The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them. They watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor. They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test me? Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They answered, “Caesar’s.”
He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
They weren’t able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and were silent.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 23 Whom they had deceitfully hired.
Whom they had deceitfully hired.
That they might take some hold in his talk and thereby forge some false accusation against him.
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To put him to death.
The last refuge that false prophets have to destroy the true Prophets, is to lay sedition, and treason to their charge.
A fit time to take him in.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–21 18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be…
18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
19 And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
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Ver. 19. They perceived] Conscience, their domestic chaplain, told them so much. God hath a witness to his truth in every man’s bosom.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19, 21 There is nothing in these verses, but what we…
There is nothing in these verses, but what we before met with, and is opened in the notes on Mat 21:45,46, or Mar 12:12,13. They let us see as in a glass the spirit and genius of wicked men filled with malice against the gospel. They are continually seeking to destroy such as have any relation to Christ, and, to effect their ends, they will judge no means unfair; and their great art is to represent them as dangerous persons to the civil government: so as if good men find the same things still, they have this to comfort them, that the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v20 Both St. Matthew and St. Mark tell us, that…
Both St. Matthew and St. Mark tell us, that these spies, sent forth to ensnare our Saviour about paying tribute to Caesar, were the Pharisees and Herodians: the former were against paying tribute, looking upon the Roman emperor as an usurper; the latter were for it. These two opposite parties concluded, that, let our Saviour answer how he would, they should entrap him; if, to please the Pharisees, he denied paying tribute, then he is accused of sedition; if, to gratify the Herodians, he voted for paying tribute, then he is pronounced an enemy to the liberty of his country, and exposed to a popular odium.
But observe with what wisdom and caution our Lord answers them: he calls for the Roman penny, and asks them, whose superscription it bare? They answer, Caesar’s. Then says he, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. As if he had said, "Your admitting the Roman coin amongst you, is an evidence that you are under subjection to the Roman emperor; because the coining and imposing of money is an act of sovereign authority; therefore you having owned Caesar’s authority over you, by accepting of his coin amongst you, give unto him his just dues, and render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s."
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Learn hence,
1. That our Saviour was no enemy to magistracy and civil government; there was no truer pay-master of the king’s dues, than he that was King of kings; he preached it and he practised it, Mat 17:27
2. Where a kingdom is in subjection to a temporal prince, whether by descent, election, or conquest, he derives the title, the sujects ought from a principle of conscience to pay tribute to him.
3. That as Christ is no enemy to the civil rights of princes, and his religion exempts none from paying their civil dues, so princes should be as careful not to rob him of his divine honor, as he is not to wrong them of their civil rights. As Christ requires all his followers to render to Ceasar the things that are Caesar’s, so princes should oblige all their subjects to render unto God the things that are God’s.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v20 We have here Christ's evading a snare which his…
We have here Christ's evading a snare which his enemies laid for him, by proposing a question to him about tribute. We had this passage before, both in Matthew and Mark. Here is,
I. The mischief designed him, and that is more fully related here than before. The plot was to deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor, Luk 20:20. They could not themselves put him to death by course of law, nor otherwise than by a popular tumult, which they could not depend upon; and, since they could not be his judges, they would willingly condescend to be his prosecutors and accusers, and would themselves inform against him. They hoped to gain their point, if they could but incense the governor against him. Note, It has been the common artifice of persecuting church-rulers to make the secular powers the tools of their malice, and oblige the kings of the earth to do their drudgery, who, if they had not been instigated, would have let their neighbours live quietly by them, as Pilate did Christ till the chief priests and the scribes presented Christ to him. But thus Christ's word must be fulfilled by their cursed politics, that he should be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles.
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II. The persons they employed. Matthew and Mark told us that they were disciples of the Pharisees, with some Herodians. Here it is added, They were spies, who should feign themselves just men. Note, It is no new thing for bad men to feign themselves just men, and to cover the most wicked projects with the most specious and plausible pretences. The devil can transform himself into an angel of light, and a Pharisee appear in the garb, and speak the language, of a disciple of Christ. A spy must go in disguise. These spies must take on them to have a value for Christ's judgment, and to depend upon it as an oracle, and therefore must desire his advice in a case of conscience. Note, Ministers are concerned to stand upon their guard against some that feign themselves to be just men, and to be wise as serpents when they are in the midst of a generation of vipers and scorpions.
III. The question they proposed, with which they hoped to ensnare him. 1. Their preface is very courtly: Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, Luk 20:21. Thus they thought to flatter him into an incautious freedom and openness with them, and so to gain their point. They that are proud, and love to be commended, will be brought to do any thing for those that will but flatter them, and speak kindly to them; but they were much mistaken who thought thus to impose upon the humble Jesus. He was not pleased with the testimony of such hypocrites, nor thought himself honoured by it. It is true that he accepts not the person of any, but it is as true that he knows the hearts of all, and knew theirs, and the seven abominations that were there, though they spoke fair. It was certain that he taught the way of God truly; but he knew that they were unworthy to be taught by him, who came to take hold of his words, not to be taken hold of by them. 2. Their case is very nice: "Is it lawful for us" (this is added here in Luke) "to give tribute to Caesar - for us Jews, us the free-born seed of Abraham, us that pay the Lord's tribute, may give tribute to Caesar?" Their pride and covetousness made them loth to pay taxes, and then they would have it a question whether it was lawful or no. Now if Christ should say that it was lawful the people would take it ill, for they expected that he who set up to be the Messiah should in the first place free them from the Roman yoke, and stand by them in denying tribute to Caesar. But if he should say that it was not lawful, as they expected he would (for if he had not been of that mind they thought he could not have been so much the darling of the people as he was), then they should have something to accuse him of to the governor, which was what they wanted.
IV. His evading the snare which they laid for him: He perceived their craftiness, Luk 20:23. Note, Those that are most crafty in their designs against Christ and his gospel cannot with all their art conceal them from his cognizance. He can see through the most politic disguises, and so break through the most dangerous snare; for surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird. He did not give them a direct answer, but reproved them for offering to impose upon him - Why tempt ye me? and called for a piece of money, current money with the merchants - Show me a penny; and asked them whose money it was, whose stamp it bore, who coined it. They owned, "It is Caesar's money." "Why them," saith Christ, "you should first have asked whether it was lawful to pay and receive Caesar's money among yourselves, and to admit that to be the instrument of your commerce. But, having granted this by a common consent, you are concluded by your own act, and, no doubt, you ought to give tribute to him who furnished you with this convenience for your trade, protects you in it, and lends you the sanction of his authority for the value of your money. You must therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. In civil things you ought to submit to the civil powers, and so, if Caesar protects you in your civil rights by laws and the administration of justice, you ought to pay him tribute; but in sacred things God only is your King. You are not bound to be of Caesar's religion; you must render to God the things that are God's, must worship and adore him only, and not any golden image that Caesar sets up;" and we must worship and adore him in such way as he had appointed, and not according to the inventions of Caesar. It is God only that has authority to say My son, give me thy heart.
V. The confusion they were hereby put into, Luk 20:26. 1. The snare is broken; They could not take hold of his words before the people. They could not fasten upon any thing wherewith to incense either the governor or the people against him. 2. Christ is honoured; even the wrath of man is made to praise him. They marvelled at his answer, it was so discreet and unexceptionable, and such an evidence of that wisdom and sincerity which make the face to shine. 3. Their mouths are stopped; they held their peace. They had nothing to object, and durst ask him nothing else, lest he should shame and expose them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–26 And they asked him, saying, master,.... Rabbi, or doctor;…
And they asked him, saying, master,.... Rabbi, or doctor; hoping, by this flattering title, and the flattering words used by them, to work him up to an openness and freedom of conversation with them:
we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly; rightly dividest the word of God, and deliverest out sound doctrine according to it: and this he certainly did, though they spoke these words hypocritically, not believing what they themselves said; at least, they did not care that others should believe this of him:
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neither acceptest thou the person of any. The Persic version very wrongly renders it, "and lookest not upon the countenance, and heart of any one whomsoever"; for though Christ did not look upon the countenances of men, and judge according to the outward appearance, nor regard men on account of outward circumstances, as riches, honours, learning, &c. yet he looked upon the heart, and knew what was in it, and respected sincerity and uprightness wherever he found it, and which were wanting in these men:
but teachest the way of God truly; the way of worshipping God, and of enjoying him, both in this world, and in that to come; See Gill on Mat 22:16.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 24, 26 Just men - Men of a tender conscience. To…
Just men - Men of a tender conscience. To take hold of his discourse - If he answered as they hoped he would. Matt. xxii, 16; Mark xii, 12.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20, 22 Verse 20. They watched him] παρατηρησαντες, Insidiously watching. See…
Verse 20. They watched him] παρατηρησαντες, Insidiously watching. See Clarke on Lu 14:1.
Spies] εγκαθετους, from εν, in, and καθιημι, I let down, to set in ambush. One who crouches in some secret place to spy, listen, catch, or hurt. Hesychius explains the word by ενεδρευοντες, those who lie in wait, or in ambush, to surprise and slay. Josephus uses the word to signify a person bribed for a particular purpose. See War, b. ii. c. ii. s. 5, and b. vi. c. v. s. 2. No doubt the persons mentioned in the text were men of the basest principles, and were hired by the malicious Pharisees to do what they attempted in vain to perform.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v20 Luk 20:20-26. And they watched him — For an…
Luk 20:20-26. And they watched him — For an elucidation of this paragraph, see on Mat 22:16-22, and Mar 12:13-17; and sent spies, which should feign themselves just men — Men scrupulously conscientious in every point: that they might take hold of his words — If he answered as they hoped he would. Master, we know then sayest, &c. — Speakest in private, and teachest in public; the way of God truly — The true path of duty. They could not take hold of his words before the people — As they did afterward before the sanhedrim, in the absence of the people, chap. Luk 22:67, &c.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v20 See this explained in the Mat. 22:15-33 notes, and…
See this explained in the Mat. 22:15-33 notes, and Mar 12:13-27 notes.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 22, 26 Lay hands on him. Thus they themselves proved him…
Lay hands on him. Thus they themselves proved him to be the Lord’s beloved Son, as he had just described himself in the preceding parable. (Ven. Bede)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v20 2. Controversy with the Pharisees and Herodians respecting the…
2. Controversy with the Pharisees and Herodians respecting the Tribute (Luk_20:20-26)
(Parallels: Mat_22:15-22; Mar_12:13-17)
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20And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men,9 that they might take hold of his words [of some word of his10], that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority11 of the governor. 21And they asked him, saying, Master [Teacher], we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any [or, showest no partiality], but teachest the way of God 22,truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cesar, or no [not]? 23But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? 12 24Shew me a penny [a denarius]. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Cesar’s. 25And he said unto them, Render therefore [Then render] unto Cesar the things which be [are] Cesar’s, and unto God the things which be [are] God’s. 26And they could not take hold of his words [saying] before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_20:20. And they watched Him.—After the defeat just suffered, nothing is more natural than that the Pharisees should look around partly for other confederates and partly for other weapons. While they before sought in vain to make their authority weigh, they now take refuge in craft, and after old combatants for the law have been put to shame and obliged to leave the field vanquished, now new and, in great part, vigorous picked troops are despatched. While, after what has just taken place, the Pharisees remain standing on the watch (παρατηρήσαντες), they send the Herodians to Jesus (see Lange on Mat_22:15), together with some of their disciples (Mat_22:16). Even earlier we have met with a similar temporary coalition of heterogeneous forces (Mar_2:18; Luk_23:5-17); later on, we shall find the same in yet greater measure. Moreover, it is easily comprehensible that two enemies should give up their mutual hatred for a while, when the concern is to strive against a dangerous third. Equally explicable is the change in the choice of the weapons. After the open defeat they pass over to a more concealed manner of waging war. A new disappointment will then be less ignominious, the ardently desired triumph not less advantageous. They choose, therefore, ambassadors who, as people strict in the law, must put on the guise of being concerned with a personal question of conscience, as if they were by no means set on by others to come to Him, and who must seek to accomplish their object through flattering speeches.
