When was Jesus Christ born? Was it December 25, 1 A.D.? Quick answer: No. But can we date the birth of Christ with any certainty? Can we know the year (give or take) in which Jesus of Nazareth came into the world?
Here is a step-by-step attempt to fix the time period (at least to a range of years) of Jesus' birth:
Was Jesus Real?
Before one tries to date the birth of Jesus Christ, evidence for the historical Jesus should be considered. Is there evidence for Jesus' life? And, if so, to what time period does that evidence point?
The first-century documents known today as the "New Testament" contain certain creedal confessions that have been dated to the years 30-50 AD. According to scholar Gary Habermas, these affirmations “preserve New Testament material, and are our earliest sources for the life of Jesus.”
When one considers these creedal affirmations along with the other religious documentary evidence for Jesus, the case for a historical Jesus figure is staggering. In addition, there are non-Christian references to Jesus from ancient history. The scholarly consensus of this (and other) evidence is that Jesus of Nazareth lived in the first century, amassed a sizable following, and was crucified sometime in the third decade of the first century.
Examining the Gospels
The most comprehensive records of Jesus' life are, of course, the four "Gospel" accounts of Jesus' ministry contained in the New Testament. So, which Gospels speak to Jesus' birth and are they reliable?
To the first question, the answer is simple. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are the only New Testament books that discuss Jesus' birth. The Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus in his adult years, and the Gospel of John deals with the issue wholly from a doctrinal perspective, declaring that "the Word became flesh" - yet providing no historical detail about when and how this happened.
To the second question, the reliability of the Gospels has been the subject of previous articles and of extensive scholarship and debate over the years. Time will not permit us to get into that discussion here. For now, let us simply say that they should be treated with the same respect and scrutiny as any other document from ancient history.
Dating Jesus' Birth
What clues do the Gospels of Matthew and Luke provide about the time of Jesus' birth? In a nutshell, they are:
- Jesus was born during the reign of Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1). Thus, Jesus was born sometime between 27 B.C. and A.D. 14 (the period in which Augustus was in power)
- Jesus was born after Augustus decreed some kind of census (Luke 2:1). Ancient history indicates there was no singular, empire-wide census ordered by Augustus, but rather a series of censuses taken throughout the empire as Augustus tried to rein in corruption by instituting census counts for tax purposes. This plausibly affirms the context of Luke's account, but sheds no light on the date of Jesus' birth.
- Jesus was born while Quirinius was governor of Syria (Luke 2:2). Luke tells us that the specific census which led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem was under Quirinius. History reveals that "Quirinius" was governor of Syria from 6-9 A.D. and served in a similar capacity (perhaps even as governor) from 12-2 B.C. (especially in the years 3-2 B.C.). This puts Jesus' birth sometime between 12 B.C. and 9 A.D.
- Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod (Matthew 2). This would be "Herod the Great," and history tells us Herod died in 4 B.C. Thus, Jesus was born before 4 B.C.
- The narrative of the "wise men of the East" visiting Jesus (after seeing Herod) and then Herod massacring those under 2 years of age in the Bethlehem area when the wise men didn't return to him (Matthew 2) indicates that Jesus was up to 2 years old at the time Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt. This would put Jesus' birth between 6 and 4 B.C. - perhaps as early as 7 B.C.
- Jesus began his active ministry when he was "about thirty years old" (Luke 3:23) and did so during the active ministry of John the Baptist (Luke 3). According to Luke, John the Baptist started preaching and baptizing in the 15th year of Tiberius' reign and when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. This puts Jesus' entry into public life sometime after 27 or 28 A.D. Subtract "about thirty years" from that - and you're back to about the time Herod died (4 B.C.), depending on how you define "about thirty years."
There has been an extensive amount of scholarship concerning the date of Jesus' birth. This brief article cannot hope to address all those issues. However, the above clues point to the conclusion of Herod the Great's reign as king of Judea.
In all likelihood, Jesus of Nazareth was born sometime between 7 and 4 B.C.
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Sources for this article included:
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke - from the Bible
Article: "Was Luke Wrong about the Census?" by John Ankerberg
