Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
One solution to this problem is that the decree went out in 3 or 2 B.C., but we have no other record of it. [Note: Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, s.v. "Quirinius," by E. M. Blaiklock, 5:5-6; The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Quirinius," by F. F. Bruce.] This solves the problem of a census occurring during the governorship of Quirinius, but it does not solve the problem of Herod being alive then. Another possibility is that the word "first" (Luke 2:2, Gr. prote) means "prior" or "former" here (cf. John 15:18). [Note: Nigel Turner, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament, pp. 23-24.] Luke’s meaning would then be that the census that took Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem was the one Augustus made prior to the one he took when Quirinius was governor of Syria (in A.D. 6). This seems to be the best solution. All the evidence points to the birth of Jesus in late 5 or early 4 B.C. [Note: Hoehner, pp. 11-25.] 