Truth you can trace
Why it happened
The Roman-world reason behind a scene in the text, the census that sent a couple to Bethlehem, the tax that put money-changers in the temple, the stone that dates Paul's trial. Where the history is disputed, it says so and picks no side.
The census that sent a couple to Bethlehem
Luke opens the birth narrative with an imperial registration: a decree of Caesar Augustus "that all the world should be enrolled"…
Luke 2:1 · Luke 2:2 · Luke 2:4
ReadHerod, and the flight to Egypt
Warned in a dream, Joseph takes the child to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-18).
Matthew 2:13 · Matthew 2:16
ReadThe moneychangers, and the tax that required them
Jesus enters the temple and "overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves" (Matthew 21:12, ASV). Why the tables were there at all.
Matthew 21:12 · Mark 11:15 · Luke 19:45
ReadThe Gallio inscription: the stone that dates Paul
"But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment-seat" (Acts 18:12, ASV). Gallio throws the case out. What was found.
Acts 18:12 · Acts 18:11
ReadThe famine under Claudius: a prophecy with an outside witness
At Antioch the prophet Agabus "signified by the Spirit that there should be a great famine over all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius" (Acts 11:28, ASV), and the disciples send relief to Judea.
Acts 11:28 · Acts 11:29
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6 explanations, every one citing its sources. See our sources and licences.
On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.