To the power and authority of the governor.—A statement of the purpose peculiar to Luke, which, however, is probable on internal grounds also. They wish to bring matters to this pass, that the civil power shall lend them its hand to remove this man out of the way, against whom the spiritual authority has in vain armed itself. Upon this support they reckon definitely in case He gives to the question proposed, as is expected, a negative answer, in order to please the people, with whom He now appears to be making common cause against their own rulers, Luk_20:9. If He, on the other hand, espouses the party of the foreign oppressors, He would thereby lose all His credit with this same people. After such a mature deliberation they came forward, like Satan, as angels of light, 2Co_11:14.
Luk_20:21. Teacher, we know.—There is something naïve and at the same time a proof of the incorrigible self-conceit of the Pharisaical party in this, that they even now, after the elders of the people had just before, Luk_20:7, seen themselves constrained to a public confession of their ignorance, begin with a presumptuous “We know.” The purpose of this eulogy is, as to the rest, intelligible enough. “In thee,” do they mean, “we believe we meet with exactly that independent man, from whose position our question can be answered with entire impartiality.” That they could scarcely have uttered sharper satire on themselves than by this eulogy on the Saviour does not even remotely occur to them. As to the rest, the question how far they themselves really believed anything of the favorable testimony which they here publicly depose in reference to our Lord, can only be answered conjecturally.—Showest no partiality.—Literally, “Acceptest not the person (the countenance),” οὐ λαμβάνεις πρόσωπον, comp. Gal_2:6, yet stronger than the οὐ βλέπεις εἰς πρόσωπον in the parallel, and a definite designation of judicial impartiality.
Luk_20:22. Is it lawful for us.—For the emphatical and most categorical form of the question, see Mark. Luke uses the Greek word θόρον δοῦναι, while the others make use of the Latin κῆνσον: “Poll and ground taxes, to be distinguished from τέλος, the indirect taxes (on goods).” Meyer. The question has its peculiar difficulty. It appeared to be forbidden, Deu_17:15, for a stranger to rule over Israel, as was now the case. The malcontents, with Judas Galilæus at their head, who would have no other taxes paid than the temple-taxes, stood, therefore, apparently upon the ground of the Scripture. But if Jesus declared their principle valid, He would oppose Himself to the order of things that had now been induced under higher guidance, and would come into personal conflict with the civil power, with that of the Procurator.
Luk_20:23. Perceived their craftiness, κατανοήσας.—Still more strongly does Matthew say γνούς, and Mark εἰδώς, by which the immediateness of His knowledge is made prominent, which was by no means the result of a long deliberate reflection. Not to gain time, does He desire that a denarius should be shown Him. With the inquiry, Whose image and superscription hath it? the question is in effect already decided. A number of Rabbinical declarations, for more particular explanation of the immutable principle, “He whose coin is current is lord of the land,” we find in Lightfoot and Wetstein, ad loc.
Luk_20:25. Then render.—The wisdom in the answer becomes first fairly visible if we give heed to the tacit presupposition from which the question had proceeded. “The silly question,” as the Wandsbecker Bote names it not unjustly, could not have arisen in their heart if they had not proceeded from the principle that such a civil transaction was in conflict with a higher religious duty. Our Lord resolves this antagonism in a higher unity, and already distinguishes the political from the religious sphere, while they confound the two jurisdictions. By the receiving of the coin of the Emperor—not the name of Tiberius, but the official title Cœsar, is given, because it is here not a person but a principle that is in question—they had shown that they regarded themselves as his subjects, and they now, therefore, would be inconsistent with themselves if they refused to fulfil the first civil duty towards him. Without expressing the least preference for the Roman dominion, our Lord was yet too well acquainted with the condition and the views of the Jewish nation not to have at once regarded every external essay for the restoration of civil freedom, which as such could not at that time have proceeded from a purely Theocratical, but only from an earthly temper, as mischievous and superfluous. He combated at the same time the opinion that such an obedience was in conflict with religious duties. The denarii were not even received as temple-taxes; the shekel of the sanctuary could therefore, as ever, be paid in addition. Here, therefore, the suum cuique holds good in the higher sense of the word, and they had only to see to it that they fulfilled each part of their double obligation with equal conscientiousness. The admirableness of the answer of our Lord consists, therefore, in this, that He: 1. Shows how the whole alternative in the present condition of things was entirely untenable; that He, 2. puts to shame before the judgment-seat of their conscience those who had come forward with the pretence of knowledge, since this must have given them plainly enough to know that they had fulfilled befittingly neither the one nor the other half of His double requirement; while He, 3. utters a principle for all following centuries, by which, on the one hand, the independence, on the other hand, the practically social direction, of the religious life is sufficiently secured. See below.
Luk_20:26. And they could not take hold.—All the Synoptics are careful to speak of the astonishment of the questioners, which, therefore, must have revealed itself in a very visible manner. Luke denotes particularly the completeness of their defeat by this, that they themselves οὐκ ῥῆμα ἐναντίον τον͂ λαοῦ ἐπιλαβέσθαι ί̓σχυσαν. The critical character that this moment would have had for the reputation of our Lord with the people, if He had not succeeded in rending the snare laid, is brought by this intimation to light.—̓Εσίγησαν.—Not only these speakers, but also in and with them the Pharisees, who now venture no further attack. Before their departure they stand there for a moment holding their peace.—A well-known painting of the whole event by Dietrici.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1.See on the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark, as also above.
2. The principle uttered by our Lord on this occasion, is not in conflict with the way in which He previously expresses Himself to Peter respecting the payment of the temple-tax, Mat_17:24-27. Here it is a civil, there it is a religious tax that is spoken of; here the rule is established according to which subjects have to conduct themselves with reference to earthly authority; there, on the other hand, the freedom vindicated which the Son may assert for Himself in reference to the house of His Royal Father.
3. The answer of the text has been on one hand judged with considerable disfavor (Gfrörer); on the other hand greeted with warm praise, e. g., by the Wandsbecker Bote: “What a sense there is in all that comes out of His mouth! It seems to me therewith as it does with those boxes where there is one inside of another and another inside of that, &c.” That this praise is not pitched too high, appears plain if we consider how our Lord has here said no word too much, nor yet a word too little, and how His utterance is peculiarly adapted not only to remove for Himself every perplexity and difficulty, but also to hurl back the arrow which they had directed upon Him into their own conscience. Had they at all times given to God the things that were God’s, they would now have had no tribute to pay to a foreign ruler. Therefore, even assuming that there prevailed here a conflict of duties, this had arisen from their own folly. If they give truly to the emperor his own—τὰ τοῦ καίσ. denotes first the coin, but then also, latiori sensu, the civil faithfulness and submission which, as it were, concentrated themselves in the tribute—they would then not so eagerly long to withdraw themselves from the imperial yoke, nor yet to make common cause with its enemies. Thus does our Lord coördinate and subordinate the different duties which in their opinion stood in irreconcilable opposition.
4. To Cœsar the things which are Cœsar’s. By the answer of our Lord the fulfilment of the civil duty actually imposed is partly allowed, partly commanded, partly restrained within sacred limits. It shows plainly that it was not His business to encroach arbitrarily upon social life, comp. Luk_12:14; that even from reverence to God we are to honor the authority appointed by Him; that the duty to the earthly lawgiver may be refused only in the one case when it comes into irreconcilable conflict with the requirements of the heavenly one. The principle here expressed is developed fully in the spirit of our Lord, Act_4:20; Act_5:29; Rom_13:1-7; 1Pe_2:13, and elsewhere; comp. also the writings of the elder apologists, and Calvin’s Preface to his Institutes, &c. The Divine right to govern is, therefore, taken by our Lord and His first witnesses under their protection as definitely as the freedom of conscience, and political absolutism is as far from finding a support in His word as radicalism or the diseased craving for revolution. The independence of the church and of the state within the sphere appointed to each, is assured by the principle here uttered, and every essay towards the untimely absorption of the one in the other condemned, as in conflict with the spirit of the gospel.
5. To God the things which are God’s.—The general rule, of which the preceding is only the application to a particular sphere. To Cæsar what is his, so far as it is required, but to God thyself, since thou art created after His image. Only if we assume that this thought hovered before the soul of our Lord, do we learn to understand the depth and beauty of His answer. The soul of man is to Him the coin which originally bore God’s image and superscription (the new birth cannot come here into view), and for this reason belongs wholly to the Heavenly Owner. Not only repentance, therefore (Ebrard), but faith, obedience unconditionally rendered, and faithfulness to God, is here demanded by our Lord. Comp. Pro_23:26. Whoever understands this, will even for God and conscience’ sake render to Cæsar also his own, and be thoroughly free, to what earthly lord soever he may owe service and obedience. The τὰτοῦΘεοῦ τψ͂ Θεψ͂ may be called a short summary of all the commandments of the first table, and affords at the same time a new proof how the Son even to the end at every opportunity sought not His own but the Father’s glory.
