The Quirinius Quandry

Luke 2 is a chapter that has often been used to deny the historicity of the Gospels. In other words, Luke 2 has been used by critics of the Bible to show that Luke did not get his facts straight. It is well known that Quirinus did take a census as governor of Syria. But the problem is this: official records tell us that Quirinius (verse 2) did not become governor of Syria until after Herod died. Yet, Matthew is clear that Herod was king when Jesus was born. How can these two accounts be reconciled?

There seem to be two possibilities. One is that Quirinius was involved in the taking of more than one census. The language of Luke 2 is somewhat ambiguous. It allows for the possibility that Quirinius was in a government office in Syria without being governor. He may have taken a census in this capacity.

The second possibility is that verse 2 could be translated differently. There is latitude for verse 2 to read "this was the census taken before Quirinius was governor of Syria." In other words, Luke would be explicitly saying. "I am not talking about the famous census. I am talking about the one before that."

It should be noted that Luke quotes a reference to the famous census, first taken when Quirnius was governor of Syria in Acts 5:37. Acts is Luke's second book. This reference suggests that Luke well knew when the famous census was. And it suggests that Luke knew there was a census taken before this one. The refernce to Quirnius presents difficulties. But they are not difficulties without answers. Nothing in Luke 2 undermines the confidence that we have from Luke's prologue in Luke 1 (verses 1-4).