You can read the verses around this Bible passage from the Internet Bible: - in English, and many other languages
Running a country costs a lot of money. Civil administration, police and military forces are expensive; so are roads, health and legal services. So as far back as records exist, governments have paid for it all by taxes. In most countries, almost everything is taxed: from income tax to death duty, from tax on products and services to tax on business profits and investments. So Paul instructs the believers, who live at the heart of the Roman Empire, to pay their taxes with a good conscience.
Jesus was directly challenged with the same question - is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? His answer was, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what is God's" (Matthew 22:17-22). In other words, we must not try to escape our obligation to submit to the governing authorities because we claim to serve a higher authority (God). The national and local rulers are God's servants. This is still true even if the government is corrupt or anti-Christian, because it is better to have a bad government than no government at all - when there is no restraint of evil.
Money continues to hold a greater power over many Christians than most would like to admit. We tend to be discontented when we do not get enough pay for our work, we may be nervous about giving money away and we can grumble about paying taxes. But none of these attitudes are right; especially about tax. If we live in reasonable peace with some comfort, we should be prepared to pay the government for it. More than that, we should honour God who is working for the blessing of many people. Yes it is true that in some places the government may abuse their privileges - but they are accountable to God. Our accountability is also to God; so let us pay our taxes gladly and on time, without trying to cheat the system.
Prayer: Sovereign Lord. Thank You for those who have the responsibility to govern, even though I may not agree with everything they do. I accept Your command to pay all my taxes. So I repent of every time I have grumbled about the tax burden, or have failed to run my business or personal finances so that I have kept enough money to pay my taxes on time. Please help me to see that this is part of my spiritual obligation. Please help me to pray for those who raise the taxes and spend the money - so that they will turn to You and seek Your wisdom as they govern. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
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