The role of Qurinius is
perhaps the most difficult detail to interpret in Luke’s narrative (Lk 2:2). It
is well established that he initiated a taxation census soon after he was
appointed the provincial legate of Syria in A.D .6. Yet evidence is lacking
that he held this position more than once or that he ever conducted more than
one census. How, then, can Luke associate Quirinius with a census that occurred
many years earlier, when Jesus was born? The most helpful clue might be found
in Luke’s own words. The Greek expression that he uses in Lk 2:2 for the
governing role of Qirinius is the exact description he uses for Pontius Pilate’s
governing role in Lk 3:1. Since Pilate “governed” as a regional procurator and
was not the legate of an entire Roman province (Luke Syria), it leaves open the
possibility that Luke is referring to an administrative role assumed by
Quirinius that had nothing to do with his later position as an imperial legate.
This possibility is strengthened by the Church Father Justin Martyr, who states
that Qurinius was a “procurator” in Judea (not Syria) at the time of Jesus’
birth! It likewise enables us to make greater sense of the testimony of another
early Christian writer, Tertullian, who says that Saturinius (not Quirinius)
was the official legate of Syria at the time of the Nativity. It may be that
Qurinius was an administrator of a Judean census (i.e., the 3 B.C. oath-registration)
several years before conducting another census for taxation in A.D. 6. (The
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, ed. Scott Hahn and Curtis J. Mitch [San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2024], 1833)
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