As a Libertarian who grew up in American Christian culture, I’m very familiar with the passage in which the Pharisees challenge Jesus to pay taxes to Caesar. This is a very loaded story, especially since it is one of the most frequently used to support statism and to convince Christians to submit to governing authorities.

But what is the correct understanding of this story? Let’s look first at the story itself:

Matthew 22:15-22

Taxes for Caesar

Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Why are you trying to trap me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

“Well, then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

His reply amazed them, and they went away.

First, I think it’s important to point out that the Pharisees had deliberately adopted this tactic, as if it was a sure gotcha. That is, they had reason to believe that Jesus would give a response that goes against paying taxes to an occupying government. And in fact, despite the common teaching about this passage in American churches today, that’s exactly what he did!

How? This story is very very rich in context, and you have to understand this to have a proper understanding of what was communicated to the Pharisees.

Jesus told the pharisees to show him the coin used to pay the tax, and asked them who’s image was on it. This is VERY VERY important. First, let’s look at the first two of the 10 Commandments:

The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:1-6

And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.“

Experts in religious law at the time would have immediately understood the point that Jesus was making. He was pointing out, through examination of the coin itself, that paying taxes to Caesar is tantamount to idolatry.

The Pharisees fully expected to catch Jesus making an insurrectionary statement by forbidding his followers from paying taxes. He one-upped them and turned the gotcha back onto them by pointing out that what they were advocating in the name of their religion goes directly against God’s own commandments.

Are we sure about this? What was really on the tribute coin mentioned? We have examples, though I believe the description within scripture is already sufficient to understand.

Tribute penny - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribute_penny

Caesar had his image stamped on his coins, along with statements of self glory. This is because in the Roman state religion, as with the empires before it, the emperor was literally a part of the pantheon. This goes directly against Jewish Law “You shall have no other gods before me”, as well as contradicting the following forbiddance of graven images.

Jesus was actually telling the Pharisees that paying taxes to Caesar is the same as idol worship. In fact, carrying around Caesar’s money was the same. This is always how statism has worked, paying taxes is a pagan religious practice in which the government and it’s pantheon have usurped God.

This is why Christianity, in it’s truest form, is anti-statist and pro-liberty.