Matthew 22:15-22. "How Can a Christian Understand Politics?"

Have you ever came into crossroads with one of the very common Christian dilemmas: How should I react to the ones in authority as a Christian? In Matthew 22, verses 15 to 22, we find an intriguing encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees. They approached him with a challenging question: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?", such a simple question delves deep into the complexities of government and faith. In this passage, Jesus offers a profound response, highlighting the importance of rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. Join us as we explore the implications of this encounter and how it has shaped Christian perspectives on the relationship between government and faith throughout history.

This Sunday sermon, based on Matthew 22:15-22, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran on October 22, 2023. Scripture selections come from the New International Version. 

Our services are at 9:30am every Sunday morning, at our campus in Dix Hills on Long Island. Visit our website for more information, at www.graceofgod.church

Transcript

What is Government? And How Do Christians Relate to It?

Matthew 22:15-22

Grace and peace are yours in Jesus Christ, who sits on heaven’s throne over every ruler and authority. Amen.

This might be a legend; it might be true. The navy of Alexander the Great, who lived three hundred fifty years before Jesus, had captured a notorious pirate named Diomedes. Diomedes was presented for trial. Alexander, sitting as judge, asked Diomedes, “What do you think you’re doing, treating the sea as your domain where you hold sway?” Diomedes was sharp! He threw back at Alexander, “I’m just doing what you do everywhere your army goes! But you’ve got more men, so you call yourself ‘emperor’. That’s the only difference between me and you.”

Alexander - again, according to the story, which might be a legend - was so impressed by this answer that he let Diomedes go free. He did not allow Diomedes to continue pirating, but he apparently thought this was a cogent argument.

Is it? Is government, of any sort, just one big bandit? Is there any difference between what happens on April fifteenth and getting mugged on the street? Here are two big questions we’ll consider today. What is government? How do Christians relate to it?

What we read in Matthew twenty-two is a conversation that took place on “Teaching Tuesday,” three days before Jesus was crucified, when he was teaching in the temple in Jerusalem. Over the last few weeks in worship, we’ve been reading his back-and-forths from that day with his opponents, the Pharisees. He has, over the course of those discourses, devastated them. His main point against them has been this: “You guys do not understand the Bible!” He has shown that they have missed the point of God’s Word. He is the point! The entire Old Testament, which was their Bible, pointed ahead to him! They had missed that entirely.

So, flummoxed by him, the Pharisees left the scene. But we read that they came up with a plan. They sent their followers to him - faces he might not recognize - along with a group Matthew calls “the Herodians.” Who are these guys? The Herodians were Jews who supported the Roman imperial government. They and the Pharisees were utterly opposed to one another. Everything about the Romans rankled the Pharisees, and they despised those among their countrymen who acquiesced to Rome and to Caesar, the emperor. But both these groups disliked Jesus, and so both groups are able to set aside their differences long enough to try and trap this troublesome teacher.

The group sidles up to Jesus and starts off with some flattery. “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity, teaching the way of God in accordance with the truth.” Then the trap. “What is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” 

Let’s understand the trap here. On the one hand, most of the common people sided politically with the Pharisees. They resented the fact that the Roman empire ruled over them. On the other hand, the Roman empire ruled over them! And leaders who spoke out against the Romans ended up hanging on crosses. So the plan was, “If Jesus speaks in support of Rome, he’ll lose the backing of the commoners which he now has. If he speaks against Rome, we’ll skip right over to the Antonian fortress” - the Roman military barracks which were located right at the northeast corner of the temple - “and we’ll bring some soldiers right over to arrest him for trial.” Neither the Pharisees or the Herodians seemed to care who got the credit for ending Jesus, so long as it was done.

But Jesus, once again, demolishes his opponents. “Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” Here, already, he’s making a point! This point he makes against the Pharisees in particular. “You have one of the coins required for the tax, don’t you? If you have one of these coins, you’ve already acknowledged that Caesar rules. So why are you trying to trap me? Your own actions show what you think!” This is why he calls them hypocrites; not only because of their malicious flattery, but because their actions have already shown what they think.

