Matthew 17:24-27 (The Temple Tax)
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”
Tag: Honor God’s King
In our Christian society we have an obligation to honor the institutions God has ordained. Note what other New Testament writers have stated:
Romans 13:1-3, 6-7
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval ...
For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 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.
1 Peter 2:13-15
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
Peter’s words in his epistle, no doubt, come from this experience with the tax collector. The “tax” that is referred to by Matthew (remember, Matthew, himself, was former tax collector) was a tax for the Temple that every Jew was required to pay. There were two reasons Jesus should NOT be required to pay it. The first is that He is the Creator of the universe and should not be required to pay a tax to the “creator.” The second is the fact the the Temple was build to honor God. He called the Temple, His Father’s house. Therefore, He should not be required to pay it. Yet, Jesus did. Peter’s lesson (and ours) is that we are to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. No one likes to pay taxes. Especially when we know that the taxes are going to be, at best, wasted, at the least used for corrupt and unbiblical gains. We are not required to obey the laws of man when they directly contradict the laws of God. But, we are required to support the system God put in place, no matter the corruptions and how far off they are to God’s Ways. If Jesus felt obligated to pay the tax, can His followers do any less? There is no other record in the Bible of Christ using a miracle to obtain money, to pay taxes. We have here Jesus submitting to the will of man in order to bring glory to God.
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