Matthew 22:15-21 - "Then the Pharisees went and plotted
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 then, 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.""
I have heard people use this passage before to say we're supposed to pay our taxes and our tithes, but I don't think that's what it's saying. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we shouldn't do those things, in fact I think both giving to the Lords work and paying taxes are ideas supported by scripture. And this passage even speaks of paying taxes, but the idea of tithing isn't brought up here.
Jesus told the people to render to Caesar the things that belonged to him. And they knew what belonged to him because it looked like him. It had his likeness and inscription. So we're to give Caesar what belongs to him and to God what belongs to Him. Well how do we know what belongs to God? The coin had Caesars likeness so they knew it belonged to Caesar. In Genesis 1:26-27 it says - "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
I believe that this is what Jesus was referring to in this passage in Matthew. Just like the tax should be given to Caesar because it has his likeness, every person made in the image of God needs to give themselves to God.
I have heard people use this passage before to say we're supposed to pay our taxes and our tithes, but I don't think that's what it's saying. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we shouldn't do those things, in fact I think both giving to the Lords work and paying taxes are ideas supported by scripture. And this passage even speaks of paying taxes, but the idea of tithing isn't brought up here.
Jesus told the people to render to Caesar the things that belonged to him. And they knew what belonged to him because it looked like him. It had his likeness and inscription. So we're to give Caesar what belongs to him and to God what belongs to Him. Well how do we know what belongs to God? The coin had Caesars likeness so they knew it belonged to Caesar. In Genesis 1:26-27 it says - "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
I believe that this is what Jesus was referring to in this passage in Matthew. Just like the tax should be given to Caesar because it has his likeness, every person made in the image of God needs to give themselves to God.
Matthew 22:21 - "Then render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."
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