Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-10

Golden Text: "And He said unto
him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the great and first COM
mandment. And the second like unto
it is this, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as myself" Matt. az: 1873.
1t is perfectly marvellous when
we consider the quickness OF Jesus |
mind 1t is not often that we think
man living or who has ever lived
who could deal with as many sub
jects and never have made a mis-
take, and have dealth with them as
marvelously well, as Jesus did. For
two days-Monday and Tuesday-He
had been in constant conflict with
the leaders of the Jews. They had
been completely routed. Instead of
yielding to Him, they went about
to find some way to trap Him.
Finally they, decided on plan.
A Hard Question
They sent spies to Him: the fact
that some of them were Pharisees
icant. The one were intensely anti
Roman, the other were equally in
tense in their allegiance to the
Roman rule. Bitter enemies though
they were one in their hatred of
Jesus.
we know you are true and teach
est the way of God in truth and
are not afraid of anybody: tell us
what to do. Shall we pay taxes to
Caesar or not? 1t seemed a fair
question; but it was hard question.
If He said yes. then the Phraisees
would say He was a traitor to His
nation and break His power over
the people. If He said no, the
Herodians could easily accuse Him
of treason and hand Him over to the
Roman government. If He refused
to answer, by side-stepping, He
would relinquish all claim to lead
ership as unworthy of the conf
| dence of either side. They were
smart, alright; but Jesus was smart
er. He saw through their scheme at
once. He knew that Pharisees and
Herodians would not unite on any
thing honestly, and He was bold
| enough to say so. ~.
why tempt We me, We hypo-
crltes" (Can you appreciate the
nerve it takes to call a group of
men hypocrites?) "Show me pen
ny? Whose image and superscrip-
ton is on it?" Caesars" thew re-
| piled. Render therefore unto Caesar
the things that are Casear's; and
unto God the things that are Gods"
And they marveled at His answer
and went away!
What did He mean? And why did
they marvel? And why did they 20
away? Did He simply mean to sep
crate church and state, as we have
been, taught to believe? Was He
simply saying, there are civil duties
and there are religious duties; per
form both? All, no. Jesus was con-
| tending with men who had rejected
the husbandman's Son when He had
vent Him to gather the fruits of His
l II 1, i
establish His Kingdom, and the sub
lects had rejected the King. Even
now they were trying to find some
way TO kill Him. Bear this in mind
as you study His reply. Then lis
ten-Here is what He was saying
packed in that pregnant sentence
Had you rendered to God the things
that are Gods, you would never
nave been in bondage to Rome. You
refused Gods wise and wonderful
you into the hand of Rome. Your
use of this coin stamped with the
image and superscription of Caeser
is an owledgment of his rule
over you and of your sin in refus-
i fafl to % let &c God d. rule oyer you. To
against Cod Therefore pay the tax
Repentance is what is due God-it is
only by repentance that you will be
|
You say you sknow I am true, and
teach the way of God in truth Well.
l am also the very Image and Word
Of God. Render to God what is
GODS by accepting Me-His Coin.
| Oh no wonder they marvelled at
His reply and went away What
else could such hypocrites do?
Citizenship
Jesus did not deal with the rela-
tionship, of the church to the state,
hIIf Do
of the church told us in Romans 10,
what our attitude to the state should
be. Holiness of life as a child OF
God demands that we obey the laws
of the state and do everything with
in our power that the government
ordained of God. When, however,
there is a conflict between the laws
of the state and the laws of God,
the Christian has no choice; he keeps
the law in, the breaking of it. We
must remember that Paul wrote to
the Philistines, Our seat of gov
eminent is in Heaven
Another Question
When the Sadducees saw that
Jesus confused the Pharisees and
the Herodians, they came to Him
with a question, hoping to ensnare
Him in His talk. 1t was the hypo-
| thetical question concerning the res
direction. According to the law of
| MUSES., d WOHldn ndO married. seven
brothers and had died without issue;
whose wife would she be in the res
direction?
Now the Sadducees did not believe
in resurrection, neither did they
believe in angels; they were the ma
terialists, the ratiCnalists, the high
err critics of their day. They made
their question so absurd that they
hoped to gain their point by. the
very absurdity of it.
Without having to wait and study
it out, Jesus replied at once, You
err, vecause you do not know the
power of God or the Scriptures. They
thought that God could not, make
any creature except in one mold but
Gods power was limitless: He could
do what He pleased. Then, quoting
from their own Scripture. He showed
| tl,or,, l,nt is- Cd 81 tI,a