as, in the West, Alexandrian philosophy moved to many a preparation for Christianity. 27
At any rate, the scruple expressed by these men would, if genuine, have called forth
sympathy.28 But what was the alternative here presented to Christ? To have said No,
would have been to command rebellion; to have said simply Yes, would have been to
give a painful shock to keep feeling, and, in a sense, in the eyes of the people, the lie to
His own claim of being Israel's Messiah-King!
25. Jos . Jew. War ii. 16. 4.
26. Babh a K. 113 a and the instance of Abigail pleading with David that Saul's coinage
was still in circulation. Jer, Sanh. 20 b.
27. For fuller particulars on this point see Book II. ch. x.
28. Some might have even religious scruples about handling a coin of Cæsar. Such an
instance is mentioned in Ab. Zar. 6 b, where a Rabbi is advised to throw it into the water,
and pretend it had accidentally dropped from his hand. but probably that instance refers
to the avoidance of all possibility of being regarded as sharing in idol -festivities.
But the Lord escaped from this 'temptation' - because, being true, it was no real
temptation to Him.29 Their knavery and hypocrisy He immediately p erceived and
exposed, in this also responding to their appeal of being 'true.' Once more and
emphatically must we disclaim the idea that Christ's was rather an evasion of the
question than a reply. It was a very real rather, when pointing to the image and
inscription on the coin,30 for which He had called, He said, 'What is Cæsar's render to
Cæsar, and what is God's to God.'31 It did far more than rebuke their hypocrisy and
presumption; it answered not only that question of theirs to all earnest men of that time,
as it would present itself to their minds, but it settles to all time and for all circumstances
the principle underlying it. Christ's Kingdom is not of this world; a true Theocracy is not
inconsistent with submission to the secular power in things that are really its own;
politics and religion neither include, nor yet exclude, each other; they are, side by side,
in different domains. The State is Divinely sanctioned, and religion is Divinely
sanctioned - and both are equally the ordinance of God. On this principle did Apostolic
authority regulate the relations between Church and State, even when the latter was
heathen. The question about the limits of either province has been hotly discussed by
sectarians on either side, who have claimed the saying of Christ in support of one or the
opposite extreme which they have advocated. And yet, to the simple searcher after
duty, it seems not so difficult to see the distinction, if only we succeed in purging
ourselves of logical refinements and strained references.
29. However pictorial, the sketch of this given by Keim ('Jesu von Nazara,' iii. 1, pp. 131
&c.) is - as too often - somewhat exaggerated.
30. By a strange concurrence the coin, which on Christ's demand was handed to Him,
bore 'the image' of the Emperor. It must, therefore, have been either a foreign one
(Roman), or else one of the Tetrarch Philip, who exceptionally had the image of Tiberius
on his coins (comp. Schürer, N.T. Zeitgesch. p. 231). Neither Herod nor Herod Antipas
had any 'image' on their coins, but only the usual 'devices' of the Maccabaean period.