10  The Believer as a  Citizen  (17:22-27)

And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

And when they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter, and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma 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 the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” And upon his saying, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Consequently the sons are exempt. But, lest we give them offense, go to the sea, and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.” (17:22-27)

In the last several decades many religious political action groups have arisen, including a number that claim to speak for evangelical Christianity. Some of the groups are highly critical of certain laws, policies, and court decisions. Some even specifically endorse and campaign for candidates they think would support Christian values in government.

Other evangelicals believe that, beyond voting, Christians should shy away from political and government involvement as much as possible, leaving the running of secular government to the secular world. The only legitimate work of the church, they believe, is to preach the gospel and faithfully live by its standards.

The New Testament certainly makes clear that a believer’s primary citizenship is not in this world. Paul charged the church at Philippi, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.” In contrast to such people, he goes on to say, “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:17-21). To the Ephesian Christians Paul wrote, “You are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household” (Eph. 2:19). The writer of Hebrews says to believers, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:22-23).

How then, some Christians argue, can those who have such a glorious heavenly heritage contaminate themselves by becoming involved in the earthly affairs of unbelieving society and government? Their attempt to appeal to the Bible for support leads them to such queries as the following: Did not Paul teach that believers are “to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom [they] appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15)? Did not both Paul and Isaiah command believers in God’s name, “‘Come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean’” (2 Cor. 6:17; cf. Isa. 52:11)? Did not John declare, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15)? And did not James say “that friendship with the world is hostility toward God” and that “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4)?

In light of such passages, some Christians have opted out of any government involvement, including paying taxes. Because they not only are citizens of God’s kingdom but members of His family, they argue, why should they participate in a sinful human society that, for the most part, never takes God into account, tramples on His standards of righteousness, blasphemes His name, and often even denies His existence?

Such advocacy forces the believer to ask what is the Christian’s reasonable relationship to human society and to governmental authority in particular? That is the issue, specifically in regard to the basic duty required by government, that of paying taxes, which Jesus confronts in Matthew 17:24-27. But before He gave that lesson to Peter, the Lord again told the Twelve of His coming death and resurrection.

After the brief ministry in Caesarea Philippi (16:13) and the manifestation of His second coming glory before Peter, James, and John on the mount of transfiguration (17:1-8), Jesus and His disciples were gathering together in Galilee. The exact location is not mentioned, but it was probably just northwest of Capernaum (see v. 24).

It should be noted that as He entered the last six months of His public ministry, Jesus spent less and less time with the multitudes and more and more time alone with the disciples, giving them intense further instruction about the principles of His kingdom. Interjected throughout those teachings were periodic reminders of His imminent suffering, death, and resurrection, which He here mentions to them for the third time (see Matt. 16:21; 17:12).

While He was still meeting with the disciples privately (17:19), Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.”

Jesus was neither helpless nor passive in going to the cross. “When the days were approaching for His ascension, . . . He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51; cf. 13:22). As He later explained, He willingly accepted the cross in order that “all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished” (18:31). He willingly laid down His life (John 10:15, 17), which no one could have taken from Him without His consent. “No one has taken it away from Me,” He said, “but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (v. 18).

But in His willingness to give His life a ransom for many, Jesus submitted Himself both to the evil plans of men and to the gracious and righteous plan of His heavenly Father (see Acts 2:22-23). Because of His willing submission to wicked men, He was going to be delivered, by the treachery of Judas, into the hands of men. Also because of His willing submission to wicked men, they (the Jewish and Roman leaders) would kill Him. But because of His willing submission to His righteous heavenly Father, He would be raised on the third day.

Mark reports that the disciples “did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him” (9:32). Because they still could not comprehend the full reality and significance of Jesus’ promised resurrection—partly because they were stunned by the prospect of His promised suffering and death—the disciples were deeply grieved. After having just witnessed Jesus’ resplendent glory at the transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were perhaps even more deeply grieved than the others in hearing again of Jesus’ death.

