Augustus

AI summary: Augustus matters because the cross references present him as the emperor whose administrative decree becomes the immediate human cause of Jesus' prophesied birth in Bethlehem. He also appears later in Acts as part of the continuing Roman imperial backdrop to the apostolic mission. His presence highlights the contrast between visible empire and God's redemptive plan moving through it. Taken together, the material presents Augustus as the emperor whose rule forms the political horizon for the birth of Christ and the world of the New Testament.¹

The cognomen of the first Roman emperor, C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, during whose reign Christ was born (Luke 2:1). His decree that “all the world should be taxed” was the divinely ordered occasion of Jesus’ being born, according to prophecy (Micah 5:2), in Bethlehem. This name being simply a title meaning “majesty” or “venerable,” first given to him by the senate (B.C. 27), was borne by succeeding emperors. Before his death (A.D. 14) he associated Tiberius with him in the empire (Luke 3:1), by whom he was succeeded. ³