They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
| Word | Greek | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| say | λέγουσιν legousin | G3004 | properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person plural |
| him | αὐτῷ· autō | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine |
| Cæsar’s | Καίσαρος.¶ Kaisaros | G2541 | Cæsar · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title |
| Then | Τότε Tote | G5119 | the when · adverb |
| he | λέγει legei | G3004 | properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular |
| them | αὐτοῖς· autois | G846 | the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine |
| Render | ἀπόδοτε apodote | G591 | to give away · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural |
| therefore | οὖν oun | G3767 | (adverbially) certainly · conjunction |
| unto Cæsar | Καίσαρος Kaisaros | G2541 | Cæsar · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title |
| the things which are Cæsar’s | Καίσαρι Kaisari | G2541 | Cæsar · noun — dative singular masculine, a title |
| and | καὶ kai | G2532 | and · conjunction |
| unto God | θεοῦ theou | G2316 | figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title |
| the things that are God’s | θεῷ. theō | G2316 | figuratively · noun — dative singular masculine, a title |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
For many are called, but few are chosen--So Mat 19:30. See on Mat 20:16. Next: Matthew Chapter 23
They say unto him, Caesar's,.... Either Augustus Caesar's; for there was a coin of that emperor's, as Dr. Hammond reports, from Occo, which had his image or picture on it, and in it these words written, Augustus Caesar, such a year, "after the taking of Judaea"; which if this was the coin, was a standing testimony of the subjection of the Jews to the Romans; and this being current with them, was an acknowledgment of it by them, and carried in it an argument of their obligation to pay tribute to them; or it might be Tiberius Caesar's, the then reigning emperor, in the nineteenth year of whose reign, Christ was crucified; and seeing he had reigned so long, it is reasonable to suppose, his mone…
Read the whole note in the consoleMatthew 22:15-22 Matthew 22:15-22 Mark 12:13-17 Luke 20:20-26 15. Then the Pharisees went away, and took counsel how they might entrap him in his words. 16. And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. 17. Tell us then, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? 18. But Jesus, perceiving their wickedness, saith, Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? 19. Show me the tribute money. And they presented to him a denarius. 20. And he saith to them, Whose is this image and inscription? 21. They say to him, Caesar'…
Read the whole note in the consoleJesus outwitted his opponents by affirming the honor due to Caesar, while clearly differentiating it from the supreme honor and allegiance due to God. Loyalty to God does not necessarily entail disloyalty to the governing authorities. Jesus was acknowledging two dominions, Caesar’s and God’s, the latter having priority (Acts 4:19).
And as a matter of course, he is already a king-although he even now owes to Caesar the things which are Caesar's.
Idolatry is condemned, not on account of the persons which are set up for worship, but on account of those its observances, which pertain to demons. "The things which are Caesar's are to be rendered to Caesar." It is enough that He set in apposition thereto, "and to God the things which are God's.
Then he goes on also to show how he wishes you to be subject to the powers, bidding you pay "tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom," that is, the things which are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things which are God's to God; but man is the property of God alone.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
