arnoldo

You ignore the larger social/historical context that refusing to pay taxes to Caesar would be a revolutionary act and lead to the destruction of Israel.

premjan

Was it the tax or the fact that the Romans treated the emperor as a God.

Petergdi

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's" quite clearly prohibits emperor worship. That's a good point. It is also true that what is permitted to be given to Caesar has no lasting value.

Peter.

Thor Q. Mada

I would have been really impressed if the lord and savior could write.

Solo

This you received from the Lord direct, I presume. Thanks for sharing !

Jiri

IamJoseph

I would be impressed with a single Hebrew gospel. But the Europeans made no such demands.

mountainman

Eusebius would have people believe that the lord and saviour
got a quick rescript back to the King of Edessa, letting the
king know that he could not do a house-visit immediately
because he was a little hung up, but that sometime much
later he would arrange that one of the the Miraculous Healing
Crew of Apostles perform a "Good Christian House-Call" and fix
the King up just like a real doctor would.

This letter of Jesus was produced by Eusebius in his "Hi story".

mountainman

Most people including me think that the author(s) of the NT
actually wrote during an epoch which was after the Roman's
military victory at Masada c.72 CE, and the effective
destruction of Israel.



The New Testament sayings of Jesus were harvested
and compiled in their first drafts, according to the collective
after the destruction of Israel in the first century, by the Romans.

When? Unknown but after 72 CE

It was a case of milking the literary milieu of Hellenistic wisdom
sayings for what it was worth. The compilers of the sayings
of Jesus moved within a brand new political epoch during
which they understood that it was in Harry Jewish Jesus
Potter that they lived and breathed and had their being,
rather than living and breathing and moving in Zeus, as the
original Hellenistic poet intended the literature he authored.

"Render tax to Caesar in the very first instance" are imperial
Roman taxation policies. Why are they found in the mouth of
the omnipotent God of the known Universe inside the Hubble
Limit? It is as if the NT was designed to assist Roman Emperors
rule more effectively. What more could they ask of the sayings
of Mr. Public Jesus Relations than to ratify their taxation policy?

The bible was first widely published by a Roman emperor.
How about that for a coincidence!

For those Graeco-Romans who moved in the sphere of property and income
and all that went with money, from the biggest to the smallest, not only
was the emperor the God of Living and Dying, but also the God of Taxation.

For those who were ascetics, priests for example with no property, and
the poor who had no income, and the old, or sick, etc, then the emperor
was still the God of Living and Dying, but his role as the God of Taxation
no longer played any form of operational role in their day-to-day lives.

arnoldo

It was less than a 100 years.

IamJoseph

An intriguing statement, and one of great historical cadence. But why do christians think Jews would write a theology that Jews are born of the devil, accept a divine man after just facing a Holocaust against Rome's divine emperor, then write in an anti-jewish language of Latin - and make sure no Hebrew documents exist.

Christians rejected Mohammed for far less reasons.