First or Prior To

Singapore Airlines has had only one fatal crash. On the 31 of October 2000 (Halloween), Flight SQ 006 departed from Taipei, Taiwan. The Boing 747-412 was instructed to take off at 23:18 hours from runway 05L (L for left). The pilots mistakenly started their take-off on runway 05R (right), which was closed for repair. Their error cost the lives of 81 of 179 people aboard.

Scholars point to an apparent error in Luke’s chronology to discredit the truthfulness of the Scriptures. Luke wrote,

“In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the households. This was the first (protos) registration/census when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone went to their towns to register their families.” (Luke 2:1–3)

Luke said these verses to explain how Joseph and Mariam, residents of Nazareth of Galilee, in the north, went to Bethlehem of Judea, in the south, for the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:3–7). But there is an apparent discrepancy.

Jesus was born when Herod the Great was their king, which was between the years of 40–4 BC. When Herod died, his son Archelaus ruled Judea as an ethnarch (a ruler under Caesar), and his son Antipas ruled Galilee as an ethnarch. Archelaus was ruthless to his people, including killing 4,000 Pharisees. The Judeans begged Caesar to act, and Caesar banished Archelaus to Vienne in France. Archelaus’s rule lasted from 4 BC to AD 6. When he was banished, Rome decided to rule Judea directly, first with the governors of Syria and then with procurators and prefects like Pontius Pilate (the ruler at Jesus’s trial).

Quirinius became the governor of Syria in AD 6 and started ruling Judea soon after Archelaus’s banishment. That was nearly ten years after Jesus was born. Quirinius took his first registration/census in AD 8, another two years later. How could Quirinius’s first census be the one that drove Joseph and Mary from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Juda? Luke must have been mistaken. If he was mistaken on this, we can’t trust the rest of his writings – so argue the critics.

Luke wrote, “This was the first (protos) registration/census.” The Greek word protos has more than the meaning of “first.” It also means “prior to.” The Lord Jesus said,

“If you bring a gift for sacrifice on the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave the gift before the altar, go protos, and reconcile with your brother. Then come and offer your gift” (Matt 5:24–25).

In this example, protos doesn’t refer to a numerical sequence as in “first, second, and third.” Instead, it refers to an action prior to another activity: reconciliation prior to sacrifice.

Elsewhere, Jesus said,

“Hypocrite, take the plank from your eye proton. Then, you will see clearly to take the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matt 7:5).

Again, the protos here isn’t showing a numerical but logical sequence: prior to taking a speck from a brother/sister’s eye, the hypocrite must remove the plank from his/her eye to see clearly.

Similarly, Luke wasn’t saying Joseph and Mariam went from Nazareth to Bethlehem during Quirinius’s first registration/census. Instead, Jesus’s birth happened during a registration/census that was taken prior to the registration/census that Quirinius took in AD 8. Rome had taken several censuses prior to Quirinius’s census. Jesus was born at one of those times.

God’s word seems erroneous and contradictory to those who want to discredit it. But for believers, God’s word is true even if we don’t understand it or can’t explain it.