Luke 3:1

The Ministry of John the Baptist

3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ¹  when Pontius Pilate ²  was governor of Judea, and Herod ³  was tetrarch ⁴  of Galilee, and his brother Philip ⁵  was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ⁶  was tetrarch of Abilene,

Acts 11:28

11:28 One of them, named Agabus, got up ⁷  and predicted ⁸  by the Spirit that a severe ⁹  famine ¹⁰  was about to come over the whole inhabited world. ¹¹  (This ¹²  took place during the reign of Claudius.) ¹³ 

Acts 25:11

25:11 If then I am in the wrong ¹⁴  and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, ¹⁵  but if not one of their charges against me is true, ¹⁶  no one can hand me over to them. ¹⁷  I appeal to Caesar!” ¹⁸ 

Acts 25:21

25:21 But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of His Majesty the Emperor, ¹⁹  I ordered him to be kept under guard until I could send him to Caesar.” ²⁰ 

Philippians 4:22

4:22 All the saints greet you, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.

¹ tn Or “Emperor Tiberius” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

² sn The rule of Pontius Pilate is also described by Josephus, J. W. 2.9.2-4 (2.169-177) and Ant. 18.3.1 (18.55-59).

³ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He ruled from 4 b.c.-a.d. 39, sharing the rule of his father’s realm with his two brothers. One brother, Archelaus (Matt 2:22) was banished in a.d. 6 and died in a.d. 18; the other brother, Herod Philip (mentioned next) died in a.d. 34.

⁴ sn A tetrarch was a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king, who ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. Several times in the NT, Herod tetrarch of Galilee is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage.

⁵ sn Philip refers to Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great and brother of Herod Antipas. Philip ruled as tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis from 4 b.c.-a.d. 34.

⁶ sn Nothing else is known about Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.

⁷ tn Grk “getting up, predicted.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁸ tn Or “made clear”; Grk “indicated beforehand” (BDAG 920 s.v. σημαίνω 2).

⁹ tn Grk “great.”

¹⁰ sn This famine is one of the firmly fixed dates in Acts. It took place from a.d. 45-48. The events described in chap. 11 of Acts occurred during the early part of that period.

¹¹ tn Or “whole Roman Empire.” While the word οἰκουμένη (oikoumenh) does occasionally refer specifically to the Roman Empire, BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουνένη 2 does not list this passage (only Acts 24:5 and 17:6).

¹² tn Grk “world, which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the demonstrative pronoun “this” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

¹³ sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Claudius was the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54.

¹⁴ tn BDAG 20 s.v. ἀδικέω 1.b has “intr. be in the wrong (Ex 2:13) εἰ ἀδικῶ Ac 25:11.”

¹⁵ tn BDAG 764 s.v. παραιτέομαι 2.b.β, “οὐ παραιτοῦμαι τὸ ἀποθανεῖν I am not trying to escape death Ac 25:11 (cp. Jos., Vi. 141).” To avoid redundancy in the translation, the English gerund “dying” is used to translate the Greek infinitive ἀποθανεῖν (apoqanein).

¹⁶ tn Or “but if there is nothing to their charges against me.” Both “if” clauses in this verse are first class conditions. Paul stated the options without prejudice, assuming in turn the reality of each for the sake of the argument.

¹⁷ sn That is, no one can hand me over to them lawfully. Paul was aware of the dangers of a return to Jerusalem.

¹⁸ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

¹⁹ tn A designation of the Roman emperor (in this case, Nero). BDAG 917 s.v. σεβαστός states, “ὁ Σεβαστός His Majesty the Emperor Ac 25:21, 25 (of Nero).” It was a translation into Greek of the Latin “Augustus.”

²⁰ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).