13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.
When Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," he was looking at the Roman denarius with the image of Caesar fixed upon it. But when Jesus said, "render . . . to God the things that are God's," he was looking at his interlocutors -- people themselves stamped with the very image of God.
The point: to Caesar belongs the coin with Caesar's image stamped; but to God belongs the person with God's image stamped.
Caesar may take all our coins -- for the coins were his from at their minting. But to God alone belongs our personhood; for that was God's in the beginning. And we must not allow Caesar to rob it.
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