6. Quesnel:—The image of princes that is stamped upon coins, signifies that temporal things belong to their province. The image of God that is stamped in our soul, teaches that our heart belongs to Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The controversy of the lie against the truth; the triumph of the truth over the lie.—The unnatural coalitions of ecclesiastical and political parties which are in principle opposed.—Craft over against our Lord is as powerless as force.—The end sanctifies the means, a rule that was not first discovered by Ignatius de Loyola.—Even His enemies are constrained to proclaim the praise of our Lord.—The ideal of a perfect teacher, as the Pharisees portrayed it, is to be taken to heart by every servant of the Lord: 1. He teaches the way of God truly; 2. he takes account of no man’s authority; 3. he is in himself true, without depending on any one.—The masters in Israel not the only ones who have remained far below their own ideal.—What in each sphere is permitted and what not, must be made out by Jesus.—The crafty heart lies naked and open in its depths before the Omniscient, Jer_17:10-11.—“Render to Cæsar,” &c., the fundamental law of the kingdom of God, whereby: 1. On the one hand the relation of the Christian to the earth; 2. on the other hand his vocation for heaven, is defined.—Our obligation towards God the natural consequence of our relation to God.—Render to God what is God’s: 1. A simple but very comprehensive requirement; 2. a natural but necessary requirement; 3. a difficult but blessed requirement.—How many are put to shame and condemned by this word of our Lord: 1. There are those who give neither to Cæsar nor to God; 2. to Cæsar indeed, but not to God; 3. to God indeed, but not to Cæsar; 4. as well to God as to Cæsar what is His own, but still too weakly, too slothfully, and too little.—How the impotency of sin is every time revealed anew.—The best tribute have His foes stubbornly refused the Messiah, and therefore with the fullest right paid forced tribute to Cæsar.
Starke:—When an ungodly man makes himself devout, he is worse than bad.—Bibl. Wirt.:—The ungodly continually torment themselves.—Brentius:—To be able to settle their position and unsettle it is a troublesome evil, but the righteous marks it and abominates it.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Even the ungodly can tell the truth, and God may use them as instruments for His glory.—The children of the devil have great likeness to their father.—Take time in everything, and answer considerately.—It is a singular wisdom to convict the enemies of the truth by their own words.—Luther:—Fear of God and honor due the king are two fundamental particulars of the Christian religion, which are inseparably united.—Hedinger:—To every one his own, to God obedience, to our neighbor love, to the government its dues, to the devil sin (? rejection).—The spiritual and the secular realm must neither abrogate nor hinder one another.—Brentius:—The Divine truth imposes at the last on all witlings an eternal silence.—Heubner:—The true Christian is to be lifted above political parties.—The true saint inspires a reverence even in his enemies.—The saints are not fools.—The best Christian the best subject.—Of the three systems, the hierarchical, the territorial, and the collegial system, the latter appears to admit best of agreement with this passage.—Fuchs:—Render to God what is God’s: 1. A penitent; 2. believing; 3. patient; 4. obedient heart.—Couard:—The confession of His enemies that Christ teaches the way of God aright obliges us: 1. To receive His doctrine believingly; 2. to follow His doctrine willingly; 3. to work for His doctrine with joyful courage.—Westermeyer:—The right hand of the Lord getteth the victory.
On the Pericope.—Ahlfeld:—The world’s craft shattered against the simplicity of the humble Christian.—Gabler:—What assures us best against the falsehood of the world?—Stier:—Why and how are we as Christians subject to every earthly authority? —Seubert:—The true Christian is also the freest citizen.—Steinmeyer:—In all uncertainties say only: Show me the coin! Look upon it carefully, whose its image and superscription is, and then render to every one his own. If you are wavering on the Lord’s day, whether you should use it for earthly activity or for participation in the sweet services of the Lord’s house, only look upon the coin; the image and superscription of this day is God’s: He hath hallowed it; therefore must we give Him what is His own, &c.—Arndt:—The repulse of the Pharisees: 1. The rich intelligence; 2. the widely comprehensive application of the pregnant answer of our Lord.—By this requirement to give every one not what we please, but what belongs to him, the might of selfishness is broken, from which the whole attack and coalition of the Pharisees and Herodians had proceeded.—The Lord addresses Himself with this His principle to the natural feeling of right, which even in fallen man is yet extant.
Footnotes:
[9][Luk_20:20.—Van Oosterzee translates δικαίους, gesetzesstrenge Leute, “strict observers of the law,” which is doubtless its meaning in this place. They professed an anxious desire to know just how they could reconcile their duty to the law with their actual subjection to the Romans.—C. C. S.]
[10][Luk_20:20.—According to the most approved reading: ἐπιλάβωνται αὐτοῦ λόγου. It appears better, with Bleek, to make the first genitive depend on the second, than to regard both as depending directly on the verb, although, it is true, De Wette, Meyer, Van Oosterzee, and Alford adopt the latter construction.—C. C. S.]
[11][Luk_20:20.—Τῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ τ. ἡ. Van Oosterzee translates: “to the authorities, and especially to the power of the procurator,” taking the two nouns as indicating respectively the Jewish and the Roman power. In this Meyer agrees with him, but it seems to be straining a point. It is enough to regard it as a formula for Pilate’s jurisdiction, rendered pleonastically full by the solemnity of the events which it introduces.—C. C. S.]
[12]Luk_20:23.—In B., L., [Cod. Sin.,] and some Cursives, these words [Why tempt ye Me?] do not appear. Perhaps they have crept in here from the parallel passage in Mat_22:18.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 22, 25 the same hour--hardly able to restrain their rage.
the same hour--hardly able to restrain their rage.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–26 19. against them] This decidedly shews the primary sense…
19. against them] This decidedly shews the primary sense of the Parable. As yet they hardly realized its wider significance. So when the priests and rulers saw that Jeremiah spoke against them, “Come,” said they, “and let us devise devices against Jeremiah...come, and let us smite him with the tongue,” Jer_18:18.
After this parable our Lord added the Parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son. Thus in three continuous Parables He convicted the Priests and Scribes (1) of false professions; (2) of cruel faithlessness; (3) of blind presumption. This with their public humiliation about John’s baptism made them thirst for speedy vengeance.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 23, 26 (20-26) And they watched him.—See Notes on Mat_22:15-22 and…
(20-26) And they watched him.—See Notes on Mat_22:15-22 and Mar_12:13-17.
And sent forth spies.—The noun is, again, one of St. Luke’s characteristic words not used by any other New Testament writer. It expresses rather the act of those who lie in ambush, than that of “spies” in the strict sense of the words. St. Luke is, on the one hand, less definite as to the parties to the conspiracy than the other Gospels, and on the other hand more explicit as to its aim. They wanted materials for an accusation before Pilate, as well as for one before the Sanhedrin. On the omission of the name of the Herodians, see Note on Luk_6:11.
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Power and authority.—We have again the characteristic combination of the two substantives. (See Note on Luk_12:11.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 24, 25 And the chief priests and the scribes the same…
And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. Again the Sanhedrim take counsel. They long to arrest him on some capital charge; but they dared not, for the people, joined by the Passover pilgrims, had exalted him to the rank of a hero. Not a few evidently looked on him at that period as King Messiah, But the feeling of the great council was intensely bitter. They felt their power and influence was slipping away from them. These last parables were scarcely veiled attacks on them. In the last spoken words he had calmly announced that he was to die, and their hands were to carry out the bloody work. And then, in the simile of the corner-stone, he, in no ambiguous terms, told them that in killing him they will not be done with him, for that in the end they will be utterly crushed by his power.
Luk_21:38. The last working day.
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It is Tuesday, the last of the Lord"s working days; for Wednesday and the early part of Thursday were spent apparently in the quiet of his Bethany home. A busy, trying day, crowded with events in which we see the Son of God enduring against himself the contradiction of sinners. Let us gather up a part of its teaching. When, in the early morning, Christ entered the outer courts of the temple, he encountered a deputation of persons secretly commissioned by the Pharisees to entrap him into admissions which might be used against him (vers. 19, 20). The deputation consisted (Mat_22:16) of some of the more prominent scholars of the rabbis, and some politicians who were attached to the Herodian dynasty. For so it often is a common hatred will unite those whose positions, mental or moral, are antagonistic. This has been frequently exemplified in religious and religion political movements. The emissaries of priest and politician, thus leagued together, submit their question with ceremonious politeness (vers. 21, 22).
