{"id":674,"date":"2026-11-14T14:29:42","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T20:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/?p=674"},"modified":"2026-11-14T14:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T20:29:42","slug":"luke-2020-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/?p=674","title":{"rendered":"Luke 20:20-26"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 31, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Luke 20:20\u201326 ESV<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.<\/strong>  <\/strong>So they asked him, \u201cTeacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.<\/strong>  <\/strong>Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?\u201d<\/strong>  <\/strong>But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them,<\/strong>  <\/strong>\u201cShow me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?\u201d They said, \u201cCaesar\u2019s.\u201d<\/strong>  <\/strong>He said to them, \u201cThen render to Caesar the things that are Caesar\u2019s, and to God the things that are God\u2019s.\u201d<\/strong>  <\/strong>And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussion Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus continues to be tested by the religious leaders.  We would like to look at the following incident from two perspectives.  The first is to understand the details of what happened.  And the second is to discuss the deeper spiritual lessons.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1)  How was this a trap?  How did Jesus disarm this trap?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)  What does this incident tell us about the interaction the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world?  Is Jesus saying that they are both legitimate and just run in parallel with each other or is he somehow saying that one is superior to the other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussion Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question was meant as a trap for Jesus.  If he answered yes, he was recognizing Roman authority over God\u2019s nation.  If he answered no, he would be rebelling against Roman authority and law.  This question of taxation was answered in the negative by Judas the Galilean who is referred to in Acts 5:37.  According to Josephus he led a tax rebellion that was viciously put down by the Romans.  Jesus answered this question by referring to God\u2019s arrangement of allowing earthly rulers to exercise authority (Romans 13:1-3; John 19:11).  This authority is only not recognized when it is in direct violation of God\u2019s laws (Acts 4:19; 5:29).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This incident tells us that God\u2019s Kingdom and the kingdom of this world run in parallel with each other, but they are not equal.  The kingdom of this world which is ruled over by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) was not given to him by God.  Instead we are to think of Satan as taking this kingdom, or usurping it.  God allows this under what is called the \u201cpermission of evil.\u201d  Christians are to view themselves as \u201ctransported into the Kingdom\u201d and as having \u201ctheir citizenship in Heaven\u201d  (Philippians 3:20; Colossians 1:13).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This incident also invites the Christian to ask themselves, \u201cWho do I belong to?\u201d  Once we give ourselves to the Lord, we become his servants.  As is recorded in Isaiah 44:5, \u201cThey will say, \u2018I am the LORD\u2019s…and another will write on his hand, \u2018The LORD\u2019S\u2026\u201d  Are we rendering unto God\u2019s what is God\u2019s?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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May 31, 2026 Luke 20:20\u201326 ESV So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.  So they asked him, \u201cTeacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":676,"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions\/676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winnipegbiblestudents.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}