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What Did Jesus Mean By “Give To Caesar What Is Caesar’s…”? LIVE Q&A for May 15, 2025

What Did Christ Mean By “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s…”?

From Melchizedek via email –

Thank you, Pastor David Guzik, for your work.

Kindly help clarify: What does it mean to give Ceasar’s to Caesar and God’s to God according to Matthew 22:21 and other gospel accounts?

Matthew 22

(15-17) After a flattering introduction, the Pharisees ask Jesus a problematic question.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

Plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk: Here the Pharisees and the Herodians worked together. This was evidence of their great hatred of Jesus, because they were willing to put aside their own differences for the sake of uniting against Jesus.
We know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do you care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men: Their plotting led them to approach Jesus with flattery. They hoped He was insecure or foolish enough to be impressed by their hollow praise.
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Since the year AD 6 the Jews were forced to pay taxes directly into the emperor’s treasury. Some Jewish patriots (like the Zealots) refused to pay this tax because they did not want to recognize Roman rule as legitimate. Most people grudgingly paid it, but everybody hated it. It wasn’t just the money, but also the principle of paying the Roman oppressor.
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Jesus’ dilemma with this question was simple. If He said that taxes should be paid, He could be accused of denying the sovereignty of God over Israel (making Himself unpopular with the Jewish people). If He said that taxes should not be paid, He made Himself an enemy of Rome.
Barclay claims there were three regular taxes. There was the ground tax, which was a 10% tax on grain production and a 20% tax on oil and wine. There was the income tax, which was 1% of a man’s income. And there was the poll tax, paid by every man from 14 to 65 years of age and every woman from 12 to 65 years of age; this tax was a denarius a year.
This particular tax was the poll tax. “Paying the poll tax was the most obvious sign of submission to Rome… Zealots claimed the poll tax was a God-dishonoring badge of slavery to the pagans.” (Carson)

i. We can almost see the smug, self-satisfied smiles of the Pharisees and the Herodians as they skillfully threw this question on Jesus. They thought He was in a trap He could not get out of, but you can’t put Jesus in a trap.

(18-22) Jesus answers: give to Caesar what is his, but give to God what belongs to God.

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

Show Me the tax money: On the denarius they showed to Jesus, there was a head of Tiberius, the reigning Roman Emperor (if it was a “current” coin and not an older one). Around his head was written the abbreviation for “Tiberius Caesar, the Divine Augustus.” On the back was the title “Pontifex Maximus,” declaring that Caesar was the high priest of the Roman Empire.
Whose image and inscription is this? Essentially Jesus said, “You recognize Caesar’s civil authority when you use his coins; therefore, you are obliged to pay him the taxes he asks for.”
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: If we take advantage of the benefits of governmental rule, we are obliged to submit to government, as long as it does not infringe on our service to God. Simply said, Jesus told us to pay our taxes. The Apostle Paul repeated the same idea in Romans 13:6-7.
In his commentary on Matthew 22, R.T. France notes: “Render generally means ‘give back’ (whereas the verb they had used in verse 17 was simple ‘give’). It is the verb for paying a bill or settling a debt; they owe it to him.”
Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: Jesus affirmed that the government makes legitimate requests of us. We are responsible to God in all things, but we must be obedient to government in matters civil and national.
Peter said it like this: Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17)
And to God the things that are God’s: Just as it is important to render to Caesar, we must also render to God the things that are God’s. The coin belonged to Caesar because his image was stamped on it. We should give our self to God because His image is stamped on us.
Give the coin to Caesar but give your life to God. It may be fitting for you to die for your country, but only God is worth living for.
Jesus’ answer tells us that Caesar does not have all authority; there are some things that should be rendered to God alone. When the State asks something of us that belongs to God alone, we are duty bound to obey God before the State.

i. “It establishes the limits, regulates the rights, and distinguishes the jurisdiction of the two empires of heaven and earth. The image of princes stamped on their coin denotes that temporal things belong all to their government. The image of God stamped on the soul denotes that all its faculties and powers belong to the Most High, and should be employed in his service.” (Clarke)

Given the promises of blessing and cursing under the Old Covenant, had the Jews rendered God His due, they would have never had to render Caesar anything. The fact that they were under Roman domination was due to their own departure from the Lord.

They marveled: They marveled, but they did not change. In fact, they twisted this wise answer of Jesus into a lying accusation against Him. In Luke 23:2, they accused Jesus of forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar – when He actually said just the opposite!
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good an answer you give; some people will still twist your good words. They did this to Jesus, yet God’s truth prevailed. In the answer of Jesus, God was glorified, Caesar was satisfied, the people were edified, and His critics were stupefied.

Summary: What Does “Give to Caesar” Mean?

Civil government has legitimate claims over people, including Christians.
The followers of Jesus Christ should recognize and honor those claims.
The claims of civil government are limited, and not greater than God’s claims.
We have an even greater obligation to give to God what belongs to Him.

