Matt 22:15–22 — Jesus Vs. Jewish Nationalism

The Controversy over Roman Taxation

The context of this passage is the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as he is hailed by the people as the King, Hosanna to the Son of David, followed by three parables in which Jesus speaks about the transition from the old covenant people of God to the new covenant people of God. And he speaks about how the kingdom will be taken from the old covenant people of God and be given to a people who will produce the fruits thereof. And that people is the church composed of all, whether Jew or Gentile, who believe in Jesus Christ.

We looked at the third parable last week, the parable of the wedding feast, which is in chapter 22, verses one through 14. And now we come to this section here, in Matthew 22, verse 15, to the end of the chapter, in which there are a series of controversies between Jesus and various Jewish groups. These controversies, these arguments between Jesus and various Jewish sects or schools of thought within Judaism are significant because they give us a clearer insight into the nature of the kingdom of Christ that he is about to usher in through his death and resurrection, which is only a few chapters away. And they also show us that there is this conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leadership that is going to culminate in the Jewish leadership handing him over to be crucified.

Now within first century Judaism, there were a number of different Jewish groups or sects, different denominations of Judaism, if you will. There were the Pharisees, the most well-known, probably the mainstream group within Judaism. We have seen the Pharisees throughout the Gospel of Matthew. They are the ones that are concerned for upholding the law of God, but specifically the laws about purity And they are very zealous for the traditions of the rabbis that were handed down to them. And Jesus has been in conflict with them throughout the Gospel of Matthew. But there was also another group of Jews called the Sadducees.

They are going to come up to Jesus in verse 23 in the next paragraph that we will look at next week. The Sadducees were somewhat different from the Pharisees in their theology. It says here in our text that they denied the resurrection as one of their key tenets. Verse 23, they said there is no resurrection, and so they have a debate with Jesus over that topic, which we will look at next week.

But there was also another group within Judaism, not so much a denomination, not so much a theological group, but a movement within Judaism at this time called Jewish nationalism. And there is probably some overlap with these different groups, probably some Sadducees were Jewish nationalists, probably some Pharisees were as well. But there was a movement of Jewish nationalism also in the first century, and that is the particular controversy that Jesus is dealing with here in our text today. Now, he is not confronted by an actual Jewish nationalist. That would be a zealot, somebody who believed that the Jews should take up arms and throw off the Romans, the occupiers, by force of violence. So we do not have an actual zealot coming up to Jesus in the text and debating with him about their movement. But we do have some of the disciples of the Pharisees, along with the Herodians, who come to Jesus to ask him a question about Jewish nationalism.

And the reason for that is that the Herodians, just by their very name, sort of indicates where they come from politically. They are Herodians. That is that they support Herod. They support the dynasty of Herod the Great. And then his son, Herod Antipas, is the one who put John the Baptist to death back in Matthew 14. So there is this dynasty of Herodians, and the Herodians are supportive. They are Jewish people who are supportive of the reigning authority.

And you might think, well, how does that relate to Jewish nationalism? Well, pretty much they are the opposite on the spectrum, right? They think that everything’s fine. The Herodian dynasty is basically a puppet that the Romans have put in place to rule over the Jews. And so the Herodians are Jews who like the situation, who like the fact that Rome is in control, using the Herodian dynasty as their puppets to control things. And so some of the disciples of the Pharisees and some Herodians come to Jesus to ask him a question about Jewish nationalism. The Herodians would have been opposed to Jewish nationalism because they think that everything is fine the way it is. We do not need to get rid of the Romans or their puppets, the Herods. So what was this first century nationalism that was going on at the time of Jesus?

Well, it was a movement within the people that was characterized by religious fervor, by a sense that things are bad right now, and so we are looking for God to intervene. Perhaps God is going to send an earthly deliverer who will raise up an army and throw off the Roman occupiers.

There is a lot of anti-Roman sentiment among the people, especially among the common people at this time. They felt the weight of being occupied by a foreign enemy, foreign power. They felt the weight of the heavy burden of taxation, having to send your taxes all the way to Rome, and the financial burden that that placed upon the ordinary people. There was also this movement that I mentioned before of the zealots who believed that violent resistance against the Romans was not only possible, not only allowable, but actually it was a religious duty. That in order to honor God’s authority, God alone is the Lord of Israel and the King of Israel, and in order to honor God’s authority over the land, we should violently resist this occupation. There was also another element tied into this, which is just sort of a general sense of patriotism, of the people wanting to be able to feel this sense of loving their nation and preserving their culture that they had there, without the influence of these, whether it be the Romans or the Greeks, bringing in their cultural influence into the land. because of the economic hardship and the sense of difficulty that God’s people were going through at this time, it was very popular for them to have this nationalist feeling, this nationalist fervor. And there were even examples of men who claimed that they were the Messiah, that God was raising them up to do this work of throwing off the Romans.

