Jesus Christ on Taxes

[Truth-Bringer]

Jesus on Taxes: Nothing is (Rightly) Caesar's!

The story of Jesus commanding us to give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's (Matt. 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26) is commonly misrepresented as His commanding us to give to Caesar the denari which he asks for (i.e., to pay taxes to government) as--it is assumed--the denari are Caesar's, being that they have Caesar's image and name on them. But Jesus never said that this was so! What Jesus did say though was an ingenious case of rhetorical misdirection to avoid being immediately arrested, which would have interfered with Old Testament prophecy of His betrayal as well as His own previous predictions of betrayal.

When the Pharisees asked Him whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar they did so as a ruse in the hopes of being able to either have Him arrested as a rebel by the Roman authorities or to have Him discredited in the eyes of His followers. At this time in Israel's history it was an occupied territory of the Roman Empire, and taxes--which were being used to support this occupation--were much hated by the mass of the common Jews. Thus, this question was a clever Catch-22 posed to Jesus by the Pharisees: if Jesus answered that it is not lawful then the Pharisees would have Him put away, but if He answered that it is lawful then He would appear to be supporting the subjection of the Jewish people by a foreign power. Luke 20:20 makes the Pharisees' intent in asking this question quite clear:

So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.

Thus, Jesus was not free to answer in just any casual manner. Of the Scripture prophecies which would have gone unfulfilled had He answered that it was fine to decline paying taxes and been arrested because of it are the betrayal by Judas (Psalm 41:9; Zech. 11:12,13), and His betrayer replaced (Psalm 109:8--see Acts 1:20); see also Acts 1:15-26 and Psalm 69:25. Here is a quote from Peter on this matter from Acts 1:16:

"Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus."

In Matt. 26:54,56 and Mark 14:49 Jesus testifies to this exact same thing after He was betrayed by Judas. As well, Jesus Himself twice foretold of His betrayal before He was asked the question on taxes--see Matt. 17:22; 20:18; Mark 9:31; 10:33; and Luke 9:44; 19:31. See also John 13:18-30, which testifies to the necessity of the fulfillment of Psalm 41:9, as Jesus here foretells of His betrayal by Judas.

In addition, it appears that the only reason Jesus paid the temple tax (and by supernatural means at that) as told in Matt. 17:24-27 was so as not to stir up trouble which would have interfered with the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture and Jesus's previous prediction of His betrayal as told in Matt. 17:22--neither of which would have been fulfilled had Jesus not paid the tax and been arrested because of it. Jesus Himself supports this view when He said of it "Nevertheless, lest we offend them . . ." (NKJV), which can also be translated "But we don't want to cause trouble" (CEV). He said this after in effect saying that those who pay customs and taxes are not free (v. 25,26)--yet one reason Jesus came was to call us to liberty (Luke 4:18; Gal. 4:7; 5:1,13,14; 1 Cor. 7:23; 2 Cor. 3:17; James 1:25; 2:12).

It should be remembered in all of this that it was Jesus Himself who told us "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matt. 10:16). Jesus was being wise as a serpent as He never told us to pay taxes to Caesar, of which He could have done and still fulfilled Scripture and His previous predictions of betrayal. But the one thing He couldn't have told people was that it was okay not to pay taxes as He would have been arrested on the spot, and Scripture and His predictions of betrayal would have gone unfulfilled. Yet the most important thing in all this is what Jesus did not say. Jesus never said that all or any of the denari were Caesar's! Jesus simply said "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." But this just begs the question, What is Caesar's? Simply because the denari have Caesar's name and image on them no more make them his than one carving their name into the back of a stolen TV set makes it theirs. Yet everything Caesar has has been taken by theft and extortion, therefore nothing is rightly his.

Tax Collectors are Sinners!

A further demonstration that Jesus considered the institution of taxation to be unjust is given in the below story:

Matthew 9:9-13: As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (See also Mark 2:14-17; Luke 5:27-32.)

