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3-1984

The Census and Quirinius: Luke 2:2

Wayne Brindle
Liberty University, [email protected]

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Brindle, Wayne, "The Census and Quirinius: Luke 2:2" (1984). Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 73.
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JETS 2771 (March 1984) 43-52

THE CENSUS AND QUIRINIUS: LUKE 2:2

Wayne Brinale*

" There is one name that has caused more controversy than any other of the
Roman phenomena in the New Testament, that of Quirinius, the governor of
Syria," says Sherwin-White.1 He appears in the birth narrative of Luke: "Now it
came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a
census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while
Quirinius was governor of Syria" (Luke 2:1-2 NASB). The context suggests that
Jesus was born in the midst of this census.
Certain other facts must be taken into account. Luke himself dates the birth
of John the Baptist during the reign of Herod, king of Judea (1:5). Matthew
states even more specifically that Jesus was born shortly before the death of
Herod (Matthew 2). Finegan reasons that Herod died between March 12 and
April 11,4 B.C.2 Hoehner narrows the date to the period of March 29 to April 11,
4 B.C.3 Jesus was thus born during or before the month of March, 4 B.C. (per-
haps even during December, 5 B.C.). The census of Luke 2:1-2, therefore, proba-
bly took place during the year 5 B.C. in Judea.
Many questions have arisen since the early nineteenth century concerning
this census and its connection with Quirinius. The problem is that Quirinius, as
far as is known, governed Syria only during A.D. 6-7, and not at all in 5 B.C.
Why then does Luke say that Jesus was born during a census that took place
while Quirinius was governor of Syria?
According to Hayles,
it has been maintained by several scholars that this story is either fiction or a blun-
der; that the circumstances connected with it, which Luke relates, are contrary to
history; and, in short, that the story is unhistorical and impossible, not in one way
merely, but in several. It is urged that a general census of the Empire is a fabrica-
tion, that the local one under Herod an impossibility, that the enrollment requiring a
return to one's own city quite improbable, and that any association of Quirinius with
a census this early is completely anachronistic.4
These objections to the veracity of Luke's account were set forth dramatically in
Emil Schürer's political history of Palestine toward the end of the nineteenth

* Wayne Brinale is assistant professor of religion at Liberty Baptist College in Lynchburg, Virginia.
J
A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1963)
162.
2
J. Finegan, Handbook ofBiblical Chronology (Princeton: University Press, 1964) 231.
3
H. W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977) 13.
4
D. J. Hayles, "The Roman Census and Jesus' Birth," Buried History 9/4 (December 1973) 113.

43
44 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

century5 and since then have become the rallying point for arguments both pro
and con.6 The bulk of this article will concern a fresh look at the problem, but first
some of the popular attempts to solve it will be surveyed.

I. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Some have claimed that Quirinius actually did not rule Syria in A.D. 6-7 but
rather some eight to fourteen years earlier, and that the sources that give that
date (especially Josephus) are in error.7 But this is an argument from silence, and
since Josephus is usually accurate and is consistent with himself in his account of
these things, this claim has gained little support.
Others have tried to amend the text of Luke 2:2. The view that this verse is a
gloss has not been accepted, but some have proposed that the name Saturninus
should be read in place of Quirinius.8 This is due to Tertulliano statement con-
cerning proof of the birth of Christ: "There is historical proof that at this very
time a census had been taken in Judea by Sentius Saturninus, which might have
satisfied their inquiry respecting the family and descent of Christ. "9 The idea is
that an early scribe assumed that Luke intended the well-known census directed
by Quirinius in A.D. 6-7 and so changed the original name Saturninus to Quiri-
nius. This has also found little support, since Saturninus ruled in 9-6 B.C.,10 yet
Tertullian dates the birth of Jesus in the forty-first year of Augustus, or 3 B.C.
There is also no real textual evidence for such a reading in Luke.
Some have suggested that while the census was ordered by Augustus in the
days of Herod the Great, it was not made until A.D. 6-7, or that it was begun
earlier but only finished under Quirinius.11 But Joseph and Mary would thus have
had no reason to travel to Bethlehem as early as 5 B.C. However, Luke says that
the census was "taken" or "came to pass" when Quirinius was governor, not
that it was "completed" then.
Another view holds that Luke 2:2 does not state that Quirinius was "gover-
nor" of Syria at the time of the census but only that he had a position of special
responsibility that involved, among other duties, the conduct of a census.12 It is