He to whom they speak knows what is in man (ver. 23). And, demanding the penny, with the coin held before them he returns the famous sentence on which so much has been spoken and written, which has been rendered the catchword of heated ecclesiastical controversy (ver. 24), "Whose image and superscription hath this penny?" It is the image and superscription of the proud Tiberius. "Then," is the reply, "if you use his coin, give back to him what is his due, and to God, whose is the image and superscription on the human soul, give back what is God"s" (ver. 25). The confusion of the spies is complete. "They marvelled at his answer, and held their peace" (ver. 26). As the day passes, another deputation appears on the scene. This time the Sadducees (ver. 27) measure the sword of their wit against the Witness for God. The Sadducee mind, cold, cynical, cavilling, pronouncing all earnestness fanaticism, with no definite views as to a life beyond the present, but willing enough to toy over the subject faith and the things of faith being only a matter to be talked about has its representative in all ages. And it has some trafficking with Christ. It has its problems, its questions, its discussions. Behold an illustration of their kind in the problem submitted as to the seven brothers (vers, 28-33). A more foolish issue than that raised it is scarcely possible to conceive, and it might have been treated with contemptuous silence. But truth may be taught even though the occasion of the teaching is unworthy. And, by the incident related, a weighty, suggestive instruction is elicited, one which gives, as by a lightning flash, not only a glimpse into the invisible, but a discernment of the spirit of the old Mosaic economy. First of all, disabusing the thought of his hearers of their carnal conceptions of the resurrection-life (vers. 34-36), he reminds them (ver. 37) of the character which, by their own admission, belonged to God; of the great covenant word which Moses uttered when he called the Eternal "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Could they conceive him (ver. 38) the God of mere empty names? Does not the word imply that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not mere dust and ashes, but still living persons, heart to heart with him? It is not wonderful that the quickness and keenness of the reply, and the light which it shed on human destiny, impressed all who were present; so that the multitude hearing were astonished at his doctrine, and from the admiring crowd (Mat_22:23) came the approbation, echoed (ver. 39) by certain of the scribes, "Master, thou hast well said." But not yet does the temptation cease. A jurist, or student of the Law, accustomed to hair-splitting distinctions and controversies over mere pin-points, exclaims, "Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?". (Mat_22:35) In the school to which he belonged, the precepts of the moral and ceremonial law were reckoned to be more than six hundred, although the great Rabbi Hillel reminded his pupils that, after all, the word, "Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God," is the essence of the Law, the rest being only commentary. "Which commandment," asks this lawyer, "is the greatest, Master? What sayest thou?" Let us thank the tempting jurist whose question evoked the golden wisdom of the emphatic enforcement of the two sentences to which all obedience returns and from which all worthy conduct departs the first commandment bidding us love God with all the heart, and the second, which is like to it, bidding us love our neighbour as ourselves. (Mat_22:37-40) Pharisee, Sadducee, and scribe have all been defeated in their trial of Jesus. It is his turn to try them. He will not let them go until he has shown them the slowness of their minds, and left with them a question to be afterwards inwardly digested. He puts the query, "What think ye of Christ?". (Mat_22:42) And when they answer, "He is the Son of David," he reminds them (vers. 41-44) of the language of the psalmist, implying that there is another than the merely filial relation: "If David call him Lord, how is he then his Son?" Who can abide the thrusts of Jesus? No more questions are asked. No; and pointing to his discomfited tormentors, he preaches the terrible denunciation epitomized in vers. 45-47, given at fuller length in the eight crushing woes of Mt 23. It is a scene that beggars description the grandest moment in the ministry of Christ, the Prophet and King. The evangelist, guided, perhaps, by the sense of fitness to that scene, represents the tone of the speech as changing, at the close of the commination, from indignation hot and strong to the moaning, saddened cry of a heart breaking with grief the cry, already considered, over impenitent, hard-hearted Jerusalem. So the Lord moves towards the gate of the temple. It is on his way thither that he observes (Luk_21:1-4) the action of the poor widow, who cast into one of the chests which were placed in the temple courts her poor little all. How calm was the soul which, even in the heat of that day of temptation, could pause, observe, and speak of a deed apparently so insignificant I It is observable that the last word of Christ in the temple should be one concerning the love and the love-offering, which are better than formal sacrifices. Ever to be remembered, too, is the sentence, "He looked up, and saw the gifts cast into the treasury." The gifts that men and women furtively cast, thinking that none will observe the meanness, or the ostentatiously cast money expecting that all will applaud the munificence, he sees. He is always looking to the treasury; he estimates the real value of the offering. What is the principle of the commendation? "One coin," says an old Father, "out of a little is better than a treasure out of much; for it is not considered how much is given, but how much remains behind" "He went out and departed from the temple." It is the "Ichabod," the departing of the glory Thirty-five years the holy and beautiful house was left desolate: the (ver. 6) as to the great costly stones was fulfilled. The ploughshare of a fearful retribution was driven through Israel"s palace as through Israel itself, the quitting of the temple by the Son of God was the beginning of the end. Thenceforth it was the whited sepulchre, beautiful in appearance, but within full of the dead bones of religion and all spiritual uncleanness. Lo! the house is left to these Pharisees desolate. As the closing feature of that great Tuesday, we behold Christ and his apostles seated on the slope of Olivet. The golden radiance of the setting sun is flung over the glorious city. The pinnacles of the temple, the palaces, and massive buildings and endless houses of the Jews are, one by one, bathed in the gorgeous reflection. There, in the vale below, are Gethsemane and the Kedron, and around are the well-known features of the landscape so dear to the Israelite. It is with this prospect full in his view that Jesus gives the instruction as to the end of the age in those mysterious intimations in which the downfall of the city of the great King is so blended with other and greater catastrophes that it is difficult to distinguish what relates specially to the one and what relates specially to the others. Oh how urgent the exhortation to vigilance! How real and solemn for all the injunction "to pray always, that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (ver. 36)!
Vers. 19-26. The sacred and the secular. There are three preliminary truths which may be gathered before considering the proper subject of the text.
1. The worthlessness of heartless praise. What value do we suppose Jesus Christ attached to the eulogium here pronounced (ver. 2)? How worthless to him now are the epithets which are uttered or the praises which are sung by lips that are not sincere?
2. The evil end of a false attitude toward Christ. The attitude of hostility which his enemies had definitely taken up led them to resort
(1) to shameful deceit (ver. 20), and
(2) to a malign conspiracy against the one Teacher who could and would have led them into the kingdom of God.
3. The final discomfiture of guilt. (Ver. 26) It is silenced and ashamed. Respecting the principal subject before us, we should consider
I TWO NOTIONS THAT FIND NO COUNTENANCE IN OUR LORD"S REPLY,
1. When Jesus answered, "Render unto Caesar," etc., he did not mean to say that the spheres of the secular and the sacred lie so apart that we cannot serve God while we are serving the state. Let none say, "Politics are politics, and religion is religion." That is a thoroughly unchristian sentiment. If we ought to "eat and drink," if we ought to do everything to the glory of God, it is certain that we ought to vote at elections, to speak at meetings, to exercise our political privileges, and to discharge our civil duties, be they humble or high, to the glory of God, it is certain that we ought to vote at elections, to speak Christ as truly and as acceptably in the magistrates" court, or in the lobby of the House of Commons, as he can be in the school or the sanctuary.
2. Nor did Christ mean to say that these spheres are so apart that a man cannot be serving the state while he is engaged in the direct service of God; for, indeed, there is no way by which we render so true and great a service to the whole body politic as when we are engaged in planting Divine truth in the minds and hearts of men; then are we sowing the seeds of peace, of industry, of sobriety, of every national virtue, of a real and lasting prosperity.
3. Nor yet that there are no occasions whatever when we may act in opposition to the state. Our Lord encouraged his apostles in their refusal to obey an unrighteous mandate. (Act_5:28, Act_5:29)
II THE LEADING TRUTH WHICH CHRIST"S WORDS CONTAIN, Viz. that our obligation to God does not conflict with our ordinary allegiance to the civil power. If the latter should enjoin apostasy, or blasphemy, or positive immorality, then disobedience would become a duty, and might rise into heroism, as it has often done. But ordinarily, we can serve God and be loyal citizens at the same time, and this none the less that the rulers whom we serve are Mohammedans or pagans. To be orderly and law-abiding under the rule of an infidel is as far as possible from being unchristian. On the contrary, it is decidedly Christian. (see 1Ti_2:2 Rom_3:1-7) Indeed, service rendered to "the froward" has a virtue not possessed by service to "the good and gentle." and faithful citizenship "in a strange land" may be a more valuable and acceptable service than in a Christian country. Our duty, in the light of Christ"s teaching, is not that of discovering conscientious objections to the support of the civil government; it is rather that of rendering a hearty obedience to the Divine will, and also of conforming in all loyalty to the requirements of human law. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v20 They watched Him
Luk_20:20-26
They watched Him
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Christ was watched, and so are we
The chief priests and rulers of the Jews watched Jesus, but not to learn the way of salvation.
They watched Him with the evil eyes of malice and hatred, desiring to take hold of His words, to entangle Him in His talk, that they might accuse Him, and deliver Him up to die. He loved all men, yet He was hated and rejected of men; He went about doing good, yet they tried to do Him harm. The enemies of Christ are ever watching for our fall, eager to hear or to tell any evil thing about us, ready to cast the stone of slander against us. You know that the whitest robe first shows the stain, let us remember whose purity we wear if we have put on Christ. Let us strive to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. If we are tempted to say or do something which is equivocal, though the way of the world, let us pause and ask ourselves whether it will bring discredit on our faith, whether it will dishonour our Master. But there are others who watch us, and in a different manner. The Church in Paradise watches the Church on earth and prays for it. Our path of life is compassed by a great cloud of witnesses; the saints who have fought the battle and won the crown, they watch us. St. Paul, resting after his good fight, and his many perils, is watching to see how we are fighting against sin, the world, and the devil. St. Peter, restored to the side of Jesus, watches to see if any of us deny their Lord. St. Thomas, no longer doubtful, watches to see if our faith be strong. Holy Stephen watches us when the stones of insult and persecution assail us; the forty martyrs, who died for Jesus on the frozen pool at Sebaste, watch us when the world looks coldly on us, and many another who passed through fire and water watches us in our battle and the race that is set before us. Thus with the enemies of God watching for our fall, and the saints of God watching for our victory, let us watch ourselves, and let our cry be, Hold Thou me up that my footsteps slip not. (H. J.Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
Cowards are like cats
Cowards are like cats. Cats always take their prey by springing suddenly upon it from some concealed station, and, if they miss their aim in the first attack, rarely follow it up. They are all, accordingly, cowardly, sneaking animals, and never willingly face their enemy, unless brought to bay, or wounded, trusting always to their power of surprising their victims by the aid of their stealthy and noiseless movements. (Dallas, Natural History of the Animal Kingdom.)
Whose image and superscription hath it?--
The Divine image in the soul
1. The Divine image ought to be our highest glory.
2. Let the Divine image which we bear be a constant exhortation to serve God.
3. Never defile the Divine image by sin.
4. Endeavour to increase every day the beauty of the Divine image.
5. Respect the Divine image in your neighbour. (Bishop Ehrler.)
Man is Gods property
More than all visible things, we ourselves, with the faculties of body and soul, are Gods. Man is Gods image, Gods coin, and therefore belongs to God entirely.
I. ON WHAT IS THIS DIVINE OWNERSHIP FOUNDED?
1. On creation. Man is Gods property.
(1) As Gods creature. All that is created belongs to God, by whose omnipotence it was made.
(2) As Gods creature he bears the Divine image.
2. On redemption.
(1) The soul of the first man was a supernatural image of God, created in original justice and sanctity.
(2) In consequence of the first sin, the soul was deprived of sanctifying Rom_5:12).
(3) God had compassion on man, and found means (through the Incarnation) to restore His image in the human soul.
II. CONSEQUENCES RESULTING FROM THIS DIVINE OWNERSHIP.
1. We should render to God our soul.
(1) Our understanding.
(2) Our will.
(3) Our heart.
2. Our body and all its members. (Grimm.)
The medal made useful
One day, when Martin Luther was completely penniless, he was asked for money to aid an important Christian enterprise. He reflected a little, and recollected that he had a beautiful medal of Joachim, Elector of Brandenburg, which he very much prized. He went immediately to a drawer, opened it, and said: What art thou doing there, Joachim? Dost thou not see how idle thou art? Come out and make thyself useful. Then he took out the medal and contributed it to the object solicited for.
Render unto Caesar the things which he Caesars
Caesars due and Gods due
I. THAT KINGS AND PRINCES HAVE A CERTAIN RIGHT AND DUE PERTAINING TO THEM BY GODS APPOINTMENT, WHICH IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR ANY MAN TO KEEP FROM THEM. This is plain here as if Christ had said: It is of God, and not without the disposing and ordering of His Providence, that the Roman Emperor hath put in his foot among you, and is now your liege and sovereign: you yourselves have submitted to his government, and have in a manner subscribed unto that which God hath brought upon you; now, certainly, there is a right pertaining to him respectively to his place. This he must have, and it cannot be lawful for you, under any pretext, to take it from him. So that this speech is a plain ground for this. But what is Caesars due?
1. Prayer for him (1Ti_2:1).
(1) That he may be endowed with all needful graces for his place.
(a) Wisdom.
(b) Justice.
(c) Temperance, i.e., sobriety and moderation in diet, in apparel, in delight, etc.
(d) Zeal and courage in Gods matters. This it is which will make kings prosper (1Ki_2:2-3).
(2) That he may be delivered from all dangers to which he is subject in his place. Kings are in danger of two sorts of enemies.
(a) Enemies to their bodies and outward state. Traitors.
Conspirators.
(b) Enemies to their souls. Flatterers.
2. Submission to him. By this I mean an awful framing and composing of the whole man respectively to his authority.
And now here, because I mention the whole man, and man consisteth of two parts; therefore I will declare, first, what is the submission of the inner man due to a king by the Word of God; and then, what is the submission of the outward man.
1. Touching the submission of the inner man, I account the substance of it to be this--A reverent and dutiful estimation of him in regard of his place. Fear the Lord and the king, said Solomon. As the fearing of God argueth an inward respectiveness to His Divine majesty, so the fearing of the king intends the like, the heart carrieth a kind of reverent awe unto him. And this is that honouring the king which St. Peter giveth charge 1Pe_2:17). Honour is properly an inward act, and we honour a superior when our respect is to him according to his dignity. That this reverent estimation of a king, which I term the substance of inward submission, may be the better understood, we must consider touching it two things.
(1) The ground of it is a right understanding of the state and condition of a kings place.
(a) Its eminence.
(b) Its usefulness.
(2) Now the companion of this reverent esteem of Caesar is a ready and willing disposition to perform to him and for him any service he may require.
2. I come now to speak of the outward submission, which is that which is for the testification and manifestation of the inward. An outward submissiveness without an inward awfulness were but hypocrisy; to pretend an inward respect without giving outward evidence thereof, were but mockery. This outward submission is either in word or in action. It includes--
(1) Conformity to the laws.
(2) Yielding of the person in time of war.
(3) Furnishing supplies.
II. THAT IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR ANY MAN TO DEPRIVE ALMIGHTY GOD OF THAT WHICH IS HIS DUE. You are careful, saith our Saviour, as it seemeth, to inquire touching Caesars right, as if you were so tender conscienced that you would not keep ought from him that were his. It becometh you to be, at the least, as careful for God; there is a right also due to Him, look you to it, that you give it Him. Thus is the doctrine raised, God must have His due as well as the king his. Nay, He is to have it much more; He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. By Him it is that earthly kings do reign. He beareth rule over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whosoever He will. Let me begin by explaining what is here meant by the Lords due. The conscionable performance of any good duty is in some sense the Lords due, because the same is required by Him; and so even that which was spoken of before, by the name of Caesars due, is Gods due, because the law of God binds us to it. When we speak, therefore, of Gods due, we intend thereby that which is more properly and more immediately be, longing to Him. For examples sake--in a house, whereof every room and corner is the masters, yet that where he lieth himself is more particularly called his; so whereas all good services, even those which appertain to men, are the Lords, He being the commander of them, yet those are more precisely and specially termed His which belong to Him more directly. And of the dues of this sort we are now to treat; and these may justly be referred to two general heads. The first I may call His prerogative, the other His worship. Under Gods prerogative I comprehend two things.
1. That the things which concern Him must have the pre-eminence.
2. That He must have absolute obedience in all things. And now I come to the next part of His due, His worship. By His worship is understood that more direct and proper service which we do to God for the declaration of our duty to Him, of our dependence on Him, and of our acknowledgment both to expect and to receive all good and comfort from Him.
Here the particulars to be considered of, under this head of worship, are--
1. That He must be worshipped.
2. That He must be so worshipped as Himself thinks good. (S. Hieron.)
Duty discriminated
Go with me to the concert this afternoon? once asked a fashionable city salesman of a new assistant in the warehouse. I cannot. Why? My time is not my own; it belongs to another. To whom? To the firm, by whom I have been instructed not to leave without permission. The next Sabbath afternoon the same salesman said to this clerk, Will you go to ride with us this evening? I cannot. Why? My time is not my own; it belongs to another. To whom? To Him who has said, Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Some years passed, and that clerk lay upon his bed of death. His honesty and fidelity had raised him to a creditable position in business and in society, and, ere his sickness, life lay fair before him. Are you reconciled to your situation? asked an attendant. Yes, reconciled; I have endeavoured to do the work that God has allotted me, in His fear. He has directed me thus far; I am in His hands, and my time is not my own. (W. Baxendale.)
Religion and politics
It is a common saying that religion has nothing to do with polities, and particularly there is a strong feeling current against all interference with politics by the ministers of religion. This notion rests on a basis which is partly wrong, partly right. To say that religion has nothing to do with politics is to assert that which is simply false. It were as wise to say that the atmosphere has nothing to do with the principles of architecture. Directly nothing, indirectly much. Some kinds of stone are so friable, that though they will last for centuries in a dry climate, they will crumble away in a few years in a damp one. There are some temperatures in which a form of a building is indispensable, which in another would be unbearable. The shape of doors, windows, apartments, all depend upon the air that is to be admitted or excluded. Nay, it is for the very sake of procuring a habitable atmosphere within certain limits that architecture exists at all. The atmospheric laws are distinct from the laws of architecture; but there is not an architectural question into which atmospheric considerations do not enter as conditions of the question. That which the air is to architecture, religion is to politics. It is the vital air of every question. Directly, it determines nothing--indirectly, it conditions every problem that can arise. The kingdoms of this world must become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. How--if His Spirit is not to mingle with political and social truths? (F. W. Robertson.)
No division of allegiance
Our Lord here recognizes no division of allegiance. He does not regard man as under two masters--as owing duty to Caesar and duty to God. Is there a trace in all His other teaching that He contemplated such a division? Did ever a word fall from Him to indicate that He looked upon some obligations as secular and others as sacred? No; God is set forth by Him always and everywhere as the sole Lord of mans being and powers. Nothing man has can be Caesars in contradiction to that which is Gods. Christ claims all for the Sovereign Master. Body, soul, and spirit, riches, knowledge, influence, love--all belong to Him; there is but one empire, one service, one king; and life, with all its complexity of interest, is simple--simple as the Infinite God who has given it. Rightly understood, therefore, the great precepts of the text are in perfect accord with the doctrine of Gods sole and supreme lordship over every thought, and faculty, and possession of man. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars. Why? Who enacts it? Who has the right to require it? The answer is God. It is a part of your religious obedience to be a loyal citizen. Within the sphere that belongs to him Caesar claims your service as the ordained representative and minister of God. Civil obedience is an ordinance of the Church; civil society is the creation of God Himself. It is He who, through the earthly ruler, demands your tribute. The result, the order, and the progress of society are His work; and thus the principle of all duty is ultimately one. The inclusion of the lower obedience in the higher has been well illustrated from the world of nature. The moon, we know, has its own relation to the earth; but both have a common relation to the sun. The moons orbit is included in the earths orbit, but the sun sways and balances both of them; and there is not a movement of the moon in obeying the inferior earthly attraction, which is not also an act of obedience to the superior spheres. And just so, God has bound up together our relation to the powers that be in this world, with our relation to Himself. He has set us under rulers and in societies as a kind of interior province of His mighty kingdom, but our loyalty as subjects and our duty as citizens are but a part of the one supreme duty which we owe to Him. (Canon Duckworth.)
Secular and religious duties not in conflict
I. Our secular and spiritual relations are coexistent and co-relative in fact.
II. The obligations which arise from each are to be recognized equitably, and the respective duties performed faithfully.
III. They ought not to be in conflict, but mutually helpful. Both are of God, and with Him are no discords.
IV. Application of the principle to--
1. Secular business, society, politics, etc.
2. Soul culture, worship, Christian work. (Anon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v20 20–26. Is it lawful for us to give tribute…
20–26. Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cæsar? For notes on the question of the tribute money, see Matt. 22:15–22. Compare Mark 12:13–17.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v19 Luk_20:19. And they feared the people.—The state of mind…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_20:19. And they feared the people.—The state of mind in which the attempt to ensnare Jesus was made: “and they did so in fear of the people” (Alford).
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Luk_20:20. They watched Him.—Rather, “and having watched for an opportunity.” Spies.—Men “suborned.” Just men.—I.e., honest, ingenuous men, perplexed with a doubt which He might solve. Power and authority of the governor.—I.e., “to the Roman power, and to the authority of the governor.”
Luk_20:22. Tribute.—The word means a poll-tax which had been levied since Judæa became a Roman province. The insurrection of Judas of Galilee had been occasioned by the belief that it was unlawful to pay this tax, since God was the only true ruler of the Jewish people. This belief was held by a large section of the people; if Christ decided against it, He would alienate them; if He agreed with them He would embroil Himself with the Roman authority. The idea that the Herodians who, as St. Matthew says, joined with the Pharisees in putting this question, approved of the tax, is utterly unfounded. It is a mere conjecture of Origen’s. There would be very little craftiness in the plot if two classes, one of them notoriously opposed to the payment of the tax, and the other as notoriously in favour of it, were represented in the same deputation. The Herodians, as clinging to the last fragment of Jewish national independence in the rule of the Herods, would naturally be opposed to complete subjection to Rome.
Luk_20:24. A penny.—The Roman denarius.
