I've talked with a lot of people about our responsibility to worldly authority and how we should behave toward them. I think everyone I've talked to about this has brought up the passage "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's;" - Matt 22:17 um... but thats actually only half of a verse... .or maybe less. The full passage in context reads like so:
15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. KJV
Whether you read that or not ... you know the story. I believe this is very important. And I really don't think this is going to win an argument or anything, but this verse has been taken WAY out of context today and it needs to be corrected which is what I am attempting to do here.
Most people will use this verse to say that Christ commands us to pay our taxes/give tribute.... and I don't think Christ was saying that at all in this "encounter". I'll call it that because he seemed to have quite a few "encounters" with the Pharisees.
So how does this encounter start out?
15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.So what do we know from that? We do know that the Pharasees wanted to kill Christ and right here.. they were trying to "entangle Him in his talk". And they even tried to butter Him up a bit.
17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?They wanted Him to say something that would get Him in trouble with the "authorities". Pretty clever really.... but Christ knows all things!
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's.This the WHOLE answer.... not just the part that says "Give unto Caesar". So lets try to get a glimps into the all knowing mind of Christ. Personally I think this is one of the most completely brilliant answers ever. I spent a while studying this verse and I came to conclusion that it doesn't really answer their question at all. Instead it gives them a decision to make..... I'll try to explain here...
He started His answer by asking them a question about the tribute money "Whose is this image and superscription?" They answered... "Caesars".... In making THEM answer this questions he remained completely neutral. Finally.. His answer "Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's" Again.... he has remained completely neutral. I really don't think there is any way you can interpret this to say that Christ commands us to pay taxes. Instead he asks us... What is Caesars and what is Gods?
If you truly believe that Our God Yahweh is infinite, all knowing, the creator of heaven and earth and protector and provider for us all .. you will know that EVERYTHING is Yahweh's by right of creation.
Ps 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.To deny that.... is to deny God. I believe something that Christ is asking the Pharisees is ..... who are you worshiping?
Christ is also drawing a line between Caesar and God that cannot be crossed. What is God's cannot be Caesar's and what is Caesar's cannot be God's. And again....Everything is Gods by right of creation.... if you believe that Ps 24:1 is truth then Caesar is nothing and owns nothing.
I'm not condemning anyone at all for paying taxes... but I do think you are on dangerous ground if you're telling someone they are wrong if they prefer not to.
Thats all for now... Peace :)
19 comments:
I think most people prefer not to pay taxes... but are you saying it's not wrong if they don't?
Biblically.. no I don't think its wrong to not pay taxes. Christ said to give on Caesar what is Caesar and unto God what is Gods and like I said... everything is Gods by right of creation so I don't think we have any spiritual obligation to pay taxes.
What about "obeying those that are in authority"?
@Joanna Yeah thats a good question and definitely worth a post or 2 or 3 haha :)
The short of it... with the scriptures like Romans 13 that people use for that argument. In most cases there are definitions for authority that don't even come close to matching any authority here today. Such as they reward good and punish evil. Maybe I'll do another post on it later :)
I think you are brave, Jeremy. And I'm proud of you for searching out truth, sharing your thoughts, and not just going with the norm. Love you!
Definitely a unspoken subject but I believe you are right... now if I could have only read this earlier, it would have saved hours of tax work this year ;)
Matt. 17:24-27 (ESV)
24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the tax?" 25 He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are free. 27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself."
What are your thoughts on that?
@michael Peter had just come in from talking to the tax collectors and when asked, he told them that Christ DID pay the tax.
Christ simply told Peter to pay them only because Peter had just told them he would.... Not because he was obligated to. From reading conversations between Christ and Peter it sounds to me like Christ would have not told the tax collectors that he paid the tax in the first place. Seeing that he said "The Sons are free"
What are your thoughts on John Calvins comments on this verse? http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/calvin/cc33/cc33006.htm
Since he has a different interpretation then you do what would you say is the difference between your exegetical approach to this passage and His?
Well.. after reading it.. I think the main difference is that I don't believe that the currency you use defines who your allegiance is to.
If I go to a communist country I'll have to use their currency... That doesn't mean that I put myself under their authority and accept that way of rule.
What Calvin said in that commentary may have very well been been the case in those days... there is really no way of knowing.
Hope that answered your question :)
Calvins comments on verse 21 (especially the third paragraph) seem to be contrary to what you say about governing authorities. My question wasn't really a who's right or who's wrong question. I guess it was more of what difference is there in your method of interpretation of this passage betweem yours and his?
@Benjamin I'm not really seeing how that disagrees so much with what I said... he expounds on it a lot more than I did but I don't necessarily disagree with what he says in that 3rd paragraph.... hmm can you be more specific?
Well I guess since you agree with what Calvin says what are some similarities between both your rules/method of exegesis?
Honestly I don't really care to compare my exegesis to his or do an exegesis on his exegesis. I think he brings up some very good valid points on these verses. But I also think that he assumes a lot about what Christ saw in the Pharisees hearts at that time and what they were thinking. And I don't think we will ever know that.
What are you trying to accomplish here by asking me these questions?
Sorry I'm just trying to understand your method of interpreting Scripture. Since everyone has certain assumptions that affect that stuff.
Ah okay.... no problem and I didn't mean to come across as harsh. I guess I didn't understand what exactly you wanted to know.
I don't really have a method... Basically, what I try to do with all of the Bible when I'm reading it is seek God about it and if there something that doesn't make sense to me I pray about it and seek out the way that I believe best matches Gods character and best lines up with the rest of the Bible :)
Yeah thanks, that basicaly answers my question. And that's good. One thing I might add, like you said, it is very important to interpret scripture with scripture. In other words using passages that are easier to understand to understand the less clear ones. I think that is the only proper way to understand God's word. Part of my question was to see how you defend your interpretation of the Matthew passage against someone who might have a different interpretation and who has done a lot of research as well. But you don't have to answer that part if you don't want to.
Okay good! Well.... It would be easier for me to defend myself if the writer of that exegesis was here to clarify some things and defend what he wrote :) I guess thats why I don't really care to compare opinions with those commentaries. I think he makes some really good points and I agree with a lot of it but some of it seems to me like he is stretching scripture but that may be just how I'm reading it. Rom 13 is a big one... I think I'll do my next post on that and it should clarify a lot about how we appear to differ :)
Jeremy you did an amazing job on this all I would and is...amen brother!!
Post a Comment