“Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”They say unto him, Cesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
3 sermons cite this verse
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So, what's the controversial topic? Taxes. The Pharisees asked Jesus a question about taxes. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now, this is no innocent question. Just think for a moment about the stakes that came with how Jesus should answer it. On the one hand, if Jesus says to them, No, you shouldn't pay taxes, then suddenly he's opened himself up to the accusation of sedition, rebellion. He'd be seen as somebody who's opposing Rome, and so that could seal his fate before its time. On the other hand, if he says, yeah, pay your taxes, nothing wrong with that, then he alienates those among his tribe who are more nationalist and they're thinking, no, you shouldn't be doing that. We're not going to kowtow to awful Rome. And so in that case, he'll lose credibility with a number of his followers. So what should Jesus do? Either answer, either way that he responds to the question, it's going to get something wrong in the eyes of those who oppose him. …
… whose image is this? And whose inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then he said to them, so give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God, what is God's? All right. It's a really great statement he makes and it's hard to respond to that. I have a coin here, actually, one of the Roman denarii, from the time of Jesus. In fact, you can see it on the screen. There's an image, one. And on the front side is Tiberius Caesar, who is the emperor when Jesus is crucified. On the backside is the Roman goddess Pax for peace. She's the goddess of peace. And so whose image is on this? Well, the image on here is the emperor's. So give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor. I mean, it was kind of hard to argue with his logic. But part of what I love that he's doing here is he is saying to them, these coins with the Roman emperor's face on it, why do you even have it anyway? …
… denarius. And he asked them, whose image is this? And whose inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then he said to them, so give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. All right, it's a really great statement he makes, and it's hard to respond to that. I have a coin here, actually, one of the Roman denarii from the time of Jesus. In fact, you can see it on the screen. There's an image one. And on the front side is Tiberius Caesar, who is the emperor when Jesus is crucified. On the backside is the Roman goddess Pax for peace. She's the goddess of peace. And so whose image is on this? Well, the image on here is the emperor's. So give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor. I mean, it was kind of hard to argue with his logic. But part of what I love that he's doing here is he is saying to them, these coins with the Roman emperor's face on it, why do you even have it anyway? You're not to have anything with a graven image, but you've got the graven image already. And listen, here's another part of what he's saying is, it seems to me, is he's saying, you know, there are lawful rules. There is the payment of taxes and you're meant to do this. That is just a part of, unfortunately, the world that we're living in is you're going to have to pay taxes. And he goes on to say, but render to God what belongs to God. …