Then he said to them, “Go, give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and to God what belongs to God.”
These words were the climax of Jesus’ answer. With that sentence Jesus shatters their crafty trap and at the same time formulates the eternal principle of faith and earthly duty. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” means to submit to lawful authority, to fulfill civic responsibilities, to pay taxes, because authority too is given by God in order to preserve public order. And “to God what is God’s” reminds us that every person is obligated to give his soul, heart, and faith to God, as one who bears the image of the Lord. Thus, Jesus does not separate the heavenly and the earthly, but defines their right relationship: the earthly in the sphere of law, the heavenly in the sphere of faith. His answer not only gave them no opportunity to throw Jesus into a verbal snare, but also through the centuries became an unshakable foundation for the relationship between the person and the state.