“Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). This is one of the most famous and memorable statements from Jesus, coming in response to a “gotcha” question of whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Rome asked by the unlikely alliance of the Pharisees and Herodians a few days before Jesus would go to the cross. It displays Jesus’s genius, as he not only avoids being boxed into a corner, but also points to the deeper and more important question that they (and we) need to answer: are we truly giving to God the things that bear His image, above all our lives and persons?
The contextual and proverbial nature of this response, however, means that it is also not comprehensive. That is, it gives followers of Jesus important guidance in terms of how to relate to governing authorities over us (including those we might not have chosen), but it by no means tells us all we need to know about the relationship between Christians and government. Saying this is not a criticism of this powerful and profound statement. Instead, it is a reminder that we need to bring this statement into dialogue with others on the subject throughout Scripture to address the followup questions that this declaration would generate.
Jesus’s response points to obeying and following an injunction from the government authority that some in Jesus’s time wanted to ignore or disobey (based on religious beliefs). Thus, a common followup question to this teaching is whether or not there are limits to such obedience. Are we required to obey all injections from the government? Answering this question requires looking elsewhere in the Bible to see how God’s people interact with the governing authorities and examining the answer itself for some clues.
There Are Exceptions to this Rule
We find a number of places in the Bible where God’s people violated the laws of the land. Some of the most notable are the Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1 disobeying Pharaoh’s command to kill the males born to Hebrew women, Daniel’s three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue in Daniel 3, Daniel’s breaking of the prohibition against prayer in Daniel 6, and the disciples in Acts 4-5 continuing to teach about Jesus after being ordered to stop. These examples show that there are certain limits to the submission commanded of God’s people to the civil rulers explicitly in other passages (most notably Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17); there is still a “higher law” that is above the rulers and authorities that are present on this earth.
Remember, These Are Exceptions
At the same time, I think it is important to remember that these are exceptions that “prove the rule” rather than exceptions that invalidate the general rule. In fact, it is interesting that one of those people noted for disobeying directives is the same person who told others to follow the laws of the land and respect rulers: the Apostle Peter! His own personal experience of acting out of accord with a command from authorities did not lead him to nuance his command in 1 Peter. We should also recognize that Daniel obeyed many different commands and injunctions of the governments that he not only lived under but also served within. While this is admittedly speculative, I suspect there were various laws by the governing authority that he was not a fan of or that thought were not the best or the wisest. Yet, he seems to have followed the laws of the land so precisely that the only way his opponents could get him to break a law was to make a law that would explicitly prohibit him from practicing his core religious beliefs. The examples that we have of disobedience should not cloud our vision of examples of God’s people obeying the laws or the fact that everyday, normal obedience is unlikely to be recorded because of how unexciting it typically is.
The Rule Behind the Exceptions
A common thread in these exceptional cases is that they are more or less cases where “Caesar” is directly causing someone to be unable to “render to God what is God’s” by requiring one to take an action that is against God’s clear commands or is unable to perform an action that would be a clear command of God. Killing the baby boys would be in direct violation to the command God gave in Genesis 9:5-6 after the flood not to take another life (I was going to say breaking one of the Ten Commandments but remember that this is before they were given in Exodus 20!). Bowing down to worship an idol would be violating God’s command to worship no other gods. Not praying to God or praying to the king would be violating this command as well. Refusing to share the good news about Jesus would violate Jesus’s direct instructions to his apostles to be his witnesses in Jerusalem. These were not laws that they did not like or were contradictory to the government’s own values (they didn’t have constitutions back then!), but laws that would directly cause them to sin. They didn’t make it more difficult to practice one’s faith, but truly made it illegal to practice’s one’s faith.
In addition, another common thread in these cases is individuals were willing to pay the consequences for disobedience – even when the punishment was jail or potential execution. We do see God deliver His people from their imprisonment, but we need to remember that it was God who did it; these texts do not give any grounds for resisting arrest or for trying to break people out of jail for their arrest but actually point against doing those things. In the midst of their imprisonment and suffering, however, these individuals show both joy in spite of their circumstances and respect for the authorities over them in spite of their opposition; they do not call them names or say that they are illegitimate rulers. They oppose the policies, but do not decry the person. In fact, they want those in authority to see the errors in their ways.
Remember –You Can Work To Change
The need to obey laws that you do not think are wise, necessary, good, and/or consistent does not mean that you have to accept or support them. Many parts of the world today have opportunities that would have been unimaginable to the early church and many Christians throughout the ages (even today!) in the sense that we can participate in government through voting, advocating, petitioning, and even governing. We can use elections, public opinion, and the courts to bring about change. Of course that takes work, but when we view this work as being done ultimately out of love for our neighbor and trying to help our communities flourish as best they can, we can see this work as “giving to God what is God’s” in terms of fulfilling the Great Command to love our neighbors (who are made in God’s image) as ourselves. In fact, we should also see the way we submit to the government (including, but not exclusively, in paying taxes) as not just “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” but as surrendering to God by submitting to the systems of government He has ordained in this time and place. Yes, they are imperfect, but we are too – and thankfully God uses imperfect means to accomplish His perfect plan.
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