Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

We see in this passage the first of a series of subtle attacks which were made on our Lord during the last days of his earthly ministry. His deadly foes, the Pharisees, saw the influence which he was obtaining, both by his miracles and by his preaching. They were determined by some means to silence him, or put him to death; they therefore endeavoured to "?entangle him in his talk.?" They sent forth"?their disciples? with the Herodians?" to try him with a hard question: they wished to entice him into saying something which might serve as a handle for an accusation against him. Their scheme, we are told in these verses, entirely failed: they took nothing by their aggressive movement, and retreated in confusion.

The first thing which demands our attention in these verses is the flattering language with which our Lord was accosted by his enemies. "?Master,?' they said,?we know that thou art true and teacheth the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men.How well these Pharisees and Herodians talked. What smooth and honeyed words were these. They thought no doubt that by good words and fair speeches they would throw our Lord off his guard. It might truly be said of them the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.?" (? Psalm 55:21).

It becomes all professing Christians to be much on their guard against flattery. We mistake greatly if we suppose that persecution and hard usage are the only weapons in Satan's armoury: that crafty foe has other engines for doing us mischief, which he knows well how to work. He knows how to poison souls by the world's seductive kindness, when he cannot frighten them by the "?fiery dart?" or the sword. Let us not be ignorant of his devices. "?By peace he destroys many.?"

We are only too apt to forget this truth: we overlook the many examples which God has given us in Scripture for our learning. What brought about the ruin of Samson? Not the armies of the Philistines, but the pretended love of a Philistine woman. What led to Solomon's backsliding? Not the strength of outward enemies, but the blandishment of his numerous wives. What was the cause of King Hezekiah's greatest mistake? Not the sword of Sennacherib, or the threats of Rab-shakeh, but the flattery of the Babylonian ambassadors. Let us remember these things, and be on our guard. Peace often ruins nations more than war; sweet things occasion far more sickness than bitter; the sun makes the traveler cast off his protective garments far sooner than the north wind. Let us beware of the flatterer. Satan is never so dangerous as when he appears as an angel of light: the world is never so dangerous to the Christian as when it smiles. When Judas betrayed his Lord, it was with a kiss. The believer that is proof against the world's frown does well; but he that is proof against its flattery does better.

The second thing that demands our attention in these verses is the marvelous wisdom of the reply which our Lord made to his enemies. The Pharisees and Herodians asked whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not. They doubtless thought that they had put a question which our Lord could not answer without giving them an advantage. Had he simply replied that it was lawful to pay tribute, they would have denounced him to the people as one who dishonored the privileges of Israel and considered the children of Abraham no longer free, but subject to a foreign power. Had he, on the other hand, replied that it was not lawful to pay tribute, they would have denounced him to the Romans as a mover of sedition and a rebel against Caesar, who refused to pay his taxes. But our Lord's conduct completely baffled them. He demanded to see the tribute money.

He asks them whose head is on that coin. They reply, "?Caesar's.?" They acknowledge that the Roman Emperor Caesar has some authority over them, by using money bearing his image and supercription, since he that coins the current money is ruler of the land where that money is current. And at once they receive an irresistibly conclusive answer to their question: "?Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's?."

The principle laid down in these well-known words is one of deep importance. There is oneobedience owing by every Christian to the civil government under which he lives, in all matters which are temporal, and not purely spiritual. He may not approve of every requirement of that civil government; but he must submit to the laws of the commonwealth, so long as those laws are unrepealed. He must "?render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.?" There is another obedience which the Christian owes to the God of the Bible in all matters which are purely spiritual. No temporal loss, no civil disability, no displeasure of the powers that he must ever tempt him to do things which the Scripture plainly forbids. His position may be very trying; he may have to suffer much for his conscience' sake: but he must never fly in the face of unmistakable requirements of Scripture. If Caesar coins a new Gospel, he is not to be obeyed. We must "?render to God the things that are God's.?"

The subject unquestionably is one of great difficulty and delicacy. It is certain that the church must not swallow up the state; it is no less certain that the state must not swallow up the church. On no point, perhaps, have conscientious men been so much tried; on no point have good men disagreed so much as in solving the problem where the things of Caesar end, and where the things of God begin. The civil power, on the one side, has often encroached terribly on the rights of conscience—as the English Puritans found to their cost in the unhappy times of the Stuarts; the spiritual power, on the other side, has often pushed its claims to an extravagant extent, so as to take Caesar's scepter out of his hands—as it did when the church of Rome trampled on our own English King John. In order to have a right judgment in all questions of this kind, every true Christian should constantly pray for "?wisdom from above.?" The man whose eye is single, and who daily seeks for grace and practical common sense, will never be allowed greatly to err.

