P. Sulpicius (kwi-rin´ee-uhs, suhl-pi´shuhs), the Roman consul who held the position of governor (legate) of Syria for several years beginning in 6 CE. He is the “Quirinius” (KJV: “Cyrenius”) of (Luke 2:2), during whose administration the “enrollment” took place and Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The historian Josephus tells of a census carried out under Quirinius’s authority in 6 or 7 CE, after the banishment of Archelaus, the ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. There is a historical problem, however, in relating this census to the one mentioned in (Luke 2:1-3), because Jesus is also said to have been born during the reign of Herod the Great (Matt 2:1-22; Luke 1:5), who died in 4 BCE.