Luk_20:25. Render, therefore.—It was a decision of the rabbis that “wherever any king’s money is current, there that king is lord.” By accepting the coinage of Cæsar they had acknowledged his supremacy in temporal things, and consequently his claim to tribute. But the answer goes further. The followers of Judas of Galilee regarded the authority of Cæsar as incompatible with that of God. Our Lord distinguishes between temporal and spiritual sovereignty, and shows that the two are not opposed to each other. God was no longer, as of old, the civil ruler of His people. They had rejected His authority, and He had given them over to a foreign power, who reigned and claimed tribute by His ordinance (cf. Rom_13:1; Rom_13:7). But God was still, and must ever be, the spiritual Ruler of the world, and to Him now, as ever, worship and obedience were due.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_20:19-26
Cæsar and God.—Jesus thus refuses to decide formally a question of politics, just as, on another occasion, He had refused to interfere between the two brothers who were in dispute about an inheritance. It was not for settling questions like these that He came to earth. More than once the people sought to force Him to take up the rôle of a political leader, but in vain. He firmly refused to compromise His cause by associating it with any of the political factions of His time. Yet He did not merely maintain a prudent silence on this occasion, when the question of the lawfulness of paying tribute to Rome was brought to Him for solution. He spoke words which cast a new light upon the whole subject, and which solved the difficulty which these men hypocritically professed to experience, but which really troubled many devout hearts in Israel.
I. It was new to hear that the theocracy was now a thing of the past.—Up to this time the religious ideal of Israel was the subordination of civil society to the priestly order: though the nation was actually subject to a foreign power, it was considered that the normal condition of matters ought to be the direct government of the state by ministers of Jehovah, acting in His name and employing, by His authority, all the resources and powers that are at the disposal of earthly kings and rulers. It was a magnificent dream, but all attempts to realise it had hopelessly failed. Christ now distinguishes between the two spheres of national life: the one is purely civil, and may be an empire, a kingdom, an oligarchy, or a democracy; the other is purely religious and in it God is the supreme Ruler.
II. The duties belonging to both spheres are to be discharged in a religious spirit.—Christ did not represent civil society as a domain which is withdrawn from holy influence, and, as it were, isolated from that in which God rules. One of the most striking characteristics of the gospel is that it ignores the pagan distinction between things sacred and things profane, and that it does not make religion a distinct part of life, but a Divine influence upon every part, which penetrates, pervades, and governs the whole. St. Paul states this fact in very strong terms: “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” And wherever Christianity exists as a living power it acts upon the consciences of men and directs their conduct, not only in matters of specially religious duty, but also in all that concerns the well-being of the body social. It purifies public opinion, brands as evil all customs and practices of a degrading kind, and spreads its shield over the weak and helpless. None of the spheres of human activity can be sealed against it.
III. Yet there is a profound distinction between religious and civil society, both with regard to the domains they occupy and the modes of action they employ.—The domain of the State is that of the present life and of interests that are purely temporal. The State ought to secure for each individual the free enjoyment of all rights and liberties belonging to him, and to endeavour to increase the sum of happiness of all who are under its care. But it has to do only with man as a citizen. All teaching concerning God, the human soul, religious duties and aspirations, and the hope of immortality, are out of its province. It should stand neutral towards all varying forms of religious belief, as the defender of liberty of conscience, and of the religious rights of all. The Church and the State also differ in the nature of the means which they employ. The arm of the State is force; it has the power and the right to overcome, by material strength, all resistance to its laws. The arm of the Church is persuasion; it has not the power or the right to use force for the establishment or maintenance of any form of religious belief. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (2Co_10:4), said one of the greatest of its champions. Its sword is the Word of God; its instrument of triumph is the cross, which symbolises the submission of its Lord to sufferings and death; and the Spirit which animates it is compared to a dove. Such are the figures under which Holy Scripture represents the power it wields. To the State we owe tribute, obedience to its laws, and the sacrifice of our time and strength for securing the common good. To God we owe ourselves—the homage of mind, will, and heart. The influence of the world and of sin may almost have obliterated the Divine image and superscription upon the soul which proclaim that it belongs to God and should be rendered to Him; but they never wholly disappear.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_20:19-26
Luk_20:19. “The chief priests and scribes sought.”—There is
(1) a bitterness against Christ, which arises from a misunderstanding of Him; but
(2) a still deeper and more intense bitterness is manifested here by men who understood Him far too well, and who were only the more estranged from Him in consequence.
Luk_20:20. “Take hold of His words.”—They could not find Him guilty in any of His actions, but hoped to force Him into some hasty utterance upon a complicated question.
“Just men.”—I.e., they came pretending to be upright persons who were perplexed on a point of duty; but their real intention was to entrap Him into the expression of an opinion which might be used against Him.
Luk_20:21. “We know that Thou,” etc.—It is not hard to see the treachery that lay beneath this praise. The Jews were firmly convinced that it was unlawful to pay tribute to Cæsar, but found it advisable to conceal their feelings of aversion. Those who now approached Christ wished, by flattering His courage and integrity, to force Him to express an opinion of which they might take advantage to put Him to death.
Luk_20:22. “Is it lawful for us?”—The difficulty of the question arose from the contradiction between the condition of subjection in which the nation actually was at the time, and the independence which it should have enjoyed, and which seemed to be anticipated and promised in the writings of the prophets.
The True Way to Follow.—The way to follow in this abnormal position was not that of revolt, which in this case would have been revolt against God, but that of humiliation, repentance, and devout submission to God, who alone could give them deliverance, since it had been national sin that had led to their being subjected to the Gentile yoke. The error which Jesus dissipates, in His reply, consisted in applying to the actual state of the nation the principle laid down by God as governing its normal state. Jesus virtually said to those who interrogated Him, “Become ye again dependent upon God, and He will render you independent of Cæsar; but until He has accomplished that deliverance you are bound to fulfil the duties which belong to your present state.”—Godet.
Luk_20:23. “Perceived their craftiness.”—Neither force nor craft could prevail against the Lord. In an instant He saw through the wiles of His enemies, and escaped the snare they had laid for Him. Thus He exemplified the counsel He gave to His servants and combined the wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dove.
Luk_20:24. “Show me a penny.”—It was not to gain time that He desired that a denarius should be shown Him: the image and title it bore decided the question that was put to Him.
“Whose image and superscription?”—Christ serenely walks through the cobwebs spun by His enemies, and lays His hand upon the fact. “The currency of the country proclaims the monarch of the country. It is too late to ask questions about your tribute when you pay your bills in his money.” Does not the other side of Christ’s answer—“to God the things that are God’s”—rest upon a similar fact? Does not the parallelism require that we should suppose that the destiny of things to be devoted to God is stamped upon them, whatever they are, at least as plainly as the right of Cæsar to exact tribute was inferred from the fact that his money was the currency of the country?
I. Note the image stamped upon man, and the consequent obligation.—Our spirits show that God is our Lord, since we are made in a true sense in His image, and therefore only in Him can we find rest. We are like God in that we can love; we are like Him in that we can perceive the right, and that the right is supreme; we are like Him in that we have the power to say “I will.”
II. Look, next, at the defacement of the image and the false expenditure of the coin.—Our nature has gone through the stamping-press again, and another likeness has been deeply imprinted upon it. The awful power that is given to men of degrading themselves till, lineament by lineament, the likeness in which they are made vanishes, is the saddest and most tragical thing in the world. Yet every fibre in your nature protests against the prostitution of itself to anything short of God. Only misery and unrest can ensue. Only when we render to God the thing that is God’s—our hearts and ourselves—can we find repose.
III. The restoration and perfecting of the defaced image.—Because Jesus Christ, the God-man, has come, and in our likeness presented to us the very image of God and irradiation of His light, therefore no defacement that it is possible for men or devils to make on this poor humanity of ours need be irrevocable or final, and we may look forward to a time when the coinage shall be called in and re-minted in new forms of nobleness and of likeness.—Maclaren.
Luk_20:25. Cæsar and God.—We owe to kings, as rulers,
(1) Honour;
(2) obedience to the laws;
(3) payment of taxes;
(4) the duty of prayer. We owe to God
(1) ourselves;
(2) our substance;
(3) our time, talents, and influence;
(4) our love.
I. Religion and loyalty should accompany each other.
II. In cases where the commands of earthly rulers interfere with the will of God, they are to be disobeyed, at whatever hazard or loss.
Two Distinct Spheres.—Things civil and things sacred are
(1) essentially distinct from each other, yet
(2) quite harmonious. Neither may overlap or intrude itself into the sphere of the other. In the things of God we may not take law from men (Act_4:19; Act_5:29), while in honouring and obeying Cæsar in his own sphere we are rendering obedience to God Himself (Rom_13:1-7).—Brown.
“Render.”—The chief priests and scribes had asked if it were lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, as if tribute were a boon. Christ reminds them that it is not a gift, but a due. Render, therefore, tribute of your coin to Cæsar; and tribute of yourselves, coined in the Divine mint, and stamped with the Divine image and superscription, to God.
“Render unto Cæsar.”—This precept of Jesus is developed in Romans 12, 13; in Romans 12, “Render to God,” and in Romans 13 “Render to Cæsar.”
Luk_20:26. “Marvelled at His answer.”—All the synoptical Gospels lay stress upon the astonishment excited by the the reply of Christ, and thus imply that it was expressed in some very visible manner. The statement here made, that His enemies “could not take hold of His words before the people,” gives a hint of the critical position in which He would have been placed if He had failed to silence the questioners.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v20 Mat 22:15-22, Mar 12:13-17; Luk 20:20-26. “And lying in…
TRIBUTE TO CAESAR
Mat 22:15-22, Mar 12:13-17; Luk 20:20-26. “And lying in wait for Him, they sent sharpers, hypocritically claiming to be righteous, that they may catch His word, in order to deliver Him up to the tribunal and authority of the governor. And they asked Him, saying, Teacher, we know that Thou dost speak and teach correctly, and that Thou dost not receive the face, but teachest the Word of God in truth: is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? And He, knowing their rascality, said to them, Why do you tempt Me? Show Me the denarion. Whose image and superscription hath it? And they responding, said, That of Caesar. And He said to them, Therefore render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. And they were not able to capture His word before the people. And being astonished at His answer, they kept silent.” We have given you Luke’s narrative, who simply states that sharpers — i.e., critical tricksters — waited on Him in this adroit interview, hoping to perplex Him, and get some clew at Him, deduced from His phraseology of and Mark state that these critics were Pharisees and Herodiana — the former the most loyal and enthusiastic Jewish party, and the latter consisting of a political faction favorable to Roman rule. Though diametrically opposed either to other, in this instance, as ever and anon hitherto, they united their forces against Jesus. How common it’s for the belligerent sects to make peace among themselves and unite their forces against holiness! They felt sure of success in this united hypocritical assault on Jesus, as the Pharisees represented the Jewish interest and the Herodians the Roman. In case that He had decided in favor of paying tribute to Caesar, the Pharisees aimed to prefer treasonable charges against Him, and arraign Hint before the Sanhedrin for disloyalty to the Theoeratic Government. On the contrary, if He answered the question in the negative, the Herodians were ready to have Him arrested and brought before Pilate to answer charges of treason against the Roman Empire. Now, you see how easily and conveniently He foils them both by simply asking them to show Him the denarion, a Roman coin, worth fifteen cents, and used to pay regular poll-tax, as well as the revenue to the Roman Government. Now, asking “Whose image and superscription is on this coin?” they respond, “Caesar’s.” Then He simply says, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s.” As the Jews claimed to be under the Divine government, while they were also subject to Roman rule, this answer covered all the ground in both cases, at the same time showing up absolute equity in behalf of each, so that no exception could be taken. Consequently the sharpers were all dumfounded.
