Passages · Matthew 22:15-22
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"Render" in "render unto Caesar" (Matthew 22:21) translates the Greek apodidōmi (give back, return what is owed). The men testing Jesus asked whether it was lawful to give the tax. He answers with a different verb, give back, after making them say whose image is on the coin. The coin carries Caesar's image, so it goes back to Caesar. The second half, "and to God the things that are God's," is left unexplained. But "image" is eikōn, the word the Greek Old Testament uses when God makes humanity in his image.
ἀποδίδωμι apodidōmi, Greek — translated "render" or "give" — to give back, to return what is owed (Matthew 22:21)
22:15 Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk. 22:16 They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren’t partial to anyone. 22:17 Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 22:18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? 22:19 Show me the tax money.” They brought to him a denarius. 22:20 He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” 22:21 They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22:22 When they heard it, they marveled, and left him and went away.
22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 22:16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 22:17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 22:18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 22:19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 22:20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 22:21 They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. 22:22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
Jesus is teaching in the temple in Jerusalem (21:23), days before his death, and this is the first of three test questions put to him in a row (22:15, 22:23, 22:34). The questioners are disciples of the Pharisees together with Herodians, two groups that did not usually side with each other. The question is built to cost him either way. Luke's account names the aim: "to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor" (Luke 20:20).
"Give therefore to Caesar" (22:21) — apodidōmi (give back, return what is owed). The question in verse 17 used the plain verb didōmi (give): is it lawful to give the tax? The answer uses a compound of that verb, the usual word for paying a debt or handing back what belongs to someone. The World English Bible hides the change, since "pay" in verse 17 and "give" in verse 21 look unrelated; the King James shows it, with "give tribute" and then "render." Paul uses the same verb for taxes in Romans 13:7: "give everyone what you owe."
"Whose is this image and inscription?" (22:20) — eikōn (image, likeness). On the coin it is a ruler's portrait. In the Greek Old Testament it is the word of Genesis 1:26-27, where God creates humanity "in his own image." Jesus does not connect the two aloud. The saying gives a reason for its first half, the image on the coin, and gives none for its second. A reader who knows the Greek Genesis has met the word before.
"Show me the tax money" (22:19) — kēnsos (the poll tax), a Latin word, census, carried into Greek. The tax has Rome's own name for it. Jesus does not answer in the abstract. He asks for the coin the tax is paid in, his questioners produce one, and he has them say whose image it carries.
"You hypocrites" (22:18) — hypokritēs (an actor, someone playing a part). It is a word from the stage. It answers the speech in verse 16, where the questioners praise Jesus for honesty and for not being "partial to anyone" (literally, for not looking at people's faces). The praise is a role. Matthew uses the word here for the first time in these debates, and repeatedly in the chapter that follows.
"Render unto Caesar" and "give back to Caesar" — the King James Version's "render" is an older English word for paying what is due, and it fits the Greek better than it may sound today. The New International Version (2011) reads "give back to Caesar what is Caesar's." The World English Bible has "give." All three translate apodidōmi; "give" alone loses the sense of return.
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