Is it right to pray like David prays about his enemies in the Psalms?

Is it right to pray like David prays about his enemies in the Psalms? He’s sometimes quite detailed in how he wants God to allow evil to come to them. Sometimes I read a Psalm and feel uncomfortable at those words.

It is not always right to pray the way that David prayed. Sometimes we should pray for blessing and good upon our enemies. If we’re going to be determined to hate our enemies and wish the worst for them, then are we any better than unbelievers? Jesus makes this argument in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells us that we are to love our enemies, want good for them, and want blessings upon them. If we’re always praying, “God, smite my enemies, destroy them, kill them, wipe them out,” then it shows that we really don’t have the kind of heart we should have towards our enemies.

However, let me say this. There is something good and useful in these prayers of David. These are called the imprecatory psalms, asking God to curse or destroy your enemies. David did something very good in those psalms: he left it to the Lord. In other words, he did not strike out against his enemies, at least not those whom he was praying against. Yes, there were times when David had literal enemies that he literally fought on the field of battle, but generally, that’s not who we’re talking about in the imprecatory Psalms.

Generally speaking, when David prays those imprecatory Psalms, he does it so that he can leave the issue with God. He says, “God, I’m not going to raise my hand against King Saul and those around him, but I’m going to pray to You and leave it in Your hands.” That idea of pouring out our hearts, being honest before God, and leaving it in His hands is good. But we should also have a higher ground where there is a love for our enemies that’s being worked within us, as an expression of leaving it with the Lord and pouring out our hearts before Him. There’s something of great and enduring value in the imprecatory Psalms.

How does Luke 20:25 reconcile with Psalm 24:1?

Luke 20:25 – And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Psalm 24:1 – The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.

I think the inherent question here is, “How can there be things which belong to Caesar if passages such as Psalm 24:1 tell us that everything belongs to God?” God grants authority to certain institutions and to certain people in this world. Paul makes it very clear, especially in Romans 13, that governments serve at God’s direction and pleasure. They are institutions approved of by God. Now, what the government does may not be approved by God, but the fact that there is a government is God’s idea. God’s ideal form of society is never anarchy, where there is no governmental institution. God establishes government. As Paul writes in Romans 13, the governmental servant is God’s minister to do good.

So, these things do not contradict. You could say that these appropriate areas of authority and submission, of the citizen to their government, of the wife to the husband, of the child to the parent, of the worker to the employer, are all areas of proper authority and submission that the Bible describes. All of these are under God’s guidance.

So, yes, ultimately, everything belongs to God, but He gives limited authority to certain institutions and people to carry out His will for the good of humanity and the good of society. I don’t think that the two ideas contradict at all. The onlycontrasting view would be to say that there is no human authority that has any legitimacy, so that the only one anybody answers to is God. While that is true in an ultimate sense, it is not true in an immediate sense. I can’t say that to the police officer when he pulls me over for going 20 miles an hour over the speed limit. I can’t say, “Hey, Mr. Officer, I answer only to God.” If he was a biblically educated law enforcement officer, he would say, “Listen, sir, according to Romans 13, I’m God’s minister to keep order and to bring blessing to society. So, here’s your speeding ticket.”

Where does hope come from? Is it sent by God or inherent in a person?

Can you share where hope comes from? Studying the scriptures, I see both God sending it and other times people having it. Faith and hope seem to be used together.

Faith and hope are definitely related concepts. We hope for things that we do not yet have, and we have confidence to believe that God will be faithful and will perform what He has promised. But hope seems to be more aspirational, while faith is more in the mind. Now, I’m not saying that the heart has nothing to do with faith; of course, it does. But faith is more in the mind. It’s deciding to believe what God has promised. Perhaps we could say that hope is more in the heart. I don’t want to say that hope has nothing to do with the mind. The mind and the heart are involved in both faith and hope.

But I would say that faith is more connected with the mind and hope is more connected with the heart. Faith can almost be calculated. I can decide, “God has made a promise, so I believe it and I trust it. I’m just going to order my mind that way. That’s it.” Hope seems to have an aspect of the heart involved in it, and I think that’s our assurance. Hope addresses and satisfies a longing of the heart. Where does it come from? In part, it comes from God’s work in us, of course, but hope also comes from a confidence in God and in His promises, and we can rest in those and lay claim to them.

Have you ever experienced demonic oppression? Did you know that it was happening? What was it like? What did you do?

The terminology you’re using here in your question is broad enough that I would say, yes, I’ve experienced demonic oppression. If oppression is defined broadly enough, then any kind of opposition comes to us from demonic powers. I am very aware that some of our listeners might think it very strange to believe in angels, demons, and spiritual powers. I believe in them because the Bible does. If somebody asked, “How can you believe that, as an intelligent person in the 21st century?” I’d reply, “Well, I think it’s remarkable that you think you’re smarter than Jesus Christ, because Jesus dealt with demonic spirits and angelic spirits and unseen spirits that interact with humanity in the spiritual realm.”

