The Dynamics of Caesar's Coin in Matthew 22

In Matthew 22.21, Christ responds to those who would entangle him by using a Roman coin with Caesar's image. He tells them to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.

This passage has generated a great deal of discussion over the centuries and not a few are confused by it - and as a result end up explaining it away.

Redemptive History and Psalm 3

Listening to a recent sermon on Psalm 3, I noted the preacher's insistence on the abiding validity of the imprecatory psalms. This became an issue back in the 1990's when some Theonomist-inspired leaders began to call for their use in the context of the Clinton presidency. The problem for them is that intuitively most Christians see a problem or conflict with their employment given the commands and general ethos of New Covenant spirituality - and the command to turn the other cheek and to love one's enemies. They're right, and yet the contemporary situation (with the call to use imprecatory psalms) is indicative of even greater doctrinal and theological problems.

An Impoverished Reading of the Law and yet Another Lesson in Judaizing

https://churchandfamilylife.com/podcasts/667344e11a0b9ce0df045b5d

Law in Scripture is complicated and there is a tendency among some to reduce its complexity or flatten its dimensions. Sometimes law refers to the commandments of God and at other times it is cast in Redemptive-Historical terms.

2 Timothy 3.16 and its Reference to the Old Testament

By some estimates a problem exists in the utilization by certain persons of Paul's statement in 2 Timothy 3.16. When it comes to making an argument for Sola Scriptura, they would argue Paul's words can only refer to the Old Testament and as such the passage does not support the larger doctrine which rests on assumptions rather than a specific teaching.

Misreading Jonah

It is not uncommon for Theonomists and other advocates of Dominion Theology to make an appeal to the Book of Jonah as an example of a pagan society transformed. Nineveh's repentance represents (to them) a kind of prototype of what would take place over one thousand years later under the New Covenant.

Spiritualised Hermeneutics and Old Testament Interpretation in Matthew 2

In obedience to an angelic vision, Joseph takes his family to Egypt to escape the bestial and murderous Herod. Upon the tyrant's death which is believed to have occurred about 4BC, the family (again at the instigation of an angelic command) returns to Israel and re-settles in Galilee.

Matthew in v.15 reports the return of Joseph, Mary and the toddler Jesus as the fulfillment of Hosea 11.1:

When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

What kind of hermeneutic or interpretative method is being employed by Matthew? The verse comes in the midst of a passage of condemnation and denunciation of Israel's conduct, the type of passage we frequently encounter in the prophets. Immediately after the statement in chapter 11.1, the passage goes on to condemn Israel – Ephraim the northern kingdom and promises that they will be defeated by Assyria.

Antithesis and Caesar's Coin (Matthew 22.15-22)

I have often mentioned the 'coin' episode in Matthew 22 as an occasion in which Evangelicals and other Sacralists attempt to make an argument for citizenship and civic duty. They believe the terminology 'render unto Caesar' is some kind of imperative to be engaged in the affairs of Caesar, economics, politics and the like.