Who is Caesar?
In our present economic times there is much angst over many things. Jobs are being shipped over seas (supposedly). Banks are collapsing. Mortgages are being defaulted. Fraud is rampant. Oh and there’s the bit about government spending. Back on April 15th I attended the Dayton tea party. It was a wonderful experience. It was the first time I’d done anything really political (outside of voting) since attending pro-life demonstrations back in high school. It was great to go and cheer and jeer at the Obama administration and all of the spending he’s doing. As a Libertarian, I’m generally opposed to the idea of taxes. I obey the law of the land because I don’t believe in dodging taxes - it’s not that kind of issue. But I support the repeal of the 16th ammendment and the abolition of the IRS.
But how does this jive with being a Christian. I’ve been mulling this one over for a while. Can I rightly be against taxes if I’m a Christian. What does the Bible say about taxes? Matthew 22:17-21 comes to mind. Several of the religious leaders of the day pose the question to Jesus, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?”. What’s Jesus’s response? He holds up a coin and says “Whose image is on this coin?” They answer that it is Caesar’s so he delivers the line in verse 21. “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
So from this the most direct interpretation is that Jesus is telling us to honor the earthly King by giving him the taxes due to him. This is backed up by Romans 13. Case closed right? Maybe. This brings me back to my original question. Who is Caesar? At that day Caesar was the emperor - the supreme king over all the known world. Why was the coin Caesar’s - because he commissioned its minting and allowed his citizens to use it. It bore his image as a branding mark. But what about today? Who is Caesar in our culture? I think most people would say it’s the federal government. We don’t have a king, but we still have a central federal government that comissions the minting of money and allows its use. Therefore the federal government is Caesar and the money we owe in taxes is the federal government’s. Render unto the federal government what is the federal government’s. Case closed now?
I don’t think so. I think we’re missing a very key part of the equation. We have a unique situation here in this land. Abraham Lincoln described it best. We have a government that is “of the people, by the people and for the people.” I would argue then that the people are Caesar. In Rome the government was of, by and for Caesar. Now the government is of, by and for us. And as our stewards, the federal government owes us what is ours, not the other way around. We commission the federal government’s use of our money for the common good. So when the government uses our money to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”, we allow it. But when they use our money to allow and fund the injustice of illegal immigration, insure domestic strife, dismantle our common defence, promote individual welfare and destroy the blessings of liberty to ourselves and especially our posterity, that is when we balk.
It is not as though citizens thing Caesar should not have his money. It is as though Caesar is unhappy with an underling who is using his money in a way he does not wish it to be used. I think this fundamentally makes sesne. It’s how I reconcile my Libertarian stance with my Christian world view. I think it works very well together. Thoughts?