My friend Tom Jenney, a libertarian and Presbyterian, sent me an interesting analysis of Matthew 17:24-27 on the payment of the Temple Tax.
"When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, 'Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?' 'Yes,' he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, 'What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?' When he said, 'From foreigners,' Jesus said to him, 'Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.'"
Tom reasons: "Under the O.T. rules and theocracy, the temple tax was probably enforceable by coercion. The NIV note says that by saying that 'the sons are exempt,' Jesus implies that 'Peter and the rest of the disciples belonged to God’s royal household, but unbelieving Jews did not.' He thus makes the temple tax voluntary (i.e., not a tax) for his disciples."
In John 6:49-51, Christ teaches us how the chosen people still died when they ate the manna of the old covenant and it is only in His new covenant through the Bread of Life that death will be conquered. Now we see how the gentle majesty, in the order of Melchisedek, obliterates not only death but its clichéd counterpart taxes as well. Such is an excellent example of how faithful Christians are merely in the world, but not necessarily of the world. In light of the Incarnation and the Resurrection, death and taxes have no power over the Christian.