In our time it has become fashionable to raise again the
ancient debate about the relative roles of church and state. The argument has
been going on for some time – indeed, ever since the time when Israel asked for
a king. Indeed, there is in this week’s paper an article about some Christian
commune in court about whether or not they needed a permit to put on a musical
on their own property. (Discussion) Christ here gives us what appears to be
cryptic advice:
(Mat 22:15-22 NIV) Then
the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. {16} They
sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they
said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of
God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no
attention to who they are. {17} Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is
it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" {18} But Jesus, knowing
their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are
you trying to trap me? {19} Show me the
coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, {20}
and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this?
And whose inscription?" {21} "Caesar's," they
replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar
what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." {22} When they
heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Just the facts
This is an amusing incident. To
understand how the crowd would have reacted to this intellectual tour de force,
you need to understand the situation.
The players
The Pharisees were, by all tests,
the right wing fundamentalists of their day. Strict in observance of the
regulations they had added to the law of Moses, they were thorough legalists.
Their loyalty to God, in their own mind, was absolute. The Herodians, on the
other hand, were the left wingers of their day. Worse, they were the Benedict
Arnold party. They were the political supporters of the House of Herod – and
Herod owed his throne to the Roman Empire. For these two parties to get
together over anything was a rare event. In this instance, it is a common
enemy.
Indeed, both parties saw Jesus as
a threat. The Pharisees saw him as a threat – and a very disturbing one – to
their conception of God. If Jesus is right, then they are indeed the worst of
hypocrites. The suspicion must have troubled them greatly, buttressed as it
was by the facts. The Herodians saw his popular following, and assumed (it is,
after all, what they would have done) that he was a revolution in the making. So
both needed him out of favor – or out of the way.
The coin
The coin in question (translated
“penny” in the King James and “denarius” elsewhere) is about a day’s wages for
a working man. It’s not a very large coin, about the size of an American
penny, but made of silver. (The Romans metallurgy was not so skilled as ours
at making counterfeit coins). One such coin was required of each person in the
Roman Empire as a poll tax – in other words, it cost you a day’s wages just for
the privilege of living in the Roman Empire for the year. This is probably the
tax that is in question.
The coin itself would probably
have had the image of Tiberius Caesar on it. Interestingly, the reverse side
of the coin would have carried the words, “pontifus maximus,” or “high priest,”
meaning high priest of the Roman nation. So there is plenty for the legalist
to quibble about.
The background
There are two instances fresh in
the minds of all which have happened this week and which bear on the question:
·
First, Jesus has cleansed the Temple. One of the sets of traders
thrown out were the money changers. They took your Roman coins and exchanged
them (at a very profitable rate, of course) for official Temple coins
(shekels). Do you recall that inscription?
·
The other has just happened: the Pharisees have just challenged
him to tell by what authority he teaches and does his work. So the question of
“authority” is fresh in everyone’s mind.
The test
The test is what appears to be a
clever trap. If Jesus says it’s lawful, then he sides with the Herodians and
loses favor with the people – which pleases the Pharisees nicely. If he says
it’s not lawful, then he’s a revolutionary. The Romans can now deal with him,
which pleases both parties. It looks foolproof.
Jesus reply is indeed shrewd.
Note that he first asks them for the coin. Perhaps he doesn’t have one,
but more likely he wants to make the point out of their own purse.
·
The point is simple. If you use the king’s money, you are
acknowledging his authority in your daily actions. If you don’t, you’re saying
it’s worthless here.
·
The same point applies today. Suppose you have a genuine
Confederate dollar bill. Show it to someone, and they’re bound to ask you,
“How much is it worth?” No matter how much you love Dixie, you measure its
value in Yankee greenbacks.
·
Even in our day, the government owns the currency (you own the
value of it). It’s illegal to “deface” the currency of the United States, for
example. It belongs to our government, and every day we use it we acknowledge
their authority over us.