5
E. Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1890),
2.114-143.
6
Each point is answered in Hoehner, Chronological Aspects 14-23; Hayles, "Census" 117-132; Buried
History 10/1 (March 1974) 16-30.
7
G. Ogg, "The Quirinius Question Today," ExpTim 79/7 (April 1968) 231-232; cf. F. F. Bruce, "Quiri-
nius," New Bible Dictionary (ed. J. D. Douglas; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962) 1069.

'Ogg, "Question" 232.

»Tertullian Adv. Marc. 4.19.

10
Finegan, Handbook 235.
n
Ogg, "Question" 232.
12
Hayles, "Census" (March 1974) 29.
 THE CENSUS AND QUIRINIUS: LUKE 2:2 45

alleged that Luke uses the word translated "governor" in 2:2 to refer also to a
guide, auxiliary, prefect, procurator, or provincial legate (Luke 20:20; 23:4: Acts
7:10; 14:12; 15:22). This view proposes a special commission from Augustus—but
if so, why is he called the ruler "of Syria"? Ogg contends that the phrase is "so
definite and unambiguous that by it only the regular governor of the province of
Syria can be meant."13
Two final views, besides the common view that Luke was mistaken, will be
discussed more fully below: (1) that Quirinius was actually governor twice over
Syria, once about 8 B.C. and again in A. D. 6-7,14 and (2) that Luke 2:2 should be
read as follows: "This census took place before Quirinius was governor of
Syria."15 These two views have garnered the most support from conservatives,
and both have been defended by able scholars during the past century.
The crux of the matter seems to be two questions: (1) When was Quirinius
governor of Syria? (2) When did the census of Luke 2:1-2 take place? We must
not automatically assume that these two questions have the same answer. After
considering a short history of the man Quirinius and his times, we will take up
these two questions in order.

II. PUBLIUS SULPICIUS QUIRINIUS

Most of the information concerning P. Sulpicius Quirinius comes from two
ancient historians, Josephus and Tacitus. Tacitus records the following:
At this time, Tiberius asked the senate to allow the death of Sulpicius Quirinius to
be solemnized by a public funeral. With the old patrician family of the Sulpicii,
Quirinius—who sprang from the municipality of Lanuvium—had no connection; but
as an intrepid soldier and an active servant he won a consulate under the deified
August, and, a little while later, by capturing the Homonadensian strongholds be-
yond the Cilician frontier, earned the insignia of triumph. After his appointment,
again, as advisor to Gaius Caesar during his command in Armenia, he had shown
himself no less attentive to Tiberius, who was then residing in Rhodes. This circum-
stance the emperor now disclosed in the senate In the rest of men, however, the
memory of Quirinius awoke no enthusiasm, in view of his attempt (already noticed)
to ruin Lepida [his wife], and the combination of meanness with exorbitant power
which had marked his later days.16
Quirinius held high office as the reward of proven ability and hard work. He
came from an undistinguished family and had no connection with the patrician
family of the Sulpicii. He was governor of Crete and Cyrene and proved himself a
very competent and successful soldier in campaigns against nomad tribes in the

18
Ogg, "Question" 232.
M
W. M. Ramsay, The Bearing ofRecent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (London:
Hodder & Stoughton, 1915) 294-300.
16
Ogg, "Question" 232-233; F. F. Bruce, New Testament History (London: Thomas Nelson, 1969) 30 n.
1.

"Tacitus Annales 3.48.

 46 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

deserts of Cyrene.17 Because of this success he was given the command against
the Homonadenses, who in 25 B.C. had captured and killed the Roman client
king Amyntas. When Amyntas died, his kingdom passed to Augustus and be-
came the new imperial province of Galatia.18
According to Hudson, Quirinius was appointed governor of Syria in order to
conduct the war against the Homonadenses.19 Schürer agrees with this.20 At any
rate, between 12 B.C. and A.D. 1 he conducted the Homonadensian War.21 He
was appointed consul in 12 B.C. Finegan believes that the resistance of the Ho-
monadensians must have been broken by the time the network of Roman roads
was laid out in the province of Galatia in 6 B.C.22 If so, the major part of the war
must have been over by that date. Quirinius was highly successful in his mission.
At least four thousand prisoners were taken, and he earned the distinction of a
triumph.23 The colony of Pisidian Antioch elected him duumvir in gratitude.24
In A.D. 2-3 Quirinius was advisor to Gaius Caesar in Armenia.25 Nothing defi-
nite is known of him between those years, except that Bruce states that he was
proconsul of Asia in 3 B.C.26
Then in A.D. 6 Archelaus was deposed from the throne of Judea and Quirinius
was sent by Augustus to become governor of Syria, to liquidate Archelaus' es-
tate, and to hold a census to determine the amount of tribute the new province
might be expected to pay into the imperial treasury.27 Josephus records the move
thus:
Quirinius, a Roman senator who had proceeded through all the magistracies to the
consulship and a man who was extremely distinguished in other respects, arrived in
Syria, dispatched by Caesar to be governor of the nation, and to make an assess-
ment of their property. Coponius, a man of equestrian rank, was sent along with
him to rule over the Jews with full authority. Quirinius also visited Judea, which had
been annexed to Syria, in order to make an assessment of the property of the Jews
and to liquidate the estate of Archelaus. Although the Jews were at first shocked to

17
E. C. Hudson, "The Principal Family at Pisidian Antioch," JNES15 (1956) 106.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
Schürer, History, 1.352.
21
Finegan, Handbook 235.
22
Ibid.
23
Hudson, "Family" 106.

^Ibid.
25
Finegan, Handbook 236.
26
Bruce, "Quirinius" 1069.
27
Josephus Ant. 17.13.5; Bruce, History 30: J. A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX (Garden
City: Doubleday, 1981)401.
 THE CENSUS AND QUIRINIUS: LUKE 2:2 47

hear of the registration of property, they gradually condescended, yielding to the

arguments of the high priest Joazar, the son of Boethus, to go no further in opposi-
tion. So those who were convinced by him declared, without dispute, the value of
their property.28
Some rebelled, however, especially under the leadership of Judas the Galilean,
saying that such a Roman census was downright slavery.29 It was this uprising
that gave birth to the Zealot party.30 It is also this census and rebellion that is
described in Acts 5:37: ''Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census and
drew away some of the people after him; he . . . perished, and all who followed
him were scattered."
It is important to note that when Quirinius became governor of Syria, Judea
was made a province and put under the rule of Syria, so that Quirinius became
responsible not only for Syria but also for Judea (with Coponius acting as his
procurator). This governorship apparently lasted only two years (A.D. 6-7) and
concluded his public career.31 He lived in Rome afterwards and died in A.D. 21.

III. WHEN WAS QUIRINIUS GOVERNOR OF SYRIA?

It is certain that Quirinius was governor of Syria in A.D. 6-7. The question
that concerns us here is whether he was ever governor of Syria before that—
specifically, during the reign of Herod (before 4 B.C.). Schürer argues that he
was governor twice:
But a war could not at any time be carried on except by the governor of that prov-
ince in which or from which the war was being conducted. Quirinius must therefore
have been then governor of that province to which the war against them proceeded.
. . . We might have to do with the provinces of Asia, Pamphylia, Galatia, Cilicia,
Syria. But of these the first three must be at once set aside, because they had no
legions so that their governors could not carry on a war. And further, Cilicia was
probably at that time only a part of the province of Syria; at least it was, as also
Pamphylia and Galatia were, no consular province, whereas Quirinius led the war
against the Homonadensians as one who had been consul. Now, one who had been a
consul was never sent to a praetorian province, which was administered by one who
had been a praetor. The only conclusion then that remains is that Quirinius at the
time of that war with the Homonadensians was governor of Syria.32
The problem is that the governors of Syria from 12 B.C. to 4 B.C. are known, and
Quirinius was not one of them. So Schürer makes Quirinius governor for the first
time in 3-2 B.C.—which does not help our chronology at all, since Herod died in 4
B.C. and Jesus was born before his death.

