What Does Mark 12:14 Mean?
And when they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and you care for no one. For you do not look at the faces of men, but you teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
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 when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not?THE KEY
Their flattery turns Jesus’s refusal to bend to human rank into the pressure point of a question about Caesar.
THE MEANING
You can be praised for refusing to bend truth around human status while that praise is being used to corner you. The question about tribute places God’s way and Caesar’s claim in immediate tension, making every answer carry a cost. This verse lets you see that recognizing integrity and honoring it are not the same thing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an accurate compliment proves the speaker is honoring the one being praised.
THE ROOT
πρόσωπον
prosōpon
GROWS FROM
πρόσωπον
prosōpon
Face or countenance; by extension, the person or presence represented by the face.
“faces” in this verse is prosōpon. The KJV’s “person” is literally face: the claim is that Jesus does not let someone’s visible standing govern what he teaches. The speakers praise that independence, then make it the pressure point of their question.
ALSO GROWS
prosōpon: Face or countenance; by extension, a person’s presence.
πρόσωπον
The Greek image lets you see the status carried by someone’s face beneath the KJV’s broader word “person.”
prosōpolēmpsia: Partiality; literally, receiving or favoring a face.
προσωπολημψία
James 2:1 uses this face-family for status-based favoritism, clarifying what Jesus is praised as free from.
ἀληθείας
alētheias
GROWS FROM
ληθ-/λανθαν- (lēth-/lanthan-)
Traditionally linked to λανθάνω (lanthanō), “remain hidden” or “escape notice”; truth carries the sense of what is not concealed.
“truthful” in this verse is alētheias. The word-family’s association with what is hidden makes “in truth” resonate with the refusal to judge by faces: the teaching is not shaped around appearances. The speakers praise that quality, then test whether it can be bent by Caesar.
ALSO GROWS
alēthēs: True or genuine.
ἀληθής
This is the related adjective used when they call Jesus true, joining their praise to the claim that he teaches in truth.
lanthanō: To escape notice or stay concealed.
λανθάνω
Its traditional link with ἀλήθεια adds the image of truth as what is not concealed, even beneath flattering words.
THE PATTERN
Flattery can use true praise to prepare a snare.
A man who smooths over his neighbor spreads a net for his steps.The words of his mouth are smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are opened swords.For we were never found in fawning words, as you know, nor in a cloak of grasping for more. God is witness.THE THREAD
Then Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I have laid hold of this, that God lifts no one's face.“No respecter of persons” uses the same Greek face-word carried by Mark’s “person of men.” It names the refusal to let the status attached to someone’s face decide how truth is spoken.
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