It's important to point out here that Jesus actually made a stronger case against the unrighteousness of tax collectors than the Pharisees originally had in questioning Jesus's disciples about it: the Pharisees actually separated the tax collectors from the sinners when they asked "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Yet when Jesus heard this He answered the Pharisees by lumping the two groups together under the category of sinners--thus: "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Yet since this is the story of Matthew the tax collector being called to repentance by Jesus we will do well to ask how it was that Matthew obtained repentance. The answer: By first giving up tax collecting! And from this beginning Matthew would thus go on to become one of Jesus's twelve disciples.

http://www.anti-state.com/redford/redford4.html

[farmer_giles_of_ham]

Good Post.

How about-" Render unto Ceasar everything that is his, including the job of collecting and enforcing his taxes (or anything else he wants)."

What never ceases to amaze is how people go far out of their way to invent requirements for themselves, and anyone else around...

"As seen on TV, only 9.99, COD accepted..." Thats how much of the world lives, in some kind of hypnotic fantasy. Just let Caeser do his job, whatever it is. He can only do so much, and thats the limit of his natural power. Its really quite easy.

I like to think about it in terms of 'have to' vs 'can. So what if some naysayer thinks whatever is a given? Let him enforce it, too.

And I am the first to shrink from martyrdom. I like things easy too. 90% of the problem is FEAR. And I know from experience, since I live overseas, where the state is fairly weak and liberal, and very restricted, by American standards, that despite the lack of consequences people are even MORE afraid. So it is surely a spiritual condition more than anything else.

[Dillon Hunt]

He could have been saying don't use Ceasar's money and if you do, pay taxes on it or since nothing really belonged to Ceasar, its all Gods stuff give it to God.

[rottweiler]

Who created Caesar?
God did.

Who put the gold and silver in the ground?
God did.

Caesar simply claims everything is his just like his successor the Pope of Rome.

So what really belongs to Caesar?
Nothing but an illusion or legal fiction. The measure of Caesar's authority comes from how many people he can intimidate into compliance or kill without being killed himself.

[Ecclesiastes]

Okay, so Jesus said "Pay taxes to Rome" because he was a coward and didn't want to be crucified. (Or at least, not yet.)

But why did Jesus say that "if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile." Matt. 5:41. From what I've read, the "forces you to go one mile" was a law that Hebrews had to carry for at least one mile the stuff of a Roman. So Jesus was saying that if a Roman oppressor forces you to do something, you should do twice what you are asked.

If Jesus wanted the Hebrews to resist the Roman government, why would he say that?

[rottweiler]

It means we are to suffer a injury if it is bearable for the sake of peace although bearing all injuries will not always bring peace. The luciferian ruling elite plans to make us Christians bear more and more until we are all dead. That is not considered bearable to me. I have a right to self-defense.

Originally Posted by Ecclesiastes

Okay, so Jesus said "Pay taxes to Rome" because he was a coward and didn't want to be crucified. (Or at least, not yet.)

But why did Jesus say that "if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile." Matt. 5:41. From what I've read, the "forces you to go one mile" was a law that Hebrews had to carry for at least one mile the stuff of a Roman. So Jesus was saying that if a Roman oppressor forces you to do something, you should do twice what you are asked.

If Jesus wanted the Hebrews to resist the Roman government, why would he say that?

[cigs645]

Originally Posted by Truth-Bringer

Jesus on Taxes: Nothing is (Rightly) Caesar's!

The story of Jesus commanding us to give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's (Matt. 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26) is commonly misrepresented as His commanding us to give to Caesar the denari which he asks for (i.e., to pay taxes to government) as--it is assumed--the denari are Caesar's, being that they have Caesar's image and name on them. But Jesus never said that this was so! What Jesus did say though was an ingenious case of rhetorical misdirection to avoid being immediately arrested, which would have interfered with Old Testament prophecy of His betrayal as well as His own previous predictions of betrayal.

