Saying This Would Get You Killed in Rome 😳
A speaker uses Roman coins featuring emperors Augustus and Tiberius to illustrate the dangerous political and religious context of first-century Judea, where claiming someone other than the emperor was the 'son of God' was a capital offense. The analysis connects this to Jesus's famous teaching about rendering to Caesar while emphasizing that God's image is stamped on human beings, not on political rulers.
Summary
The speaker presents gold aureus coins from Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius to contextualize the radical nature of Jesus's teachings in first-century Rome. Tiberius was the reigning emperor during Jesus's crucifixion and was literally inscribed on coins as 'son of God'—a title reserved exclusively for the emperor in Roman ideology. The speaker emphasizes that in this historical context, publicly declaring anyone else to be the son of God would be considered sedition and result in execution. The speaker then connects this to Jesus's famous teaching about the coin, referencing the biblical account where Jesus asks whose image appears on a coin, and the crowd answers 'Caesar's.' The speaker explains that Jesus's response—to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's but give one's life to God—carries profound meaning when understood against this backdrop. The central insight is that while Caesar's image appears on coins and currency, humans bear God's image. Therefore, the teaching is not merely about paying taxes but about a fundamental prioritization: material goods and taxes belong to earthly rulers, but one's life and allegiance belong to God, whose likeness is genuinely stamped on human beings, not on emperors or their currency.
Key Insights
- Tiberius, the emperor who ordered Jesus's crucifixion, was inscribed on gold coins as 'son of God,' making this title exclusive to the emperor in first-century Rome
- Publicly claiming that anyone other than the reigning emperor was the 'son of God' constituted a capital offense and would result in death
- Jesus's teaching about the coin directly invokes Tiberius's image, as the coin shown in the biblical account would have borne Tiberius's likeness
- The distinction between Caesar's image on currency and God's image on humans serves as the theological foundation for Jesus's teaching that taxes belong to Caesar but one's life belongs to God
- Jesus's response to render unto Caesar while giving one's life to God is a radical prioritization that fundamentally rejects the emperor's claim to ultimate authority over human allegiance
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] I have here some coins that I want to show you of all the people that tried to kill Jesus. I have here the great, I have Augustus, I have Tiberius. [music] These are gold auriuses, and what's fascinating about them, Tiberius is the emperor who crucifies Jesus of Nazareth. It literally says in Latin, Tiberius, son of Augustus, son of God. Do you realize if you and I were in town in the first century, there was only one son of God and it was Tiberius. To say anyone [0:32] else was the son of God would be to sign your death warrant. Do you remember Jesus holds it up and he says, "Whose likeness is on this?"…
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