28
Josephus Ant. 18.1.1.

«»Ibid.

^Bruce, History 30, 91.

31
Bruce, "Quirinius" 1069.

^Schürer, History, 1. 352.

48 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Ramsay, however, on the basis of two inscriptions concludes that Quirinius

did exercise a governorship of Syria about 8-6 B.C.33 He suggests that both Quiri-
nius and Sentius Saturninus (9-6 B.C.) were governors for Augustus in Syria at
the same time with different duties.34 Quirinius would have commanded the le-
gions and military resources of Syria, while Sentius attended to politics.
Stauffer suggests that during this general time Quirinius was in charge of all
campaigns and other affairs in the east.35 In Syria he sometimes governed alone
and sometimes aided by an imperial provincial governor. Says Stauffer:
It is evident that this division of power was in the nature of things, and Sulpicius
Quirinius must be reckoned not only among the series of Syrian provincial gover-
nors, but also—and this chiefly—in the proud list of the Roman commanders-in-chief
of the Orient. In this capacity he governed the Roman Orient like a vice-emperor
from 12 B.C. to A.D. 16, with only a brief interruption (Gaius Caesar). In this capac-
ity he carried out the prima descriptio in the East. Thus, he was in a position to
begin the work of the census in the days of King Herod, to continue it without
regard to the temporary occupancy or vacancy of the post of Syrian governor, and
finally to bring it to a peaceful conclusion.36
If this is true—and it may be—it would solve our problem. But most of it is
supposition and conjecture.
There is some support from the statement of Tertullian that "at this very
time a census had been taken in Judea by Sentius Saturninus which might have
satisfied their inquiry respecting the family and descent of Christ."37 Instead of
being a mistake on Tertulliano part, it may indicate that Quirinius and Sa-
turninus were governing Syria at the same time.
Hayles concludes that "we are left with only one certain piece of information
about Quirinius' service in Syria—his legateship beginning in A.D. 6."38 An ear-
lier governorship has yet to be documented.

IV. W H E N DID THE CENSUS OF LUKE 2:1-2 TAKE PLACE?

1. The grammar ofLuke 2:2. If we set aside the question of whether Quirinius
was governor in Syria during the reign of Herod and assume for a moment that
his only rule and census were in A.D. 6-7, we may consider another solution that
is currently gathering support.
Feldman, in his edition of Josephus, states that "Luke 2:2 can be vindicated
only if we translate . . . , This census was the first before that under the prefec-

33
Ramsay, Bearing 292-300.

^Ibid., p. 293.

"E. Stauffer, Jesus andHis Story (New York: Knopf, 1960) 29.

»Ibid., p. 30.
37
Tertullian Adv. Marc. 4.19.

^Hayles, "Census" (March 1974) 24; cf. Fitzmyer, Luke 403.

