I thought the point of it was to tell Christians how to live in harmony with the Roman Empire/government. To pay both. The idea being you can exist with your faith in this giant political system, still being a believer and not compromising your values but not fighting the system, agitating, getting arrested for your religion, etc.
It worked. Christians were able to exist inside the Empire, first underground, then openly. There were persecutions, sure. But because they paid their taxes and followed the laws they weren't doing more to antagonize the authorities and giving extra reasons to be arrested or killed. Contrast that with the insular attitude of the Jews (and many other religions).
This allowed the Christians to fully take over the Empire in 300 years from the inside out.
The amount of disagrees on my comment just shows how much people are lacking on their bible study.
Jesus was pointing out the illegitimacy of such taxation, though he never really answered his opponents’ question. He rather redirected the questioning into an area that Pharisees would be hard pressed to refute or further pursue. It is very important to consider the historical and cultural context of this story and, in particular, Jesus’ counter-question, which is twofold:
The tax money and "Whose image and inscription is this?"
The tax money was a Roman denarius. The denarius was roughly worth a day’s wages for a common laborer. The denarius bore the likeness of the current Roman emperor, as each emperor minted his own coins. This particular denarius was issued by the Emperor Tiberius. The denarius was considered the property of the emperor, bearing the imperial seal. It was used to pay the soldiers, officials and Roman suppliers, and was the coin with which subjected peoples were required to pay tribute. Under Tiberius, it was a capital crime to carry any coin stamped with his image into a bathroom or brothel. It was meant to be a tangible representation of the emperor’s power, wealth, deification and subjugation. The denarius’ circulation was scarce in Judea, and the only people that used it would be soldiers, Roman officials, and Jewish leaders in collaboration with Rome. So Jesus did not have one - He had to ask the Pharisees for one. Which they had no trouble producing, showing that they used it routinely.
These coins were used not only as currency, but as instruments of Roman propaganda. The front of the denarius had a profile of Tiberius, crowned with laurels of victory and divinity. Around the image is the inscription “Ti Caesar Divi Aug F Augustus,” translated “Tiberius Caesar, Worshipful Son of the God, Augustus.” On the back of the coin is Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace, with the inscription “Pontif Maxim,” which stands for “Pontifex Maximus,” meaning “High Priest.” So the denarius imposes the cult of emperor worship, asserting Caesar’s sovereignty over all who would use it.
"Whose image and inscription is this?" It is important to remember that the Hebrews would rarely quote Scripture in its entirety, much less its entire context. It was not necessary to do so. They were raised to know the Scriptures by memory. By referencing just a phrase, or even just a word, the entire passage would immediately come to mind, and everyone knew what was being said. That was the culture in Jesus’ day. Far more Old Testament scriptures are quoted, or referenced, in the Gospels than we recognize, because we look for the whole thing, when they only needed a part of it. So Jesus asked them a two-part rhetorical question, referencing the image on the coin and the inscription on the coin.
First, He referenced the image. He did not ask, “Who’s picture is on the coin?” but “Who’s image is this.” - very important distinction. He is referencing the second of the ten commandments, which is a prohibition on forming any image of a false god for adoration. When Jesus asked who’s image it was, the commandment against worshiping any other god or making an image of a false god would have immediately come to the Pharisee’s minds.
Next he referenced the inscription. In the Jewish mind, His use of the term inscription was a reference to the Shema: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God – the Lord alone,” stressing Israel’s worship of God as exclusive of all other gods. The Shema then commands the person to love the Lord with all his heart, soul and strength. The Shema then required them to keep those words inscribed in the hearts, on their doorposts, and on the gates of the city.
So those two words, image and inscription carried a significant amount of weight, which significance escapes us in the western world today.
Then Jesus gave them the ultimate mic-drop answer. “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” In this response, Jesus is challenging the Pharisees to determine what rightfully belongs to God vs what rightfully belongs to Caesar. That put the Pharisees between a rock and a hard place. By referencing the second commandment and the Shema, Jesus has already reminded them that God was owed exclusive allegiance and total love and worship. Along with this, which certainly did not escape the Pharisees, is the fact that everything belongs to God - Leviticus 25:23, "The land (of Israel) shall not be sold in perpetuity - for the land is mine, and you (the Israelites) are but aliens who have become my tenants." The Jews were to dedicate the first fruits of the harvest to God, acknowledging that all good things come from God and ultimately belong to Him. And they would have also known God’s claim that “Mine is the silver and mine is the gold.”
On the other hand, Tiberius is also claiming that all people and things in the empire belong to Him, the son of the god Augustus, imposing his supposed deity on his subjects, which include Israel. The denarius notified the people that the emperor demanded exclusive allegiance and at least the pretense of worship. Roman tribute, paid with Roman currency, was a message that their economic life depended upon the emperor.
So with one simple answer, Jesus drives home the message that the claims of God and those of Tiberius are mutually exclusive. “If you claim the Lord God as your God, then you owe everything to God. Caesar’s claims are not legitimate, and you owe Caesar nothing. On the other hand, if your faith is in Caesar, then God’s claims are illegitimate; you owe God nothing and you owe Caesar, at the very least, the coin which bears his image."
So Jesus is not saying, “Worship God, but pay your taxes.” He actually does not answer their question at all. He is challenging the Pharisees to choose their allegiance. Will they love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and strength, or will they continue to try to divide their allegiance between God and Caesar?
The result? "When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him they went away." They were reduced to bewildered silence.
