WWUTT 2266 In Those Days, a Decree Went Out (Luke 2:1-2)

Luke’s Detailed Account of Jesus’ Birth and Why Skeptics Doubt It

Luke gives such a detailed account of the birth and life and death and resurrection of Jesus. We shouldn't be surprised though that there are skeptics out there who doubt these details when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we come to perhaps its most famous chapter, giving us the most detailed account of the birth of Jesus. I'm going to read through to at least the visitation of the shepherds who came to see the Christ child laid in a manger.

This is Luke 2, verses 1 -20. Hear the word of the Lord. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

And all went to be registered each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Now, as I said, this is perhaps the most famous chapter in the Gospel of Luke, because we hear this chapter every Christmas.

I think that I have heard Luke 2 more often than I think I've heard any of the crucifixion or resurrection narratives in any of the four Gospels. Every Christmas you hear this in some capacity, whether it's, you know, as a family you're putting up a Christmas tree or laying out the nativity scene, or dad gathers the kids around and he reads the Christmas story from the Bible.

This is likely the one that he goes to, even more so than the account in Matthew 2 of the visitation of the Magi. You hear it in Christmas cantatas. You might even hear it read at the mall. You've heard it in live nativity scenes, if you ever do like a walk through Bethlehem or something like that.

Maybe there's a Christmas Eve service and the pastor reads this passage to the congregation, or a Christmas Day service or something like that. We have heard Luke 2 over and over again. It is known to people who are not Christians, who are not regular churchgoers.

They even know the birth narrative or have heard some of the birth narrative in Luke 2. They could at least tell you that Mary and Joseph went to an inn. They were turned away by an innkeeper. Jesus was born in a stable and Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.

Some of those details are not correct. They have been extrapolated or expounded upon from what we have here in Luke 2, what we have just read. Like, for example, there's no mention of an innkeeper. It doesn't even say that Jesus was born in a stable.

But we'll talk about those things as we go through this narrative together. We're probably not going to get to the shepherd's account this week. That may be next week, but we'll at least get through verses 1 through 7.

Let's do this a piece at a time. Already, we've got some controversy even within these first two verses. Let's read here Luke 2, verses 1 and 2. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

And this was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Now, we already have some controversy here because there are doubts about when Quirinius was actually governor of Syria. Now, growing up, I never knew that there were any doubts about this passage.

My dad read it and explained it to me and to my siblings every Christmas. I heard it read in church. I even read it in church, even as a kid. I think there was a Christmas cantata we did. And because I had that radio voice, even as a child, I had the radio voice.

It wasn't this deep yet, but it was still one of those fluent voices that everybody wanted. All the pastors wanted a child reading something. Well, they would ask me to do it. And so I even read the Luke 2 account when I was a child in one of our Christmas pageants.

I had no reason to question any of this. It wasn't until I went to college, and I learned from friends and my professors, that Luke's account of the birth of Christ is apparently fraught with problems.

I had always heard, the Bible says it, that settles it, and I believe it. But now suddenly I've got these, well, self-proclaimed scholars, really, who are saying that, no, everything that I have come to believe about the gospel of Luke has been incorrect all this time.

As one university professor wrote, quote, there is no record of Caesar Augustus' decree that all the world should be enrolled. The Romans kept extremely detailed records of such events. Not only is Luke's census not in these records, it goes against all that we know of Roman economic history.

Roman documents show that taxation was done by the various governors at the provincial level. Property tax was collected on site by traveling assessors, thus making unnecessary Joseph's journey away from what little property he must have owned.

Unquote. Yes, it's true that the Romans kept very excellent records, but we don't have all of those records. It's kind of hard to keep up with those after 2 ,000 years. According to ancient historian and classical scholar Tenny Frank, the census figures for Rome are given for almost every lustrum, or every five years.

But after the reigns of emperors Tiberius and Gaius, in the second century B .C., the census was not always taken, and sometimes the statistics have been lost to us. Frank showed that during the time of Augustus, three censuses were taken.

And rather than being taken every lustrum, these censuses were all ten or more years apart. It's reasonable to believe there was even another census or two that we simply do not have record of. There is an old kind of axiom among historians that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

So just because we don't have it doesn't mean that therefore it could not have been. Caesar Augustus did take various censuses, and not all of these censuses were meant to be for the purpose of taxation.

Sometimes a registration would be taken just to count the number of people. And then later, once we have an idea of how many people there are, now we're going to do a tax. And those taxes indeed would be collected locally.

