What Does Mark 12:17 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The coin bears Caesar’s image, while the person bears God’s, so returning one does not exhaust the claim of the other.
THE MEANING
A mark can reveal who has a claim on what bears it: the coin carries Caesar’s image, while the human being carries God’s image. The verse holds both claims together, so what is owed to Caesar does not define the whole person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that meeting an earthly claim exhausts what belongs to you is undone. The coin may bear Caesar’s image, but the person is not reduced to it.
THE ROOT
ἀπόδοτε
apodote
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
Give; in the compound here, give back or repay what is due.
The command ἀπόδοτε (apodote, render) comes from ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi, give back or repay), built on δίδωμι (didōmi, give). In the exchange just before this verse, the coin’s image identifies Caesar’s claim; the verb frames its transfer as returning what is due, while the phrase about God opens the larger question of what bears God’s image.
ALSO GROWS
didonai: To give.
διδόναι
This is the basic giving at the root of “render”; the compound adds the sense of giving back what is due.
apodidonai: To give back, repay, or render.
ἀποδιδόναι
This form makes the return explicit: the coin goes back to the one whose image it bears.
paradidonai: To hand over, deliver, or entrust.
παραδιδόναι
The same give-root can describe placing something into another’s hands, showing how the verse’s question turns on who a thing is handed over to.
THE PATTERN
What bears an image points to its claimant, while that smaller claim does not erase the wider belonging from which life comes.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.THE THREAD
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.The exchange just before this verse identifies the coin by its image. Genesis says the human being bears God’s image, so the coin can be returned to Caesar while the person remains within God’s claim.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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