So Jesus could have stopped there. Once they showed him that they had the coin, he could have said, “Seems like you’ve answered your own question, Pharisees.” So the next point he makes is made against both groups. “‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.” This would have been Tiberius Caesar, grandson by adoption of the great Julius Caesar. “Then Jesus said, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’”

The particular word Jesus uses here, give back - apodidomi in Greek - it’s important. He’s saying, “Who minted this coin? Caesar. Whose face is on it? Caesar’s. Where’d it come from? Caesar. So if he wants it, give it back to him.” Again, demolishes the Pharisees with this reply. But the second part of his reply is directed to both groups. “Give back to God what is God’s,” he says to both of them.

Well, that raises some very interesting questions, doesn’t it? What is “God’s”? What is from him, that we ought to give back to him? The answer is simple. Everything. God is the Creator of all. Anything we have is his. Anything we will have is his. We ourselves - our bodies, our lives - belong to him, and he’s fully within his rights in taking them at any moment.

The Pharisees understood that. But they misunderstood what that meant. The Pharisees thought that, because everything belonged to God, they could claim that there was no true lord - no ruler, no authority - above them but him. Sure, the Romans might have had power in the moment, but it was an illegitimate power, in the eyes of the Pharisees. 

Jesus’ reply made two things clear. First, again, if they really thought the power of Rome was illegitimate, they shouldn’t be walking around with Roman coins. And two, Caesar’s power wasn’t illegitimate. Those coins belonged to him. He was the ruling authority. In fact - here’s where we’ll get into one of those bigger questions - authorities such as Caesar aren’t usurpers of God’s power. God appoints rulers and authorities as his servants.

The first big question I stated at the outset - What is government? - Jesus answers in this conversation, but it’s more clearly articulated by Paul the apostle in our second reading. Paul gives this definition of “government.” Governments are organizations established in our world by God to wield the power of life and death over people-groups. Paul calls their power simply, “the sword.” The sword, power over life and death, is a power which God grants to government and to government alone. Only governments can rightly wield the sword, or regulate its use by others. 

There are times where individuals wield the sword absent a governmental role. If a thief attacks you in your home, you are justified in defending yourself. But that is not because you have a right to the sword. It is because your attacker has unjustly taken the power of the sword, and has already suspended the God-given order regarding the sword.

That does not mean the rules go out the window. If someone attacks you, trying to kill you, and you fight them off to the point that they flee, you are not justified in pursuing vigilante justice. Call the police. Return the sword to its rightful wielder as soon as possible. If you kill a home invader in the struggle, that’s one thing. But to pursue and avenge is entirely another.

So there’s our definition of “government.” Government is God’s sword-bearing servant. And government can abuse its sword-bearing power. A government can unjustly wage war. A law enforcement professional can kill without good cause. When such things happen, they are sin, just as it would be sin for you to kill someone. The fact that God gives the sword to government is not an excuse for officers of the government - soldiers, police, judges - to use that power negligently. God is grieved when such things take place.

So that takes us into our second question. How should Christians relate to government? We’ve already clarified this: Christians should look at the government under which they live as God’s representative. The Pharisees were entirely incorrect in thinking that they really lived under God alone as their ruler. God delegates his authority in the world to governments, and it is right for Christians to obey the authorities over us. In fact - getting back around to Jesus’ words - not obeying government is taking from God what belongs to God! God commands us to obey government. If we decide to ignore that word from him, we are not only taking from Caesar what is his, but from God what is his as well.

But this takes us into interesting territory. Is there a point at which Christians don’t obey government? When would we say “no” to a command from worldly authorities? Let’s look at a couple of “case studies” - Biblical examples - to talk about the principles behind them.

We heard our first one in our first reading, Daniel chapter one. To set the scene: This takes place just under five hundred years before Jesus. The Israelites have been conquered by the Babylonian empire, whose armies besieged and then destroyed Jerusalem. It will be nearly a hundred years before God’s people have a temple again. The survivors have been taken to Babylon. 

Among the survivors is Daniel. He’s a smart young man, gifted and capable. The Babylonians identify him as a suitable candidate for a job in the imperial bureaucracy. And Daniel enters that job; in fact, he goes on to serve with distinction in the imperial court over the next seventy years. So here’s one takeaway: Even in a distinctly anti-Christian government, a Christian can live and work in such an administration.