 THE CENSUS AND QUIRINIUS: LUKE 2:2 49

tureship of Quirinius in Syria.' "39 This view has been adopted by Nigel Turner40
and F. F. Bruce.41 The adjective prötos may mean "first" or "earlier," "former,"
and thus:
"First census" must be taken in its Hellenistic connotation as the first of two, and
then we must expand the clause a little. "This census was before the census which
Quirinius, governor of Syria, made."42
Some examples using other adjectives are John 5:36, "the witness which I have,
is greater than (that of) John," and 1 Cor 1:25, "the foolishness of God is wiser
than (the wisdom of) men." Turner says, "The evangelist is referring to a census,
of which we know nothing [from extra-Biblical sources], held before that of Quiri-
nius in A.D. 6."43 Thus Luke recognizes that the well-known census under Quiri-
nius took place in A.D. 6-7. He is not speaking of that one, however; the census of
which he is speaking took place before (proti) that one.
This solution also throws light on the statement of Gamaliel in Acts 5:37
concerning "the days of the census," when Judas the Galilean rebelled. The cen-
sus of A.D. 6-7 was the census that all Israel remembered, and they remembered
Quirinius mostly because of that census that he directed. Sherwin-White states
that Quirinius "was the first of the Jewish bugbears of the empire period."44
They remembered him for his census, and Luke had purposely to distinguish
between that census and the census during which Jesus was born.
The very word "first" indicates that there were at least two censuses in Ju-
dea. Josephus mentions only one, whereas Luke notes two (Luke 2:2 and Acts
5:37). BAG allows for prötos to be used "without any thought that the series
must continue."46 But the only NT example cited is Matt 17:27: "Take the first
fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a stater." This
passage does not apply to the question at hand since the one doing the counting
has the means to stop the series after the first one, whereas the historian looks
back and has to determine how many have already occurred. Luke would cer-
tainly have spoken of the census, rather than the first, if in fact he only knew of
one. The obvious conclusion is that he knew of another before that of Quirinius.
Higgins46 and Hoehner47 suggest an adverbial use of prötos to read: "This

39
L. H. Feldman, ed., Josephus (LCL; Cambridge: Harvard University, 1965) 19.3.
40
N. Turner, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1965) 23-24.
41
Bruce, History 30 n. 1.
42
Turner, Insights 23; I. H. Marshall, Commentary on Luke (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978) 104, ap-
pears to arrive at the same conclusion; but cf. Fitzmyer, Luke 401, who says that such a view is impos-
sible because of the following participle and the word order.
«Ibid., p. 24.
44
Sherwin-White, Roman Society 170.
45
BAG733.
46
A. J. B. Higgins, "Sidelights on Christian Beginnings in the Graeco-Roman World," EvQ 41/4 (Octo-
ber-December 1969) 200-201.
47
Hoehner, Chronological Aspects 21-22.
50 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

census took place before Quirinius was governor of Syria." But their example,
John 15:18, uses the neuter proton (which often has an adverbial meaning),48 not
prötos or proti as here. Their view also has two other weaknesses: (1) It neglects
the A.D. 6-7 census, which was so important in the history of Israel between
A.D. 6 and A.D. 70 (cf. Acts 5:27); and (2) it fails to answer why Quirinius is
mentioned at all. Why not give the name of the actual governor at the time of the
census?
In conclusion, Luke 2:2 fits well both grammatically and historically when
taken to mean that the census during which Jesus was born was the census before
the well-known, later census of Quirinius. The probability of such an earlier cen-
sus during the reign of Herod will now be discussed.
Censuses were common in the Roman empire. A census of Roman citizens
was held periodically under the republic and was conducted by Augustus in 28
B.C. and later.49 According to Sherwin-White, "The census was taken in the
three Gauls in 27 B.C. (Dio, 53. 22.15, Livy, Fer. 134), in 12 B.C. (Livy, Per. 138,
ILS, 212, ii. 36), and in A.D. 14-16 (Tac. Ann. i. 31, 33, ii. 6)."50 Census enroll-
ments were made in Egypt every fourteen years. Evidence has been found of
enrollments from A.D. 34 to A.D. 230.51 According to Ramsay, "Augustus was,
in all probability, the originator of this system in Egypt."52
In Cyrene exact information on the number and wealth of the inhabitants was
available by 7 B.C.53 Even in the more or less autonomous city-state of Apamea in
Syria, Quirinius himself had a census taken.54
Concerning the edict or "decree" of Augustus mentioned in Luke 2:1,
Sherwin-White states:
Critics hasten to remark, correctly, that there never was a single census of the
whole Roman empire. The assessment of the different provinces was undertaken at
different and widely separated dates in the Principate of Augustus. But Luke has
been misunderstood. A census or taxation-assessment of the whole provincial em-
pire was certainly accomplished for the first time in history under Augustus. Now it
was the way of Augustus to issue general explanations of the particular actions of
the central government It is likely that Quirinius issued the instructions for the
census of Judaea with an introductory edict of Augustus, explaining that whereas
the welfare of the whole Empire requires that no man should pay more than his due,
and that the census should be completed throughout all the provinces, this is now to
be undertaken in Judaea at the same time as the revision of the census in Syria,—or

