Matthew 22:21, commentary and pictures

Christ met a joint trap over paying tribute to Rome with a direct and wise answer that gave neither side an advantage and left His questioners marveling with nothing to say. The answer sets a clear principle that what properly belongs to civil authority is to be rendered to it, and what belongs to God is to be rendered to God. People are therefore to remain peaceably subject to lawful rule and meet its just claims so long as they do not conflict with duty to God, while God retains first allegiance and supreme authority over conscience. As the coin bearing Caesar's image and inscription belonged to Caesar, every person bearing God's image at creation belongs to God, and though sin has marred that image its mark remains and God seeks to restore His likeness in righteousness and holiness. What belongs to God — wealth, time, strength, ability, influence, tithes, offerings and pledged gifts — is held only as stewards and must be faithfully returned to Him rather than withheld for self, debt, family claims, or earthly use.

Trap and Answer

The question about tribute to Caesar was a joint trap laid by the Pharisees with the Herodians, one of a series of questions designed to entrap Him. Spies were sent with flattering commendation and a pretended desire for wisdom, while the Herodians stood by as witnesses ready to accuse Him for His life. They hoped to force Him to offend either Jewish law or Roman authority.

The dilemma was deliberate: if He said tribute was unlawful He would be reported to the Romans as an enemy to civil authority and a rebel stirring sedition, and if He said it was right He would be accused to the Jews and elders as opposed to the law of God. Many Jews held that paying tribute to a foreign power broke Jewish law, which made the snare the more dangerous. He perceived their wickedness, read their hearts and hidden purposes, called them hypocrites, and was not deceived by their words. He asked to see the tribute money, and they at once produced a Roman coin bearing Caesar's image and superscription and acknowledged it as Caesar's.

His answer was direct, candid, and wise rather than evasive, giving no advantage to either Roman or Jewish power but meeting the need of the moment. It settled the disputed question for many listeners, left the spies with nothing further to say, baffled and disarranged their plans, and displayed wisdom and divine knowledge of their hidden purpose. The interrogators marveled, left Him and went their way, while His plain, intelligent answers brought light to the people and sowed seeds of truth. The same discernment continues today, for He understands the true character of every man, records true motives in His book whatever the profession, and no cover of pretentious righteousness can deceive Him.

He Himself paid the tribute and pointed to Caesar's image and inscription to teach His disciples to pay it, showing He was not stirring up sedition. His obedience to the ruling power proved He was no leader of sedition even though many Jews rose in tumult against Rome on the claim that tribute broke Jewish law. The later priestly accusation before Pilate that He perverted the nation and forbade tribute to Caesar was false and the opposite of what He had taught.

Caesar and God Distinguished

The verse lays down a clear and candid principle that separates what is owed to civil government from what is owed to God, requiring that the civil authority receive what properly belongs to it while God receives what belongs to Him. It does this directly and wisely rather than by evasion, settling the question of the Roman tribute by its governing rule. The Roman coin made the point visible, for its name and image and inscription marked it as belonging to the sphere of Roman rule and illustrated the duty to render to the governing power what belonged to it.

Those living under civil authority are to give that authority the support it claims and remain peaceably subject to the laws of the land, meeting legitimate obligations such as the tribute, so long as those obligations do not conflict with a higher duty to God. Such civil obedience does not cancel the duty to give God first allegiance, but at all times His claims are to be answered with obedience.

The demand to give God what belongs to God was a severe rebuke to the Jewish leaders, for had they faithfully met their obligations to God they would not have become a broken nation under foreign rule. Their subjection to Rome, with Roman ensigns over Jerusalem and Roman sentinels and governor in the city, and their present payment of tribute, was the penalty and consequence of apostasy and unfaithfulness to God.

Obedience to Civil Authority

Duties owed to civil authority must be respected alongside duties owed to God. The things belonging to Caesar include the State's legal requirements and restrictions, which Christian workers must take into account when organizing their work so that it is not needlessly hampered. Those living under civil authority are to give that authority the support it claims and remain peaceably subject to the laws of the land, meeting its legitimate claims by obedience while at all times answering God's claims with obedience. This obedience to the civil power holds so long as its claims do not conflict with the higher duty to God.

