We live in a world that is always asking something from us. Our employers ask for our time. Our families need our attention. Governments require taxes and obedience to the law. Communities depend upon our participation. Many of these claims are legitimate, and part of living faithfully is learning how to fulfill them with honesty, humility, and love. But somewhere along the way, we can begin to think that God is simply another claimant. We divide our lives into portions, giving some to our work, some to our families, some to our country, and some to God. Jesus never presented allegiance to God that way.
In Luke 20, Jesus was teaching in the temple during the final days before His crucifixion. The chief priests and scribes wanted to arrest Him, but they feared the people. Instead of confronting Him openly, they sent spies who pretended to be sincere. Their assignment was not to learn from Jesus. It was to make Him say something that could be used against Him.
Matthew and Mark tell us that Pharisees and Herodians participated in this confrontation. It was an unlikely partnership. The Pharisees were known for their strict concern for Jewish religious faithfulness, while the Herodians supported the political order connected to Herod and Rome. They did not naturally belong together, but their opposition to Jesus gave them a common purpose.
Their question concerned the Roman tribute tax. When Judea came under direct Roman rule, this tax became a painful reminder that God’s people were living under the authority of a foreign empire. Resistance to it had already contributed to rebellion and bloodshed. Paying the tax could be interpreted as submitting to Roman domination. Refusing to pay it could be treated as an act of rebellion against Caesar.
After attempting to disarm Jesus with flattery, the spies asked the question they believed would trap Him:
“Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” (Luke 20:22 ESV).
If Jesus said that the tax should be paid, some in the crowd might believe that He was compromising with an oppressive pagan empire. If He said that it should not be paid, His enemies could report Him to the Roman governor as an insurrectionist. Either answer could be used to destroy Him, but Jesus did not accept the boundaries of their trap.
“But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, ‘Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ He said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’” (Luke 20:23–25 ESV).
The coin they produced was likely a silver denarius bearing the portrait of the emperor Tiberius. Its inscription identified him as Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus. The other side carried the title PONTIF MAXIM, identifying Tiberius as the holder of Rome’s highest priestly office. The coin did more than provide a means of buying and selling. Its image and inscription communicated the power, authority, and religious claims of the Roman Empire.
Jesus held their attention on the image by asking, “Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” When they answered, “Caesar’s,” He acknowledged that Caesar could legitimately receive what was properly due to him.
Earthly government possesses a legitimate, though limited, claim upon us. Following Christ does not free us to ignore every law we dislike, withhold every tax we question, or dishonor those in authority. Christians should be known as peaceful people who practice honesty, honor legitimate authority, seek the good of their neighbors, and obey the law whenever doing so does not require disobedience to God.
Paul would later write:
“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Romans 13:7 ESV).
But Jesus did not stop after telling them what belonged to Caesar. He added, “and to God the things that are God’s.”
That part of His answer reaches far beyond a discussion about taxation. Caesar’s image was stamped upon the coin, but another image had already been placed upon every person standing there.
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 ESV).
Jesus did not explicitly quote Genesis during this exchange. But when we place His question beside the creation account, the spiritual implication becomes difficult to ignore.
If the coin bearing Caesar’s image could be rendered to Caesar, what should be rendered to the God whose image we bear? The answer is not merely a portion of our money, a few hours each week, or the religious section of our lives.
God’s claim is upon us.
Every person bears the image of God. Sin does not erase that image or remove the dignity God has given us. But sin does affect how faithfully our lives reflect the character of the One whose image we carry. In Christ, we are being renewed so that our lives increasingly display the likeness of our Creator.
Paul describes believers as those who:
“have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:10 ESV).
This gives the title’s question a deeper meaning. Whose image are we carrying?
In one sense, the answer has already been established. We bear the image of God because He created us. But in another sense, the question asks whose authority is shaping the way we live. Whose voice controls our fears? Whose approval determines our choices? Whose kingdom receives our deepest loyalty? Whose character is being displayed in our words, attitudes, and actions?
We can render taxes to the government while surrendering far more than taxes. We can give a political party the authority to determine which sins we condemn and which ones we excuse. We can allow political leaders to define our enemies for us. We can repeat accusations without caring whether they are true because they damage people on the other side. We can excuse dishonesty, cruelty, arrogance, and corruption when we believe they will advance a cause we support.
We can begin looking to government as our source of salvation, believing that the right election, law, judge, or leader will finally secure our future. Or we can become so consumed by what government might do that fear replaces our confidence in the reign of God. Neither response reflects complete allegiance to Jesus.
Political power is not the only earthly claimant that can receive what belongs to God. Our careers, ambitions, relationships, and desire for approval can also begin shaping our identity, directing our choices, and demanding compromises that conflict with our allegiance to Christ.
Our political convictions matter. Laws affect real people. Justice matters to God, and Christians should not be indifferent to what happens in the communities and nations where we live. But no political movement has the right to reshape our consciences until we can no longer recognize what contradicts Christ.
No earthly leader should receive the trust that belongs to Jesus. No political party should be allowed to train us to hate people created in God’s image. No national identity should become more important than our citizenship in the Kingdom of God. No earthly cause should be permitted to redefine righteousness for us.
The danger is not only that Caesar may someday demand what belongs to God. The danger is that we may give it away without being asked.
There are times when earthly authority does cross the boundary God has established. Government may demand what we cannot faithfully give. It may command what God forbids or forbid what God commands. When that happens, the allegiance of a Christian has already been decided.
“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” (Acts 5:29 ESV).
That obedience should be courageous, but it should also resemble Jesus. We do not honor God by defending truth with hatred, cruelty, or dishonesty. We do not demonstrate allegiance to Christ by treating other image-bearers with contempt. Even when obedience becomes costly, we remain people of truth, humility, courage, love, and peace.
Most of us, however, will not face our deepest tests of allegiance in one dramatic confrontation with the government. They will come quietly through the voices we trust, the fears we entertain, the compromises we excuse, and the people we permit ourselves to despise.
Those tests will appear when loyalty to our side asks us to remain silent about something we know is wrong, when following Jesus threatens our acceptance among people whose approval matters to us, and when the teachings of Christ interrupt the political, professional, cultural, or personal story we have already decided to believe.
Caesar’s image appeared on a coin. God’s image appears upon us. Caesar may receive what is properly due to earthly authority, but our worship, conscience, identity, hope, and ultimate allegiance belong to God alone.
God’s claim does not stop with what we possess. He claims the people who bear His image.
As you sit with this teaching today, consider what voices are shaping your fears, your hopes, and the way you see other people. Have you allowed a political leader, party, nation, career, relationship, ambition, or cause to receive an allegiance that belongs to God alone? What would it look like for your words, choices, and relationships to more faithfully reflect the One whose image you carry?
If we are willing, share your reflections or questions in the comments so we can learn and walk this journey together.
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