Mark 12:14 (LSB)

Passage

And they came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a tax to Caesar, or not?

Nearby Context

Mark 12:12 And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the crowd, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.

Mark 12:13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement.

Mark 12:14 And they came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a tax to Caesar, or not?

Mark 12:15 Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.”

Mark 12:16 And they brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "came", "said", "teacher", "truthful", "defer", and "partial". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "came" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "Then they sent some of the Pharisees..." into verse 15's "Shall we pay or shall we not...", so "came" and "said" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "came" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.