@Hazelelponi would you please address the “give to Caesar [who was not a Christian] what belongs to Caesar without any regard for what Jesus and the apostles taught / teach disciples to do” argument made by the guffawing unitarian?
The appeal to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” as though it requires Christian political passivity misunderstands both history and Scripture.
Around 200 CE, more than 150 years after Christ’s resurrection, there were perhaps 150,000 Christians in the entire world. They lived under emperors and governors who ruled as absolute authorities. Christians had no vote, no voice, and no capacity to restrain evil through civil means. When they suffered, it was not because they chose evil, but because they had no lawful alternative.
That historical reality matters.
Today, by contrast, there are over 2 billion people who profess Christ. Not all are regenerate—this is the visible church—but the difference in scale is enormous. Christians now live in societies where they do have civic agency. That changes the nature of responsibility.
Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, but Christians do not cease to be neighbors, citizens, or moral agents while living in it.
When Jesus said,
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
(Matthew 22:21, NASB95)
He was not sanctifying tyranny, nor commanding moral indifference. He was rejecting revolutionary violence while affirming order under a tyrannical regime. The apostles taught the same:
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities… for rulers are servants of God.”
(Romans 13:1–4, NASB95)
Romans 13 is not a description of whatever a corrupt government happens to do. It is a
normative description of what government is for: to punish evil and praise good. When Christians have the ability to influence government toward that God-given purpose, refusing to do so is not piety—it is negligence.
Scripture is explicit that failing to act for the good of those under our care is sin:
“So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.”
(James 4:17, NASB95)
To argue that Christians must politically abdicate today because first-century Christians lived under Caesar is to confuse necessity with virtue. Early Christians endured evil they could not prevent. That is not the same as enabling evil when restraint is possible.
You do not “give to Caesar” by voting for injustice.
You do not honor God by serving your neighbors up to harm so you can play at martyrdom.
Love of neighbor requires moral responsibility, not withdrawal.
“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
(Romans 13:10, NASB95)
Nothing we do will be perfect—man is fallen—but Christians are not called to surrender society to Satan when lawful means exist to pursue justice, peace, and protection of the innocent.
Submission to authority does not mean surrendering conscience.
Faithfulness does not mean abdication.
And martyrdom is not something Christians are called to manufacture.
