Matthew 22:15-46

Matthew 22

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and plotted together how to trap him in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in accord with the truth. You are not concerned about gaining anyone’s approval because you are not swayed by appearances. ¹⁷ So tell us, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus knew their evil purpose and said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for the tax.”

They brought him a denarius.

²⁰ He asked them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied to him.

Then he said to them, “Therefore give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

²² When they heard this, they were amazed. Then they left him and went away.

The God of the Living

²³ That same day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him a question: ²⁴ “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother should marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ ^{[1] 25} Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one died after he married her, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ It was the same with the second brother, the third, and all the way to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all, the woman died. ²⁸ So then, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since they all married her?”

²⁹ “You are mistaken,” Jesus replied, “since you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ In fact, in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage. Instead they are like the angels of God in heaven. ³¹ And concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you never read what was spoken to you by God: ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? ^[2] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³ When the crowds heard his answer, they were amazed at his teaching.

Love God and Your Neighbor

³⁴ When they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees met together. ³⁵ One of them who was an expert in the law asked him a question, trying to trap him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ^{[3] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ^{[4] 40} All the Law and the Prophets depend ^[5] on these two commandments.”

David’s Son and David’s Lord

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ⁴² “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said to him, “The Son of David.”

⁴³ He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

⁴⁵ “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

⁴⁶ No one was able to answer him a word, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.