The Church in the Secular State

MEMORY VERSE: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” —Matthew 22:21

MATTHEW 22:15-22

THE title of the lesson hardly fits the Scripture citation, for there was no Christian church in Jesus’ day. Then, it was a case of the Jewish people, who were looked upon as God’s people, being subjects of the Roman Empire. To all intents and purposes the Roman Empire was a secular state, although their Caesars were worshiped by the Romans as their chief religious ruler—Pontifex Maximus.

However, the lesson can well be applied to the faithful Christian in a secular state, for in this situation, as with the Jews under Rome, there are certain obligations to be recognized and honored even by those who have dedicated their lives to the service of the divine call, and certainly one of these is the paying of taxes. The view of the rulers in the secular state is that everyone receives certain benefits of life under their protection and rulership, and that it is just that they pay tribute for these benefits.

A great deal of tolerance was extended toward the Jewish people under the rulership of the Roman Empire. They were allowed to worship their own God as their fathers had done, and it was not demanded that they worship the Roman gods. But they were not exempt from paying taxes. The Jewish people as a whole were not too unhappy with this situation. Many of them believed that their subjugation to Rome was a punishment from God for their sins against him, so they accepted it as ungrudgingly as possible.

However, there was one group of Jews known as the Zealots. These were militant toward every aspect of the Roman rulership over them, and were always seeking an opportunity to rebel. It was the rebellion of this group which finally brought about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The Zealots were particularly opposed to the paying of tribute money to Rome.

This formed the background of the Pharisees’ question, “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar?” The tax in question was a head tax, and was to be paid with a small silver coin known as the denarius—having a value of about twenty-five cents.

And as always, Jesus was wise. He asked whose inscription was on the denarius, and of course his questioners had to answer that it was Caesar’s. Then his simple answer was, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” No one could find fault with this answer. Caesar had provided them with money to use, and he had the right to ask for a small portion of it back in tribute if he so elected. How meaningful indeed is our memory verse!

ACTS 5:27-29

Here again is a scripture which, like the previous one, does not pertain to the Christian’s position in the secular state. The ones endeavoring to prevent Peter and John from proclaiming the Gospel of Christ were the religious rulers of Israel, and did not in any sense represent the civil rulers of Rome.

The circumstances are of interest. Peter and John, by the providence of the Lord, had healed a man who had been lame from his birth. Peter had explained that he was restored to soundness of limb because of faith in Jesus whom the Jews had crucified. These two zealous apostles were then arrested and put in prison overnight. The next morning they were released because the high priest and his associates were fearful of the reaction of the people, for they knew that the apostles had done only good, and that there was evidence that God was with them.

The council deliberated as to what further action to take, and decided to give the apostles their freedom, but to forbid them from further preaching the name of Jesus. “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

QUESTIONS

Should Christians pay taxes?

Should Christians yield if religious prejudice demands that we cease to preach Christ?

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