Luke 2:1

In those days. [Birth of Jesus, Luke 2:1-7. See The Nativity; a Synopsis of the Life of Christ, a Suggestive Chronology of Christ’s Birth, The Chronology of Luke 3:1, 2, The Reigns of the Herods, The Duration of Christ’s Ministry, the Opening of the Galilean Ministry, The Ministry of Our Lord, Crucifixion In Relation To Passover, Passion Week and Resurrection to Ascension, and Palestine Under the Herodians.] That is, soon after the birth of John the Baptist. Jesus was born about six months after John (see ch. 1:26, 56, 57).

A decree. This “decree” originated in imperial Rome (DA 44). In view of the fact that no secular historian of the time mentions this decree, critical scholarship long assumed that Luke must have been mistaken. More recently, however, papyri and inscriptions have brought support for Luke’s narrative on every essential fact stated in vs. 1-3. From Augustus’ official records (Res Gestae Divi Augusti ii. 8) it is known that Augustus made at least three general surveys of the Roman Empire during his reign, in 28 B.C., 8 B.C., and A.D. 14. None of the three seems to coincide with the one to which Luke refers, but it is entirely possible that the tense political situation in Palestine and the bitter Jewish resistance to Roman taxation delayed the execution of the royal edict in this part of the empire. In fact, there were similar surveys, or censuses, in other parts of the empire that were not held at the times stated above, as for example, the census of 12 B.C. in Gaul. It is worthy of note that neither pagan nor Jewish critics, like Celsus and Porphyry, challenged Luke’s accuracy on this point. Even by those who do not accept Luke as an inspired writer he is recognized as an able and trustworthy historian (see on ch. 1:1-4). It is not likely that so careful a writer would carelessly lay himself open to criticism by misrepresenting well-known contemporary facts. See pp. 241, 242; a Synopsis of the Life of Christ, a Suggestive Chronology of Christ’s Birth, The Chronology of Luke 3:1, 2, Palestine Under the Herodians.

Caesar Augustus. Emperor of Rome from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14 (see pp. 37, 38, 238; The Chronology of Luke 3:1, 2, The Reigns of the Herods, and Palestine Under the Herodians). Augustus (a title; named Octavian), grandnephew of Julius Caesar, who had been assassinated in 44 B.C. A decree issued under his authority would appear to have his sanction even if not issued by him personally.

World. Gr. oikoumene, the “inhabited world,” here probably, more properly, the “civilized world,” as distinct from the barbarian or non-Roman world. Various Roman writers such as Polybius and Plutarch use oikoumene in this sense.

Taxed. Gr. apographo, “to write off,” “to copy,” “to register,” or “to enroll” (see DA 44, where the word “enrollment” is used). Apographo is not properly used of a tax levy, but of what we would call today a census. In ancient times, however, a census usually included the registration of property as well as of names and was commonly made as the basis for the levy of a property tax. The term might thus imply, though it does not explicitly denote, taxation.