This passage describes a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ and the Sadducees. These unhappy men, who said that there was "?no resurrection?" attempted, like the Pharisees and Herodians, to perplex our Lord with hard questions. Like them, they hoped "?to entangle him in his talk?" and to injure his reputation among the people. Like them, they were completely baffled.

Let us observe in the first place, that absurd skeptical objections to Bible truths are ancient things. The Sadducees wished to show the absurdity of the doctrine of the resurrection and the life to come; they therefore came to our Lord with a story which was probably invented for the occasion. They told him that a certain woman had married seven brothers in succession, who had all died and left no children. They then asked, "?whose wife?" this woman would be in the next world, when all rose again. The object of the question was plain and transparent. They meant, in reality, to bring the whole doctrine of a resurrection into contempt; they meant to insinuate that there must needs be confusion, and strife and unseemly disorder if after death men and women were to live again.

It must never surprise us if we meet with like objections against the doctrines of Scripture, and especially against those doctrines which concern another world. There never probably will be wanting unreasonable men who will intrude into things unseen and make imaginary difficulties their excuse for unbelief. Supposed cases are one of the favorite strongholds in which an unbelieving mind loves to entrench itself. Such a mind will often set up a shadow of its own imagining, and fight with it as if it was a truth; such a mind will often refuse to look at the overwhelming mass of plain evidence by which Christianity is supported, and will fasten down on some one single difficulty which it fancies is unanswerable. The talk and arguments of people of this character should never shake our faith for a moment. For one thing, we should remember that there must needs be deep and dark things in a religion which comes from God, and that a child may put forth questions which the greatest philosopher cannot answer.For another thing, we should remember that there are countess truths in the Bible which are clear and unmistakable. Let us first attend to them, believe them and obey them. In so doing, we need not doubt that many a thing now unintelligible to us will yet be made plain; in so doing, we may be sure that what we know not now we shall know hereafter.

Let us observe in the second place, what a remarkable text our Lord brings forward in proof of the reality of a life to come. He places before the Sadducees the words which God spoke to Moses in the bush: "?I am? the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?" (? Exodus 3:6). He adds the comment, God "?is not the God of the dead, but of the living?." At the time when Moses heard these words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been dead and buried many years; two centuries had passed away since Jacob, the last of the three, was carried to his tomb: and yet God spoke of them as being still his people, and of himself as being still their God. He s said not, "?I was their God,?" but "?I am.?"

Perhaps we are not often tempted to doubt the truth of a resurrection and a life to come, but, unhappily, it is easy to hold truths theoretically, and yet not realize them practically. There are few of us who would not find it good to meditate on the mighty verity which our Lord here unfolds, and to give it a prominent place in our thoughts. Let us settle it in our minds that the dead are in one sense still alive. From our eyes they have passed away and their place knows them no more, but in the eyes of God they live and will one day come out of their graves to receive an everlasting sentence. There is no such thing as annihilation; the idea is a miserable delusion. The sun, moon and stars, the solid mountains and deep sea, will one day come to nothing; but the weakest babe of the poorest man shall live forevermore in another world. May we never forget this! Happy is who can say from his heart the words of the Nicene Creed: "?I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.?"

Let us observe in the last place, the account which our Lord gives of the state of men and women after the resurrection. He silences the fancied objections of the Sadducees by showing that they entirely mistook the true character of the resurrection state. They took it for granted that it must needs be a gross, carnal existence like that of mankind upon earth. Our Lord tells them that in the next world we may have a real material body, and yet a body of very different constitution and different necessities from that we have now. He speaks only of the saved, be it remembered: he omits all mention of the lost. He says, "?In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in heaven?."

We know but little of the life to come in heaven. Perhaps our clearest ideas of it are drawn from considering what it will not be, rather than what it will be. It is a state in which we shall hunger no more nor thirst any more; sickness, pain and disease will not be known; wasting old age and death will have no place. Marriages, births and a constant succession of inhabitants will no more be needed: they who are once admitted into heaven shall dwell there forevermore. And, to pass from negatives to positives, one thing we are told plainly: we shall be "?as the angels of God." Like them, we shall serve God perfectly, unhesitatingly and unweariedly; like them, we shall be in God's presence; like them, we shall ever delight to do his will; like them, we shall give all glory to the Lamb. These are deep things, but they are all true.

Are we ready for this life? Should we enjoy it, if admitted to take part in it? Is the company of God and the service of God pleasant to us now? Is the occupation of angels one in which we should delight? These are solemn questions. Our hearts must be heavenly on earth, while we live, if we hope to go to heaven when we rise again in another world (?