Their disciples (that is, the disciples of the Pharisees) and the Herodians represent two extremes in the controversy that follows. The Herodians were supporters of the descendants of Herod as the ruling party, and as such would have been in favor of Roman rule. On the other hand, the Pharisees were the conservative religious element, and they would have found it distasteful to be compelled to support the Roman government by their contributions. This then depicts the dilemma in which the Pharisees hope to snare Jesus. To say that one should not pay taxes to the Romans would put him at odds with the civil authorities, while he would have lost favor with the people if he had advocated the payment of taxes to the Roman authorities.
The disciples of the Pharisees can certainly be translated by the same word or expression used for the disciples of Jesus.
As for Herodians, a good translation is “Herod’s supporters” or “supporters of Herod as ruler.” “Members of the group that supported Herod (to be ruler)” is also possible, but the shorter examples are better.
Teacher is first used of Jesus in 8.19; see comments there.
“You tell the truth” (Good News Translation, An American Translation; Barclay “you speak the truth”) translates you are true. A number of translations render “you are an honest man” (Phillips, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). In context the focus is not upon Jesus’ overall honesty or integrity (New International Version “a man of integrity”), but upon his role as a teacher who speaks what is true (New American Bible “you are a truthful man”), which is the basis for Good News Bible.
And teach the way of God truthfully: Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “you tell each person clearly and plainly how he must live according to God’s will.” Barclay translates “you really do teach the life that God wishes us to live.” The Good News Translation translation probably reflects the meaning most closely, however, in saying that Jesus is properly teaching God’s laws (“You teach the truth about God’s will for man”). “What you teach about God’s laws (or, will) is the truth (or, correct)” is another good expression.
And care for no man, a literal representation of the Greek text, may easily be misunderstood. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch expresses the meaning clearly: “you do not allow yourself to be influenced by people.” Close to Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, though with a slightly different focus, is Phillips: “you are not swayed by men’s opinion of you.” “You don’t care what people think” is also good. In some languages translators will need an object for “think,” however, as in “you don’t care what people think about your teaching.”
You do not regard the position of men translates the Semitic idiom: “you do not look into the face of men.” A literal translation may imply guilt or shame on Jesus’ part, whereas the real emphasis is upon the impartiality with which Jesus treats people, regardless of their status (An American Translation “you are impartial”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch connects this clause with the previous one: “… influenced by people, no matter how important they are.” Some translators will make this a new sentence: “You don’t care whether someone is important or not” or “It does not matter to you whether someone is an important person or not.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .