In What Year Was Jesus Really Born?

The birth of Jesus Christ has been used for centuries to mark our years. Events are dated a certain number of years before or after his birth. However, many people these days are familiar with the fact that the BC/AD dating system is not quite accurate (this is why ‘BCE/CE’ is often used instead).

According to the available evidence, Jesus was not born in the year 1 AD. But when was He born?

Calculating Jesus’ birth from His death

On the face of it, calculating the year in which Jesus was born appears quite easy, as some religious groups have pointed out. If we know how old He was when He died, then we can just count backwards. The death of Jesus is securely fixed at the beginning of April 33 AD. How so?

The gospel accounts tell us that John the Baptist started his preaching in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, which was from August 28 AD to August 29 AD. Jesus began His preaching some time after that. We know that He preached for at least three years, because the gospels mention at least three different Passovers, which were annual festivals. Yet, Jesus died under the rule of Pontius Pilate, whose rule of Judea ended in 36 AD.

Within the period from 29 to 36 AD, only 33 AD satisfies the aforementioned information along with the fact that Jesus died during a Passover which fell on a Friday. This also confirms that He cannot have begun His preaching later than 29 AD because that would not leave enough room for all the Passovers mentioned in the Gospels.

How the Gospel of Luke reveals the year of Jesus’ birth

As we have just seen, Jesus started His preaching after John. The start of John’s ministry likely fell in 29 or perhaps late 28 AD. Jesus began His preaching after John, yet definitely still within 29 AD. With this in mind, it is important to note that Luke gives Jesus’ age at the start of His preaching. Luke says that Jesus was ‘about 30 years old’ when he went to John to be baptized to start his work.

Counting back thirty years from 29 AD takes us to the year 2 BC (notice that there is no Year 0). This, seemingly, is the simple answer to the question of which year Jesus was born in. However, some people claim that this is not a valid calculation. Their basis is that Luke says that Jesus was ‘about’ 30 years old. Was Luke just rounding up or down to the nearest 5?

Evidence from elsewhere in Luke’s gospel shows that this is very unlikely to be the case. When referring to the daughter of a man named Jairus, Luke describes her as ‘about twelve years old.’ This indicates that Luke’s use of the word ‘about’ in the context of ages has nothing to do with rounding to the nearest five. His use of this word with the specific age of twelve indicates that his reference to Jesus’ age was probably quite specific too.

The death of King Herod

The major problem with placing the year in which Jesus was born in 2 BC is that it apparently contradicts evidence concerning King Herod. He was the king of Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth. Herod died a short time after that event. The problem is that many authorities place Herod’s death in 4 BC.

This would mean that Jesus would have had to have been born by that year at the very latest. This conflicts with the evidence placing his birth in 2 BC.

In reality, there is strong evidence that Herod died in 1 BC. The first-century historian Josephus explains that Herod was about seventy years old when he died. He seems to have been born in 72 BC, since he was twenty-five years old when he received his appointment as governor of Galilee in the year 47 BC. Counting forward about 70 years from 72 BC takes us to approximately 2 BC.

Herod allegedly died shortly after a lunar eclipse but before the Passover. Around the year 2 BC, there was a total lunar eclipse in January 1 BC. This was just three months before the Passover. Therefore, the weight of evidence places Herod’s death in early 1 BC. This would accommodate 2 BC being the year in which Jesus was born. While it is true that there was a lunar eclipse in 4 BC, it took place early in the morning and was only partial. It was not a significant event, unlike the eclipse in 1 BC.

The issue of the census

Another issue is that Jesus was born at the time of a Roman census. Luke tells us that this occurred when Quirinius was governor of Syria. This refers to Publius Sulpicius Quirinius. He was governor of Syria in 6 CE, in which year a census took place. Obviously, this is inconsistent with the evidence of Jesus’ age at the start of His preaching and the evidence from Herod’s death.

The easy solution to this problem is that Quirinius also ruled over Syria during an earlier period. Josephus reveals that there could be co-governors of that territory, so there would be no conflict with records of the earlier governors.

Interestingly, archaeologists have found an inscription known as the Lapis Tiburtinus which provides evidence for this. The name on the inscription is lost, but it describes this nameless person as having been the proconsul of Cyrene, supressing the Homonadensians, and becoming governor of Syria. This clearly fits the career of Quirinius.

Notably, when the inscription refers to this person as becoming the governor of Syria, it says that this was ‘for the second time.’ This provides strong evidence that Quirinius had been governor of Syria earlier in his career.

Therefore, the evidence from the census in the time of Quirinius is also consistent with placing Jesus’ birth in 2 BC.