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Mat 22:22. “And hearing, they were astonished, and leaving Him they went away.” We see most indubitable manifestations of His Divinity thus cropping out on all occasions. Here, He is besieged by the most intellectual and cultured men of Church and State, criticizing every utterance, and doing their best to lasso Him, and all are signally foiled, defeated, and dumfounded. No other man ever trod the globe whose ordinary utterances, day by day, were utterly invulnerable.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v24
Luke
WHOSE IMAGE AND SUPERSCRIPTION?
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Luk 20:24.
It is no unusual thing for antagonists to join forces in order to crush a third person obnoxious to both. So in this incident we have an unnatural alliance of the two parties in Jewish politics who were at daggers drawn. The representatives of the narrow conservative Judaism, which loathed a foreign yoke, in the person of the Pharisees and Scribes, and the Herodians, the partisans of a foreigner and a usurper, lay their heads together to propose a question to Christ which they think will discredit or destroy Him. They would have answered their own question in opposite ways. One would have said, ‘It is lawful to give tribute to Caesar’; the other would have said, ‘It is not.’ But that is a small matter when malice prompts. They calculate, ‘If He says, No! we will denounce Him to Pilate as a rebel. If He says, Yes! we will go to the people and say, Here is a pretty Messiah for you, that has no objection to the foreign yoke. Either way we shall end Him.’
Jesus Christ serenely walks through the cobwebs, and lays His hand upon the fact. ‘Let Me see a silver penny!’-which, by the bye, was the amount of the tribute-’Whose head is that?’ The currency of the country proclaims the monarch of the country. To stamp his image on the coin is an act of sovereignty. ‘Caesar’s head declares that you are Caesar’s subjects, whether you like it or not, and it is too late to ask questions about tribute when you pay your bills in his money.’ ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.’
Does not the other side of Christ’s answer-’to God the things that are God’s’-rest upon a similar fact? Does not the parallelism require that we should suppose that the destiny of things to be devoted to God is stamped upon them, whatever they are, at least as plainly as the right of Caesar to exact tribute was inferred from the fact that his money was the currency of the country? The thought widens out in a great many directions, but I want to confine it to one special line of contemplation, and to take it as suggesting to each of us this great truth, that the very make of men shows that they belong to God, and are bound to yield themselves to Him. If the answer to the question be plain, and the conclusion irresistible, about the penny with the image of Tiberius, the answer is no less plain, nor the conclusion less irresistible, when we turn the interrogation within, and, looking at our own being, say to ourselves, ‘Whose image and superscription hath it? ‘
I. First, then, note the image stamped upon man, and the consequent obligation.
We can very often tell what a thing is for by noticing its make. The instructed eye of an anatomist will, from a bone, divine the sphere in which the creature to whom it belonged was intended to live. Just as plainly as gills or lungs, fins or wings, or legs and arms, declare the element in which the creature that possesses them is intended to move, so plainly stamped upon all our natures is this, that God is our Lord since we are made in a true sense in His image, and that only in Him can we find rest.
I need not remind you, I suppose, of the old word, ‘Let us make man in our own image.’ Nor need I, I suppose, insist at any length upon the truth that though, by the fact of man’s sin, the whole glory and splendour of the divine image in which he was made is marred and defaced, there still remain such solemn, blessed, and awful resemblances between man and God that there can be no mistake as to which beings in the universe are the most kindred; nor any misunderstanding as to who it is after whose likeness we are formed, and in whose love and life alone we can be blessed.
I am not going to weary you with thoughts for which, perhaps, the pulpit is not the proper place; but let me just remind you of one or two points. Is there any other being on this earth that can say of itself ‘I am’? God says ‘I am that I am’. You and I cannot say that, but we alone, in this order of things, possess that solemn and awful gift, the consciousness of our personal being. And, brethren, whoever is able to say to himself ‘I am’ will never know rest until he can turn to God and say ‘Thou art,’ and then, laying his hand in the Great Father’s hand, venture to say ‘We are.’ We are made in His image, in that profoundest of all senses.
But to come to something less recondite. We are like God in that we can love; we are like Him in that we can perceive the right, and that the right is supreme; we are like Him in that we have the power to say ‘I will.’ And these great capacities demand that the creature who thus knows himself to be, who thus knows the right, who thus can love, who thus can purpose, resolve, and act, should find his home and his refuge in fellowship with God.
But if you take a coin, and compare it with the die from which it has been struck, you will find that wherever in the die there is a relief, in the coin there is a sunken place; and conversely. So there are not only resemblances in man to the divine nature, which bear upon them the manifest marks of his destiny, but there are correspondences, wants, on our side, being met by gifts upon His; hollow emptinesses in us being filled, when we are brought into contact with Him, by the abundance of His outstanding supplies and gifts. So the poorest, narrowest, meanest life has in it a depth of desire, an ardour, and sometimes a pain and a madness of yearning and longing which nothing but God can fill. Though we often misunderstand the voice, and so make ourselves miserable by vain efforts, our ‘heart and our flesh,’ in every fibre of our being, ‘cry out for the living God.’ And what we all want is some one Pearl of great price into which all the dispersed preciousness and fragmentary brilliances that dazzle the eye shall be gathered. We want a Person, a living Person, a present Person, a sufficient Person, who shall satisfy our hearts, our whole hearts, and that at one and the same time, or else we shall never be at rest.
Because, then, we are made dependent, because we possess these wild desires, because immortal thirst attaches to our nature, because we have consciences that need illuminating, wills that are only free when they are absolutely submissive, hearts that are dissatisfied, and left yearning, after all the sweetnesses of limited, transient, and creatural affections, we bear on our very fronts the image of God; and any man that wisely looks at himself can answer the question, ‘Whose image and superscription hath it?’ in but one way. ‘In the image of God created He him.’
Therefore by loving fellowship, by lowly trust, by ardour of love, by submissiveness of obedience, by continuity of contemplation, by the sacrifice of self, we must yield ourselves to God if we would pay the tribute manifestly owing to the Emperor by the fact that His image and superscription are upon the coin.
II. And so let me ask you to look, in the next place, at the defacement of the image and the wrong expenditure of the coin.
You sometimes get into your hands money on which there has been stamped, by mischief, or for some selfish purpose, the name of some one else than the king’s or queen’s which surrounds the head upon it. And in like manner our nature has gone through the stamping-press again, and another likeness has been deeply imprinted upon it. The image of God, which every man has, is in some senses and aspects ineffaceable by any course of conduct of theirs. But in another aspect it is not like the permanent similitude stamped upon the solid metal of the penny, but like the reflection, rather, that falls upon some polished plate, or that is cast upon the white sheet from a lantern. If the polished plate be rusty and stained, the image is faint and indistinct; if it be turned away from the light the image passes. And that is what some of you are doing. By living to yourselves, by living day in and day out without ever remembering God, by yielding to passions, lusts, ambitions, low desires, and the like, you are doing your very best to erase the likeness which still lingers in your nature. Is there any one here that has yielded to some lust of the flesh, some appetite, drunkenness, gluttony, impurity, or the like, and has so sold himself to it, as that that part of the divine image, the power of saying ‘I will,’ has pretty nearly gone? I am afraid there must be some who, by long submission to passion, have lost the control that reason and conscience and a firm steady purpose ought to give. Is there any man here who, by long course of utter neglect of the divine love, has ceased to feel that there is a heart at the centre of the universe, or that He has anything to do with it? Brethren, the awful power that is given to men of degrading themselves till, lineament by lineament, the likeness in which they are made vanishes, is the saddest and most tragical thing in the world. ‘Like the beasts that perish,’ says one of the psalms, the men become who, by the acids and the files of worldliness and sensuality and passion, have so rubbed away the likeness of God that it is scarcely perceptible in them. Do I speak to some such now? If there is nothing else left there is this, a hunger for absolute good and for the satisfaction of your desires. That is part of the proof that you are made for God, and that only in Him can you find rest.
All occupations of heart and mind and will and active life with other things to the exclusion of supreme devotion to God are, then, sacrilege and rebellion. The emperor’s head was the token of sovereignty and carried with it the obligation to pay tribute. Every fibre in your nature protests against the prostitution of itself to anything short of God. You remember the story in the Old Testament about that saturnalia of debauchery, the night when Babylon fell, when Bel-shazzar, in the very wantonness of godless insolence, could not be satisfied with drinking his wine out of anything less sacred than the vessels that had been brought from the Temple at Jerusalem. That is what many of us are doing, taking the sacred cup which is meant to be filled with the wine of the kingdom and pouring into it the foaming but poisonous beverages which steal away our brains and make us drunk, the moment before our empire totters to its fall and we to our ruin. ‘All the consecrated things of the house of the Lord they dedicated to Baal,’ says one of the narratives in the Book of Chronicles. That is what some of us are doing, taking the soul that is meant to be consecrated to God and find its blessedness there, and offering it to false gods in whose service there is no blessedness.
For, dear friends, I beseech you, lay this to heart that you cannot thus use the Godlike being that you possess without bringing down upon your heads miseries and unrest. The raven, that black bird of evil omen, went out from the ark, and flew homeless over the weltering ocean. The souls that seek not God fly thus, strangers and restless, through a drowned and lifeless world. The dove came back with an olive branch in its beak. Souls that are wise and have made their nests in the sanctuary can there fold their wings and be at peace. As the ancient saint said, ‘We are made for God, and only in God have we rest.’ ‘Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to me, then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.’ Cannot you see the blessed, gentle gliding of the full stream through the meadows with the sunshine upon its ripples? Such is the heart that has yielded itself to God. In solemn contrast to that lovely image, the same prophet has for a repeated refrain in his book, ‘The wicked is like the troubled sea which cannot rest,’ but goes moaning round the world, and breaking in idle foam upon every shore, and still is unquiet for evermore. Brethren, only when we render to God the thing that is God’s-our hearts and ourselves-have we repose.