The Dichotomy
To this day there has been a
dichotomy in Christian thinking about the government. One view is expressed in
the thought that this world is Satan’s kingdom, and cooperation with this world
is submitting to the authority of the devil himself. The other view is that
the Christian is to be submissive to all authority! Let’s look at the verses
for each:
Wisdom of the Serpent
(Eph 6:12 NIV) For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The words used here are
·
Rulers (Greek arche, from which we get our prefix “arch”
as in archbishop), and
·
Authorities (Greek exousia, used commonly of local
authorities)
·
Powers of…world (Greek kosmokrator, kosmo= cosmos,
world, and krator being the ending for Lord in Cristus Pantokrator,
meaning Christ, Lord of All)
We recall also from the
temptation in the wilderness:
(Mat 4:9 NIV) "All
this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship
me."
And how could Satan give it to
Him unless it was his to give in the first place?
So we see the genesis of the
Christian view that governments (and all else in the system of this world) are
part of Satan’s kingdom.
The Harmlessness of the Dove
But there are other passages,
often quoted, which suggest that these same authorities are from God:
(Rom 13:1-8 NIV)
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no
authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist
have been established by God. {2} Consequently, he who rebels against
the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so
will bring judgment on themselves. {3} For rulers hold no terror for
those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from
fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.
{4} For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid,
for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of
wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. {5} Therefore, it is
necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment
but also because of conscience. {6} This is also why you pay taxes, for
the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.
{7} Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if
revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. {8} Let
no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for
he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
This passage certainly suggests that submission to
authorities is a Christian duty. So it would seem that the Christian is to
view his government as benign, an instrument of God. How can this be resolved?
The Inevitable Conflict
I submit to you, gentle reader,
that the conflict is inevitable and fatal. The logic is relatively simple:
·
The state, given enough time,
will eventually come to think of itself as supreme. I know of no system of
government which has not come to this conclusion, as indeed ours is today
coming to that conclusion.
·
No state – not the most
barbarous and dictatorial – can long survive without the consent of its
governed. That consent may be obtained at gunpoint, of course, but even when
it is the dictator attempts to control the flow of information so that the
people will conclude that the government is wise and just.
·
Therefore any religion which
holds that the state is not supreme must ultimately come into conflict with
government. Sooner or later it will happen. Later, if the founding of that
government is made upon solid Christian foundations, sooner if not – but
inevitably.
·
And only one can be the
victor. Either the government wipes out the Christians (as the Japanese did
during the Middle Ages) or God overthrows that government. Only one can be
supreme.
So what, then, is the Christian to do about it?
The weapons of the Christian.
The people who put in chapters and verses sometimes did us less than a
favor. Remember that passage from Romans, which sounds so absolute? It
doesn’t really start there. Go back and take it from the preceding verse:
(Rom 12:21 NIV) Do not
be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
You see the point: The obedience Paul is stressing is not one of
exalting the state – but rather one of overcoming evil with good. Of course
the government is evil; it’s composed of sinners. Peter puts it this way:
(1 Pet 2:13-17 NIV)
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men:
whether to the king, as the supreme authority, {14} or to governors, who
are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
{15} For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the
ignorant talk of foolish men. {16} Live as free men, but do not use your
freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. {17} Show
proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor
the king.
Note that phrase, “for
the Lord’s sake.” We are not submitting to the government because the
government is great. We are submitting for the Lord’s sake. We are submitting
to show people that the idea that Christians are “bad” is false.
This is the specific instance of the Christian weapon. For example, how
has the Promise Keepers movement dealt with the “exposé” by the National
Organization of Women? Did they produce a piece of counterpropaganda? No, they
invited one and all to come and see reconciliation, observe healing and racial
harmony, and experience men rededicating themselves to their wives and
families. They are overcoming this evil, with good.
Finale
There is a point in here we may have missed. The coin belongs to Caesar,
and we recognize that by his image on the coin. We, as Christians, are made in
the image of God. We are the coinage of his kingdom. Just as Jesus told them
to use Caesar’s coins to pay our debt to Caesar, so we must use God’s coin to
pay our debt to God. We are debtors; “Let no debt remain outstanding, except
the continuing debt to love one another,” Paul said. And how is such debt to
be paid? Only in the coinage of the kingdom, the lives of the saints.