California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. So before we jump to the pagan tradition conclusion, I’d rather try to see what the early church says about the December 25th date for Christmas. Is Epiphany (Three Kings Day) a Biblical Holiday? Check out our tips for Bible Journaling with your iPad! There is another way to approach the truth. Perhaps due to the obvious fact that there were some prophets who did not die on their birthday. The year Jesus was born is not given in the biblical account (Luke 2). We talked about what biblical exegesis is and why Christians should take part in the exegetical process.... Should Christians Vote? Associating Christmas with light-hearted festivities might seem disrespectful in light of its true meaning, but the joy of singing familiar carols and lighting candles; the sense of belonging and love connected to the holiday encourages many unbelievers to attend Christmas services where they might hear the gospel. Not that any great doctrine rests on the calculations below, but it sure is nice that we can have reasonable confidence that the dates of Jesus’ birth and death are secure and can be gleaned from a combination of biblical and extrabiblical historical data. To arrive at this date, start at the conception of John the Baptist, Sivan (June), count forward six months to arrive at Gabriel’s announcement of the conception of Jesus, Kislev (December), then count forward nine more months, the time it takes for human gestation, to reach Tishri (September), when Jesus was born.”. This was just a census of Judea. What is the Process of Exegesis? "Since John was born on Passover, the 15th day of Nisan (the 1st Jewish month), Jesus would have been born six months later on the 15th day of Tishri (the 7th Jewish month). Even if the global Christian community could decide with certainty that Christ was born on a different day, changing the date of Christmas worldwide would pose many problems. To complicate matters, Julius Caesar also determined that a year would be calculated beginning with “the accession of absolute power by the then emperor,” according to BibleStudyTools.com. Based on the biblical literature, he was likely born sometime between February and October sometime before the year 4 BCE. According to Matthew’s gospel, we can assume that Jesus was pretty young when Herod died. He was the emperor in Rome from 27 BCE to 15 CE. But it’s an interesting topic for speculation! There were two dating systems at the time of Julius Caesar in AD46. But that was fun. It’s an interesting journey that Rick Larson took in order to find the birth date of Jesus based on celestial activity. It’s not important that we believe the early church was right on all these points. John the Baptist’s preaching took place during “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius” ().Jesus’ approximate age at the start of His ministry (30) is also supplied in the book of Luke, so we can determine that Christ was likely born around 2 or 3BC. Clearly there’s no definitive answer to the question. Therefore, it must also have been the date of the Annunciation, the day Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce her conception of Jesus. Follow me on (Twitter! By projecting forward another six months to Jesus' birth, the most probable time for His birth occurred between September 16 and 29. But, like we’ve already discussed in this post, Jesus was likely not born in the winter, which means he probably wasn’t born on March 25th. That being said, the fact that both authors corroborate the fact that the birth of Jesus took place while Herod was king is significant. So as much as we’d like to know exactly when we should be singing “Silent Night” and hanging stockings over our fireplaces, December 25th is as good as any date. Why Did Jesus Want His Miracles to Stay Secret? Neither date is likely correct in light of several clues uncovered by historians and information in the Bible itself. If a world leader in 2020 were to murder 20 babies, it would be a pretty big scandal. There we go. But right up front, I want to give the simplest answer to the question. I really don’t know. Can we get closer to an exact date of Jesus’ birth? Was Jesus really born on December 25th, as the western Christian tradition maintains, or does Scripture allow us to infer a different time for His advent here on earth? Whatever the reason for the belief, it was clear there was some kind of connection between the conception of Jesus and the birth of Jesus. Next we’ll look at one historical detail provided by each Gospel independently. so it had to be BEFORE 4 BC. Well, since the calendar centers on the birth of Jesus, we might think that Jesus was born in the year 1. Jesus was most likely born in June. That said, had Mary and Joseph been living in Nazareth at the time, as Luke’s Gospel tells us, they would not have been affected by this census. Jesus’ approximate age at the start of His ministry (30) is also supplied in the book of Luke, so we can determine that Christ was likely born around 2 or 3BC. It could have been years. Yet as with all biblical literature, we need to read “history” through ancient eyes and not through our own. That’s right, it’s true – even the greatest scholars can only speculate using everything we know about available historical accounts and the stars in the heavens. Moreover, Christmas celebrations provide an opportunity to engage community members who might not otherwise attend church events. A topic of discussion. Jesus was born approximately six months after the birth of his relative John (the Baptizer), during the rule of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus (31 B.C.E.