TEXT [Commentary]

5. Question concerning paying taxes to Caesar (12:13-17; cf. Matt 22:15-22; Luke 20:20-26)

13 Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”

Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin,[*] and I’ll tell you.” 16 When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

17 “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

His reply completely amazed them.

NOTES

12:13 to trap Jesus. The Gr. word for “trap” (agreuō [TG64, ZG65]) means to snare, as one does an animal or an unsuspecting person (Job 10:16, LXX; Prov 5:22; 6:25; BDAG 15).

12:14 we know how honest you are. You are impartial. . . . You teach the way of God truthfully. The way that the passage is introduced makes it clear that this three-fold compliment was less than honest in intention, despite its being true. The impartiality referred to is of not being a “respecter of faces” (TDNT 6:779-780).

is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? The political question was whether Jews had an obligation to pay the poll tax of the foreign power that occupied their land. Judas the Galilean had led a revolt against such a tax in AD 6 (Hurtado 1989:198; Josephus War 2.118; Antiquities 17.308; 18.1-10; 20.102). The poll tax was a second tax for Jews, since they also supported the Temple; the Roman tax was especially disliked because it imposed this burden on the people in addition to indicating their subservience to Rome.

12:15 saw through their hypocrisy. Jesus was well aware of why the question had been asked, and he explicitly noted his awareness: “Why are you trying to trap me?”

12:17 give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God. The verb used here is often used of paying a debt (apodidōmi [TG591, ZG625]; Matt 5:26; 18:25-26, 28-30, 34; Luke 7:42; 12:59).

His reply completely amazed them. Their amazement means that they were processing the answer, even though they recognized that Jesus had eluded their trap.

COMMENTARY [Text]

The introductory verse in this scene makes it clear that the leaders’ question (“Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”) was not asked innocently but with the intention of obtaining a political charge against Jesus that they could take to the Roman officials. If the Romans would deal with Jesus, then the leaders would not be responsible for his demise. They might accomplish this by a question that could coax a statement against paying taxes to Rome. However, if Jesus said that Jews should pay taxes to Rome, then the Jews who longed for a messianic challenge to Rome would be discouraged from identifying with Jesus’ mission. It was no surprise to find Pharisees and allies of Herod asking the question. The Herodians would be interested to see if Jesus would challenge their leader.

The political question was whether or not Jews were obligated to pay the poll tax of the foreign power that occupied their country. Because it underscored Israel’s subjection to pagan Rome, the tax was unpopular. Jesus knew that they were trying to trap him, so he asked them to show him a Roman coin. Jesus was specifically asking for a denarius, the basic Roman coin, and his approach was to show that the Jewish leaders already participated in the Roman economy. They used Roman coins in their daily lives. So he asked them to show him a coin stamped with Caesar’s name and image.

So Jesus asked the obvious: “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” Caesar distributed these coins and they were marked accordingly, as his questioners acknowledged. The inscription on some Roman coins described Tiberius as “Son of the Divine Augustus,” which pious Jews regarded as blasphemous. However, the leaders did not object so much that they refused to use the coins to meet their daily expenses.

Then Jesus answered, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” Jesus’ reply recognized that Caesar had a sphere of responsibility and that God had one as well. Those coins belonged to Caesar and ran the economy he oversaw, so they should give him his due. However, they should also be sure that God was given what was owed to him. The previous parable (12:1-12) had already warned that the leaders failed to do exactly that.

In conclusion, the Jewish leaders tried to construe Jesus as a political revolutionary, but they failed to catch him speaking against Rome. All modern readings that make Jesus into a political figure fail to note that Jesus passed up the opportunity to feature this in his teaching. This passage is also often used to speak of two spheres of authority to justify the separation of the state from God. That is not the point of this text, which simply says that the state has its responsibility in running society and that people also have to give God the loyalty due to him (see Rom 13:7; 1 Pet 2:13-14).