There were periodic uprisings all during this time in the first century. Of course, the Romans usually were pretty successful in quashing those, but there was this volatile atmosphere, there was this fervor, there was this expectation that God was going to do something.

Of course, this movement, specifically not just the Jewish nationalist sentiment in general, but the specific zealot movement, that believed in violent resistance ultimately did lead to the Jewish revolt in the year A.D. 66, just a few decades after the death and resurrection of Christ. And the Jews revolted against the Romans in AD 66. And there was a war that was finally put out and snuffed out by the Romans. And in the year AD 70, the Romans came and burned the temple to the ground.

But this is what is going on in the culture. This is what is going on politically among the people of God. Now, the question is, how do we view this movement? How do we view this call to stop paying taxes to Caesar, to not acknowledge the authority of the Roman Empire, and to rally together as God’s people to defend our homeland and our culture and our religion?

And so the Pharisees, it says here in verse 15, they went and they plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words. The Pharisees themselves were probably not completely agreed on their attitude towards the Romans. Some may have been more sympathetic with Jewish nationalism. I think I read somewhere that there was actually one particular Pharisee who was actually a Jewish nationalist and supported the zealots. But probably the majority of the Pharisees were more interested in their laws, the rabbinical traditions, and maybe they were sympathetic, but sort of secretly, with the Jewish nationalists, because they did not want to come out too strongly and be against Rome, because then that would cause them to be the target, they would be in the crosshairs of the Roman Empire, and they would lose their nice positions of authority in leadership in God’s people at the time. But the Pharisees, they are not coming to Jesus in order to have an honest theological discussion, say, we want to know, you know, how we should think about this political situation.

Render to Caesar and to God

What is your position on this? And how can we reason with Scripture to understand how we should view the Romans? Rather, they are using this situation as an opportunity to entangle Jesus in his words. And so they are trying to entrap him. They are trying to trap Jesus by asking him this question.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? If Jesus said, yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, then he would be repudiating the whole Jewish nationalist movement, and he could easily then be accused of being a compromiser. Look, Jesus said, there is no problem at all with Rome, no problem with paying taxes, just go along with the flow, everything is great. Look at you, you are a compromiser, you are not standing up for God and his truth. You are not standing up for the truth that God alone has authority over the nation of Israel. And they could accuse him of being not only a compromiser, but maybe even supporting idolatry in some way. On the other hand, if Jesus said, no, it is not lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, then that would be another big problem, right?

Because then, ah, you are not being loyal to Rome. If he said, no, we should not pay taxes to Caesar, that is an act of sedition. That is disloyalty to the Roman Empire. And so they could have easily taken that. complained to the governor, the Roman governor at the time, of course, Pontius Pilate, who will in fact be the one that they go to in a few days. But they could have gone to him right then and said, this man is disloyal to the Roman Empire. He said we should not pay taxes to Rome. he should be put to death. Perhaps he even said that because maybe he is one of these messianic claimants who is trying to raise an army and throw off the Romans.

So they are trying to trap Jesus because either way he responds, The answer could be used against him. So the Pharisees are not honestly coming to Jesus in order to understand his view of the political situation and his attitude towards Jewish nationalism. They are using this as a way to get at Jesus. They are using it as a way to trick him.

Notice as well that when they butter him up there in verse 16, you can tell that they are sort of hoping that he goes with the answer of, no, we should not pay taxes to Rome. Because look at how they butter him up. They say, teacher, we know that you are true and that you teach the way of God truthfully. and that you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. We know that you are the kind of guy that just tells it like it is, regardless of the consequences.

And so they are trying to egg him on to say, no, we should not pay taxes to Rome, even though that would be the most inflammatory response. That would be the one that would be the most likely to get him in serious trouble, especially with the authorities themselves.

But Jesus’s response is amazing. Jesus’s response is incredible. responds with this aphorism that we have heard many times, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. But he does so in a way that makes an astonishing claim about the present nature of the kingdom of Christ. Jesus responds by essentially demoting Israel from its holy status as a theocracy.

