Did St. Luke make a mistake in Chapter 2 of his Gospel? Answered in the Negative

Did St. Luke make a mistake in Chapter 2 of his Gospel?
Decrevi Determined to be Catholic @thecatholicman | 21 janv. 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWLIxGXYxgk

The ensuing dialogue starts with my first comment to the title, ignoring all the rest.

No, he didn't. Quirinius was not THE governor, and Luke doesn't say he was, he was in the business of governing (along with Saturninus) Syria, and St. Luke says he was.

Again, there were many Roman censuses over Roman provinces, the one that Josephus remembered from 6 AD was in Judaea, and it's recalled because it caused a revolt.

The one Luke mentions was in Galilee, already a province, while Judaea was just a protectorate. There was no Roman census official in Bethlehem, the census Joseph most chaste Spouse took was for the Temple tax. Shekels were still the common currency in Bethlehem and in Jerusalem, or at least a common one.

Joe Bloggs

@joebloggs1356

Bethlehem is stones throw from Jerusalem. If they didnt use some sort of common money I'd be very suprised. As for the debate about the status of Judea and Samaria in the time of Jesus, history is very very clear. Pompey the Great put the Edomite Herodians into power, creating a Patron/Client relationship between Rome and Judea-Samaria, this alone gave the Romans a very big interest in knowing the wealth status of this entity which has effectively lost independence long before and legates or governors officially sat in power.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

@hglundahl

@joebloggs1356 Nevertheless, Judaea was a vassal kingdom, not a province, making it a thing outside normal Roman taxation (at that point only of provincials) and so, presumably, of censuses.

Joe Bloggs

@hglundahl no, in the time of Jesus Judea was a part of Syria for administration reasons. Romans, you cant beat em😂

This is what chatgpt said, but its very solid history It happened in AD 6.
When Herod Archelaus (ethnarch of Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea) was deposed by Augustus in AD 6, his territory was converted into a Roman province (often called Judaea/Iudaea) and placed under the oversight of the legate (governor) of Roman Syria. That’s the moment Josephus describes as Judaea being “added/annexed” to Syria for administrative purposes, and it’s when Quirinius came to conduct the property assessment that sparked opposition.
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So as you can see that Judea/Edom/Samaria wasnt as independent as you think.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

@joebloggs1356 Exactly.

AD 6, the independence of Judaea was over.

And that's too late for Luke 2, so it's not the census Luke is talking about.

Joe Bloggs

@hglundahl the census luke mentions isnt the taxation type, its a 'census of the world', and Joseph goes to register, with Mary. Because he is of the House of David. Quirinius is made governor in Syria of which Judea is part in ad 6. Im not sure what people are missing.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

@joebloggs1356 "a 'census of the world',"

Was there actually such a thing?

As mentioned, AD 6 is too late, since Herod the Great had already died by then.

Joe Bloggs

@hglundahl it's hard to make people understand that yes, the Roman's thought the Mediterranean civilisation and near attached lands were the "world" even if they were only slightly aware of anything bigger, it didn't matter to them

@hglundahl I see the point about Herod being dead. I'm also not going to say that 'muh bible is wrong' just because I'm too stupid to explain what's happening. The Bible is the inspired Word of God and if theres a mystery there then by faith I believe it's there for a reason, and not some 2000 year old error, because even the ancients were aware of it.

Hans-Georg Lundahl

@joebloggs1356 Quirinius was in the title position of Governor in 6 AD, but he was doing the job of one under Saturninus "in the title" back when Jesus was born.

As to "the whole world" I think the actual words of Augustus would have been "in all of the provinces of the Roman Empire" and then a certain tax or census officer in Galilee somewhat overreported this to the Holy Family. Or even, it was the actual wording of Octavian, but involved an overreach which has so far not been quite filled with actuality.

Noting that the census edict is available for registered users (I'm so far not one) on the Valtorta app.

So, I can't check if I agree or disagree with her.

[Wait, did Robert Nugent say sth about Saturninus? The thing is Saturninus, as I recall, was actually "in office" as to the title, but it was Quirinius who was doing the job.]