The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ 

    The census described in the Gospel of Luke was the first carried out under the authority of Quirinius.  This 

was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  (Lk 2:2). It was not necessarily the first 

enrollment of the Jews since the Roman occupation, but the first under Quirinius. The statement that this 

enrollment was the first implies that there was a second. The second enrollment is described in detail by 

Josephus, and is usually dated to 

A.D.

 6.

222

    The enrollment of 

A.D.

 6 (usual date) included a taxation of Syria and Judea. This census of the Jewish 

people is described by the ancient Jewish Roman historian Flavius Josephus.

223

 He states that Caesar Augustus 

sent Cyrenius (Quirinius),

224

 to Syria and Judea to make a taxation, and that one of the Jews from Galilee, 

named Judas, started a rebellion against this taxation.

225

 This rebellion is mentioned in Sacred Scripture, in the 

Acts of the Apostles:  After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census .  (Acts 5:37). This 

enrollment of 

A.D.

 6 was clearly a taxation, under Quirinius, who also had authority over Syria at that time. 

    If this was the second census under Quirinius, when did the first census under Quirinius take place? 

According to Dr. E. Jerry Vardaman, the census under Caesar Augustus was taken every 17 years in the 

provinces (the occupied territories, including Israel). He places the first census under Quirinius in 12 

B.C.

, 17 

years before the second census of 

A.D.

 6.

226

Microletters on the Lapis Venetus 

    Dr. E. Jerry Vardaman also offers archaeological evidence in support of the conclusion that the 12 

B.C.

census was the census of Luke 2:2. A census is mentioned on an ancient tombstone called  Lapis Venetus  

(stone of Venice). The tombstone was for a Roman officer who, under orders from Quirinius, made a census of 

Apamea, a city in Syria. Vardaman uses microletters on the tombstone to date the tombstone itself to 10 

B.C.

227

    Microletters on the tombstone also state that the census of Apamea took place in the year that Quirinius was 

a Roman consul:  LA CONS P.S.QVIRINI 

228

 This text means  year one of the consulship of P.S. Quirini.  

The letter `L' is the abbreviation for `year,' the letter `A' stands for the number one. Letters were used in 

ancient Greek and Latin to stand for numbers. In the Greek number system, the first letter represented the 

number 1, the second letter represented 2, etc. The abbreviation  CONS  stands for  consul  or  consulship.  

And  P.S.QVIRINI  is the Quirinius mentioned in Luke 2:2. He  is also mentioned by Josephus

229

 and by 

Dio,

230

 both of whom state that Quirinius was a Roman consul. The usual year given for the consulship of P.S. 

Quirinius is 12 

B.C.

  Based on this and other considerations, Vardaman dates this census to 12/11 

B.C.

231

    Vardaman's discovery of this microletter inscription on the Lapis Venetus provides important archaeological 

evidence concerning the year of the Birth of Christ. This inscription places the census at the time of Christ's 

birth beginning in the first year of the consulship of Quirinius. 

The Census Under Quirinius 

    The Gospel of Luke states that the first census was carried out, not only in Israel, but in  all the world,  (Lk 

2:2) meaning in the whole Roman empire. In agreement with this point, the 12 

B.C.

 census is also known to 

have occurred in other parts of the Roman empire, including Gaul (France).

232

    According to Josephus, at the time of the second census, Quirinius was sent by Caesar Augustus to Syria  to 

be judge of that nation .  and the area of Judea in Israel was also put under his authority.

233

 Quirinius is 

known to have been governor of Syria during the second census.

234

 But the Gospel of Luke says that Quirinius 

was also governor of Syria during the first census, at the time of Christ's Birth (Lk 2:2). 

    According to Dio, at the time of the earlier census in 12 

B.C.

 (usual date), Quirinius was a Roman consul (a 

position at the head of the Roman Senate).

235

 As consul, Quirinius had a position of considerable power in the 

Roman empire, but most scholars do not believe that he was governor of Syria as early as 12 

B.C.

 However, 

Vardaman writes that Quirinius may have ascended from the position of Roman consul to governor of Syria in 

12 

B.C.

236

    On the other hand, it is not necessary to this chronological argument for Quirinius to have held the title of 

governor of Syria twice. Quirinius may have had authority over Syria and Israel as a result of his assignment 

to conduct a census, and may not have had the official position of governor of Syria. The Gospel of Luke 

refers to Pontius Pilate as  governor of Judea  (Lk 3:1), even though Pilate did not have the official Roman 

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