It wouldn't be that there are various tax collectors that are sent throughout the Roman Empire. It would be up to those various regions to collect taxes. But the capital city, Rome, would have an understanding of everybody who is in the Roman Empire because of the population registration that would be taken.

Now, the most important registration that was to be acquired from a Roman census was the registration of citizens and their property. Contrary to what critics might say about Luke's account, some census decrees did require citizens to return to their homes.

And this did not mean a mass movement of people, since most landowners lived on or near their property. So there wasn't this mass exodus or migration of people going on whenever there was a decree for a census.

Because most of those folks, even entire families and tribes, would live right there where they owned their land. In the case of Joseph, he would have had to go to the place of his lineage in order to bear witness with the rest of his family regarding the lands that belong to their tribe.

And we know that upon arriving in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary lived with family. Now, I'm going to bring that up tomorrow where Joseph and Mary did not go into a stable. They actually went into a house with family.

But we'll consider that later when we get to these verses. Israel was also pretty divided during this period of time. Remember that you have the southern lands, which was the remnant of the southern kingdom.

And that would be Judea. That's like from Jerusalem and then the region south. Everything north of that, you've got Samaria, which was filled with Samaritans. And there is, of course, a great distance between Judea and Samaritans, speaking ethnically, speaking brotherly.

The Judeans did not care. The Jews did not care for the Samaritans. And Samaritans, likewise, didn't want to have dealings with Jews. And north of that, you had the land of Galilee. So, between Judea and Galilee, you've got the Samaritans in between.

And then up near Galilee, you will have some Jews that will live up there. And among those would be Joseph and his wife Mary. So, they have to travel from Galilee down into Judea to be registered at Bethlehem, which is likely where Joseph and his family owned property.

And he himself, owning land as part of that tribe, needed to go to bear witness of the land that was possessed by his family. Now, these details, though, are not what's so controversial about what we have here in Luke 2.

What's most controversial is with regard to this mention of Quirinius. As anyone with Google who can look up someone else who did all the research for their skepticism knows, the Jewish historian Josephus records that Quirinius was not governor of Syria until the year 6.

Well, previously, in Luke 1, we read that these things were taking place during the days of Herod the Great. And Herod died in 4 BC. So, the two, Herod and Quirinius, were not even ruling at the same time.

You've got a distance of like 12 years there between Herod and Quirinius. That means Luke is off by more than a decade. So, the Bible is wrong, right? That's what the skeptics will say when they compare Herod's reign with Quirinius' governorship.

Therefore, the Bible is messed up. Luke is not a reliable historian. Everybody pack up all your Christmas decorations and have a happy winter solstice. But why should we assume that the problem is with the biblical record?

That was the question that I had, even when I was in college and I started hearing doubts about all of these things. Why are we questioning Luke? Why would we not question Josephus? Josephus, as a historian, remember he was a Jewish historian that was living in the Roman Empire, living in Rome.

And so, when he wrote his historical account, he gives the most details into the history of Herod the Great than anyone else had written. So, Josephus has the longest biography of Herod the Great. Some of the details, some of the dates, we know now that Josephus got wrong.

Josephus wrote that Herod the Great was king at the age of 15, for example. But scholars have rejected this erroneous claim, as Herod was actually 25. So, that's a mistake of 10 years. Furthermore, Josephus says that Herod received the kingdom having obtained it on the 184th Olympiad, when Caius Domitius Calvinus was consul for the second time, and Caius Asinius Polio for the first time.

But those consuls, Calvinus and Polio, were not appointed until the 185th Olympiad. Josephus was not some infallible historian. So, it's really quite silly to say that all of Josephus' dates were right and all of Luke's.

Well, Luke must be the one who's wrong, since if we're going off of Josephus' dates, Luke doesn't have it right. So, therefore, the biblical record is incorrect. That's just absurd to come to that conclusion.

For years, scholars have been critical of the dates that we've come to accept that have been given to us by Josephus. You ask the historians, and they will say, Josephus just is not reliable on his dates.

He is beneficial in a lot of things. There are some details that we get from Josephus that are correct. But, again, he's not infallible. He's not somebody who is right on every number that he jots down.

And historians know this, but nonetheless, the traditional dates that are associated with the Christmas story remain the most popular. The only problem with the census in Luke 2 is that we try to make Luke's accurate record line up with inaccurate dates.

And then he gets the blame when that doesn't work. But with regard to Quirinius' governorship, I think that there is a simpler explanation to this. You don't have to be a historian yourself. You don't have to understand Greek or possess an encyclopedic knowledge of archaeology to be able to grasp this explanation.

