They brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
The image and inscription of the emperor on the coin showed the civil authority under which they lived. With the coin they brought, Christ showed them that they were already using the emperor’s system and therefore had certain civic obligations. Yet here there is also a deeper spiritual meaning: if the coin belongs to the one whose image it bears, then a person belongs to God, because he is created in the image of God. This question prepares that great answer which distinguishes earthly obligation from complete devotion to God.