If Jesus believed that the nation of Israel at this time was indeed God’s holy nation, and with all that that implied, including the land, the holiness of the temple, the fact that they are to be under God’s authority and not under a foreign power, that they are to be an independent people, just as God had established back at Mount Sinai. He made them his holy nation. He brought them into the land. He planted them in the land. removing the Canaanites in order that God’s worship, his true worship, might be set up in the land.

If Jesus believed that that holy status of the nation of Israel in the land as a theocracy was still in effect, he would have had to say, he would have been forced to say, no, we should not pay taxes to Caesar. The Jewish nationalists are correct. Now, he could have said, perhaps, you know, for the time being, we need to pay taxes, but technically, in terms of what God is doing right now, this is a holy nation, and so we should not pay taxes to Caesar. But by Jesus saying, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, he demotes Israel from its holy status as a theocracy, and he affirms the legitimacy of the present Roman governing authority.

And in so doing, he is teaching us something very significant about the true nature of the kingdom of Christ. This is a very important discussion to have at this particular point in the narrative. I always used to think that this section of Matthew, especially beginning at verse 15, and these various controversies, the controversy with Jewish nationalism over taxes, the controversy with the Sadducees over the resurrection, the discussion about which is the great commandment, that this whole section here, it seemed like a random grab bag of different things, like just this topic here, that topic there, Jesus’ view of government, Jesus’ view of the resurrection, and it never really made sense to me until now that I have been preaching through Matthew, it all makes sense now, because this is a key moment in the narrative, this is a key moment We are coming to the climax of the story, the death and resurrection of Christ, the passion narrative, which is the conclusion not only of Matthew, but all four Gospels.

And of course, Jesus is going to say at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all the nations. All authority has been given to me. I am now building my church. I am bringing in my kingdom. And so the significance of this teaching of Jesus here is that it tells us what is going on, what Jesus is about to do as he goes to the cross. and then he’ll be raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, is that he is ushering in his kingdom and he is gathering his people, that is the true Israel, those we have seen before, who are the crowd from Galilee, who acknowledge Jesus as Lord, who worship him as Messiah. the sinners and the tax collectors and the prostitutes who believe in Jesus and who are following him. Jesus is gathering his people around himself and he is forming the nucleus of what will become the church as Jesus is gathering his church and he is doing so through his death and resurrection. he is forming his spiritual kingdom. And so all of this teaching here, including the teaching about paying taxes to Caesar, is part of Jesus’s inculcation, not only to the disciples, but also in contrast with the Jewish leadership and the various sects within Judaism at this time, teaching them about the nature of this spiritual kingdom that he is creating, that he is establishing. He is saying, in effect, what he is recorded as saying before Pilate in John chapter 18, verse 36.

My kingdom is not of this world. What I am doing through my death and resurrection is I am establishing a kingdom, but it is not an ordinary kind of kingdom like you see with all the kings of the earth. It is not a kingdom that is on the same level as the kingdom of Rome, for example. It is a spiritual kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world. If it was, then I would have my servants out there fighting for me in order to establish an earthly kingdom. But he says, my kingdom is not of this world.

Now, what is interesting here is that the teaching of Jesus is very balanced. He does not say that Caesar is the only thing that matters, and all we have to do is just simply acknowledge Caesar’s authority and pay taxes to Caesar. He also says, not only to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, but to God the things that are God’s. And so that places Caesar in a position of subordination to God. The teaching of Jesus here is well summarized in the Belgic Confession. Belgic Confession Article 36 says, everyone, regardless of status, condition, or rank, must be subject to the government, and pay taxes, and hold its representatives in honor and respect, and obey them in all things. that are not in conflict with God’s word. That last phrase there, right, that are not in conflict with God’s word tells us there is something higher than Caesar.

The Two Kingdoms

Render to God the things that are God’s. Yes, Caesar does have a subordinate, legitimate, temporary authority right now on earth. So go ahead, honor the government, pay taxes. But there is something higher, and that is the kingdom of Christ. Give to God, render to God the things that are God’s. What are the things that are God’s? It is what Jesus is doing as he is about to go to the cross. It is this spiritual kingdom that Christ is creating, this people that he is gathering around himself of those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah and who are bringing forth the fruit.