The disciples also may have taken Jesus’ reference to the third day as merely figurative and, like Martha concerning Lazarus, were thinking only of “the resurrection on the last day” (John 11:24). They believed in the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked as predicted by the Lord through Daniel (Dan. 12:2), but that far away prospect was of little comfort to them now.

Jesus understood their slow comprehension (cf. Luke 24:25) as well as their small faith (Matt. 17:20) and realized that they needed repeated reminders, especially about truths that not only were hard to understand but painful to accept. They needed to be prepared for the reality that their Lord was soon going to be taken from them by death and that before He died He would suffer and be tormented. They also needed assurance that His suffering and death were in God’s plan, that those events, horrible as they were, would not interrupt, much less destroy, the Messiah’s work. That was, in fact, the ultimate work He came to accomplish, without which His other divine work—His teaching and miracles—would have left men better informed and in better health but still lost and eternally condemned in their sin. The crucifixion did not catch Jesus or His heavenly Father by surprise; it was the reason the Father sent Him to earth and that He willingly came. “For this purpose,” He said, “I came to this hour” (John 12:27).

After Jesus gave the Twelve that third prediction of His death and resurrection, He gave Peter a private object lesson in the believer’s obligation to human government. In spite of what that hostile leadership would do to the Lord Jesus, the disciples had a certain obligation to it.

THE PAYMENT DEMANDED

And when they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter, and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” He said, “Yes.” (17:24-25a)

Shortly after Jesus and the disciples had come to Capernaum, perhaps even as they entered the city, those who collected the two-drachma tax singled out Peter. He not only was a resident of the city but was known to be the leading member of Jesus’ disciples. It is likely Jesus was staying at Peter’s house and that the other disciples had gone elsewhere to lodge, since only those two are mentioned here.

The two-drachma tax was a government-approved tax that the Romans allowed the Jewish religious leaders to collect for the operation of the Jerusalem Temple.

When the Tabernacle was first built in the wilderness, God provided for its maintenance and operation through the yearly assessment of every male twenty years old and over for a half shekel. “The rich shall not pay more, and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.” The money was to be used “for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord” (Ex. 30:11-16). When the Temple replaced the Tabernacle, the same assessment continued, although it was temporarily reduced to a third of a shekel by Nehemiah because the former exiles in Babylon were so poor when they returned to Judah (Neh. 10:32).

Two-drachma tax translates the single Greek word didrachma, which means simply “two drachmas,” or “double drachma.” Although there was no two-drachma coin in circulation, the term didrachma was commonly used in reference to the Jewish Temple tax because two drachmas were equivalent to the required half shekel, which amounted to about two days’ wages for the average worker.

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus reported that, after Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70, the emperor Vespasian decreed that Jews throughout the Roman Empire would continue to be assessed the two-drachma tax in order to maintain the pagan temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The tax was imposed as a calculated, vindictive reminder both to Jews and to the rest of the world of the high cost of opposing Rome.

Because the Jewish Temple tax was to be paid by the time of Passover, collectors were sent throughout Palestine a month or so in advance. It was such tax collectors, rather than the Roman-appointed publicani (“publicans”), who came to Peter, and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”

The phrasing of the question suggests that the collectors, perhaps under instruction from Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, intended to challenge Jesus on the issue of paying the tax. Because He claimed to be the Messiah, they reasoned, He might consider Himself exempt. If He did, that would be yet another charge they could make against Him.

Peter did not have to ask his teacher for the answer, because he knew Jesus had always paid taxes, whether assessed by Rome or by the Jewish leaders. He therefore simply said, “Yes.”

THE PRINCIPLE DISCUSSED

And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” And upon his saying, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Consequently the sons are exempt. But, lest we give them offense, (17:25b-27a)

When Peter came into the house to tell Jesus about his confrontation with the collectors, Jesus spoke to him first. In His omniscience He already knew what they had said and that Peter was thinking about it.

We are not specifically told what Peter’s thoughts were, but from Jesus’ comments it seems reasonable to infer that he was wondering why Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God, would condescend to pay taxes to those over whom He was eternally sovereign.

