A Biblical View of Taxes

Introduction

Last week we saw how the scribes and priest were challenging Jesus with a question about where he gets his authority. We saw Jesus answer this in several different ways but never directly. In each of the ways that he answered them we could know that his authority is from God and that they are rejecting the Christ. They did not like this because even though they did not understand his answers they were sure he was talking against him. We are not told how much time has passed between that occurence and this one but it wasn’t long before they sent more people to try to stump Jesus.

Tonight we will see what I think might have been the toughest question that they try to trap Jesus with yet and this is a question about taxes. Now I know that most of you don’t have to worry about taxes yet and those of you that do don’t really, trust me they get worse. But this passage tells us about a lot more than taxes, through it we learn about how we are to go through life and about how a Christian should relate to the government.

Lets go ahead and read this next challenge from the ruling officials of Jesus’s time.

Mark 12:13–17 ESV

And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

The Pharisees and the Herodians are sent to try to trap Jesus in his talk. These two groups of people did not like each other at all but they both had one thing in common, neither of them liked Jesus. Through this common enemy they partnered up to come at him. They begin by flattering Jesus a bit but Jesus can see their hypocrisy. They ask him a very tough question, it is tough because if he is against taxes the Herodians can take him in under the belief he will start a rebellion, if he is for the taxes the people will hate him and his time of influence will be over. After they ask Jesus request a coin that would have been used to pay the tax at this time. The common view of the people and the government is that whoever’s face is on the coin it belonged to them and they gave it out to supply the people. Jesus points out that it is Caesars face on the coin so they should give it to Caesar. He then says to give to God the things that are God’s, this would be our lives as we bear the image of God as we see in Genesis 1.

As we analyze this today we are going to briefly look at the trap they are trying to set and the question that they ask, we will spend the majority of our time looking at Jesus’s answer. In his answer we will look at two parts, the part relating to the government, and the part relating to our lives.

Let’s pray then we can start by looking at the trap.

The Trap

Mark 12:13–15 ESV

And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”

This trap that they are laying for Jesus is no simple trap, it is highly intricate. This is the trap that they have laid after realizing that it is not going to be easy to get Jesus to slip up.

This trap starts by sending the best of the best that they had in. Kind of like in the US military, we aren’t sending in the national guard to take out the biggest threats to our country, we send in Seal Team 6. This is what they are doing here, these guys are the Seal Team 6 of the ruling authorities. Just like the best military assets they have a plan and they know how this is going to go down, they have ran through it in their heard and there is not chance of failure in their minds. It would not surprise me if they had Roman soldiers outside ready to come in and get him after he slips up.

They begin to execute their plan with flattery hoping Jesus will relax his guard. They say all of these good things about him, even true things. Then they ask as though they are curious a difficult religious question. The trap has been set.

Jesus knows their hypocrisy though and is not caught off guard by them and he will destroy their trap. This leads us to the trap itself, the question.

The Question

Mark 12:14 (ESV)

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?”

The question that they ask seems simple enough on the surface but when we look deeper we can see what is at stake. If Jesus is against taxes the Herodians will take him in because they are with the government. If Jesus is for taxes the people will hate him and may even kill him themselves. Either way that he answers it seems sure that it will not end well for him.

In this question we should keep in mind what is going on in the world at this time. Rome is the great superpower of the world and they are over Israel at this time. So though this is all taking place in Israel Rome is in control. The Jews do not consider themselves Romans though, they feel as though they are under an oppressive government for a time. Most even thought that when the Christ comes it will be in a militaristic style and he will free them from Rome, they are way off on this thought.

So they trap has been set and the question is before them, let’s see the answer that Jesus gives now.

The Answer

Mark 12:15–17 ESV

But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

The trap misses and everyone is left amazed. Jesus ask to see a coin that had a picture of Caesar on it and says give to Caesar what is Caesars and give to God what is Gods.

I must admit this is not what I wanted to hear the first time that I read it but the more I think about it the more clear it becomes to me. I want to break down both parts of Jesus’s answer as we go forward.

Give to Caesar what is Caesars: a biblical view of government

In his response Jesus does not mention whether the government is just or unjust, he doesn’t give his opinion whether they are good or bad, he simply says to give them what is theirs. This answer causes a lot of people to put God and government into two different groups, this is not what we should do though and I think that we get some additional insight to this in Romans 13.1-7 which says....

Romans 13:1–7 ESV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

See God is in control of the government. Sometimes he puts people in power for judgment and sometimes for blessing. Government is instituted by God and an instrument for him. This is not saying that all government is just because that is so far from the truth. This is also not saying that God specifically placed evil rulers over us but rather it is a result of human freedom and we reap the results of that.

When we pay taxes to our government it is as though we are paying a debt to them because of all that they provide to us. Now I do not agree with a lot of what they use this money for but I still owe it to them.

One beautiful thing about where we live though is that we can participate in government, and in the Bible we are told that where we can spread our Christian influence we should. This means that when we can participate in government we should, and we should vote for our biblical values (yet another reason to know the Bible). This means that when you can vote you should, and that you should be an informed voter so that your beliefs are upheld.

Governments duty is to hold evil at pay and to take care of it’s people. Though this is not a rule in general this is how it is supposed to be and what many try to do. Think about a life with no government, that would be even worse than what we are faced with now I believe. Bad government is better than no government.

Be thankful for your government, pray for it, participate in it when you are old enough, pay your taxes. Our government isn’t perfect but it is made up of fallen people that need Jesus just as much as you and me.

Give to God what is God’s: a biblical view of our life in Christ

So we pay our taxes and submit to our government as long as it does not go against the Bible but what does it mean to give to God what is God’s? Just like you give the coin to caesar because it has his image on it we bear the image of God and because of that we are to give ourselves to him. Not partially but fully.

This is taking up our cross, this is dying to self and living for him, this is living a life worthy of the gospel. Give your life to him. Quit being selfish and become selfless.

There is nothing better in this world than giving yourself fully to God, following his plan, living for him in everything. When you do this the traps of this world cannot subdue you, and the governments rule over you is nothing of bother.

Conclusion

In the end we see yet another failed attempt to make Jesus slip up but that is no surprise to us. Really through it we are able to profit as we can learn so much about our relationship with the government and with God.

As I close I want to leave you with this, if you have never given your life to Jesus you are missing out on the greatest thing that there is. We all fall short so often yet he will forgive us of all of it. All we have to do is ask him to in faith. Then we can begin to give to God what is his all the days of your life.

If you have given him your life I want to remind you of this one truth. Though the government is far from perfect it is instituted by God and he is far superior to it. Voice your opinion, participate in it, and do it all through a biblical worldview. A worldview that has been shaped by a life that is in the Bible.