Luke 3 and 4

[kishiriadgr]

As mentioned before, Luke's Gospel is the only one that comes with a mission statement. Having felt other accounts of the life and teaching of Jesus and found them lacking, Luke has gone and doen research in order to put out a version that new Christians can be confident is true

Comments

[napoleonofnerds]

What's odd about where Luke places the story in time is that it seems to be impossible, based on what we know about the history of the Romans in the area. The census when Quirinius was governor of Syria happened after Herod had died, which means Matthew and Luke are at odds.

Luke's point was probably that resistance to this census is what Josephus tells us is the beginning of the Zealot movement which violently opposed Roman rule and of which Barabbas was a leader. He wants to tell us that Jesus' parents were law-abiding and not rebels, hence the importance of them accepting such a burden to comply with a Roman decree.

Biblical inerrantists hate the beginning of Luke because it seems to be out of order and because if you trust a historical source that seems to be accurate in many other details the entire timeline is bogus.