Civil rulers are supreme within their proper sphere, and citizens must respect and obey magistrates in the just exercise of their authority. The same principle of obedience within just limits applies to children toward parents, to wives toward husbands, and to servants toward masters. Obedience to a ruler may be refused when the ruler requires what conflicts with God's law as made clear in Scripture, for God alone is supreme over conscience and religious duty. Temporal rule belongs to secular powers, while obedience to God takes precedence when human commands conflict with God's law, and Christ's example is one of rejecting worldly rule and honor.

Christ did not take up legal or political questions, but taught the principles of His spiritual kingdom. That kingdom is governed by righteousness, justice, mercy, and love. In this way temporal and political matters are distinguished from the things owed to God.

Church and State Distinct

Matthew 22:21 sets civil government and religion apart in distinct spheres, with each left to its proper work. Civil authority carries out its God-appointed task of maintaining order and restraining evil, yet it is not to govern religion nor to unite with the church. The church is led by God's life and Word, while the state exercises its rightful jurisdiction in civil affairs.

The church therefore has no right to enforce anything of a religious character upon the world, including requiring by law that the Bible be read in public schools. Making opposition to such a law prominent puts believers in a wrong light before the world. If such a law does go into effect, God will overrule it for good by placing an argument in Sabbathkeepers' hands for standing on the Bible foundation for the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, for the Book thus forced upon public notice will speak and its words will be interpreted just as they read. To render to God what belongs to God means each person is responsible to God, so no human being may take God's place by claiming authority over another person's conscience or duty and treating fellow human beings as subjects to be controlled at human will.

Image and Divine Ownership

A coin bears the image and superscription of the reigning power as the mark of ownership and value, so what bears Caesar's image belongs to Caesar. As the coin bears the image of the ruling power, every person at creation bore the image and superscription of God, and this makes every soul God's property and precious in His sight. Sin has marred and dimmed God's image in man, yet it has not erased it. Even when a life lies among dust and rubbish and is degraded by sin, it remains silver still, and traces of the inscription remain on every soul.

Because the soul still bears His mark and is of value, God seeks to recover it in order to retrace upon it His own image in righteousness and holiness. As people behold Jesus and His righteousness they desire to become like Him, and through earnest, humble prayer and the Holy Spirit's work Christ's words are made living in the obedient soul emptied of self, so that Christ is formed within as the hope of glory. In this life God's people are to bear God's image and superscription, showing that they belong to Him. Christ's grace forms their character, and those who are His are united in love and purpose.

What bears God's image and superscription belongs to God and must be given to Him, and all who profess belief are to deal in heaven's currency by handling those things upon which God has stamped His image as of infinite value. Every dollar bears God's image and superscription and therefore belongs to God, with principal and interest the Lord's lent as capital with a place for every talent in His service, so not a farthing is to be hoarded or squandered on selfish indulgence, display, and extravagance. Possessions are God's, and people hold them as stewards accountable to Him for how they use them, with the image and superscription stamped on the entrusted goods marking them as the Lord's. Worldly possessions and interests perish, do not bear God's image and superscription, and are not heaven's true currency, so they must not take first place over God and religion, nor be trusted in, and treasure must be laid up in heaven where it will not perish, for where treasure is there the heart will be also.

Worshipers of God need transforming grace to subordinate the world to religion, refusing to make temporal interest first and exhaust soul, body, and spirit to secure temporal advantages. The language of image and inscription applies also to truth and to God's work: writers should use truth, which bears God's image, as the currency of heaven rather than personal hints, insults, or falsehood. A missionary institution bears God's superscription only by preserving its missionary character in the fullest sense, which requires godliness of life and character in every worker, with success measured by God's word and true success bearing heavenly credentials.