When the Pharisees asked Him whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar they did so as a ruse in the hopes of being able to either have Him arrested as a rebel by the Roman authorities or to have Him discredited in the eyes of His followers. At this time in Israel's history it was an occupied territory of the Roman Empire, and taxes--which were being used to support this occupation--were much hated by the mass of the common Jews. Thus, this question was a clever Catch-22 posed to Jesus by the Pharisees: if Jesus answered that it is not lawful then the Pharisees would have Him put away, but if He answered that it is lawful then He would appear to be supporting the subjection of the Jewish people by a foreign power. Luke 20:20 makes the Pharisees' intent in asking this question quite clear:

So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.

Thus, Jesus was not free to answer in just any casual manner. Of the Scripture prophecies which would have gone unfulfilled had He answered that it was fine to decline paying taxes and been arrested because of it are the betrayal by Judas (Psalm 41:9; Zech. 11:12,13), and His betrayer replaced (Psalm 109:8--see Acts 1:20); see also Acts 1:15-26 and Psalm 69:25. Here is a quote from Peter on this matter from Acts 1:16:

"Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus."

In Matt. 26:54,56 and Mark 14:49 Jesus testifies to this exact same thing after He was betrayed by Judas. As well, Jesus Himself twice foretold of His betrayal before He was asked the question on taxes--see Matt. 17:22; 20:18; Mark 9:31; 10:33; and Luke 9:44; 19:31. See also John 13:18-30, which testifies to the necessity of the fulfillment of Psalm 41:9, as Jesus here foretells of His betrayal by Judas.

In addition, it appears that the only reason Jesus paid the temple tax (and by supernatural means at that) as told in Matt. 17:24-27 was so as not to stir up trouble which would have interfered with the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture and Jesus's previous prediction of His betrayal as told in Matt. 17:22--neither of which would have been fulfilled had Jesus not paid the tax and been arrested because of it. Jesus Himself supports this view when He said of it "Nevertheless, lest we offend them . . ." (NKJV), which can also be translated "But we don't want to cause trouble" (CEV). He said this after in effect saying that those who pay customs and taxes are not free (v. 25,26)--yet one reason Jesus came was to call us to liberty (Luke 4:18; Gal. 4:7; 5:1,13,14; 1 Cor. 7:23; 2 Cor. 3:17; James 1:25; 2:12).

It should be remembered in all of this that it was Jesus Himself who told us "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matt. 10:16). Jesus was being wise as a serpent as He never told us to pay taxes to Caesar, of which He could have done and still fulfilled Scripture and His previous predictions of betrayal. But the one thing He couldn't have told people was that it was okay not to pay taxes as He would have been arrested on the spot, and Scripture and His predictions of betrayal would have gone unfulfilled. Yet the most important thing in all this is what Jesus did not say. Jesus never said that all or any of the denari were Caesar's! Jesus simply said "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." But this just begs the question, What is Caesar's? Simply because the denari have Caesar's name and image on them no more make them his than one carving their name into the back of a stolen TV set makes it theirs. Yet everything Caesar has has been taken by theft and extortion, therefore nothing is rightly his.

Tax Collectors are Sinners!

A further demonstration that Jesus considered the institution of taxation to be unjust is given in the below story:

Matthew 9:9-13: As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (See also Mark 2:14-17; Luke 5:27-32.)

It's important to point out here that Jesus actually made a stronger case against the unrighteousness of tax collectors than the Pharisees originally had in questioning Jesus's disciples about it: the Pharisees actually separated the tax collectors from the sinners when they asked "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Yet when Jesus heard this He answered the Pharisees by lumping the two groups together under the category of sinners--thus: "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Yet since this is the story of Matthew the tax collector being called to repentance by Jesus we will do well to ask how it was that Matthew obtained repentance. The answer: By first giving up tax collecting! And from this beginning Matthew would thus go on to become one of Jesus's twelve disciples.