–14 C.E.) So yes, no matter where you put the birth of Jesus, Augustus was the emperor. This site is also a participant other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. The nativity accounts in the New Testament gospels of Matthew and Luke do not mention a date or time of year for the birth of Jesus. How was the date of Christmas decided, and when was Jesus really born? So surely there are other sources to corroborate this story and give us a rough estimate on the date. December 17, 2019 / No one knows for certain the exact year and date of Jesus’ birth. When was Jesus really born? and A.D. 1. Again, there’s not much here. Despite not knowing the exact birthday of Jesus, we celebrate his birth on December 25th as has been Christian tradition for centuries. Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment. Jesus and his family had been living as refugees in Egypt from the time Jesus was born to the time Herod died in the year 4. Here we are, at the end of this post. If this was somehow the case, Mary and Joseph would not have had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It was his conception. But if that’s the case, when was Jesus actually born? But it does likely mean that neither author invented this information. Unfortunately Matthew doesn’t tell us how long the young family lived in Egypt. School calendars and public holidays have been established to coincide with this time. So here at the end of that historical exploration, what can we say? That tells us there was no Empire-wide census taken by Caesar Augustus. Another argument takes the reverse view. Any attempt to use science in this way to come to a conclusive date for Jesus’ birth should be taken with several large grains of salt. Divide that in half to get about 20 baby boys, give or take a few. Your email address will not be published. According to BibleInfo.com: “We can approximate the month of Jesus’ birth to be around the time of Tishri (mid to late September). When Jesus was born, Luke tells us that the shepherds that came to visit him had been watching their flocks by night. There is no definitive answer. Any attempt to extract historical or scientific data is simply a modern imposition on an ancient text. It doesn’t necessarily mean this is historically accurate. In 2008, astronomer Dave Reneke argued that Jesus was born in the summer. Nine years after the death of Herod the Great.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'biblology_com-leader-1','ezslot_3',126,'0','0'])); Okay, well the Quirinius detail was a parenthetical note anyway. So based on the fact that Herod was probably the king when Jesus was born, and that Herod probably died before Jesus was very old, we can roughly estimate the year of Jesus’ birth to be around 7-4 BCE.eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'biblology_com-banner-1','ezslot_15',124,'0','0'])); This is the one historical detail that both Matthew and Luke agree upon. Herod, aware of the prophecies surrounding Jesus’ birth, decides to slaughter all male children in Bethlehem aged two and under. The actual date wasn't mentioned in the Bible or the writings of the early Church leaders. The question I’ve been asking myself is this: how active... Hey, I'm Tyler Martin! Some say devising “the pagan festival of the ‘Birth of the Unconquered Son’” was “an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians,” according to this Christianity.com article. (Before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini, the year of our Lord) doesn’t that mean Jesus was born in year one (since we don’t count year zero)?Actually, the issue is a bit more complex than that.Starting the calendar with the birth of Christ didn’t come about until the Then we can discuss when he was born. There is one super tiny detail in Luke’s Gospel that might give us a super tiny lead, allowing us to narrow down Jesus’ birthday to a few months. Jesus was more than likely not born on December 25 and we celebrate that day mainly because it coincided with a Roman pagan holiday. The miracle of Jesus’ birth wasn’t necessarily his birth. Churches organize special events around this time. First, Augustus. But not so fast. As we continue down the rabbit hole, we’ll examine the historical details in the Gospel, we’ll take a brief look at failed scientific explorations, and we’ll talk about why we celebrate Jesus’ birthday at the end of December. But here’s a spoiler alert: there are problems with most of them.eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'biblology_com-box-4','ezslot_0',123,'0','0'])); This detail is given to us by both Matthew and Luke. Christ’s birth is traditionally celebrated in the West on December 25th, but many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7. Did the Nativity really happen during winter in Bethlehem 2,020 years ago? Article Images Copyright © 2020 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. In order for the early church to come up with a date for Jesus’ conception, they first had to come up with a date for his death. But can we get even more specific than that? About 500 years later, “a mathematically-minded monk…Dionysius Exiguus invented the concept of AD,” BibleStudyTools.com stated. Matthew was not historically or scientifically describing the Star of Bethlehem event in his Gospel. Thanks for speculating with me and taking this strange journey through church history. In other words, Christmas is more precisely a celebration of Jesus’ due date than it is his actual birth date. Is this a question we can even know the answer to?eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'biblology_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_4',122,'0','0'])); To this day, Jesus’ actual date of birth remains unknown, despite numerous historic and scientific efforts. When Quirinius took over as governor of Syria in 6, he was tasked with conducting a census on a much smaller scale. So what about