Romans 13:7

| Rom 13 |

7 v 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.

Matthew 17:25

| Matt 17 |

25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, q “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or r tax? From their sons or from others?”

Matthew 22:21

| Matt 22 |

21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, q “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

Mark 12:17

| Mark 12 |

17 Jesus said to them, j “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.

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Matt. 16:21–17:27 The Suffering of the Messiah Revealed. Jesus reveals the nature of his messiahship. He is a suffering Messiah, and those who are his disciples must suffer with him (16:21–28). Still, the transfiguration (17:1–13) discloses who Jesus really is: the Son of God. And believers, who are themselves sons of the kingdom, are free from the old era of the law (17:14–27).

Matt. 17:14–27 Sons of the Kingdom. Through the healing and exorcism of an epileptic boy, Jesus shows the contrast between defective and effective faith (vv. 14–20). Jesus also teaches that his impending death will come through betrayal (vv. 22–23) and that the OT law has no claim on him or his disciples (vv. 24–27).

Matt. 17:25–26 Then the sons are free. Because the temple is God the Father's own house, the Son and those he has brought into the Father's family (12:48–50) are exempt from the temple tax, signaling that, with the coming of the kingdom, believers are no longer under the OT law but the law of Christ (see Gal. 6:2).

Matt. 21:1–23:39 The Messiah Asserts His Authority over Jerusalem. Jesus' authority over Jerusalem is revealed in his triumphal entry (21:1–11), actions in the temple (21:12–17), cursing the fig tree (21:18–22), debates with religious leaders (21:23–22:46), and woes pronounced on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1–39).

Matt. 21:23–22:46 Controversies in the Temple Court over Jesus' Authority. On Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus presents three extended parables showing God's judgment on the leaders for not encouraging the people to accept Jesus' invitation to the kingdom of heaven (21:28–22:14). This is followed by a series of four interactions as the religious leaders try to trap Jesus, who in turn reveals his true identity as the Son of God (22:15–46).

Matt. 22:21 render to Caesar . . . and to God. Jesus is not establishing a political kingdom in opposition to Caesar, so his followers should pay taxes and obey civil laws. There are matters that belong to the realm of civil government, and there are other matters that belong to God's realm. Jesus does not here specify which matters belong in which realm, but many Christian ethicists today teach that, in general, civil government should allow freedom in matters of religious doctrine, worship, and beliefs about God, and the church should not attempt to use the power of government to enforce allegiance to any specific religious viewpoint. All forms of the Christian church throughout the world today support some kind of separation between matters of church and matters of state. By contrast, totalitarian governments usually try to suppress the church and subsume everything under the realm of the state. And some extreme Islamic movements have tried to abolish independent civil government and subsume everything under the control of Islamic religious leaders. Historically, when the church and state have become too closely aligned, the result most often has been the compromise of the church.