http://www.anti-state.com/redford/redford4.html

And when he asked Peter to collect that temple tax he told him to go to the sea and get it from a fish , not from anyone or anywhere else , very symbolic I believe . Yeshua could have told Peter to pay it himself, but he didn't. JC could have paid it himself but he did not. He could have asked Peter to go collect that 10% temple tax from the people, but again he didn't. Tithe was for 3 things, take care of the widows and orphans, take care of the (defunct) and landless order of Levitical priets(no longer around , landless in thos days = broke) and pay for expenses to attend the annual festival. Not palaces of "worship", fundrasing operations ,bank accounts (Jerry Falwell died with enough cash to make Donald Trump envious). cash that just sits in bank accounts. Funny how many people who constantly shell out their10% tax every Sunday complain about high taxes while the church they give the cash to builds a new volleyball court with their tithe.

I agree. Yeshua asked whose image was on that coin. as in that coin has nothing to do with me. If my kingdom were of this earth my people would fight. Satan tried to trick Yeshua in the same way by offering Yeshua all the kingdoms of the earth which JC turned down. One of Satans most succesfull deceptions, mixing man authority with HIS and one can't serve 2 masters. Then again David did collect taxes, but David ruled and followed HIS ways.

[farmer_giles_of_ham]

This business about "walk two miles if required to walk one, if they want your cloak give them your tunic too" strikes me as kind of like 'kung-fu', or 'tai-chi'. Take the adversary's force and add an equal amount of yours and really give them want they want so badly, let them go sailing off in that direction with both forces propelling. If someone punches at you and you add your own similar force, step out of the way, and let all that carry them along, they are going to go flying. Let them do the work and help them along as well. thats why we are commanded NOT to resist evil, why fight it when you can let it shoot itself in foot?

An example was given once in relation to the draft situation during the Vietnam war. Registrants were supposed to 'inform' the authorities of every change in their lives, addresses, whatever the law was pretty open. Of course the people were supposed to interpret this to inform what was useful to these authorities, because if taken literally there would be a mountain of paperwork and 'information'. An overload in the system. So some disciples out there would send in a new 'information report' every day, to do just that- walk two miles where one had been required. Reports of address changes, daily doings, I went to the store today, etc. There was even a report from 3rd parties who were supposed to 'inform' on the registrants, so one might send in tons of useless info on anyone- overloading the system.

Get creative and use their own law against them.They want it, let them HAVE IT.

[Truth-Bringer]

Originally Posted by Ecclesiastes

If Jesus wanted the Hebrews to resist the Roman government, why would he say that?

Read the entire article and you'll have your answer.

[fulltitle]

Without Prejudice.
http://secular.embassyofheaven.com/c...spaidtaxes.htm

But Jesus Paid Taxes

"You ought to pay taxes. Jesus did." But is that the correct understanding of Matthew 17:24-27?

In verse 24, we find the collectors of the temple tax approaching Peter and asking, "Does not your master pay tribute?"

Peter answers, "Yes."

Poor, bungling Peter, he answered too quickly. And Jesus was not pleased.

When Peter tries to go back into the house, Jesus bars his entrance. "Oh Peter, what got into you? What were you thinking when you told the tax collector we pay tribute?"

Then Jesus instructs Peter on who is obligated to pay. "Do the kings of the earth take tribute from their own children or from strangers?"

Peter answers, "From strangers."

"Then the children are free," said Jesus.

Jesus has corrected Peter. He knows how to answer the tax collector next time. But still a problem remains. Peter has incurred an obligation to pay the temple tax. Now what does he do?

Since the commitment has been made, Jesus chooses not to confuse the tax collectors. He explains, "Lest we offend them, go to the sea and throw out a line. Take out the fish you catch. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Take it to give to the tax collectors for you and me."

Peter did not pay the taxes because they were owed, but because he volunteered to pay them. Once he made the commitment, he needed to make his yes's, "yes." If Peter had answered correctly the first time, there would have been no need for Jesus to rebuke him.