Page "Nativity of Jesus" Paragraph 62

However, many scholars see a contradiction, in that while the Gospel of Matthew places Jesus ' birth under the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC, the Gospel of Luke also dates the birth ten years after Herod's death during the census of Quirinius, described by the historian Josephus.

Most critical scholars believe that Luke was simply mistaken, but other scholars have attempted to reconcile its account with the details given by Josephus.

For instance, Steven Cox and Kendell Easley list four separate approaches to a solution, ranging from a grammatical approach to the translation of the Greek word prote used in Luke to be read as " registration before Quirinius was governor of Syria " to archeological arguments and references to Tertullian that indicate that a " two step census " was performed, involving an early registration, given that Luke 2: 2 refers to the " first enrolment ".