than John (comp. Luke 1:5, 26), was baptized and began to teach when he was "about thirty years
of age."^116 Tiberius began to reign jointly with Augustus, as "collega imperii," a.u. 764 (or, at all
events, in the beginning of 765), and independently, Aug. 19, a.u. 767 (a.d. 14); consequently, the
fifteenth year of his reign was either a.u. 779, if we count from the joint reign (as Luke probably
did, using the more general term ἡγεμονίαrather than μοναρχίαor βασιλεία^117 or 782, if we reckon
from the independent reign (as was the usual Roman method).^118
Now, if we reckon back thirty years from a.u. 779 or 782, we come to a.u. 749 or 752 as
the year of John’s birth, which preceded that of Christ about six months. The former date (749) is
undoubtedly to be preferred, and agrees with Luke’s own statement that Christ was born under
Herod (Luke 1:5, 26).^119
Dionysius probably (for we have no certainty on the subject) calculated from the independent
reign of Tiberius; but even that would not bring us to 754, and would involve Luke in contradiction
with Matthew and with himself.^120
The other dates in Luke 3:1 generally agree with this result, but are less definite. Pontius
Pilate was ten years governor of Judaea, from a.d. 26 to 36. Herod Antipas was deposed by Caligula,
a.d. 39. Philip, his brother, died a.d. 34. Consequently, Christ must have died before a.d. 34, at an
age of thirty-three, if we allow three years for his public ministry.
The Census of Quirinius.Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high-priesthood of Annas and
Caiaphas, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness." The statement must have been quite intelligible
to the educated readers of that time.(^116) The different interpretations of αὐτὸς ἧν ἀρχόμενος ὡσεὶ ἐτῶν τριάκοντα do not alter the result much, but the ὡσεί leaves
a margin for a few months more or less. Comp. McClellan, I. 404.
(^117) He uses the same term of Pontius Pilate (ἡγεμονεύοντος). Zumpt, l.c. p. 296, says: "Eigentlich verstanden, bezeichnet
ἡγεμονίαdie Würde des militärischen Befehlshabers und des Regenten über die Provinzen. Hätte Lucas ’Augustus Kaiser’
(αὐτοκράτωρ) oder auch nur ’Herrscher’ (ἄρχων) gesagt, so würde man an eine Zählung von Tiberius’ Provincialverwaltung
weniger denken können.
(^118) Different modes of counting were not unusual, regarding the early Roman emperors, and Herod I. See above, p. 112, Zumpt,
l. c. 282 sqq., and Andrews, p. 27. Suetonius (Tib., 33) and Tacitus (Annal., vi. 51) say that Tiberius died in the 23d year of his
reign, meaning his sole reign; but there are indications also of the other counting, at least in Egypt and the provinces, where the
authority of Tiberius as the active emperor was more felt than in Rome. There are coins from Antioch in Syria of the date a.u.
765, with the head of Tiberius and the inscription, Καισαρ. Σεβαστος (Augustus). In favor of the computation from the colleagueship
are Ussher, Bengel, Lardner, Greswell, Andrews, Zumpt, Wieseler, McClellan; in favor of the computation from the sole reign
are Lightfoot, Ewald. Browne. Wieseler formerly held that Luke refers to the imprisonment, and not the beginning of the ministry,
of John, but he changed his view; see his art. in Herzog’s " Encykl.,"xxi. 547.
(^119) Andrews,l. c. p. 28, thus sums up his investigations upon this point: "We find three solutions of the chronological difficulties
which the statements of Luke present: 1st. That the 15th year of Tiberius is to be reckoned from the death ot Augustus, and
extends from August, 781, to August, 782. In this year the Baptist, whose labors began some time previous, was imprisoned;
but the Lord’s ministry began in 780, before this imprisonment, and when he was about thirty years of age. 2d. That the 15th
year is to be reckoned from the death of Augustus, but that the statement, the Lord was about thirty years of age, is to be taken
in a large sense, and that he may have been of any age from thirty to thirty-five when he began he labors. 3d. That the 15th year
is to be reckoned from the year when Tiberius was associated with Augustus in the empire, and is therefore the year 779. In this
case the language, ’he was about thirty,’ may be strictly taken, and the statement, ’the word of God came unto John,’ may be
referred to the beginning of his ministry."
(^120) Hase (Gesch. Jesu, p. 209) strangely defends the Dionysian era, but sacrifices the date of Matthew, together with the whole
history of the childhood of Jesus. Against the view of Keim see Schürer, p. 242.
A.D. 1-100.