Using a method of teaching common in that day and beneficial in any day, Jesus answered Peter’s unspoken question by first asking a question Himself. Addressing Peter by his original family name, Jesus said, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?”

With few exceptions, all ancient governments were autocratic, with power centered in one individual who passed on his royal legacy to his heirs. Whether called pharaoh, emperor, or other such titles, all supreme rulers were included in the term kings, and they all assessed taxes to support their families as well as their governments. The two basic types of taxes were customs (levied on goods) and the poll-tax (levied on individuals).

His question was rhetorical, and the answer was obvious. It would not make sense for a father to collect money from his sons who were dependent on him. To assess them would be to assess himself. In this context strangers is a general term referring to those outside the king’s family, specifically his subjects.

When Peter answered, “From strangers,” Jesus stated the corollary truth: “Consequently, the sons are exempt.” In the human governments of that day, the rulers’ families, represented by the sons, were exempt from taxation.

Had Jesus ended the lesson at that point, Christians would have a basis for arguing that they, too, as fellow heirs with Christ and children of God, should be exempt from human taxation. They could even argue that, as His children, they were not even obligated to support God’s work.

If there was any tax that Jesus was not obligated to pay it would have been the Temple tax. He was the One whom the Temple was built to honor and to whom its sacrifices and offerings were made. He was Lord of all the earth but supremely Lord of the Temple. Jesus called the Temple His “Father’s house” (Luke 2:49; John 2:16) and declared Himself to be greater than the Temple (Matt. 12:6). He had every right to refuse paying the Temple tax, just as He had every right to refuse being humiliated and persecuted. But when He willingly emptied Himself of His divine glory, “taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7), He also willingly relinquished the rights and prerogatives belonging to that glory.

“Lest we give them offense,” Jesus told Peter, the tax was to be paid. Clearly implied was the idea that it was not only to be paid in full but paid willingly and without argument.

Regardless of how unjust a tax is assessed or how blasphemously or irresponsibly it is spent, it is to be paid. If the Son of God claimed no exemption for Himself in paying taxes to the “den of thieves” run by the wicked, false teachers and leaders of Israel, how much less can His followers claim exemption for themselves? And if He was concerned about not giving offense to unbelievers over that issue, how much more should His followers have such concern?

THE PROVISION DELIVERED

go to the sea, and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.” (17:27b)

There is no evidence that at any other time Jesus provided tax money through a miracle. On this occasion, however, the miracle reinforced the point that He was the Son of God and had the right with perfect impunity to refuse to pay the tax had He so chosen. He agreed to pay it entirely of His own divine volition.

Peter was instructed to go to the sea, apparently to any place he might choose on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, throw in a hook, apparently unbaited, and take the first fish that comes up. Then “when you open its mouth,” Jesus assured the disciple, “you will find a stater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

Because there was no two-drachma coin, it was customary for two Jewish men to pay the tax together, using a stater, which was equal to two didrachma. The coin Peter found in the fish’s mouth was the exact amount needed to pay the tax for Jesus and himself.

Although this tax was for the support of the Temple services, it is certain that the hypocritical and corrupt Jewish leaders misappropriated a large part of what was collected. It is even more certain that the taxes Jesus paid to Rome were used for many ungodly and immoral purposes. Most of the Roman tax collectors were traitors to their own people, and the taxes they extorted from their fellow countrymen not only were excessive and unjust but were used to support the occupying army, the pagan rulers, and even pagan religions.

The general principle derived from this account is clear. A believer is obligated to fulfill his duties as a citizen of this world. Although his ultimate and eternal citizenship is in heaven and the governments of men are all in varying degrees of corruption, while he remains on earth he is also under obligation to human government. Except when it would cause him to disobey God directly, he is bound by divine law to be subject to human law.

When Peter wrote his first epistle he no doubt still vividly remembered the miraculous provision of the stater in the fish’s mouth and the teaching of Jesus that accompanied the miracle. In the second chapter of that epistle he declares to believers, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

Peter reminds his Christian readers that they are elected by God to be His own people and to minister as His priests to the unbelieving world around them. They are uniquely the Lord’s possession, His children, and citizens of His divine kingdom, with their assignment on earth being to fulfill a divine mission. Having previously been a people of no consequence, they are now the people of God. Having previously been apart from God’s mercy, they now live under His abundant mercy (v. 10). Because of that high standing, Peter says, “I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (vv. 11-12).

