What Year was Jesus Born?
It is good that we want to know about Jesus. One can never learn too much about the greatest man to have ever walked on earth. The exact day of Jesus’ birth is difficult to establish beyond all doubt. The fact of Jesus’ birth, the place, the nature, and the purpose are clearly taught in the scriptures (Matt. 1; 2). However, God did not see fit to explicitly reveal the date. We do know that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the King (Matt. 2: 1). History informs us that this Herod died in 4 B. C. Hence, Jesus would have been born no later than 4 B. C. We also learn from the Bible that a census was being taken at the time of Jesus’ birth, in fact, Joseph and Mary were at Bethlehem to enroll when Jesus was born (Lk. 2: 1-7). Quirinius, the Governor of Syria, conducted this census. Based on the believed date of this census, some place Jesus’ birth at 6 B. C. Some scholars believe Jesus was born in 5 B. C. In the center column reference of some versions of the King James Translation,
Some people have calculated that there were 4000 years from creation to the birth of Jesus. This would mean that 2000 A.D. placed us 6000 years after creation. Using the 7 day week as a template, and a day equaling a thousand years to God (2 Peter 3:8), this would seem to indicate six thousand years for man to inhabit earth, to be followed by a sabbath of 1000 years during the millennial reign of Christ. This tends to focus great significance to the start of the 3rd millennium after the birth of Christ. A question then arises. Who formulated the current calendar, and how accurate were they? When would the 3rd millennium actually begin? Dionysius Exiguus In 525 A.D. a Sythian monk in Rome, Dionysius Exiguus (Dionysius the Little), was preparing new tables for determining the date of Easter, and he decided to abandon the pagan calendar in use at the time, that was based on the first year of the reign of Emperor Diocletian (29 Aug., 284). Instead he began a calendar based on his calculate
There is really no way to know exactly. From the Scriptures we know that Herod was living at the time of Jesus birth, and attempted to murder the Messiah as an infant. Chronologists tell us that it is a matter of record that Herod died in 4 B.C., so it is obvious that Jesus was born before 4 B.C. We also know that Jesus was born after the decree of Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth (Luke 2:1). Tertullian tells us that the decree was issued in 6 B.C. Therefore, as close as we can come is to say, between 4-6 B.C.
