Christ said: “Show me the tribute money.”They brought him a penny. And he saith unto them: “Whose is the image and the superscription? “They said: “Caesar’s.” And Christ said: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”
Did Christ think that the money belonged to Caesar because his image and superscription were stamped upon it? Did the penny belong to Caesar or to the man who had earned it? Had Caesar the right to demand it because it was adorned with his image?
Does it appear from this conversation that Christ understood the real nature and use of money?
Robert Green Ingersoll – “About the Holy Bible” (1894)
(First posted on June 22, 2007)
Comments
10 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.Burn on Christ. You burn, christ.
This is US Law not Roman Law, but it would seem that holders of currency are not full owners – the issuer retains some rights in it.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=426715
As my friend brendan put it:
“If you could feed thousands of people with two loaves of bread and five fish, would you understand how money worked?”
Good grief, I think Jesus understood money. Apparently, Ingersoll doesn’t understand metaphor.
Jesus was responding to the Pharisees trying to bait him into speaking out against the Romans (presumably to get him in trouble with them) when they asked him “is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?”. In my opinion, he’s essentially saying, “it doesn’t matter — obey the law of the land. Can we talk about something important now?”
Normally, Ingersoll’s right on the (ahem) money, but this time he’s reaching.
I think this quote really shows Ingersoll’s contempt for Jesus. I’m guessing he never even met the man.
Tribute money I think is like a tax owed or money paid for a service.So if it was owed to Caesar pay up.Now with the different faces on USA money it’s harder to quote,maybe Bush will get his face on it all since he is the Christian’s leader and also the new Caesar.
I don’t hate jesus, but I don’t understand how a long-haired blond jew could exist in the middle east 2000 years ago without somebody becoming suspicious. I mean, c’mon, he looked like a freakin’ hippy, for god’s sake. And I’ve never met a hippy who understood the value of money, personally. And if jesus returned today, would he understand derivatives? So many questions…Oh, Bob Ingersoll, how we need you now.
I always thought that “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” was a way of saying “Keep the church and state separate”.
I believe you have some of my bills. Did that scoundrel Burr put you up to this?
Good comments here. The issue of looking at the person on the coin is that under Jewish law there were to be no graven images. The fact that those trying to trap Jesus were committing the same Judaic crime was a subtle way of fending them off. GT’s right this is the basis for separation of church and state in some believer’s tenets.