Perhaps one of the most misunderstood and deliberately misused passages of the Bible is Matthew 22:15–22.
“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” — Matthew 22:21
Manipulative statists will misrepresent that as Christ justifying taxation and therefore human government. Well-meaning followers have just accepted it as truth.
An honest reading will immediately strip away the certainty of that phrasing.
Before we can unpack the words, we must understand two things: the situation and how Jesus often spoke, especially in these situations.
When hostile questioners attempted to trap Jesus, He often refused the answer their framing demanded. When the chief priests asked by what authority He acted, He answered with a question about whether John’s baptism came from heaven or men (Matthew 21:23–27). When a lawyer tempted Him by asking what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus answered, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” (Luke 10:25–26). When the Sadducees attempted to disprove the resurrection with a carefully constructed question, Jesus exposed their error and answered from God’s declaration, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Matthew 22:23–33).
The question was a carefully designed trap: “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.” — Matthew 22:15
The literal question they asked was: “Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?” — Matthew 22:17
Jesus recognized this immediately, of course, and answered in his divine way. Give Caesar whatever is his and God what is his.
So what does this mean? Let’s look at property. If I own myself, I own the fruits of myself. If I own an apple tree, I own the apples it produces.
Therefore, we must ask what exactly belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar?
God, the creator of heaven, earth, and life, is the owner of heaven, earth, and life, and by extension the fruits of the things he created are therefore his as well. Just like the apple in my orchard.
Recognizing the trap, Jesus spoke his words deliberately: “Why tempt ye me?” — Matthew 22:18
Knowing that if he said plainly taxation is illegal, he would be apprehended by Rome, and if he agreed it was legal, they could portray Him as supporting Roman occupation and discredit Him with the people.
Everyone understands that is the reasoning for the riddle, yet everyone pretends he did say it was legal anyway, and no one minded. If the trap were laid and Jesus answered as simply as it is portrayed, then the whole story doesn’t make sense. He could have easily just said, “Yeah, Caesar mints the money, and you owe it to him. That’s the sum of what they are claiming anyway.”
Obviously he didn’t. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s is plain. Everything is God’s and nothing is Caesar’s.
Wear the Revolution
This editorial inspired the “But What Is Caesar’s?” ringer T-shirt. The design is meant to raise the question most interpretations avoid and open a thoughtful conversation about Christ, ownership and the limits of Caesar’s claim.