024. Chapter 4 - The Date of Jesus' Birth

Chapter 4 - The Date of Jesus’ Birth

We are so accustomed to date the events of history by their relation to the date of Jesus’ birth that it is rather perplexing to consider how to date the birth of Jesus Himself. And it is very disturbing to the ordinary man to discover that the present system of counting time is incorrect due to an error of four years in dating the birth of Jesus. This mistake was made by an abbot of Rome named Dionysius Exiguus in a.d. 526. His Easter cycle fixed the date of the birth of Jesus for the Christian world, and it is now too firmly established to be displaced. In what year was Christ born? We have used b.c. (Before Christ) and a.d. (Anno Domini — “In the year of our Lord” — popularly “After Christ”) so frequently that many have never stopped to consider how such a system of counting time began.

Ancient Modes of Counting Time The moon has always played an important part in the method of keeping time since it is the basis of the division into months. The ancients first used the year of ten months (304 days in a year); then later two more months were added and an extra month every two years (355 days). Julius Caesar brought order out of the general confusion by establishing the Julian Calendar in 46 b.c. with a year of 365 days and the months as we have them today. The Julian Calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory in 1582 because it had fallen behind ten days. He declared October 5 to be October 15 and arranged the leap years to be divisible by four hundred. The method prevailed in early history of counting years from the beginning of the reign of kings or of a dynasty, or as at Rome, the year of Consuls, or by counting from an era in history, such as the Era of Alexander or the Era of Sulla. The Greeks counted by Olympiads — the great national festival and athletic carnival held every four years, beginning in 776 b.c. The Romans counted from the founding of the city of Rome — A.U.C.

Sources When we turn to seek the date of Jesus’ birth we have several sources: (1) Matthew and Luke — the Gospels that tell of the birth of Christ; (2) Josephus — the Jewish historian who wrote shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem; (3) Roman historians and early Christian writers; (4) various ancient tablets and pieces of money bearing names and dates; (5) calculations of astronomers.

Matthew does not attempt to date the birth of Jesus, but makes it plain that Jesus was born when Herod was king and that Herod’s death occurred during the sojourn in Egypt, while the child was probably very young. Two problems are here: When did Herod die? How old was Jesus when Herod died? Josephus and Dion Cassius give us the answer to the first question, but the second question remains unanswered. We can be sure that Mary and Joseph and the Babe remained at Bethlehem forty days (cf. the presentation in the temple — Luke 2:22); how much longer they remained we cannot tell and we can only conjecture the length of the sojourn in Egypt. The Gospel seems to intimate that the stay was short. If it was only a month or so we can date the birth of Jesus closely preceding the death of Herod. The infants in Bethlehem were slain from two years of age and under. This makes it certain that this unknown period was not so long as two years. The bloody old king may merely have set the high age limit to discount any possible deceit on the part of the Wisemen. The Death of Herod

Josephus tells us that Herod reigned thirty-seven years, from the time he was declared king by the Romans till his death (Antiq. 17:8:1). In other passages he dates this beginning of Herod’s reign in the 184th Olympiad (44-40 b.c.) and the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio (40 b.c.). This would date the death of Herod about 4 b.c. Various other passages from Josephus and Dion, and ancient coins that have been discovered bring us to this same date. Josephus notes (Antiq. 17:6:4) that there was an eclipse of the moon shortly before the death of Herod. This is the only time Josephus notes an eclipse of the sun or moon in all his extensive writings. The astronomers have located three eclipses of the moon between 5-3 b.c. Other known facts make it evident that the eclipse on March 13 in the year 4 b.c. is the one to which Josephus refers. For he says (Antiq. VI:4; IX:3) that Archelaus, a son of Herod, had just completed the seven days of mourning for Herod when he attended the Passover. The Passover occurred on April 1 in the year 4 b.c. So the death of Herod must have been between March 13 and March 24 in the year 4 b.c. The flight into Egypt occurred before the death of Herod and the birth of Jesus at least forty days before this so that Christ could not have been born later than sometime in February, 4 b.c. How much earlier than this it may have occurred is uncertain. The two-year age limit for the slaughter of the infants makes it certain that Christ must have been born sometime between 6 b.c. and 4 b.c. The probabilities are that it was about 4 b.c. Thus the present calendar, based upon the Easter cycle of Dionysius Exiguus (sixth century) is in error by four years. The earlier calculations of church fathers as to the date of Jesus’ birth seem to have been nearer the truth than Dionysius. (They selected 3-2 b.c.) The Enrollment

Luke dates the birth of Jesus thus, “Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:1, Luke 2:2). The historical records show that Quirinius was governor of Syria a.d. 6-11 and that in a.d. 6-7 he undertook such an enrollment in Palestine. Luke refers to this enrollment in Acts 5:37. He here refers to an earlier enrollment: “the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” The records show that Saturninus was governor 9-6 b.c. and Varus, 6-4 b.c. Then the records are uncertain until Quirinius, ad. 6-11. This is puzzling, but a mutilated inscription seems to indicate that Quirinius was twice governor of Syria — the first time in the period about 4 b.c. He was carrying on a war in Cilicia at this time. Tertullian (a.d. 220) states that Saturninus held the census — which is taken to mean that he began it and his successor continued it. Justin Martyr (a.d. 140) states that Christ was born under Quirinius and that this can be proved from the official records. He says that Quirinius was “procurator” and the Greek word Luke uses seems to assert the same thing. Thus Varus may have been the governor (Legatus) and Quirinius, the Procurator who was closely connected with the taking of this census. The Date of Baptism

Luke states that Jesus was about thirty years old the when He was baptized. The baptism occurred not long after the opening of John’s ministry. This event is definitely located by Luke “in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar.” But Tiberius began to reign a.d. 15. This would make John thirty-four years old at the opening of his ministry. (John — six months older than Jesus; Jesus born 4 b.c; Tiberius beginning a.d. 15 and this the fifteenth year of his reign; 4+15+15=34.) This would make Jesus about thirty-three. Of course Luke does not say that Jesus was exactly but about thirty years old. How much latitude this allows we do not know, but it has been discovered that Tiberius was associated with his father as emperor as early as a.d. 11, and this may well have been the time recognized in the provinces as the beginning of his reign. This calculation would bring us back to 4 b.c. (4+11+15=30). Thus the information from Luke tallies with that from Matthew and indicates 4 b.c. (750 A.U.C.). Is December 25 Correct?

There is even greater uncertainty as to the day of Jesus’ birth. The New Testament gives no definite data on this point. The earliest reference to this subject in extant Christian literature is from Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 180). He states that some thought the date of Christ’s birth was April 21 and others April 22 and others May 20. He seems to condemn their speculative attempts as profane curiosity. The Eastern Church argued that Christ must have been born on January 6 because He was the second Adam and should have been born on the sixth day of the year as the first Adam was born on the sixth day of creation. They celebrated January 6 as the day for many centuries. The Armenian Church still celebrates this day. The celebration of December 25 as the day can be traced back as far as the fourth century. It seems to have arisen in the West. The predominance of Rome led to its well-nigh universal acceptance. The study of the Gospel narrative shows that December 25 fits into the known facts of the life of Christ. Counting back from the death of Herod, December 25 allows time for the various events described. The uncertainty as to the date of Jesus’ birth should not disturb us. If it had been an essential feature of Christian faith the New Testament would have given more specific information.