I believe I have experienced demonic oppression, at least in some sense. How did I know it was happening? Well, oftentimes I didn’t know it was happening until after the fact. After some time, I was able to discern that it was more than just something natural. There’s some aspect of supernatural opposition. If you want to use the word oppression, go ahead, but I’ll just say opposition. There’s an element of demonic opposition in this. Sometimes I would be kind of thick headed and not see it for some time.

You also asked, “What was it like?” It was a sense of greater opposition and hindrance to what God wanted to do. There have been times when my wife and I have had difficulty in getting along. I know that might sound shocking to some people, but we’re husband and wife, and we’ve been married for more than 42 years. Through the normal life process of trying to figure things out in our life, in our marriage, and the different times in our marriage, we’ve had some difficulties. There have been times when we’ve realized, “You know what, this is more than just my thing and your thing. There is a supernatural power that wants to divide us, that wants to ruin our joy, ruin our marriage, and ruin our family.” Once we understood that, then we would come together in prayer against it, and see God do some remarkable and wonderful things.

I very strongly believe what is written in James 5:7, which says, “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This is what we need to do. We need to submit ourselves to God, and then we need to resist the devil. Sometimes that needs to be done energetically. Sometimes it needs to be done in a focused way. Sometimes it’s not bad to bring a brother or sister around you to help you stand against the devil. But this is a promise made to the believer: if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Our problem so often is that it takes us a long time to figure out that there’s some spiritual dynamic to what we’re facing, and it’s not just something from the natural realm.

What is the sign of Jonah in Matthew 16:4?

Matthew 16:4 – “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.

Here is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For the sake of saving others, the pagan sailors on the ship, Jonah gave himself over to the judgment of God, casting himself into the stormy sea that was clearly stirred up by the judgment of God. To save others, Jonah gave up his own life to appease the judgment of God. And three days later, he appeared alive and well because God preserved him. This is a clear analogy of what happened in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are some people who claim that this must mean that Jonah actually died in the belly of the great fish that swallowed him. I don’t look at that as a necessity, but I’d certainly agree it’s a possibility. The act of someone giving their life over to the judgment of God to rescue others, and then God preserving their life and resurrecting them three days later, whether literally or figuratively, is the sign of Jonah. The greatest sign that Jesus ever performed was His sacrificial substitutionary death on the cross and then, of course, His resurrection, showing that even in the payment of sin, He remained God’s Holy One.

Can demons read what we write and use that against us?

I suppose they can. We don’t have specific evidence of it, to my knowledge, but we do know that demons can know Scripture, because the devil himself quoted Scripture to Jesus in one of the temptations that he gave to Jesus in the wilderness. So, demons know Scripture.

I think it’s plausible to think that they can read what we write, but I don’t know if that matters much. Who cares what Satan can use against us? I don’t think I’ve ever contested with Satan himself, but we use that just as sort of a freehand way of speaking. We know that Satan has a network of allies in the spiritual realm, fellow fallen angels and demonic spirits who are his angels, according to the Book of Revelation, who are against us all the time. We don’t have to write something for them to be against us, or for them to use it against us. We don’t have to try to keep Satan in the dark about who we are or what we do. We just need to do what God has given us to do. That’s how I’d put it. I don’t put it any deeper than that.

What should we do or not do when God feels distant? Is there a purpose for His distance?

When God feels distant. Should we keep seeking Him through prayer and Scripture and be patient? Isn’t there always a purpose for His distance? What shouldn’t we do when God feels distant?

When God feels distant to us, we should very much keep seeking Him through prayer and Scripture, and we should just hang in there. When we sense a distance between ourselves and God, sometimes it’s due to the fact that there is sin in our life which is separating us in our relationship with God, and when we feel a sense of distance from the Lord. We should be very open when coming to God and pray that great prayer from Psalm 139:23-24 – Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. That’s a great prayer for us to pray. We can pray, “Lord, I sense that there’s some distance between You and me. God, is there sin in my life that I’m not aware of? Holy Spirit, please show me if there’s sin that I need to deal with.” Now, I wouldn’t agonize over such a prayer. I’d pray it and then leave it to the Lord. “Lord, if there’s something You need to show me, then please show me.”

Now, if God does not seem to indicate or bring to mind or heart some kind of sin, then I would simply say that God has a purpose in this sense of distance, and that we shouldn’t be troubled over it. We can just say, “Lord, I’m going to love You and serve You in season and out of season, and that’s what I’m going to do to bring You glory all along the way.” I think you’re on the right track with this.

What should we not do when God feels distant? We shouldn’t separate ourselves from Him. We shouldn’t be like petulant little children that kind of claim before the Lord, “If You don’t give me the feelings I want, Lord, then I’m out.” No, I don’t think that’s a good way for us to act before the Lord at all.