It's actually quite simple. Remember, again, that Luke's gospel is addressed to a man named Theophilus. It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things which you have been taught.

That's what we read in chapter 1, verses 3 through 4. Now, Theophilus is the intended audience, and this is the reason for writing. Luke is giving a detailed, orderly account that you may have certainty concerning the things that have been taught.

The setting here is in Judea, beginning in the days of Herod, which we had back in chapter 1, verse 5. Luke starts with the birth of John the Baptist, and we also have in there Gabriel's appearance to Mary, announcing that she will be with child.

Then we get to Luke 2 .1, which begins, in those days, and that's very unspecific. Now, that expression itself, in those days, Luke uses in other ways in his gospel, sometimes in a very specific way, but sometimes in a very general way.

But all things to say, in those days, is not like a pinpoint specific year. It's way more general than saying, in the same year of Christ's birth. So Luke then says, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Again, we don't know exactly when this decree went out, or if such a registration was successfully completed in Judea when it was first issued, or even how long this census would have taken. Censuses took a long time, and you're talking the entire Roman Empire.

When we read of a census account in—you know, David's census. You remember the census that David did that was against God's will, and then he sent a curse upon Israel as a result of that. There was a plague upon Israel because of David's census.

We read about it in 2 Samuel 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21. Well, it says that that census took nine months to complete, and that was just in Israel. So imagine doing a census in the entire Roman Empire, and how long that would take in order to complete.

Now, the Jews had a lot of misgivings about participating in a census anyway, and because of what happened during David's census. So if we're going to take a census, it has to be ordered by God. That was what was said in the law.

So in the days of the census, there was a group of Jews called the Zealots who strongly opposed the Roman census. According to Acts 537, which, by the way, was also written by Luke, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and rallied many people to follow him.

So though a census was decreed, it was not carried out in Judea without aggressive opposition. What census taker wanted to risk their lives by going town to town, counting people in their property? Caesar Augustus needed an enforcer, and Publius Sculpitius Quirinius, with his decorated war record, was just such a guy.

Quirinius was made governor of Syria and Judea, which had been unsuccessfully overseen by the Herods. It was now brought under Quirinius' authority. Verse 2 says this was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

All Luke was pointing out was that these events were part of the same drama. He was not saying that they all happened at exactly the same time. Again, this was all in those days, which is an unspecific passing of time.

Sometimes Luke does get very specific, as in Luke 3 .1, where he says, In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. But in Luke 2 .1 -2, it's not meant to be as exact as what we have at the start of chapter 3.

A popular argument in defense of Luke 2 .2 is that Quirinius was made the governor of Syria twice, citing certain though scant historical evidence to back up this claim. It might be true, but I think the argument is unnecessary.

Such a claim would do more to defend Josephus' flawed dates than it would to clear Luke of any possible discrepancies. The Gospel of Luke provides a historical and eyewitness account, and his information and attention to detail are impeccable.

Josephus was born after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. It's foolish to insist that we take Josephus' word over Luke's. Josephus has been shown to be wrong on numerous occasions, but the Bible has proven true time and time again, fulfilling the very claim that Scripture has made about itself, every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30, verse 5. The author of the Bible is not merely the men who wrote it, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1 .21. We should certainly test all things, for the Bible instructs us to do so, but it would do well for us to take the word of God over the word of any man, for his is the word that leads to everlasting life.

And it's right here in Luke 2 that we are reading of the Savior who gives everlasting life the birth of Jesus Christ himself. We can be certain that these details are correct, they are true, and that Jesus is the Savior who takes away the sin of the world.

All who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Let's finish there. We'll pick up on the birth narrative of Jesus tomorrow. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read. Just a couple of, what was it, a single sentence, two sentences about some historical events that were going on in the Holy Land 2 ,000 years ago.

But these details give us assurance of the things that we read about, how true they are, how they really took place, and that Jesus is the Savior of all mankind. That whoever believes in him, our sins are forgiven, we have right standing with God, and the promise of everlasting life with you forever in glory.

Help us to be confident in this, and continue to study this that we may have the mind of Christ conformed all the more to his image. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Gabriel Hughes. Pastor Gabe is the author of 25 Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says, examining some of our most common Christmas beliefs and traditions and bringing them back to the truth of scripture.

You can find this and other books at our website, www .wtt .com. Join us again tomorrow for more Bible study when we understand the text.