Faithful Stewardship and Giving

What belongs to God must be rendered to Him as He requires, for wealth, property, time, strength, mental ability, influence, and means are entrusted by Him and remain due to Him. People hold them as stewards, not owners, having been bought with a price so that they and all they possess are His property, and they are accountable to Him for how they use them, for an account of stewardship must soon be given. Giving to God is therefore a return of what is already His.

Earthly blessings and possessions test whether people will honor God's claims and obey the truth rather than use worldly interests and cares as an excuse to neglect obedience. Those who withhold what is entrusted rob God, lose the increase they could have gained, and fail to lay up treasure in heaven. Those whom God has prospered should bring offerings in keeping with the blessings they have received, and using those blessings to cling to possessions and neglect worship and religious duties turns them from gifts into a curse.

Giving to God does not enrich God, whose treasures are already His, but lays up eternal treasure for the giver, frees those who have abundance from the burden of earthly treasure, and serves the giver's own good. Gold and silver offered with humble, grateful obedience show that all a person has and is belongs to God. God accepts such giving not because He needs wealth, but for the good of His servants.

Duty to God stays binding even while earthly debts remain, and being in debt does not excuse withholding from God. Waiting until all debts are paid before giving deceives the giver and withholds what belongs to God. Everyone must still bring a suitable offering, with those in debt subtracting the amount owed from what they possess and giving a proportion of the remainder, while meeting both obligations to others and to God.

Tithes, offerings, and solemn pledges for God's work are things that belong to God and must be rendered into the treasury for His cause, including being faithful in tithes and offerings and making one's record right with God. To withhold, postpone, or keep them back is to rob God, rooted in selfishness and covetousness, and forfeits His commendation; only utter inability to pay excuses failing to meet an obligation promptly. Pledges should follow God's plan rather than exceed what a person can rightly afford, for pledges that leave families without life's necessities are not required by God. While His people disregard this plan of benevolence, God will not bless them.

No one else's claims excuse holding back God's tithes and offerings, and duty to God stands first above the felt duty to save a portion for each child or to leave a surplus to children. Family obligations may be legitimate, but they do not justify robbing God of a suitable proportion, and children must not be allowed to take for their own use what belongs on God's altar. Means entrusted to people are God's, and believers should use them in ways that honor God, including advancing His cause, rather than withholding them to leave a surplus to their children.

Believing parents capable of managing their own business must keep control of entrusted property so it can be returned to God by investment in His cause when He requires it, and must not transfer it to unbelieving children to lay off responsibility, because that leaves them unable to give God His own and places His means in the enemy's ranks against Him. Even transfer to children of the same faith is out of God's order while parents remain capable, because such children seldom have equal devotion, have not learned through adversity to value eternal treasure, and when means not gained by their own exertion comes to them they are tempted to set affection on earth, trust in property, and use it unwisely. Likewise Bro. L as God's steward must use entrusted means for God's cause while able rather than leaving it unavailable or leaving others to dispose of it after death.

Faithful giving includes the giver's willingness and motive: those who give sincerely and self-sacrificially for God's glory are rewarded according to their works even when dedicated means are misused, and God is to be given what is His with cheerful hearts and unswerving faithfulness, not unwillingly or grudgingly, with offerings in keeping with blessings received in self-sacrifice and gratitude. Pure love is necessary for any offering to be acceptable, and obedience is better than sacrifice.

Rendering to God what is His means using entrusted talents of influence, means, time, and talents to advance the cause of truth, help save others, support those who carry truth into entirely new fields at their own charges, circulate publications, give light to relatives and friends, and each act a part in soul-saving. Those prospered should bring offerings in keeping with blessings received, and ministers at large gatherings must deliver pointed, practical discourses exposing neglect of systematic benevolence to break selfishness and arouse duty, with all laborers faithfully and plainly teaching tithes and offerings so all urge obedience with one mind. Rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's with unflinching fidelity is the mark of one who is pure, divested of selfishness, hiding self in Jesus, and fully imbued with the spirit of truth, in contrast to seeking earthly greatness. Only such righteousness exalts and puts the name in the Lamb's book of life.