Remember that whole theme of the fruit that we talked about in Matthew 21, the parable of the vineyard. God planted a vineyard. He is looking for it to bring forth fruit. He sent his servants, the prophets, to get that fruit. But Israel, of course, has failed to bring forth that fruit.

But Jesus says, the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people that will produce the fruit. Those are the things that are God’s. I think there is a very close connection in our text between our text, 22 verse 21, the things that are God’s, and connecting that back to the previous chapter, 21 verse 43. given to a people producing its fruits, the fruits that God desires from his people.

And this is happening through this spiritual kingdom that Christ is ushering in through his death and resurrection. Jesus’s response is amazing. He avoids saying something that will immediately get him into trouble. He does not just bite the bullet and say yes or no, shall we pay taxes to Caesar. But at the same time, he does clearly answer the question and says that ultimately God is the great king and his kingdom that is being ushered in through the death and resurrection of Christ is the most important thing and has priority. And yet at the same time, we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. This is probably one of the great examples that we can think of in the Gospels of where Jesus is able to answer his opponents when they are trying to trick him.

They are trying to put him on the horns of a dilemma and trying to get him to say something that will get him in trouble. He finds a way to answer it that is so perfect. Just threading that needle And yet, in the most simple way possible, he does not give this long treatment, this long discourse upon church government and civil government. He just simply says it in such a simple way, almost like an aphorism or an epigram.

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. He did it by asking them to bring him the coin that you would pay the taxes to Caesar with. The coin is a Roman denarius, and it has on the coin, it has a little bust or image of the emperor. The emperor at the time was Tiberius Caesar. And it also has underneath that the writing that says Tiberius Caesar. That is both the image and the inscription. It says there in verse 20, whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said, well, it is obviously Caesar’s, Tiberius Caesar. And so using that simple, tangible expression of the truth, he then communicates this key doctrine of the two kingdoms.

There is the common kingdom, which is established in the covenant of common grace with all mankind. But there is the holy kingdom of Christ, which is established going all the way back to the Covenant of Grace, first established in Genesis 3.15, and then culminating now in the New Covenant, which is the fulfillment of the Covenant of Grace.

The distinction between these two kingdoms, the kingdom of the common kingdom, is that it is not permanent, it is temporary, whereas this holy spiritual kingdom of Christ is eternal and is ultimate. The common kingdom is temporary. It is not forever. It is just simply for this time until Christ returns and consummates his kingdom.

The common kingdom is for all mankind, whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, whether you are a Christian or not a Christian, you are part of this common kingdom of God. But the holy kingdom of salvation in Christ is a special kingdom. It is only for those who profess Christ and their children. It is the kingdom of Christ, which in terms of how we see it on earth today, it is the church, the church of Jesus Christ. all those who profess the Lord Jesus Christ and who, as covenant families, bring their children to the Lord in baptism, that covenant community of those who profess the Lord and live for Him. We have already seen the beginnings of that, the nucleus of that family of God in the crowd from Galilee that honors Jesus as the Messiah, as the Son of David. But that is a special holy kingdom.

It is not for all mankind. The Romans, the unbelieving Jews, all those out there, they are not part of that holy, spiritual, special kingdom of grace. It is very important that we not confuse the line between these two kingdoms. Because if we do that, if we blur the line, then we make holy things common and common things holy. This is a very interesting thing in the Bible. There is this distinction between the holy things and the common things.

The common things are the things that are not set apart as holy unto God. They are common. They are common with all mankind, believer and unbeliever. But the holy things are the special things, the things that are only for God, the things that are set apart as holy unto the Lord. But if we do not make that distinction between the holy and the common, then we start to get into this weird area where there is all these blurred lines. And this has happened throughout the history of the church.

For example, where you have churches that are supported by the government, where taxes that are collected from the whole citizenry, including unbelievers, are then given to the church. And that might seem like a good thing. Yeah, we would like to have the support of the government, but then there is always a downside to that, right? The downside is that, well, now the government can control what you say, right, and can muzzle you. And so when you have this blurring of the lines between church and state, between the holy and the common, it leads to all kinds of confusion.

It is not possible to make the world holy. We cannot do it. We cannot make the world holy apart from renewed hearts, apart from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we can, as Christians, bear witness to the truths of creation and conscience that all mankind know through general revelation and remind them of things like, it is wrong to murder babies in the womb, right? We can teach them and remind them of what is clearly revealed in creation and conscience, being a witness to those truths to even the civil government around us. But we cannot make the world holy apart from renewed hearts.

