tribute to Caesar, Tribute to Caesar, Render unto Caesar, Render unto God, Paying taxes, tax, taxes
Bible reference(s): Matthew 22:17, Mark 12:14, Luke 20:22
Source: “Tribute to Caesar,” The Testimony, Vol. 24, No. 278, March 1954, pp. 93-4.
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