Luke 2:1

(in diem natal. Christi.) It was the Lord who directed Augustus to give this edict, that he might minister unto the coming of the Only-begotten; for it was this edict that brought Christ's mother into her country as the prophets had foretold, namely, to Bethlehem of Judæa, according to the word, to a city of David, which is called Bethlehem.

To those who attentively consider it, there seems to be expressed a kind of sacrament, in its being necessary that Christ should be put down in the registration of the whole world; in order that His name being written with all, He might sanctify all, and being placed in the census with the whole world, He might impart to the world the communion of Himself.

What does it mean that the world is enrolled when the Lord is about to be born, except that this is openly shown: that he was coming in the flesh who would enroll his elect in eternity? Concerning the reprobate, by contrast, it is said through the Prophet: Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the just.

(Hom. 8. in Ev.) But the registering of the whole world when our Lord was about to be born was mystical; for He appeared in the flesh Who should write down the names of His own elect in eternity.

(Metaphrastes et Alexander ander Monachus.) Christ is born also at a time when the princes of Judah had failed, and the kingdom was transferred to Roman governors, to whom the Jews paid tribute; and then was fulfilled the prophecy, saying, There shall not fail a leader from Judah, nor a prince from between his feet, until he shall come who is to be sent. (Gen. 49:10.) And now when Cæsar Augustus was in the 42d year of his reign, there went forth an edict from him that all the world should be taxed for the payment of tribute, the management of which he committed to a certain Cyrinus, whom he made governor of Judæa and Syria; and so it follows, This taxing was first made, &c.

But this enrollment of the whole world that is recalled as having been done by an earthly king also clearly designates the works of the heavenly king. Undoubtedly the reason he appeared in the world was so that from all the countries throughout the world …

The census takes place so that, when everyone goes to his own homeland, the Virgin also came to Bethlehem, her own homeland, and thus the Lord was born in Bethlehem, and the prophecy was fulfilled. When the one God was about to put an end …

The Son of God, about to be born in the flesh, as by His birth of a virgin He showed that the grace of virginity was most pleasing in His sight, is therefore begotten in the most peaceful time of the world, because He taught men to seek peace, and condescends to visit those who follow it. But there could be no greater sign of peace than for the whole world to be brought together under one taxing, while its ruler Augustus reigned with so great peace for the twelve years, about the time of our Lord's nativity, that war having been quelled throughout the whole world, there seemed to be a literal fulfilment of the Prophet's prediction, They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, &c.

And He most perfectly fulfilled what the name Augustus signifies, in that He was both desirous and able to increase (augere) His own.

He chose a time of utmost peace as the time when he would be born because this was the reason for his being born in the world, that he might lead the human race back to the gifts of heavenly peace. And, indeed it is …

Now it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. The Son of God, about to be born in the flesh, chose for Himself His parents as He willed, and the …

Because it was fit also that at Christ's coming the worship of many Gods should cease, and one God only be worshipped, one king is described as ruling the world.

Now the fitting time for Christ's nativity was the time of the enrollment of the universal empire, "because, as Gregory says, he was coming in the flesh who would enroll his elect in eternity." In this enrollment of the universal empire, a threefold excellence is …

And it came to pass in those days,.... When John the Baptist was born, and Christ was conceived, and his mother pregnant with him, and the time of his birth drew on. The Ethiopic version reads, "in that day"; as if it was the same day in which John was circumcised, and Zacharias delivered the above song of praise: that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus; second emperor of Rome; the name Caesar was common to all the emperors, as Pharaoh to the Egyptians, and afterwards Ptolemy.

), for there was scarcely any part of the civilized world, but what was dependent on it. Now this was the time when the Messiah was to be born, according to Daniel's prophecy ( Dan. ii. 44 ): In the days of these kings, the kings of the fourth monarchy, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

In those days - About the time of the birth of John and of Christ. A decree - A law commanding a thing to be done. Caesar Augustus - This was the Roman emperor. His first name was Octavianus. He was the nephew of Julius Caesar, and obtained the empire after his death. He took the name “Augustus - i. e., august,” or honorable - as a compliment to his own greatness; and from him the month “August,” which was before called “Sextilis,” received its name.

We have, in these verses, the story of a birth — the birth of the incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every birth of a living child is a marvelous event. It brings into being a soul that will never die. But never since the world began, was a birth so marvelous as the birth of Christ. In itself it was a miracle — "God was manifest in the flesh!" The blessings it brought into the world were unspeakable — it opened to man the door of everlasting life!

We have, in these verses, the story of a birth — the birth of the incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every birth of a living child is a marvelous event. It brings into being a soul that will never die. But never since the world began, was a birth so marvelous as the birth of Christ. In itself it was a miracle — "God was manifest in the flesh!" The blessings it brought into the world were unspeakable — it opened to man the door of everlasting life! In reading these verses, let us first notice — the TIMES when Christ was born. It was in the days when Augustus, the first Roman emperor, made "a decree that all the world should be taxed." The wisdom of God appears in this simple fact. The scepter was practically departing from Judah. (Genesis 49:10.) The Jews were coming under the dominion and taxation of a foreign power. Strangers were beginning to rule over them. They no longer had a really independent government of their own. The "due time" had come for the promised Messiah to appear. Augustus taxes "the world" — and at once Christ is born. It was a time peculiarly suitable for the introduction of Christ's Gospel. The whole civilized earth was at length governed by one master. There was nothing to prevent the preacher of a new faith going from city to city, and country to country. The princes and priests of the heathen world had been weighed in the balances, and found lacking. Egypt, and Assyria, and Babylon, and Persia, and Greece, and Rome — had all successively proved that "the world by wisdom knew not God." (1 Corinthians 1:21.) Notwithstanding their mighty conquerors, and poets, and historians, and architects, and philosophers — the kingdoms of the world were full of dark idolatry. It was indeed "due time" for God to interpose from Heaven, and send down an almighty Savior! It was "due time" for Christ to be born.

Caesar Augustus - This was Caius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, who was proclaimed emperor of Rome in the 29th year before our Lord, and died a.d. 14. That all the world should be taxed - Πασαν την οικουμενην, the whole of that empire. It is agreed, on all hands, that this cannot mean the whole world, as in the common translation; for this very sufficient reason, that the Romans had not the dominion of the whole earth, and therefore could have no right to raise levies or taxes in those places to which their dominion did not extend. Οικουμενη signifies properly the inhabited part of the earth, from οικεω, to dwell, or inhabit. Polybius makes use of the very words in this text to point out the extent of the Roman government, lib. vi. c. 48; and Plutarch uses the word in exactly the same sense, Pomp. p. 635. See the passages in Wetstein. Therefore the whole that could be meant here, can be no more than that a general Census of the inhabitants and their effects had been made in the reign of Augustus, through all the Roman dominions. But as there is no general census mentioned in any historian as having taken place at this time, the meaning of οικουμενη must be farther restrained, and applied solely to the land of Judea. This signification it certainly has in this same evangelist, Luk 21:26. Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, τῃ οικουμενῃ this land. The whole discourse relates to the calamities that were coming, not upon the whole world, nor the whole of the Roman empire, but on the land of Judea, see Luk 21:21. Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains. […]