Quirinius? So that’s the answer to our question—it’s obvious. For instance, maybe he knew that Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth before and after Jesus’ birth, but he also knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This is just our attempt to understand how December 25th came to be celebrated as the day of the Christ mass. It’s not supposed to. With November rapidly approaching, and with it one of the most divisive elections in history, I’ve experienced a lot of inner conflict. Two cases will be presented below: one case for a Tishri (Sukkot) birth, and the other for the traditional late December date. The Jesus of history was a child of a Jewish family living under a foreign regime. But if that’s the case, when was Jesus actually born? His birthday is celebrated then but he was actually born in October. You might think that Jesus was born in the Year Zero--between 1 B.C. (Egypt Today.). Our beloved doctor presents himself as a Greek historian, ready to give us all the facts we need in order to come to an understanding of how Jesus of Nazareth transformed history. Our 50 Favorite Christmas Bible Verses for the Holiday Season, The Christmas Bible Story: Read the Nativity of Jesus in Scripture. So where can we place this in history? I have a B.A. in biblical languages and an M.A. To let us know that the story he’s telling can be trusted. Somewhere through the centuries that belief changed to focus on conception. Well, we’ve already said it a couple of times, and there’s not much more we can add to it. Karl Rahner states that the authors of the gospels generally focused on theological elements rather than historical chronologies. Jesus was born in A.D. 1—the first year of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here are three reasons why Jesus may not have been born on December 25 at all. The Christians wanted to Christianize the Roman culture. Or three. Luke was not dropping hints for us about what time of the year this scene took place. Nobody is really quite sure what Luke is doing here. Jesus was born on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles! Perhaps not one of us would be surprised to discover, in the long run, that it is not true that Jesus Christ was born on the 25th of December in the year one (1), from which time history began to count the period referred to as of our era – A.D. Herod the Great reigned as the King of Judea from 37 BCE to 4 BCE. The biblical authors were not interested in divulging this information. There is additional proof that Jesus was born in the fall of the year. American King James Version ×), we can determine the approximate time of year Jesus was born if we know when John was born. If our calendar is broken up into B.C. Recent research by a … By 731 and after, it was clear that there had existed a year we could call A.D. 1. Common era. Let’s start with Matthew. Your email address will not be published. We have very good reason to believe that Jesus spent most of his formative years in Nazareth, so they couldn’t have been in Egypt for very long. The few historical details that the Bible does reveal concerning the birth of Jesus are next to impossible to place on a timeline, making it difficult to say with any amount of confidence when Jesus was actually born.eval(ez_write_tag([[468,60],'biblology_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_16',120,'0','0'])); The bottom line is the ancient world just wasn’t as interested in birthdays as we are today. Grace & peace. Drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts! You often hear that Jesus was born around 6-7 B.C. He was born into an extended family living away from home and … When was Jesus actually born? . 1 For more information, see pages 176-179 of Reasoning From the Scriptures, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses. 5BC–AD33. Answer #1 | 24/12 2014 20:32 He was not born CERTAINLY on December 25th. Otherwise it would have said “Moses lived 249 years, 4 months, 13 days, 4 hours, and 48 minutes. By Dr. David R. ReaganAccording to Luke 1:24-26, Mary conceived Jesus in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. Maybe every other record of the census was just lost forever. And I’m not sure anyone is any better off than we were at the beginning. The earliest documented date of Christmas being observed on December 25th was in 336, during the era of the Roman Emperor Constantine (the first Christian Roman Emperor). Having 20 babies in a small village put to death wouldn’t have been enough to make the news. In Christmas, these traditions would continue. He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion.Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah (the Christ) prophesied in the Old Testament.. Candice Lucey lives with her husband and daughters in (mostly) tranquil Salmon Arm, BC, Canada. Daniel’s 2300 ‘Day’ Prophecy – Fully Decoded: December 21, 2100 A.D. Based on the biblical literature, he was likely born sometime between February and October sometime before the year 4 BCE. One must seek the opinions of the most trusted scholars in this matter. The Star of Bethlehem, Reneke told New Scientist, may have been Venus and Jupiter coming together to form a … Here’s the thing. An when you look at Herod the Great, he was apparently a pretty bad dude. Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth was a small village with maybe 300ish people. Selecting a new date for celebrating Christ’s birth would require massive adjustments at both commercial and institutional levels. Families use this date as a reason to get together. The incarnation event didn’t happen the day that Jesus emerged from Mary’s womb. There is alot of conjecture and debate as to the actual date. It doesn’t come as a surprise to most people that Jesus wasn’t actually born on December 25th in the year 0. He even gives more details than that to help us narrow it down. But that doesn’t mean this event didn’t happen. For an ancient ruler to kill 20 babies, especially to protect his royal lineage, no one would really bat an eye. Our year counting system was developed in the year 525 CE by Dionysius Exiguus. Instead of starting with the exact date, let’s widen our scope a bit. Now, let’s take this a step further. As for when Jesus was really born, many Christians base their calculation on the birth of Jesus's cousin, John the Baptist. Boom! Perhaps we can understand these ancient attempts at finding connections through all these dates more symbolically than anything else. When Was Jesus Actually Born? Essentially, Larson uses Matthew’s description of the Star of Bethlehem and searches the movement of the stars throughout history to try to come up with an exact date of Jesus’ birth. I will warn you, it gets a little weird and hard to follow here. In an age where “our fast-moving lives have wreaked havoc on our relationships,” as Rick Warren said, and we feel disconnected from one another, celebrating Jesus’  birth unifies the church body both locally and at large. If that didn’t sound very confident, good. WHEN WAS JESUS ACTUALLY BORN? ROME — As Christmas approaches, debate often arises over when exactly Jesus was born. Which, by the way, is also the traditional day of Day 6 of creation, the near sacrifice of Isaac, and a whole slew of other important events in salvation history. Had Jesus truly been conceived on March 25th, we can count forward nine gestational months and land on… drum roll please… December 25th. When was Jesus Christ Actually Born? Jesus was born in either 4 or 2 BC depending on the actual date of Herod the Greats death. John the Baptist’s preaching took place during “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius” (Luke 3:1). The 15th day of the 7th month begins the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. As with everything we’ve talked about, there’s a lot of speculation here. That means Jesus had to be born in the year 6 CE. It could have been months. Christians began celebrating Christmas sometime in the third or fourth century and no one really wrote down the reason for the December 25th date. All that said, this gives us no additional information in our quest to determine the year of Jesus’ birth. Some records indicate that he was actually born in 1884; either way, when he died in November 1990, Hall was the oldest licensed driver in the United States. Based on his calculations, Larson dated the birth of Jesus to December 25th, in the year 2 BCE. Moreover, the ancient world wasn’t nearly as interested in exact historical details as we are today. The birth of Jesus Christ is traditionally celebrated on December 25th, although “around 37 percent of Orthodox Christians, mainly in Egypt and Russia, celebrate Christmas on January 7,” owing to a difference in the way their calendars were devised. Bible scholars work from what Scripture tells us regarding the history of Jesus. Other accounts take details about Zechariah’s temple duties to arrive at a spring birth for Christ. What Does it Mean That Jesus Christ Is the Cornerstone? The point of a census was to count population sizes. However, others have used a similar approach and determined April 17th in 6BCE to be more likely. It is an interesting sidelight that Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets, is one of the two middle days of this time period. “This festival was a time of merrymaking, and families and friends would exchange gifts,” History.com stated. Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter every year, but few know when Jesus was actually born and when he died. Is this a question we can even know the answer to? So far we’ve spent a lot of time talking about when Jesus might have been born. When Jesus was born, shepherds and their flocks were in the fields at night ^ par. According to Luke, the census in question was of the entire empire. While this is an interesting topic of discussion, that’s really all it is. EVERY year on Christmas Day, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus with churches across the country telling the nativity story. This theory does have some credibility, but only because it makes sense rationally. So Jesus’ birthday, based on the shepherd activity, most likely took place sometime between March and early October. While we can’t know for sure when Jesus was born, there are many scholars who believe that, by looking at the story of Zacharias and … Okay cool, so have some more politicians. Neither date is likely correct in light of several clues uncovered by historians and information in the Bible itself. Here, she enjoys digging into God’s word when not working or taking part in ministry activities. Recent Comments But hey, speculating can be beneficial from time to time. We’re going to explore a lot of rabbit holes in this blog post. A Constructive Approach to Christian Engagement In Politics. Elizabeth was six months pregnant when Mary arrived, and Mary left three months later. If you’re reading this around Christmastime, I wish you the best this holiday season. This likely has more to do with setting the scene for the shepherds to meet the angels and see the heavenly host, which would have been the stars. Understand that from this point forward, this is all 100% speculation. But for summary’s sake, I’ll say it one more time. Perhaps this started with the belief that, since the Bible says things like “Moses lived 250 years,” he must have been born on the same day that he died. The Conclusion for Answering What Year was Jesus Born. If we are to believe that Jesus was born during his reign (and there’s really no reason to doubt that) then the latest we can date his birth is 4 BCE. Since their birth narratives (and the rest of their books) are so different, it’s unlikely that either author had access to the other author’s work. Now I want to take this post down another turn. There would have been other historical records indicating a census of the entire empire during the reign of Augustus, but Luke is the only source. Luke’s purpose in giving supporting historical details was not for us to nail down the exact date of Jesus’ birth but to establish a sense of ethos. For the most part, the ancient church accepted March 25th as the date of Jesus’ death. 