The principal source for the story of Theudas' revolt is Josephus, who wrote: It came to pass, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain charlatan, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him to the Jordan river; for he told them he was a prophet, and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over it.
[4] The sole reference to Theudas presents a problem of chronology if one assumes that the Acts of the Apostles and Josephus are speaking of the same person.
(Acts 5:36-7 NEB)Gamaliel, speaking before the year 37, refers to an incident that preceded the revolt of Judas of Galilee at the time of the Census of Quirinius decades before, in 6 CE.
Josephus makes clear that the revolt of his Theudas took place c. 45, years after Gamaliel addressed the Sanhedrin and an entire generation after Judas the Galilean.
[6][7][8] It has been proposed that the writer of Acts used Josephus as a source, and made a mistake in reading the text, taking a later reference to the execution of the "sons of Judas the Galilean" after the rebellion of Theudas as saying that the rebellion of Judas was later; however it is a minority view, since most scholars agree that Luke and Josephus used separate, independent sources.