What Does Luke 20:25 Mean?
And he said to them, Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which be Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.THE KEY
Caesar’s image marks the coin; God’s image marks the person asked to render it.
THE MEANING
The verse sets two claims beside each other: Caesar receives what is his, and God receives what is God’s. A civic due remains bounded; it does not consume the claim God holds over the reader.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that giving Caesar his due gives Caesar total claim over you: the same sentence reserves what is God’s for God.
THE ROOT
ἀπόδοτε
apodote
GROWS FROM
ἀποδίδωμι
apodidōmi
To give back, repay, or render what is due.
The imperative ἀπόδοτε (apodote) comes from ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi), meaning “give back” or “repay.” That return-sense frames each recipient as having a distinct claim: Caesar’s is real yet bounded, while God’s claim remains wider.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give or grant.
δίδωμι
This is the base verb within ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi), revealing that rendering what is due is a form of giving back.
apodosis: Repayment or return.
ἀπόδοσις
This related noun makes the idea of settling what is owed explicit, illuminating the verse’s distinction between the two claims.
THE PATTERN
A particular obligation remains bounded within the wider belonging of all things to God.
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD's, and what fills it; the inhabited world, and those who settle in it.And God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.Therefore give back to all what is owed; the carried to whom the carrying is owed, the toll to whom the toll is owed, the trembling to whom trembling is owed, the weight to whom weight is owed.THE THREAD
Therefore give back to all what is owed; the carried to whom the carrying is owed, the toll to whom the toll is owed, the trembling to whom trembling is owed, the weight to whom weight is owed.Romans uses the same verb, ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi), meaning “give back” or “render what is due,” for tribute, custom, fear, and honour. That shared root makes the civic dues in Luke a distinct account, one that does not exhaust what belongs to God.
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