Birth of Jesus the Savior

Good Morning,

Let us open with a word of prayer.

Pray 3+.

This morning we are looking at the birth of Jesus found in Luke 2 and we will be looking at verses 1-7. A couple of things to note before we get to our passage is that today will feel a bit more like a lecture than a sermon through much of this. This is one of the most argued passages by Bible critics in the Bible and I want us to have a solid grasp on why we can trust it.

Second, starting in our passage today, we will begin to see some real separation between the two birth narratives.

If you are there please follow along with me as I read Luke 2 verses 1-7.

Luke 2:1–7 “1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

The first question we have to ask ourselves when we begin to look at our passage today is.

Why is the setting important?

This is a passage that is often read during the Christmas season, I mean it is the birth of Jesus, so it is read for apparent reasons as that is what we are celebrating during the Christmas season. But how often to we actually look at the setting of the story and really try to understand it? If you are like me, most of the time what we are focused on during the Christmas season is the birth, not the setting. However, Luke puts a lot of detail into the setting and we really need to look at why that is.

The first thing we read in our passage is that there was a decree sent out that all the world should be registered, and this registration was when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Now in order to understand their importance we must remember that this Gospel was to be an orderly account written to Theophilus. These would have likely been events that Theophilus was familiar with and could give him a way to roughly date the birth of Jesus.

What this does to modern readers however is create a bit of confusion because modern critics of the Bible use verses one to three to show that Luke is not an accurate and therefore his account cannot be trusted.

The first big objection to this is that there is no record of a decree that all the world should be registered and the Romans were meticulous records keepers. We will answer this objection in a two fold sort of way. First, much of history is lost to us and many of the documents of the time have been destroyed or yet to be discovered. This means that we may never have the exact document recording this outside of Luke, however, we can ask ourselves is this in the wheelhouse of the Roman rulers of the time? There are three possible answers to this. The first is the answer to this is yes, with evidence, and we can trust that this is a possibility. The second is no, with evidence, and we can dismiss Luke’s record here. The last possibility is we have no evidence one way or another and we take our assessment strictly by faith. So what is the answer?

Well in his book, Prophets, Idols, and Diggers, Dr. John Elder says,

...archeological discoveries prove beyond doubt that regular enrollment of taxpayers was a feature of Ro­man rule and have shown that a census was taken every fourteen years. A large Egyptian papyrus, telling of an enrollment AD 174-175, refers to two previous enroll­ments, one in 160-161 and an­other in 146-147, at intervals of fourteen years. A much earlier papyrus, dated in the reign of Tiber­ius [14-37 AD] reports a man's wife and dependents for enrollment and apparently has a reference to a tax roll compiled AD 20-21. Another shows an en­rollment under Nero AD 62-63; another lists those exempt from the poll tax in the forty-first year of Augustus, who began his reign in 27 BC. Since Augustus records that he set about early in his reign to organize the empire, the first census may have been either 23-22 BC or in 9-8 BC; the latter would be the census to which the Gospel of Luke refers. (Elder, J. 1960. Prophets, Idols, and Diggers. Indianapolis/New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., pp. 159-60).

What we gather is that archeology gives us an incredibly strong augment that this tax happened. What is interesting to note is that the Caesar Augustus that Luke speaks of is the first emperor of Rome. He had won a decisive battle against rival Mark Antony and upon his return to Rome he secured his spot as the first emperor. Under this emperor, much of the empire had experienced peace in a way that had not been known for quite some time and even in his taxation we see some of the level of brilliance to this emperor also known as Octavius. In his taxation he sent these subjects to their home towns, at least in part softening the blow because they would be seeing family and friends they may not have seen for some time.

Verse three tells us “3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.” Luke then tells us that because he was of the house and lineage of David that Joseph goes to Bethlehem. This is a mandated family reunion. Every man going to register would have been family, though it may be distant. What is interesting about this is the level of joy this brings to people, I have a fairly large extended family and I know they are not equal but it has a similar effect as a funeral in some ways. Again not equal, but when the family comes together, yes there is pain and loss, but there is joy in seeing everyone who you have not seen in a long time. Now here again there is opposition to the validity of this part of the story, the argument is that this doesn’t make sense to send someone to their home to be taxed when there are assessors who would come and look at and tax your property that way. Again we have to ask if there is any evidence for this?

Here again we have evidence pointing to the validity of this practice. In a papyrus, discovered in the early twentieth century, archeologists found an edict by the Roman governor of Egypt, G. Vibius Maximus stating:

Since the enrollment by households is approaching, it is necessary to command all who for any reason are out of their own district to return to their own home, in order to perform the usual business of the taxation… (Cobern, C.M. 1929. The New Archeological Discoveries and their Bearing upon the New Testament. New York and London: Funk & Wagnalls, p. 47; Unger, M.F. 1962. Archaeology and the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, p. 64).

Then as to why Joseph took a very pregnant Mary along with him, we see in the same papyrus a registration:

I register Pakebkis, the son born to me and my wife, Taas­ies and Taopis in the 10th year of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Imperator [Emperor], and request that the name of my aforesaid son Pakeb[k]is be entered on the list' (Boyd, R.T. 1991. World's Bible Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: World Publishing, p. 415)

What we discover in these is that it was a common practice to be told to return to your own home in order to be taxed and that it was expected to register at least all of the sons in these registrations. This explains why Joseph takes his wife with him. However, there is a bit of a side bar to this one. Even if this had not been the practice, both Joseph and Mary knew the Old Testament and would have understood that the messiah was to be born in Bethlehem as stated in Micah 5:2. Meaning that even if this had not been the practice it is likely Mary would have come with him for this.

