The Year of Jesus’ Birth

Christ was not born 2006 years ago, in 1 BC

Nov 14, 2006 Katrien Vander Straeten

Vague and contradictory sources make for a fascinating pursuit of Christ's "real" birth date.

The Gospels make no mention of a year or a time of year when Jesus was born. The question of what year especially has been a matter of intense debate, for our Gregorian calendar is supposed to begin with the first full year of Jesus’ life.

The most popular assumption is that Jesus was born on the 25 December just before year 1 or the first “Anno Domini”, literally the first (full) “year of the Lord”. That is 1 AD for short, relative to which we are now 2006 AD.

The first full year of Jesus’ life was fixed as the first year of our calendar by the monk and Vatican scholar Dionysius Exiguus. One day he counted 525 years from his present time (which he knew as year 248 during the Diocletian Era) to the year of the incarnation and birth of Jesus. He then reset that year as year 1 “Ante Christum Natum” (before the birth of Christ), 1 ACN or 1 BC for short. This dating system came to be universally accepted in the 8th century, and we still use it today.

Now we know that Christ was born quite some time before 1 BC. First of all, Herod the Great died in 4 BC, so for him to have played such a large role in the event surrounding Jesus’ birth (cf. the Massacre of the Innocents), these events must have taken place before or during 4 BC. We can, by the way, be certain of Herod’s death by dating the lunar eclipse that occurred right before, as asserted by the 1st century historiographer Josephus. But that only gives us the year at the latest. If we take the Star of Bethlehem to be the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, then Jesus could have been born even earlier, in 8 BC.

Unfortunately, one of the more historically precise indications we have to go on, namely Luke’s reference to Quirinius’ census, conflicts with Josephus’ statement of that Quirinius was indeed governor and that there was indeed a census, but in 6 AD, so long after Herod’s death.

We will probably never know for certain when Christ was born or, for that matter, when he died on the cross.

More about the Time of Year of Jesus’ Birth

More about Christmas events:

• Detailed Timeline
• The Annunciation
• Christ is Born
• Journey to Bethlehem
• The Massacre of the Innocents and Flight to Egypt

The copyright of the article The Year of Jesus’ Birth in Protestantism is owned by Katrien Vander Straeten. Permission to republish The Year of Jesus’ Birth in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Color Photograph of Nativity Scene

What do you think about this article?

---

NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.

post your comment

What is 5+6?