Render to Ceasar the Things That Are Ceasars
Render unto the Caesar the Things that are Caesar's
"Render unto Caesar what belong to the Caesars" is the beginning a phrase ascribed to Jesus in the synoptic gospel, which fully reads, "Render unto the Caesar what are Caesar's, and unto God what belong to God." This phrase has been a widely quoted and controversial summary on the relationship between the contemporary secular authorities and Christianity. The origin of this message was from the response posted to a question on how lawful it was for the Jews to pay taxes to the Caesar. This phrase gave rise to all possible and multifaceted interpretations (Robert & Miller 1995, 421) concerning the conditions under which it could appear desirable for Christians to earthily commit themselves to earthly authorities. All the three synoptic gospels elicit a group of hostile questioners who tried to trick Jesus into taking a dangerous and explicit stand on whether the Jewish citizens should pay or should not pay taxes to the Roman authorities (Anne & Desmond 1993, 35). Reflecting from different accounts, both Matthew, 22: 15-21 and Mark 12: 13-17 state that the "questioners" were Herodias and Pharisees while in Luke 20: 20-25, the questioners are revealed as "spies" sent by the chief priests and teachers of law (David & Marshall 2001, 734). This paper serves to explain the meaning of this controversial phrase, and takes a deep consideration into its multifaceted interpretations.
Jesus' response when his opponents tried to hold him down by asking whether it could be right for the Jews, whose populace was snatched by the Romans, to pay homage to the Roman emperor. Jesus took a Roman Coin, which would be used for paying the tribute and then questioned whose picture was on it (Brown & John 1839, 187). All his questioners answered- Caesar's. His response thereby implied that by using the Roman coin, the Jews accepted the Roman rule, and the Roman government owned the right to tax them, so long as the Jewish religious duties were not compromised (Anne & Desmond 1993, 39). Jesus' main point was that the Jews should offer to the worldly authorities the things which belonged to them, and to God what was God's. By rendering to them Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's, Jesus meant that everything was God's hence the point seemed to be- if someone could realize that the entire life including all the Caesar's belongings, powers and rights belonged to God, then one would be within the proper frame of mind; surrender unto the Caesar what is Caesar's (Brown & John 1839, 184).
When one realized that everything belong to God, then they would also realize that anything that they rendered unto the Caesar was for the sake of God (Geoffrey & Davis 1992, 408). Any authority that one could ascribe to the Caesar could be ascribed for the sake of God's high authority; any kind of obedience rendered unto the Caesar would be for the sake of the great obedience rendered to the Lord, and any claim or accusations that the Caesar made on someone could be a reflection of the infinitely high claim which God had on that someone. Rendering to the Caesar is definite and limited to rendering to God. The determination of what is Caesar's strongly relies on the fact that everything belongs to God in the first position, and can only become Caesar's through the permission and design by God (Calvin, George & Kennedy 1986, 109). Elaborately, only God can decide on or determine what is rightful or limited for rendering unto the Caesar. Jesus did not say unto the Jews to render everything to the Caesar, but he rather said that they should only render unto the Caesar what is Caesar's. A clear example of what God views as His can be found in Psalms 24: 1, which states that the earth is Lord's, as well as its fullness and everything that dwells in it. Moreover, Jesus meant that every human has to decide on who is their "god"- was it the God of Abraham, or the prince of the world (Calvin, George & Kennedy 1986, 97).
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