Mark 12:15-16

Jesus exposed their question for what it was, malicious entrapment rather than honest inquiry. The small silver denarius was the only coin the Romans accepted in payment for taxes. [Note: Grassmick, p. 162.] The images on the coin showed that Rome had political authority over those who used it.

"The denarius of Tiberius portrayed the emperor as the simi-divine son of the god Augustus and the goddess Livia and bore the (abbreviated) inscription ’Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus’ on the obverse and ’Pontifex Maximus’ on the reverse. Both the representations and the inscriptions were rooted in the imperial cult and constituted a claim to divine honors." [Note: Lane, p. 424.]