THE COIN CONTROVERSY
Minimally edited from aPrayer Meeting exhortation by bro Linus Chua on 27 April 2001

“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and
unto God the things which are God’s.”
(Matthew 22:21)

This incident, recorded for us in Matthew 22:15–22, occurs right at the veryend of our Lord’s earthly ministry. In just under two days’ time, He would haveto face that cursed death on the cross. We read in verse 15 of how thePharisees took counsel against Him to see how they might trap Him in His words.The Pharisees hated the Lord and sought to kill Him. See how the words of thePsalmist were being fulfilled in this very verse—“The kings of the earth setthemselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and againsthis anointed” (Ps 2:2).

Notice in verse 16 that the Pharisees did not go directly to Christ. Instead,they sent their disciples. Perhaps they thought that they could deceive Christinto thinking that these disciples of theirs were not tempters but rathersincere students seeking to learn of Him. Thus, they hoped to catch the Lordoff guard and trap Him before He realised what was happening. Notice again inverse 16 that the disciples of the Pharisees did not go alone but went with theHerodians. Now the Herodians and the Pharisees were by no means in agreementwith each other. In fact, these two groups were usually at odds with oneanother. The Herodians were a party among the Jews that supported the RomanEmperor and his representative—Herod. They pledged their allegiance to Rome even though theywere Jews, and they made it their business to persuade the people to subjectthemselves to the Roman authorities. The Pharisees, on the other hand, werehaters of Roman rule. They were very zealous for the liberty of the Jews andwanted very much to be freed from Roman bondage. They believed that God hadmade them a free nation and that Caesar was not a lawful or rightful ruler. Andso, although these two parties disagreed with each other on religious and especiallypolitical issues, they wholeheartedly agreed about Jesus and did not hesitateto unite against Him.

What was their question? It was simply this—“Is it lawful to give tribute untoCaesar, or not?” And what was their trap? On one hand, if His reply was that itwas unlawful to give tribute or pay taxes to Caesar, then the Pharisees, andespecially the Herodians, would have every reason to bring the Lord before theRoman authorities and accuse Him for being an enemy of Rome. If, on the other hand, He gave ananswer that was favourable to the tax, the Jewish multitudes gathered there,who until then still highly regarded and respected Christ, would turn againstHim. And so it seemed as if Christ was truly trapped this time, having no wayout.

But the Lord saw through their masks and exposed their hypocrisy. Not only wasHe undeceived by their deception, His answer was so astonishing that Hisenemies marvelled and went their own way. How then did the Lord answer them? Hefirst requested that the coin, which was used to pay the taxes, be brought toHim; and that particular coin used for the poll-tax was the denarius. Adenarius amounted to the daily wage of a soldier or a common labourer in Palestine during thosedays. It was made of silver and was minted by the emperor, who alone had theauthority to issue coins in silver or gold. All such coins, including thedenarius, bore an engraving of the emperor on one side and an identifyinginscription on the other. The image and superscription of Caesar on the coin wasespecially offensive to the Jews because it reminded them of Roman oppression.But that was not the only reason. We must remember that Caesar, in Romanreckoning, was not a mere man but a divine person or, in other words, a god.Several Roman emperors were known to have accepted titles and appellations ofdeity for themselves. Julius Caesar was one. Another was Augustus Caesar, whoeven had coins minted proclaiming him to be the son of God. And so the idea ofa divine emperor was repulsive and blasphemous to the Jews.

Now when the coin was brought to Jesus, He said, “Whose is this image andsuperscription?“ His opponents immediately replied, “Caesar’s!” Perhaps at thatmoment, they were eagerly anticipating the Lord’s next word. Perhaps, theythought that Jesus would most certainly speak a word against Caesar and Rome. After all, Jesushad claimed to be the Son of God, making Himself equal with God, and as God, Hewould admit no other gods before Him. And so surely He would take thisopportunity to denounce Caesar as a false god, a blasphemer, and openly declarethat it was unlawful to pay taxes to him. Instead, Jesus said, “Rendertherefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the thingsthat are God’s.” A simple yet extremely profound statement that totally threwthem off and sent them away dumbfounded!

Notice that Jesus used the word render and not the word give,[1] which the Pharisees had earlier used. Theword render means to pay or to give back, implying a debt. Itcarried the idea of obligation and responsibility, and was not somethingoptional. The Jews, for the most part, viewed the payment of taxes as not beinga legitimate duty, and it was done only with great reluctance. Now Jesusdeclared that the payment of taxes was not only perfectly legitimate, it wasalso morally obligatory. Caesar had the right to demand of them their taxes.The very fact that the money they used bore the image and superscription ofCaesar implied his authority over them. We learn from here that religion in noway exempts us from our civil duties and our obligation to obey the earthlyrulers.

