Fact #6. Jesus was about thirty years old (Luke 3:23) when he began his ministry shortly after John the Baptist began his in "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceaser" (Luke3:1,2). Boehner states:
"Since the fifteenth year of Tiberius can be dated for. A.D. 27 to 29, it would mean that if Christ were born in A.D. 6, He would only have been twenty-one to twenty-three years old, not about thirty years old." (HoH.C 19)
Some argue that if a census had occurred in 6 or 5 BC, Josephus would have said something about it. But this is an argument from silence which is invalidated by the fact that probably the only reason Josephus mentions the AD 6 census is that it was highlighted by the tumultuous events of their deposition of Archelaus, the Roman takeover of all his material goods, and the revolt of Judas ofGalilee (also called "a Gaulanite").
Lukes Accuracy and Quirinuis Rulership of Syria
The mystery of the whole problem, which Luke seems to know and archaeologists haven't yet discovered, is how Quirinuis could have been ruling Syria in or about 5 BC. The governor of Syria are all known from 12 BC until 4 BC. We do know that Quirinuis was an effective military leader and administrator and that he held several positions of highest ranked in and around Syria from as early as 12 BC until AD 7. Sometime between 12 BC and AD 1, Quirinuis was in charge of the Homanadensian War, which was going on in a province neighboring Syria. Emily Schurer, the dominant of the nineteenth century in this field, demonstrated that Syria was the most likely province from which Quirinuis could have conducted the war which Quirinuis as governor of Syria for a first term from 3 to 2 BC (ScE.HJP90 1:352) Ramsay, however, based on inscriptional evidence, believed that Quirinuis was part of a cogovernorship about 8 to 6 BC. (Raw.BRD15 292-300) Finegan reasons:
"The resistance of the Homanadensians must have been broken by the time the net of Roman roads was laid out in the province of Galatia in 6 B.C.; therefore, at least the major part of this war must have been over by the date... Quirinuis could have been free to attend to other business in the East." (FiJ.BC 236-36)
English Canon E.C. Hudson was documented that Quirinuis was highly successful in his mission against the Homanadensians. More than 4,000 prisoners were taken, Quirinuis was awarded the distinction of a triumph, and those of the colony of Pisidian Antioch elected him honorary duumvir, or chief magistrate, with a perfect, M. Servilius, designated to act for him. (HuE.PF 15:106)
Quirinuis' great ability contrasts vividly with the inexperience of Quinctilius Varus, official governor of Syria from 7 or 6 BC to 4 BC. Blaiklock, having investigated the evidence at length, shows that Varus
"was a man from whom Augustus may justifiably have entertained no great regard. Augustus, above all, was an able judge of men, and it was Quinctilius Varus, who in AD 9, reprehensibly lost three legions in the Teutoburger forest in Germany, one of the most shocking disasters to Roman arms in the century. Assuming that Augustus had some misgivings over the ability of Varus to handle an explosive situation, it is easy to see a reason for a special intrusion, under other direction, in the affairs of Varus' province. A reasonable reconstruction might assume that Varus came to Syria in 7 BC., an untried man. The census was due in Palestine in 8 or 7 BC., and it could well be that Augustus ordered the man who had just successfully dealt with the problem of the Pisidian highlanders, to undertake the delicate task. Herod I had recently lost the favor of the emperor, and may have been temporizing about the taking of the census, a process which always enraged the difficult Jews. Quirinuis' intervention, the requisite organizations, and the preparation for the census, could easily have postponed the actual date of registration to the end of 5 BC, a reasonable date."
It is likely that Quirinuis held a ruling position over Syria by special commission. There is a key confirmation: Luke 2:2 allows for this leadership arrangement since the Greek term used does not specify that Quirinuis was the official governor of Syria, only that he was in some way governing, ruling or leading Syria.
The dictum of Aristotle, commonly followed for all works of antiquity, is that the benefit of the doubt most be given to the author, not arrogated by the critic to himself. The reason classical scholars follow this practice (and why New Testament critics ought to as well) is that the author of classical work, being much closer to the events in question, has decided advantage in knowing details of the situation which the critic, removed from the event by centuries of time, has no way of knowing. Therefore it is one thing to claim a historical contradiction but quite another to prove it.
Since the historical documentation of ancient times in general of Syria at this time in particular is scanty, can we trust Luke for historical accuracy?
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