Was Christ born in 1 B.C.?
Age Thirty. As mentioned above, Luke says Christ was about thirty when he was baptized after John began his ministry in A.D. 29. The year of A.D. 29 is also indicated because the crucifixion of Christ most likely occurred in the spring of A.D. 33 [30] (with A.D. 31 and 32 astronomically unacceptable), and the Book of John implies that his baptism was about three and a half years before. If Christ was baptized in A.D. 29, one needs only to count back “about thirty” years to arrive at his birth date about 2 B.C. Today it is popular to interpret “about thirty” as meaning “26-34” in order to accommodate a birth date for Christ in 6-5 B.C. However, the early Christian fathers, such as Irenaeus and Epiphanius, accepted the straightforward interpretation that it meant a few months less than thirty. [31] Christ made a point of fulfilling the law of Moses in every detail (Mat. 5:17), which would have included beginning his public ministry at age 30 (Num. 4:3). He apparently began his public min
