Summary
The Image on the Coin and the Image of God
In Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees and the Herodians approach Jesus with a carefully baited question: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" The setup is unusual, because these two groups rarely agreed on anything. The Herodians had aligned themselves with Rome and the powers in place; the Pharisees despised Roman rule. Yet here they stand together, united only by a shared desire to destroy Jesus. Their flattery—calling Him sincere, truthful, impartial—is, ironically, all true, but it is offered as a snare, not a confession.
The trap was tightly built. The tax in question was the poll tax, a per-head levy that was the most hated tax in Judea. (It was a census for this very purpose that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem.) If Jesus said no, the Herodians could denounce Him to Rome as a rebel. If He said yes, the Pharisees could brand Him a friend of the occupier. Either answer would cost Him.
Jesus answers by asking for a denarius—a day's wage in silver, stamped on one side with the image of Tiberius Caesar and on the other with the inscription "Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus." The emperor literally claimed divinity on the coin. "Whose image is this?" Jesus asks. "The emperor's." Then comes the verdict: "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." The verb behind "give" carries the sense of paying back a debt that is owed. Paul echoes the same teaching in Romans 13:1-7: governing authorities are instituted by God, and Christians owe taxes, revenue, respect, and honor to whom they are due. Civil obedience is not a compromise of faith but an expression of it.
But the deeper irony of the moment is this: the Pharisees and Herodians could recognize the image on the coin, yet they could not recognize the One standing in front of them. Paul writes in Colossians 1:15-20 that Christ "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." All things were created through Him and for Him; in Him all things hold together; He is the head of the body, the church, the firstborn from the dead, in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, reconciling all things to Himself by the blood of His cross. To see Jesus is to see God. The coin bore Caesar's image and so was owed to Caesar; the human person bears God's image, and so is owed entirely to God.
What no human could pay, Jesus paid. The very One who told them to pay the debt to Caesar is the One who paid the debt of our sin at the cross—every word, every deed, every thing done and left undone. That victory of the cross and empty tomb is joined to the water of Holy Baptism, where we are washed in the promise and declared God's own. Having been bought at such a price, we yield not a portion but the whole of our lives back to the One whose image we bear.
When the questioners heard Jesus' reply, they marveled—the only place in the New Testament this particular word for amazement appears—and then they walked away. The lasting invitation of the encounter is the opposite response: to keep marveling at Christ, the image of the invisible God, and freely to give back to Him everything, because we belong to Him.
Video citations
- "Image" 9-24-23 — Would you open your bios please to Matthew the 22nd chapter if you're using a Pew edition of God's Word you're going to find that on page 21 for our time of study today Matthew chapter 21 the trap…