Daniel worked for the same government that had killed God’s people. The same government that had destroyed God’s temple, and had taken the sacred articles of the temple into the king’s treasury. Imagine if American soldiers surrounded our church, killed some of us as they burst in, took our offerings to the IRS, burnt the place to the ground - and then offered one of you a job at the White House. Would you feel conflicted about taking that job? I probably would! And yet, that’s what Daniel does, and God blesses him and the other young men in the same position with greater gifts for service in their roles.

But Daniel does push back in one particular area. He intends to still be an observant Old Testament Christian, and part of that was to observe dietary regulations given by God to set his people apart. It seems that the meat prepared by the Babylonians, of any kind, was not ceremonially suitable for Jews. Perhaps they were being served specifically unclean animals - pork, shellfish - or perhaps the preparation was improper - blood left in the meat. Either way, Daniel decides to go vegetarian to comply with God’s commands about diet. So here’s the principle Daniel gives us. A Christian can live under and work in an anti-Christian government, but a Christian will still refuse to engage in actions contrary to God’s commands.

Our second case study illustrates that more clearly. We didn’t read the story, but it’s found in Acts chapters four and five. After Jesus’ resurrection and return to heaven, the disciples preached about him! They shared the good news that God had forgiven all sin in Jesus and promised resurrection and life through him. They were arrested and brought before the authorities, who told them, “Stop this preaching!” Peter, leader of the disciples, replied, Acts five verse twenty-nine: “We must obey God rather than human beings!”

So, again, there’s the principle. When there is a conflict between God’s commands and the commands of governing authorities, we obey God. Daniel wouldn’t eat food that would have violated the dietary laws. Peter and the others refused to stop sharing the Gospel. If a governing authority tells you to do something contrary to God’s command, your response should be the same as Peter’s.

But that raises this question: How do I know if something the government wants me to do is sinful? How do I know if the government is calling me to sin? The only answer to that, honestly, is to be biblically equipped to evaluate those things. You need to know God’s Word. But honestly, when you read stories like Daniel’s, you actually realize, this is a lot easier than it would sound. If what the government calls me to do doesn’t engage me in actual sin, I obey.

The Bible does not carve out room for me to stand over the government as a judge and say, “Well, they engage in this or that sinful action, so I will refuse to submit in this or that way.” Paul is explicit about this: “Whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Rebellion could be armed conflict against the government, or it could just be putting a bumper sticker on my car stating, “Taxation is theft.” It isn’t, and such a statement is rebellion against God’s established servants. American Christians get caught up in such nonsense far too often. “Oh, it’s just a bumper sticker, it’s just a Facebook post” - it’s not! Christians propagating such things are engaging in false teaching. They are proclaiming an unbiblical, unchristian message.

I know I’m going fairly long today, and I want to wrap up at this point, because this isn’t complicated. But it is the most un-American teaching of the Bible. It is fundamentally different from the way we as Americans think about our relationship with government. Our Declaration of Independence, for example, holds that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” That is to say, the Declaration teaches that government comes about when people decide they want it. The biblical teaching is different. God institutes government, with the consent of the governed or not. It is good for us to reflect on this, as Christians living in America.

Where I want to wrap up is with the last verses of our Romans reading. After speaking about paying taxes and revenue, Paul says this: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.” There’s a tight connection between those ideas. Paul is saying, “Christians don’t get to withdraw from the civil realm. If you owe taxes, you owe revenue, you owe payments on a government-backed mortgage, nothing removes you from those obligations.” There have been teachers throughout the history of the Christian church who have taught such strange ideas. Paul negates them all here. “Let no debt remain outstanding.” But he moves into this thought. “Except the continuing debt to love one another.”

The outstanding debt each and every human being owes is to Jesus, who bought us with his blood and promises a home for us in heaven. But Jesus left only one command, one way, for us to honor our obligation to him. “Love one another,” he commanded. In a sense, he transferred the debt you and I owe to him to our neighbors. We owe one another love because Christ loved us all. Paul calls this a “continuing debt.” It is a debt you and I will never pay off. Thanks be to God, he does not expect us to do so. We love - we “make payments” on that debt - out of gratitude for our assured salvation. Amen.