herefore has the right to claim directly and exclusively
for Himself. The Lord will not stand between Caesar and that which bears
his image; let not Caesar dare to stand between God and that in man which
bears His image, and which He claims to rule directly by His word and by
His Spirit indwelling in human hearts.

This text is constantly quoted to justify the refusal to pay to Caesar
the tax, be it church-rate or anything else, which he may demand for the
support of a spiritual system, which we may not believe to be in
accordance with the Divine will. I confess that the teaching of our Lord
in these words seems to me to point in precisely the opposite direction.
The argument which one often hears is to this effect: Caesar is intruding
into God's province when he demands anything from us for spiritual uses;
this is a department with which he has nothing whatever to do, and we
are giving him that which is God's if we yield to his claims. God alone
has the right to claim anything at our hand for spiritual uses; and we
are wronging Him, we are robbing the Lord of what political theologians
call His "crown rights," if we give unto Caesar one farthing for the
maintenance of any Church system or systems, or any spiritual operations
of any sort, since these are of the things which belong to God alone.
The argument of our Lord in these verses points surely the other way.
With Him the test of the demand is not the purpose, but the thing
demanded. If what is asked has Caesar's image on it, enough; let him have
it; the responsibility of using it rests with him. If Caesar asks that
which has not his image upon it, which he cannot compel before his
tribunals or distrain by his officers, such as your judgment, your
conscience, and the support of your voice and your hand, obey God rather
than man. If you yield to Caesar, yield because you see that it is right
in God's sight, that it is a duty to God to yield to him; if you refuse,
refuse because to yield would be wrong in God's sight, and then be
prepared to sustain your refusal even unto death.

Do not misunderstand the difficulty of the Jewish rulers, which was a
very real one. It was a case of conscience with them. They did not care
about the amount of the tribute, that was a small matter; but Caesar was
a Gentile, idolatrous prince. Idolatry was the state religion of the
Roman empire. It was a bitter thought to the Jew that an idolater, one
capable of setting up his own image in t