In view of this, when Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar’s’ and unto God the things that are God’s,” he denied to Cesar, and so to the state, every attribute, or even claim, of divinity. He showed that another than Cesar is God. He entirely separated between the things which are due to Cesar and those which are due to God. The things which are due to Cesar are not to be rendered to God. The things due to God are not to be rendered to Cesar. These are two distinct realms, two distinct personages, and two distinct fields of duty. Therefore in these words Jesus taught as plainly as it is possible to do, the complete separation of religion and the state; that no state can ever rightly require anything that is due to God; and that when it is required by the state, it is not to be rendered.
Again: Jesus is the Example whom God has set to be the Guide to every person in this world in every step that can be taken in the right way. Any step taken by anybody in a way in which the Lord Jesus did not go is taken in the wrong way. He hath left us “an example, that ye should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21. And Jesus never, in any manner nor to any degree, took any part in political matters nor in any affairs of the state. Jesus was then, and is forever, the embodiment of true religion. Therefore, in His whole life’s conduct of absolute separation from everything political, from all affairs of the state, there is taught to all the world, and especially to all believers in Him, the complete separation of the religion of Christ, and of all who hold it, from everything political and from all affairs of the state.
So faithfully did He hold to that principle that when a man asked Him only, “Speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me,” He refused, with the word, “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” and then said to them all, “Take heed and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Luke 12:13-15. Oh, if only all who have professed to be His followers had held aloof from all affairs of politics and the state, how vastly different would have been the history of the Christian era! What a blessing it would have been to the world! What floods of misery and woe mankind would have been spred!