But more importantly, Christ went on to teach that we must “render to God thethings that are God’s.” Now Christ was not separating the secular from thespiritual. He was not saying that one owes allegiance to human government inregard to material things and allegiance to God in regard to spiritual.Instead, He was saying that the things which are God’s do not belong to Caesarand should never be offered to him, but only to God. We see an example of thistruth being applied during the first three centuries when the Church sufferedgreat persecution under the Romans. Many Christians were required by Romanofficials and soldiers to burn incense at the altar of Caesar and to say thewords, “Kaiser Kurios” or “Caesar is Lord”—implying that Caesar was adivine person. And many, who refused to do so, were put to horrible torturesand deaths. These early Christians had obeyed our Lord’s teaching—never torender to Caesar the things which belong to God.

Application

What lessons may we learn from this incident? I’ll like to draw our attentionto four:

Firstly, we ought to marvel at the infinite wisdom of Christ. Surelynone but He could conceive of such a wise answer that utterly silenced Hisopponents. Eliphaz, one of Job’s three friends, described God in this way—“Hedisappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot performtheir enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counselof the froward is carried headlong” (Job 5:12–13). These words are especiallyapplicable to Christ in this incident.

Who is a wise Counsellor and Guide likeunto Christ? Christian, are you faced with difficult circumstances in life orsituations that require wisdom beyond yourself to deal with them? Are you facedwith a dilemma at work or at home that threatens to overwhelm you? Are you in astrait betwixt two, not knowing which way to turn? Then turn to Christ forwisdom. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Himand He shall direct your paths (Prov 3:5–6).

Secondly, we must examine ourselves to see if our lives indeed bear theimage and superscription of God. We are the Lord’s coins (Lk 15:8–10). Just asthe denarius bore the image and superscription of Caesar, we too must bear theimage and superscription of Christ. Whom do we belong to? Whom do we resemble?If we belong to God, we should resemble Him. But if we do not belong to God,then we belong to the Devil and will resemble him. Remember the Lord’sindictment of the people in John 8:44 when He said, “Ye are of your father thedevil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” In this world, we will eitherresemble God, our Heavenly Father, or Satan. Whose image and superscription dowe bear? Are we like those described in Colossians 3:10, “And have put on thenew man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him…,” and again inEphesians 4:24, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created inrighteousness and true holiness”? In this life, all who truly belong to Godwill receive His grace of sanctification—whereby we are renewed in the wholeman after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin andlive unto righteousness. May all of us be found to be true believers, and maythe image of God be more and more renewed and restored in us.

Thirdly, if we belong to God, then we must render to Him the thingswhich are His. The Apostle Paul wrote, “What? know ye not that your body is thetemple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are notyour own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor 6:19–20). We must be careful torender to God the things which belong to God. Christian, are you very carefuland meticulous in ensuring that you render to Caesar the things which areCaesar’s, for example, in filing your income tax? Will you not also bemeticulous in rendering to God that which is rightfully His? Remember that theword rendercarries the idea of an obligation, not an option. Butremember too that God loves a cheerful giver, and we ought to render to God outof a grateful and willing heart like the Psalmist, who uttered those preciouswords, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” (Ps116:12). Let us take time this day to consider all of God’s gracious benefitstowards us. And let us render to Him all the glory, honour and praise due toHim. There will be no end to praising God. In fact, praising God will be ourchief employment in Heaven for all eternity. But let us begin even now and soenjoy a foretaste of Heaven.

Finally, we must pray that God would gather in all His lost coins andthat the glorious light of the gospel may still shine in our dark and decayinggeneration. Samuel Rutherford, in one of his letters to a friend, wrote, “I amsorry for our desolate kirk [i.e., church], yet I dare not but trust, so longas there be any of God’s lost money here, he shall not blow out the candle.”Indeed we must pray without ceasing and labour all the more diligently for thesalvation of God’s lost coins scattered throughout the world. And for those ofus who have already been found, we must pray that we will be more and morerenewed after the image of our Heavenly Father, and may bear His image andsuperscription, to the praise and glory of His Name.

—Linus Chua (edited by J.J.Lim) 

Bro Linus Chua has expressed a subjective call to the ministry and
is under the care of the Session in preparation for seminary training.

Endnote

[1] The word render in Greek is apodidômi,which is a compound word made up of a preposition apo meaning“from” and verb didômi meaning “give.” Although it istranslated 9 times as “give” in the KJV, it almost always carries the idea ofdebt or recompense. The Pharisees and Herodians had used the word didômi,which means no more than “give” or “grant” (ed.).