The first part of this question is fairly straightforward.
Yes, taxes are biblical. I’m sure you all have read the scenario in Matthew 22
where the Pharisees walk up to Jesus and ask, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to
Caesar?” Of course, being Pharisees, they did not want to merely have Jesus
answer their pressing question. Instead, they meant to trap Jesus and use his
answer against him. As Calvin says in his commentaries, it is likely they would
have accused Jesus of sedition if he had said that it was not lawful to pay the
tax, but would have accused him of faithlessness to Israel if he had said it
was lawful. Jesus, of course, cannot be fooled by any man and saw through the
Pharisees’ disguise immediately. Jesus’ then scolds the Pharisees’ for their
hypocrisy, and gives this answer:
"Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax." And they
brought him a denarius. And Jesus said
to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said, "Caesar's." Then he said
to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to
God the things that are God's." When
they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
There are two things immediately apparent from this passage.
First is the fact that it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar; the money is,
indeed, Caesar’s so it is alright to pay him taxes. Second is the fact that we
are to render to God the things that are God’s. This too, is clearly stated in
the passage.
But after a little closer look, we find that these two
conclusions are not quite as clear cut as first imagined. For example, if we
are to render Caesar’s money to Caesar, and the things of God to God, but
everything is God’s, how can we render something to Caesar and God at the same
time?
We then begin to see the wisdom of Jesus’ answer. Yes, we
are to pay taxes to Caesar, but we are to serve the Lord in everything. In
essence, Jesus told the Pharisees that to submit to Caesar in no way hinders or
changes our service to the Lord.
So, we are to pay taxes to the government, serving the Lord
above all. But how should we respond to something a little harder to obey, such
as China’s one child law? How do we serve the Lord and obey our country at the
same time with something like that.
Well, to answer this we should look at passages that say
that children are blessings, that one of the purposes of marriage is to raise
godly offspring, and other such sections of scripture. Thus, children are a
good thing. That is clear in scripture. Scripture is also clear about how we
raise our children, what their role is, how to discipline them, etc. But
scripture does not condemn those who do not have children. It is not unbiblical
to have no children. (Off topic: I originally tried to pick some command that
was so contrary to scripture that it would have to be disobeyed and immediately
thought of this. However, once I wrote it down, I began to think more closely
about this and found it a little more complicated than I first thought. I kept
it, though, because it brings up two points and not just the one I originally
thought of) Thus, I believe it would be alright to obey the one child law. Of
course, if the government forced someone to have an abortion in order to comply
with this policy, it is imperative to disobey, if possible. Abortion is so
completely against scripture that we must disobey any government that tells us
to abort a child.
Thus, we should obey the government where possible, but only
if what it commands does not contradict scripture. However, we must serve the
Lord first, above all things.
Random Discussion question: Which president of the U.S. do
you think was the best president, and why? You may not pick George Washington :)
I leave you with the following passage, which aptly sums up
some of what I've talked about:
1 Peter 2:13-17
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,
whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to
punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will
of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish
people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for
evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear
God. Honor the emperor.
Casey
No comments:
Post a Comment