23:34-35), also known as Sukkot. When was Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, Born? So the last few years "before Christ" on our calendar were actually after Christ was born. When Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, it was easier for the newly formed church to repurpose the pagan observance of the winter solstice between December 17-25, since citizens were already prepared to celebrate the day. However, even if that wasn’t his purpose, we can do a bit more speculation based on this fact.eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'biblology_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_10',128,'0','0'])); If the shepherds really were watching their sheep by night out in the field, it’s unlikely that this scene took place in December, or in any of the winter months. The argument I’ve heard my whole life is that Christians decided to start celebrating Christmas on the 25th because of a few different pagan holidays. It could be that Luke was trying to take several disparate details that he knew to be true, connect them together, and locate them in a particular point in history. Our current calendar was set 100's of years later, and people at that time were off a bit in estimating the date of Jesus's birth. Why? He based this date on extensive calculations, starting with the “world’s creation which he placed in 5499 BC,” according to BibleStudyTools.com. God embodied himself in creation the day he was conceived. Positive: 100 %. Jesus was born at midnight on 12/31/00, by the Gregorian calendar. It would have been pointless to order a census where each person had to go back to the place where they can trace their lineage back to. A Constructive Approach to Christian Engagement In Politics. The events took place within living memory of the writers or their families, such as the reign of Herod during which time Matthew tells us Christ was born. Okay, let’s just say for the sake of argument that there was an empire-wide census taken by Augustus sometime between the years 7 and 4 BCE. December 11, 17 B.C. Jesus (c. 4 BC – AD 30 / 33), also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. Well, it’s not really that simple. and the Syrian governorship of Quirinius (see REGISTRATION for the probable dates of Quirinius’ administration), and toward the close of the reign of Herod the Great over Judea.—Mt 2:1, 13, 20-22; Lu 1:24-31, 36; 2:1, 2, 7. The day is set apart even in the hearts and minds of non-believers. Theologians typically agree that December 25th is far from likely. But is December 25 actually the date when Jesus was born… We know there was a celestial event which alerted the Magi, and this can also be dated. There’s a lot here that we just can’t know with any certainty. This is the reason why Mary, Joseph, and Jesus flee to Egypt in Matthew 2. Maybe that means we can get a more precise date for Jesus’ birth. Or maybe Luke was just wrong about Quirinius being the governor at the time. The day and month of Christ’s birth are even more difficult to establish. He decided that Christ was born in AD1, and his system was adopted in Europe around 200 years later. This should have been a standout event in ancient history, right? Now that we have that voice of reason out of the way, we can get to the fun part of this post. There’s nothing in the writings of the ancient church that lead us to believe this was the reason. Another theory is that December 25th was established as Christmas Day by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 AD. September 29, 2 B.C. Several factors are involved in establishing the year of Christ’s birth. Although it’s not impossible, it seems unlikely that Jesus was really born on December 25. I've spent my life learning about the Bible and I am passionate about helping others discover the beautiful and imaginative world of the scriptures. What We Know About When Jesus Was Actually Born Pope Francis prays in front of a statue of baby Jesus as he leads the Christmas night Mass … This means that Jesus was born Yes, you read that right. This census took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. It could be (again, this is all speculation) that Luke used a historical event that he knew of (the Judean census conducted by Quirinius) to somehow weave his story together, get Mary and Joseph in the right place at the right time, and create a sense of authority over the subject by pinning it to a historical event. As we move to Luke, things get a bit more… problematic. But there are some hints that can get us going in the right direction. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright © 2020, Christianity.com. If we estimate that about 15% of the population were babies, we’re looking at maybe (and that’s a big maybe) 45 babies. So what did the early church believe about the timing of Jesus’ conception? Quirinius became governor in the year 6. Realistically, however, Christianity.com stated shepherds would not have been tending their flocks in December when the weather was cold; they would have continued shepherding no later than October. So now we can better understand the date of the Christ mass. Provide some credible evidence that the Biblical Jesus actually existed.