48
BAG733.
49
Finegan, Handbook 236.
^Sherwin-White, Roman Society 169 n. 1.
51
W. M. Ramsay, Was Christ Born at Bethlehem? (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1898) 132-136.
52
Ibid., p. 137.
^Finegan, Handbook 237.
M
Ibid.
 THE CENSUS AND QUIRINIUS: LUKE 2:2 51

in words to that effect. . . . His whole statement means that the general policy of
Augustus was carried out piecemeal in Judaea.55
It is thus very likely that Augustus had a general policy of taking censuses of
various territories and provinces at various times. We turn now to the applica-
tion of this policy to Judea during the reign of Herod.

2. A census under Herod. Ramsay states that "the first enrollment in Syria
was made in the year 8-7 B.C., but a consideration of the situation in Syria and
Palestine about that time will show that the enrollment in Herod's kingdom was
probably delayed for some time later."56 This could bring the census to about 5
B.C.
Some have questioned whether Rome would try to take a census in Palestine
while Herod was still reigning. Josephus indicates that serious problems devel-
oped during the latter part of Herod's reign between Herod and Augustus. His
responses to his family troubles (executing sons and changing his will) began to
damage his reputation with Caesar.57 In addition, in 8 B.C. Herod led an attack
into Arabia to punish robbers who were Augustus' subjects, and Augustus re-
acted strongly.
Caesar ... grew very angry, and wrote to Herod sharply. The sum of his epistle was
this, that whereas of old he had used him as his friend, he should now use him as his
subject.58
Apparently in Herod's last days his kingdom came more and more under the
direction and influence of Augustus. It would not be surprising therefore to find
the emperor asking Herod to take a census for him in Judea. Augustus was
probably anticipating Herod's death.
As far as the manner in which the census was carried out is concerned,
Herod was naturally eager to avoid giving to the enrollment an entirely foreign and
non-national character... . Obviously, the best way to soothe the Jewish sentiment
was to give the enrollment a tribal character and to number the tribes of Israel, as
had been done by purely national Governments.59
Thus Herod avoided the strife and rebellion that attended the census of A.D. 6-7
under Quirinius, which was strictly foreign and was long remembered. Each per-
son being registered had to return to his tribal home, exactly as Joseph went to
Bethlehem.
The rule of Herod over the entire kingdom also solves another problem: That
Luke was not thinking of the A.D. 6-7 census as the one of Christ's birth is shown
by the fact that Joseph and Mary had to leave the territory of Antipas (Galilee)

55
Sherwin-White, Roman Society 168-169; Hayles, "Census" (December 1973) 117-131, includes a full
explanation of Rome's censuses.

^Ramsay, Bethlehem 174.

57
Hayles, "Census" (March 1974) 25.
58
Josephus Ani. 16.9.3.
59
Ramsay, Bethlehem 186.
52 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

and go to Judea (directly under Roman control in A.D. 6 following the deposition
of Archelaus) to be enrolled. This would have taken place only if there were one
central authority over Palestine—such as only during the reign of Herod the
Great, before April, 4 B.C.60

V. CONCLUSION
Many censuses were taken in the Roman empire during the time of Augustus,
and there is no reason why Herod might not have been asked to take one, espe-
cially in light of conditions near the end of his life. Since censuses were carried
out locally, local customs were regarded and Palestine was a delicate area.
Quirinius may or may not have been governor of Syria at the birth of Christ in
5 B.C., but this is irrelevant since Luke 2:2 states that the census during which
Jesus was born was the first one, before the more well-known one taken by Quiri-
nius in A.D. 6-7. This first one was "in the days of Herod the king."

^H. R. Moehring, "The Census in Luke as an Apologetic Device," Studies in New Testament and Early
Christian Literature (ed. D. E. Aune; Leiden: Brill, 1972) 149.
 ^ s
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