In what year was Jesus born?
We know that Christ’s ministry was three and a half years long. It began at his baptism in 29 C.E. and ended with his death at Passover time in 33 C.E. (Luke 22:7-20) Counting back 33 1/2 years (the length of Jesus’ earthly life) also enables us to calculate the year of his birth as being 2 B.C.E. As just noted, Jesus died at Passover time, which was about April 1, 33 C.E. (Matt. 26:17-30) Since Christ was about 30 years of age when commencing his work and his ministry was three and a half years long, he was 33 1/2 years old around Passover time, or about April 1, 33 C.E. Christ would have been 34 years of age six months later, or about October 1. Again counting back, we must conclude that Jesus was born, not on December 25, but about October 1, in the year 2 B.C.E. Sources: The scriptures cited, look them up in your own personal copy of the Bible, and the Watchtower, December 15th 1979 pages 3-5.
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.
