TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP

A scholar says: 'Luke ties Jesus' birth to a census under Quirinius, but the census we know of came about ten years after Herod died.' Agree or disagree?

The answer

Luke 2:2 dates the birth to a census when Quirinius governed Syria; the census Quirinius is known to have run was in AD 6. But Matthew and Luke also set the birth under Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC — leaving roughly a decade to account for.

Why it’s interesting

Proposals abound — an earlier unrecorded census, a different reading of the Greek word for 'first' — and scholars weigh them without full agreement. The two datelines are simply laid side by side in the text.

Genuinely debated

You can know the Bible.

Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.