Now the final are of critic we see is Luke 2:2 “2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” This one is not quite as straightforward to resolve. Quirinius was a well know Roman official who is named by multiple authors outside of the Bible. It is generally accepted that he became governor of Syria in 6 AD, which is too late for this registration. There are several ways to resolve this though none of them are perfect.

The first and least probable in most scholar’s opinions, is that this verse should be translated as “This registration was before Quirinius was governor of Syria” and on the surface this seems like it is a great solution. However, if you have a Bible that mentions this as a possibility it is a note, there are no serious Bible translations that translate it this way, this is because it is really a stretch of the Greek to translate it this way especially given Luke’s writing style. So while plausible, the fact that no one translates it this way makes it very hard to accept as the correct way to read this.

The second way is that he held two terms as governor of Syria. This is based on the Trivoli tombstone inscription. This was an inscription found that stated it’s owner was once “Twice Legate” of Augustus in Syria. However, the name is gone and we cannot verify that this tomb belonged to him.

The third and final solution and the one I would hold to of the three, comes down to the word translated in English as governor. The word here is actually a verb not a noun, meaning someone who governs and while generally speaking this today would be a governor at the time it was someone with authority.

Dr. Clifford Wilson, an archaeologist, writes in his book Rocks, Relics, and biblical reliability:

[Critics] challenged the Bible's claim that Quirinius [the Latin spelling of Cyrenius] was governor of Syria at the time. He was governor at the time of the census fourteen years later, in AD 6, but, it turns out that he was also a high official in central Asia Minor in 8 BC, actually being in charge of the Army in Syria. It appears that he was able to repulse a local uprising that proba­bly delayed the implementation of the poll tax in Syria for some time' (Wilson, C. 1980. Rocks, Relics and Biblical Reliability. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, p. 116).

What we see is that Quirinius was in charge of the Army of Syria, near the time of this decree, and that he was dealing with an uprising at the time of this. This tells us that for most people in that day, this man who many would have heard of would have been a big point of reference during this same period as he was in charge of the Army of Syria. Remember that Romans governed through military force, so while he may not have been governor proper he was governing through this military.

Now with all of the objections addressed,

How do Jesus's and John's birth compare?

What exactly do we see as major differences between these two births? First thing we notice is where John was born in his parents home, Jesus was born away from where Joseph and Mary were living, and not only away he was laid in a manger. The town was full and the inn no longer had guest rooms available, they were likely in a stable or cave meant for animals.

The next major difference we see between the Messiah and the forerunner are those who are with the family in this time. Where Zechariah and Elizabeth were in their home surrounded by family and friends, Mary and Joseph by comparison are alone. It is probable there was a midwife but even she isn’t mentioned here.

Mary and Joseph are in this town for this registration, the same town all of Joseph’s relatives would have had to come to. Yet though they are surrounded by people who are somehow related to them, here they are alone. There is no one there to celebrate with them, no one to ask what this child’s name would be. In John 1:11 it says, “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

Even here in these births we see a reflection of their ministries. Many came to be baptized by John the Baptist and he was a popular figure at the time, even Herod feared John and didn’t want to put him to death. Jesus, however, was liked for what he could give people but when the time of his death came all rejected him and cried out for his death.

Jesus was born among his own. He was the rightful king of the Jews and a place of honor should have been made for him, yet he was born and laid in a lowly manger with no one around. He humbled himself and laid aside his right to glory, entering the world with no accolades, no friends or family to celebrate with Mary and Joseph, in a space meant for animals. He would go to his death the same way he entered the world, with only those closest to him to care. Though like his birth, his death was not the end of the story. We will see how God worked next week, but

What does this mean for us today?

The first thing we should get is that we can be confident in the narrative found not only here, but throughout all of God’s word. This is one of the most challenged passages and we saw that historical evidence supports it rather than contradicting it. This should give us confidence when the world throws objections at us. We might have to do some work, but there are people out there looking for or have already addressed these objections.

Do not be afraid of the objections the world throws at the Bible. Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, if he is truth we can know that he has the answers and they can be found.

1 Peter 3:15 tells us:

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

The next thing we should understand from this passage is that Jesus was not recognized by the world or his own even in his birth. The passage that Marc read for us in Isaiah 53:1-3 says, “1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

He knew what it was like to be rejected and despised. He understood what it was to be the outcast. There was never a time that by the world’s standards, he was revered. Yet look what he told his disciples in Matthew 10 starting in verse 24.

Matthew 10:24–26 “24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. 26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”

The world rejected Him, it will reject us. I don’t say that to cause fear, the Bible tells us over and over to be strong and courageous, rather I tell you so we are not surprised. If we are living a life that is in line with what God says, we are going to be rejected by the world. Jesus said have no fear of them, but don’t be surprised by it. If our faith is in Christ, our lives should reflect Jesus the light of the world, but John 3:19 “19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” People do not want to have sin exposed and would rather stay in darkness. Let us live as children of light and not be surprised when we are rejected by those who would rather stay in darkness.

Lets close with a word of prayer.