Regarding the same issue, and in spite of the godlessness of Rome and the claim to deity by Caesar, Paul wrote, “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. . . . For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Rom. 13:1-2, 5-7; italics added).

Believers are to submit themselves “for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right” (1 Pet. 2:13-14). The key to the command is that it is obeyed “for the Lord’s sake.” It is not that every human law and ruler is godly and just. Most of them are not and make no claim to be. But the institution and operation of government are ordained by God for social order, and as a testimony to Him, human government is to be respected and obeyed by His people even when it is unjust.

Obedience to civil law and government is not to be done with reluctance or condescension but willingly, “not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’s sake” (Rom. 13:5). Christians should have an attitude of genuine respect for human government, not because it is always deserving of respect but because that is the will of their Lord, who instituted it for man’s benefit.

The people to whom Paul and Peter wrote were experiencing increased persecution and oppression at the hands of Rome. Yet the apostles told them not only to be loyal and law-abiding citizens but helpful citizens as well.

The early church did not start an insurrection against Rome or a campaign against slavery, wicked and cruel as both those were. In fact, the Holy Spirit took the words of slavery (slave, bond-slave, bondage, servant, etc.) and made them the symbols of Christian dedication and submission. In His omniscient providence God also used the pagan Romans to spread the Greek language, a universal language used to record His Word and carry it to the ends of the known world of that day. God used them to build a system of roads over which His messengers could easily travel as they carried the good news throughout the empire. And God used the Pax Romana, or Roman peace, to allow those messengers to travel in relative safety.

As Peter declared early in his ministry, there are obvious limits to a believer’s submission to human authority. When he and John had been charged by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem not to preach the gospel, the two men responded, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20; cf. 5:28-29). Many believers in the early church lost their freedom, their possessions, and even their lives because they refused to offer incense to Caesar. They would honor him as a human leader, but they would not worship him as a god.

The Christian’s first obligation is to obey God, and when His law is directly opposed by men’s laws, God’s law must prevail. The Christian, for example, has no right to lie, steal, commit murder, or worship a false god, no matter what the dictates of a human government might be and no matter what the consequences for disobedience might be.

Nor is it that a Christian has no right to help change unjust laws and governments when he has opportunity to do so. But in a democratic society especially, the major injustices and evils within it are never primarily the result of poor government or poor laws, bad as those might be. When the people have no respect for law, God’s or men’s, and when their standards and motives revolve around their own selfish interests, no government can be stable or provide justice and order. Even the most godly and moral leaders cannot infuse morality into an immoral society. It is futile to work at changing evil laws and removing evil leaders without changing the evil hearts of those whom the laws try to control and the leaders try to rule.

Even slaves are to be submissive to their masters, Peter declared, “with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly” (1 Pet. 2:18-19). Just as with a submissive wife who desires to win her unbelieving husband to Christ (3:1-2), effective witnessing begins with submission.

The supreme example of godly submission is Jesus Christ, who “suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:21-23). Jesus submitted to suffering He did not deserve from those who had no right to judge Him in the first place. He committed no sin, outwardly or inwardly, yet He submitted to corrupt and sinful authorities, both religious and political. He took unjust abuse in order that He might better win men to Himself, and He is the example for everyone who calls Him Lord.

The Christian’s being a citizen of God’s kingdom does not exempt him from responsibility to human kingdoms. In fact His being a citizen of God’s kingdom gives him a special obligation to human kingdoms, because those, too, belong to God and are ordained by Him.

By being a good citizen the believer shows love for his fellow men, even those who are lost and unjust. By being a good citizen he shows respect for God-ordained human government, even when its leaders are ungodly, corrupt, and oppressive. By being a good citizen he shows that he loves God as well as his country and his fellow citizens. In the light of such testimony the onlooking world is compelled to consider the power that makes such love possible.