NOTES for Luk 20:1-26

Should a Christian pay taxes? Christ’s words about paying tribute to Caesar have often been understood as justification for a certain “reasonable balance” between secular and religious life. Supposedly, Caesar has his own claims on us, and God has His. But Caesar and God cannot be compared, either in their authority or in our responsibility toward them. God alone created us and gives us life. God alone must we serve and worship. We have received everything from God. The implication is that we should first render “to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” and then give God whatever remains. But if we first render to God what is “due” Him—and we owe Him far more than we possess, as the parable of the talents reminds us—what will be left for poor Caesar? Of course, a Christian must participate in the life of society, including paying taxes to the state, but this is not service to Caesar, for one cannot serve two masters. It is service to society, to people, to our neighbors, and therefore service to love and to God. Thus, Jesus’ words about the tax continue His parable of the vineyard: we cultivate God’s vineyard and must give Him its fruits.