Why should I pay taxes when I disagree with how the government uses my money?

It was another of the “gotcha” questions that Jesus’ enemies regularly posed to him.

This one arose on the Tuesday before Good Friday, as Jesus taught in the temple courts in Jerusalem. Three gospel writers—Matthew (22:15-22), Mark (12:13-17), and Luke (20:20-26)—record the incident. A peculiar alliance of Jews—pro-Roman Herodians (supporters of the infamous vassal kings subject to Caesar) and anti-Roman Pharisees (viewed as Jewish patriots), ordinarily hostile to each other but now sharing a greater hostility to Jesus—came as one to ask him, “Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

Jesus’ answer precisely served that moment and has stood ever since as a statement of Christian principle. Though laid down in a setting quite different from our own, the principle remains for us, if ever we question why we should pay taxes when we disagree with how our government uses those funds.

The context

Consider the context of the gotcha question: The Roman Empire levied the imperial tax against all adult males who, like nearly all Jews, were not Roman citizens. In essence, Jesus was being asked whether it was right for Jews—a people special to God and his purposes—to pay this particular tax to a pagan government that had made their Promised Land just one more Roman province.

The Herodians and Pharisees first sidled up to Jesus by praising his integrity. They lauded him as a teller of God’s truth, a teacher unmoved by either fear or favor, just the man to handle that tough question honestly and bravely. But, more than tough, this was a trick question meant to trap Jesus in a lose-lose situation. Answer yes (the Herodian opinion), and Jews, resentful and chafing under the Roman Empire, would label him a traitor to God and his people. Answer no (in line with the Pharisees), and the Romans would brand him a rebel, and the Romans did not treat rebels gently.

The perfect answer

Of course, Jesus saw through the trap and gave the perfect answer. As Matthew writes, “[Jesus said,] ‘Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s’ ” (Matthew 22:19-21). Upon this, his questioners went away amazed. There was nothing they could say.

With that silver coin Jesus illustrated both where obedience to government and obedience to God met and also where they split. Caesar’s image (Tiberius’, if minted under the emperor then on the throne) and his name in the inscription signaled that this coin was Roman, both product and part of Roman governance.

The inscription included also the emperor’s claim to both divinity—“son of divine Augustus”—and religious sovereignty—“greatest priest.”

By accepting the Roman coin as currency, the Jews were admitting that they were subjects of the empire. Whether they liked that or not, they benefited from that status. A common currency was typical of the advantages Rome’s empire provided, things such as good order; excellent roads; a strong military; a sturdy trade network; and civil improvements such as buildings, aqueducts, and sewers. The list could go on. Like it or not, this was the government that God had placed over the Jews. The government, even Rome’s, was an extension of God’s authority by which he was blessing them. They owed—both Caesar and God—obedience to that authority. At the imperial tax, duty to Caesar and duty to God met.

Believers obey both God and government. Indeed, by obeying the government they are obeying God.

The two duties split over the inscription on the coin. With the command to “give back . . . to God what is God’s,” Jesus deftly rejected Caesar’s inscribed claim to divinity. The Jews could drop that coin in the collector’s box to pay a lawful tax, but they had no right to acknowledge Caesar as a god. Their obligation was to the true God. Caesar could claim his piece of precious metal from them.

Only God could claim their worship and reverence. To God they owed their mind, body, and spirit.

Jesus’ reply to his enemies was not the either-or answer they wanted. It was a both-and. Believers obey both God and government. Indeed, by obeying the government they are obeying God. Both-and turns into either-or only when the government demands something against God’s will or commands us not to obey God. In that case, we have to say what Peter and the other apostles said when they were commanded by Jerusalem authorities to stop preaching about Jesus: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (Acts 5:29).

Added biblical guidance

A generation later, the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome about obedience to government. In Romans 13:1-7, he reiterates and applies what Jesus said on Holy Tuesday. In sum, Paul penned: God has established government for people’s good. Rebellion against its authority is by extension rebellion against God. From God, a government has the right and the means to enforce its laws. But a Christian’s obedience to the law ought to spring not from fear of punishment but from a conscience that wants to obey both God and government.

Paul even speaks specifically to the matter of taxes, “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor” (Romans 13:6-7).

Yet in Paul’s time, Rome did things that no believing taxpayer could endorse. Three days after Jesus answered the question on taxes, Judea’s Governor Pilate committed the greatest injustice in history when he ordered the Savior’s crucifixion. Before that, Pilate had carried out a bloody atrocity against some Galileans (Luke 13:1). Recall King Herod’s murder of Bethlehem’s baby boys (Matthew 2:16). It’s likely that unstable Emperor Nero, notorious for his cruel crimes, was the head of government as Paul wrote to the Roman Christians. The government had an obligation to act justly; it didn’t always do that. Still Paul said, “If you owe taxes, pay taxes.”

Enduring principle

The principle endures to our day, when people often have much more recourse to change things than Paul—himself a Roman citizen—had. Under Rome, protest, even respectful disagreement, was dangerous. In our time, citizens of democratic countries have legally protected ways to object to and even to change laws, including tax laws. They can make their disagreements known with their votes. They can contact their representatives in government. They themselves can serve in government and make laws by holding formal office.

Along with doing what we can to change what we object to, we can pray. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Those words mesh neatly with Peter’s encouragement: “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). Paying taxes is part of that package.

Author: Daniel Balge
Volume 113, Number 07
Issue: July 2026
Photo: iStock