The Calling of the Church

There is an interesting argument here in our passage, an implied argument, and that is that Jesus, of course, is speaking about Jewish nationalism in his day, but there is an argument that we can apply by analogy to those who, in our day, desire Christian nationalism. That is, they want the government to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and to enter into a covenant with God and to make a nation a Christian nation.

And the argument is the argument from the greater to the lesser. Have you heard about those kind of arguments from the greater to the lesser? If the greater thing is obviously wrong, then the lesser thing is clearly wrong, right? And there is an argument from the greater to the lesser here in our text because the Jewish nationalist movement that was going on in the first century that Jesus was dealing with had a reasonable claim to being biblical.

Jewish nationalism was not completely wrong. Now there, of course, could be debates about whether violence was appropriate or not. The zealots promoted that. But at least the general feeling of Jewish nationalism was not wrong because God himself made Israel into a holy nation. At Mount Sinai, God entered into a covenant with Israel and said, you are my holy people. You are my chosen nation. You are to be separate from the nations around you.

And so Jewish nationalism has a claim to being warranted by scripture, to being biblical to some degree. Whether the specific applications of the Jewish zealot movement are correct or not can be debated, but the general principle of Jewish nationalism is biblical, right? And so there is an argument from the greater to the lesser. If the most biblical case for nationalism, which is the Jewish nationalist movement, has been refuted by Jesus, then how much more would that apply to any other nation today that seeks to be a Christian nation? Christian nationalism is simply an attempt on the part of Christians in seemingly an idealistic way.

Yeah, it would be great if our nation was under the Lordship of Christ and submitted to him and followed his laws. It is better than being persecuted and marginalized, right? It makes sense, of course. God is sovereign over all the nations of the earth. There is sort of an implicit logic to it.

But if Jewish nationalism, which has biblical basis and biblical warrant, has been set aside by Jesus, and he is saying, no, my kingdom is spiritual, my kingdom is not of this world, then obviously the lesser type of nationalism that is attempted Christian nationalism today is going to be refuted by Jesus as well, from the greater to the lesser.

As we approach this election season here in the United States, let us keep the teaching of our Lord here as a guide for us as we address the political realm around us, the civil realm. we should always recognize this ultimate truth that the Kingdom of Christ is the ultimate thing, and we are to render to God the things that are God’s. As Belgic Confession Article 36 says, we are to obey the civil government only insofar as it is biblical to do so. The ultimate authority belongs to God. Render to God the things that are God’s. And yet at the same time, we should also recognize the truth that we must render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.

And so our focus as Christians then is not to try to make our nation into a Christian nation. Our focus rather is to be the church. Let the church be the church and do the things the church is called to do. To preach the gospel. to baptize and to administer the sacraments, the means of grace to build up God’s people, to engage in pastoral care and pastoral discipline of God’s people.

And when we do interface with the world around us to do so, as Peter says in 1 Peter 3, with gentleness and respect, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. And to make sure that when we are suffering, we are suffering for righteousness, not because of evil. the Lord Jesus Christ is working.

It may seem like nothing in comparison with the glory of the kingdoms of this world. You look at the Roman Empire and its mighty power and military prowess and its incredible organization and laws and the amazing things that the Romans did. When you look at that, the kingdom of Christ, it seems so small in comparison. It seems so weak in comparison with that.

And yet, what Christ is doing as the gospel goes forth, as individuals are brought into the kingdom of Christ by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit through effectual calling, as the church is being built up as the body of Christ, or as Jesus himself here is gathering around him that crowd of Galileans who love him and worship him. What Christ is doing in this world through the preaching of the gospel and through the work of the church, this is a far greater kingdom than the kingdoms of this world.

It is an eternal kingdom that will never be shaken. It seems weak right now, but one day the bride of Christ will be presented to him in all of its glory and splendor. and Christ shall reign forever and ever with his people. Christ’s kingdom is continuing on. He is conquering all of his enemies through the work of the church and the preaching of the gospel. and He is gathering His elect into His banquet hall.

Let us keep our eyes fixed upon that by faith. Let us remember that Christ is King. He is King over all creation and all the world. Everything that happens in the world around us, even politically, and all the things of this world, and wars and empires, it is all under His sovereign control, and He is orchestrating all of those things. for the good of his church and for the advancement of his spiritual kingdom.