Stop Forcing Scripture Through the American Filter

If you’ve been in church for any length of time, you’ve probably heard a preacher, evangelist, or teacher quote Jesus’ words: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21, KJV).

The explanation often goes something like this: Jesus pointed to a coin, asked whose image was on it, and since it bore Caesar’s image, He said it belonged to Caesar. From there, the application gets preached as if every believer should simply comply with whatever government says—end of story.

But let’s pause and ask a serious question:

Who is “Caesar” for us in America?

In the Roman Empire, the people truly lived under a Caesar—an emperor who held supreme authority. But here in America, we don’t have a Caesar. We don’t live under a monarchy or an autocracy. So, when a preacher tells us to “render unto Caesar” as though it translates directly into “just obey the government because the Bible says so,” we should stop and ask: Does that interpretation even fit the reality of our system of government?

Pick up a U.S. coin. Whose face is on it? Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. Am I supposed to “render” to Lincoln or Washington? How exactly would I do that? Those men are dead and gone. So who is “Caesar” in America?

The truth is, we have to stop taking Scripture and forcing it through the filter of the “good old United States of America.” God’s Word wasn’t written to fit neatly into one nation’s framework. There are Christians in monarchies, dictatorships, parliaments, communist regimes, and democracies. How does the message of Jesus apply to them? It can’t just be what American preachers say it is.

Here’s the real issue: our government was designed differently.

• In America, sovereignty doesn’t rest in a king—it rests with the people.

• The Constitution—not an emperor—defines the boundaries of government.

• Federalism recognizes that states and people hold rights that cannot be trampled by the central power.

We’ve drifted so far from understanding that truth that even our pulpits often misapply Scripture, teaching blind submission to “Caesar” where no Caesar exists.

So, what should we be teaching? Certainly not a monarchy. Not autocracy. Not a rubber-stamped “yes” to every statute, rule, or code that comes down from Washington.

Instead, we should be teaching believers to:

• Study the Scriptures in context.

• Understand the system of government we actually live under.

• Recognize the difference between rendering what belongs to man and what belongs only to God.

The church must stop nodding along to lazy, shallow interpretations. It’s time to rightly divide the Word of truth, and to stop forcing God’s eternal Word through the narrow filter of Americanism.

Because in the end, Jesus wasn’t telling His followers to worship Caesar—He was reminding them that ultimate allegiance belongs to God alone. More on Government