III. Now, lastly, notice the restoration and perfecting of the defaced image.
Because man is like God, it is possible for God to become like man. The possibility of Revelation and of Redemption by an incarnate Saviour depend upon the reality of the fact that man is made in the image of God. Thus there comes to us that divine Christ, who lays ‘His hands upon both’ and being on the one hand the express image of His person, so that He can say, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,’ on the other hand ‘was in all points made like unto His brethren,’ with only the exception that the defacement which had obliterated the divine image in them left it clear, untarnished, and sharply cut in Him.
Therefore, because Jesus Christ has come, our Brother, ‘bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh,’ made like unto us, and in our likeness presenting to us the very image of God and eradiation of His light, therefore no defacement that it is possible for men or devils to make on this poor humanity of ours need be irrevocable and final. All the stains may be blotted out, all the usurping superscriptions may be removed and the original imprint restored. The dints may be elevated, the too lofty points may be lowered, the tarnish and the rust may be rubbed off, and, fairer than before, the likeness of God may be stamped on every one of us, ‘after the image of Him that created us,’ if only we will turn ourselves to that dear Lord, and cast our souls upon Him. Christ hath become like us that we might become like Him, and therein be partakers of the divine nature. ‘We all, reflecting as a glass does the glory of the Lord, may be changed into the same image from glory to glory.’
Nor do the possibilities stop there, for we look forward to a time when, if I might pursue the metaphor of my text, the coinage shall be called in and reminted, in new forms of nobleness and of likeness. We have before us this great prospect, that ‘we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is’; and in all the glories of that heaven we shall partake, for all that is Christ’s is ours, and ‘we that have borne the image of the earthly shall also bear the image of the heavenly.’
I come to you, then, with this old question: ‘Whose image and superscription hath it?’ and the old exhortation founded thereupon: ‘Render therefore to God the thing that is God’s’; and yield yourselves to Him. Another question I would ask, and pray that you may lay it to heart, ‘To what purpose is this waste?’ What are you doing with the silver penny of your own soul? Wherefore do ye ‘spend it for that which is not bread?’ Give yourselves to God; trust yourselves to the Christ who is like you, and like Him. And, resting upon His great love you will be saved from the prostitution of capacities, and the vain attempts to satisfy your souls with the husks of earth; and whilst you remain here will be made partakers of Christ’s life, and growingly of His likeness, and when you remove yonder, your body, soul, and spirit will be conformed to His image, and transformed into the likeness of His glory, ‘according to the mighty working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v20 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CIX. A. Asking…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CIX. A. Asking About Tribute].
CIX. JEWISH RULERS SEEK TO ENSNARE JESUS. (Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.) Subdivision A. PHARISEES AND HERODIANS ASK ABOUT TRIBUTE. aMATT. XXII. 15-22; bMARK XII. 13-17; cLUKE XX. 20-26.
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a15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in his talk. c20 And they watched him, and sent forth bsend unto him atheir disciples, bcertain of the Pharisees and of awith bthe Herodians, that they might catch him in talk. [Perceiving that Jesus, when on his guard, was too wise for them, the Pharisees thought it best to speak their cunning through the mouths of their young disciples, whose youth and apparent desire to know the truth would, according to their calculation, take Jesus off his guard. Having no ancient statement giving us the tenets or principles of the Herodians, we are left to judge them solely by their name, which shows that they were partisans of Herod Antipas. Whether they were out-and-out supporters of the Roman government, or whether they clung to Herod as one whose intervening sovereignty saved them from the worse fate of being directly under a Roman procurator (as Judæa and Samaria then were), would not, as some suppose, affect their views as to the payment of tribute. If they accepted Herod merely for policy's sake, policy would also compel them to favor the tribute, for Antipas, being appointed [597] by Rome, would have to favor the tribute, and could count none as his adherents who opposed it.] cspies, who feigned themselves to righteous [sincere seekers after truth], that they might take hold of his speech, so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor. [Pontius Pilate was the governor. We are not surprised at the destruction of Jerusalem when we see the religious teachers of the nation employing their young disciples in such a work as this. To play detective and entrap a rogue in his speech and thus become a man-hunter is debasing enough; but to seek thus to entrap a righteous man is simply diabolical.] b14 And when they were come, they say unto him, csaying, Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, bwe know that thou art true, and carest not for any one; for thou regardest not the person of men, cand acceptest not the person of any, but of a truth teachest the way of God: ain truth [The meaning of their preface is this: "We see that neither fear nor respect for the Pharisees or the rulers prevents you from speaking the plain, disagreeable truth; and we are persuaded that your courage and love of truth will lead you to speak the same way in political matters, and that you will not be deterred therefrom by any fear or reverence for Cæsar." Fearless loyalty to truth is indeed one of the noblest attributes of man. But instead of honoring this most admirable quality in Jesus, these hardened reprobates were endeavoring to employ it as an instrument for his destruction], 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? c22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? b15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? [The Jews were required to pay annually a large sum of money to the Roman government as an acknowledgment of their subjection. About twenty years before this Judas of Galilee had stirred up the people to resist this tribute, and the mass of the Jews was bitterly opposed to it. To decide in favor of this tribute was therefore to alienate the affection and confidence of the throng in the temple who stood listening to him--an end most desirable to the Pharisees. If, [598] on the other hand, Jesus said that the tribute should not be paid, the Herodians were present to hear it, and would be witnesses sanctioned by Herod, and therefore such as Pilate would be compelled to respect. What but divine wisdom could escape from so cunningly devised a dilemma!] a18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, ccraftiness, bknowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, aand said Why make ye trial of me, ye hypocrites? [Thus, before answering, Jesus exposes the meanness and hypocrisy in their question, thereby emphasizing the important fact that he did not dodge, but answered it.] 19 Show me the tribute money. c24 Show me a denarius. bbring me a denarius, that I may see it. [Religious dues and tributes had been paid in shekels or old Jewish coin, but the tribute to Rome was paid in Roman coin of which the denarius was a sample.] aAnd they brought unto him a denarius. [See Rom_13:1, Rom_13:7.] c26 And they were not able to take hold of the saying before the people: a22 And when they heard it, they marvelled, bgreatly at him. cat his answer, and held their peace. aand left him, and went away. [They were amazed to find how far his wisdom transcended that of the teachers in whom they had such supreme confidence.]
[FFG 597-600]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv19, 23 The Pharisees and Sadducees Confuted.
The Pharisees and Sadducees Confuted.
The question of the Pharisees:
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v. 19. And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on Him; and they feared the people, for they perceived that He had spoken this parable against them.
v. 20. And they watched Him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of His words, that so they might deliver Him unto the power and authority of the governor.
v. 21. and they asked Him, saying, Master, we know that Thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest Thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly.
v. 22. Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?
So embittered were the scribes and the chief priests on account of the merciless frankness of Jesus that they sought to lay violent hands upon Him in that very hour. But their fear of the people caused them to take such a step under advisement. Though they fairly ached to vent their anger upon Jesus, since they understood that the parable had been spoken against them, yet they deemed it expedient not to try extreme measures. The people at the time of Jesus, not having received the proper instruction in the Word of God, were about as fickle as the majority of the people today that live without God in the world and are driven hither and thither by every wind of doctrine, no matter from which side it is presented. But they had to do something to have an outlet for their feelings, and so they employed watchers and sent them to observe every move the Lord made and every word He spoke. The instructions of these spies were simple. They were to simulate great piety and righteousness, surely not a difficult matter for the sanctimonious hypocrites, all for the purpose of laying hold of some word of His, which might be construed in His disfavor. In that event the Jewish leaders wanted to deliver Him to the rule and authority of the Roman governor. To strike once and for always, under the semblance of honesty, in the pose of men that were sincerely anxious to know and do, their duty, that was the program of the Jewish leaders. Their ingenuousness in the entire matter seems pitiful when the omniscience of Christ is taken into account. But they earnestly try to insinuate themselves into His favor by words of honeyed flattery. There are three points which they hold up before Him in order that He may not recognize their true selves under the mask. They flattered Him that He had sound judgment, that He always said the right thing at the right time; they praised His impartiality, that it made no difference to Him whom the sentence would strike, so long as the truth prevailed; they gave due deference to His sincerity, that He always said just what He thought. All of which, in their mouths, was the basest and most hideous flattery. But what made the matter almost ghastly was the fact that every word they uttered was true, in the full sense of the word. If only they had come to Him with sincerity in their heart and with openness of mind, then He would have been but too glad to lead their steps on the right way for their soul’s salvation. Their question was in the nature of an alternative, whether it was the right, the proper, the obligatory thing to pay tribute, the imperial tax to the Roman emperor, or not. Whether the answer of Jesus proved to be positive or negative, the Pharisees hoped to gain the upper hand. For should He, in the presence of such notorious opponents of the Roman government, declare Himself against the payment of the tax, then they could accuse Him before the governor. But should He declare Himself in favor of paying the tax, then they could fasten the suspicion upon Him, as though He were not the true friend of the people, but an abettor of the Roman tyranny.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 21, 23, 25 sought to lay hands on him
sought to lay hands on him
In this verse, to "lay hands on" someone is to arrest that person. AT: "looked for a way to arrest Jesus" (See: Metonymy)
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in that very hour
"immediately"
they were afraid of the people
This is the reason that they did not arrest Jesus right away. The people respected Jesus, and the religious leaders were afraid of what the people might do if they arrested him. AT: "they did not arrest him because they were afraid of the people" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
they sent out spies
"the scribes and chief priests sent spies to watch Jesus"
that they might find fault with his speech
"because they wanted to accuse Jesus of saying something bad"
to the rule and to the authority of the governor
"Rule" and "authority" are two ways of saying that they wanted the governor to judge Jesus. It can be translated with one or both expressions. AT: "so that the governor would punish Jesus" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
scribe
chief priests
hour, hours
parable
fear
righteous
deliver
authority
govern
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 20:19 they realized he was telling the story against…
20:19 they realized he was telling the story against them: The story provoked the religious leaders to act it out by arresting and killing Jesus.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.