Matthew 22:17
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” Matthew 22:17
“You tell, therefore, us what You, it seems? It permits to give census to Caesar or not?” (CG)
In the previous verse, it was noted that the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians went to Jesus, buttering Him up with platitudes. Now that they feel He is primed for a fall into the trap they have set, they say, “You tell, therefore, us what to You, it seems.”
Here it goes. In the previous verse, they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we have known that true, You are, and the ‘way, the God’ in truth You teach, and not it concerns You about anyone. Not, also, You look to ‘appearance, men’.”
Now, instead of asking what Scripture (the ‘way, the God’) says, they ask for an opinion that is surely intended to trap Him in a moral, religious, or cultural dilemma. One can see them salivating over the answer He will give, knowing that they have Him in a box. And so, with this in mind, they ask their question, “It permits to give census to Caesar or not?”
The kensos, census, was introduced in Matthew 17:25. It is a poll tax that was not paid in their Jewish currency but in Roman coin. This is a problem and a dilemma that the people faced. Should they obediently submit to those who ruled them, or should they rebel against their authority?
This is where they feel that they have trapped Him. If He says to not pay it, the Herodians are standing there, ready to report Him to the Roman authorities for being a rebel against their duly set authority.
On the other hand, if He says that they were to pay the poll tax, the Pharisees, as the religious authorities over the people, would be able to tell the masses that Jesus was a traitor to the nation, placing the authority of the Romans above supposed allegiance to God, who established them as a people.
The idea of “supposed” is not that the people could be disobedient to God, but that there may be a contingency not suggested in the presentation of their false dilemma that had nothing to do with disobedience to God.
Life application: As noted in a previous commentary, fallacies are mistakes in reasoning that render an argument weak, unsound, or invalid. The content of the fallacy is based on an already broken structure of argumentation.
The problem is that people quite often do not know what fallacies are or when they are presented. Instead, they hear what is being presented and, without thinking the matter through, assume that what is stated is valid.
And there are a seemingly endless number of fallacies to contend with. Some, like the false dilemma, are often so seemingly innocuous that they are hard to pin down, especially when one is under pressure to give a response.
A few common fallacies are: Ad Hominem – Attacking the person making an argument instead of the argument itself. Straw Man – Changing or exaggerating an opponent's argument to make it easier to knock down. False Dilemma – Pretending there are only two choices when there are more options. Appeal to Authority – Claiming something is true just because an expert or famous person says so, without real evidence. Bandwagon (Ad Populum) – Saying an idea is right because lots of people believe in it. Circular Reasoning – Repeating the claim inside the proof itself instead of giving a real reason. Slippery Slope – Claiming that a small first step will lead to a giant, bad disaster without proof. Hasty Generalization – Making a giant rule based on just a small example.
We hear these errors in thinking all the time, but don’t consider them because we have not taken the time to understand what is being presented or who is presenting the information.
Take time to go to a website that specifically lists fallacies and look them over. Consider each one in your mind before moving on. This will help you immensely when you hear people refer to all types of matters.
One from a religious perspective was given by John Hagee when he was selling a book about Jesus. He said, “Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah.” Obviously, he had never read the Bible through because Jesus explicitly claimed to be the Messiah in John 4:26, John 17:3 (which uses the word “Christ”, and which means “Messiah”), etc.
Further, the terms Messiah and Christ, when referring to Jesus, are stated well over 250 times. But what John Hagee did was to build a Straw Man fallacy by redefining what “Messiah” means for his own purposes. He then essentially said, “See, Jesus never claimed this.”
But how many people went out and bought the book? And how many continued to sit under his teaching after such an enormous, purposeful attack against the position and authority of Jesus? The fact that they accepted his word reflects another fallacy mentioned above, the Appeal to Authority. “Oh, the preacher is a specialist on this or that. Therefore, what he says must be true.”
Be careful to know when you are being sold a bill of goods. Jesus was prepared, as we will see.
Lord God, keep us from false teachers who present misleading, bogus, and even heretical doctrines that will blind us to the truth of Your word. Give us wisdom to understand how what they present is false so that we will not be duped by their words. Yes, help us in this, O God. Amen.
