What may well have happened is Herod may have been told that the star appeared a year ago and he decided to kill all the boys a year on either side of this to make sure of getting the right one. You often hear that Jesus was born around 6-7 B.C. You might think that Jesus was born in the Year Zero--between 1 B.C. The date of the enrollment ordered by Augustus is notoriously controversial, for example, and too complex to go into here. Today most think this date is a little too late and that the evidence supports a date a few years earlier. Eventually, he entered the Catholic Church. The sequence of years before Christ ends at 1 B.C. Or the end of 3 B.C. We use such language all the time, and the fact that Scripture uses “about” in this instance allows for a few years in either direction. Keep in mind two things: First, estimates by scholars are fallible and Scripture is not. Roman historians (e.g., Tacitus, Suetonius), however, tended to skip part years and begin counting an emperor's reign with the first January 1 after they took office. or school. By analyzing new information related to the chronological markers provided in Scripture, scholars were able to see that Jesus was born a few years later than initially thought. John’s Gospel mentions at least three Passovers during the ministry of Christ (John 2:23; 6:4; 12:1). if Luke was counting Tiberius's reign from when he became emperor rather than from the next January 1. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith. Second, it would not be inaccurate for Luke to say that Jesus was “about 30 years old” if He was really 31 or even 33. Subscribe to receive our weekly emails PLUS access to the free digital theological library! How was the date of Christmas decided, and when was Jesus really born? You might think in 1 B.C., but remember that there's no Year Zero, so it would actually be 2 B.C. However, information would eventually come to light which showed that the well-intentioned monk made some errors. Jesus’ family fled to Egypt and lived there until Herod died. He used Scripture and the historical information available to him and calculated that Jesus was born in the 753rd year of the Roman Empire. Although the Gospel writers did not focus primarily on preserving a precise chronological history of Jesus’ life and ministry, we can still approximate some key dates by comparing historical markers with passages of Scripture. The first year before the child was born would be 1 B.C. . Please check your inbox and confirm your subscription. [1] Thomas D. Lea and David Alan Black, The New Testament: Its Background and Message (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers), 95. '”As underlined above, it references the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, which began when he became co-emperor with Augustus in A.D. While there is some scholarly debate on the matter, many date Quirinius’ declaration of the census in 8 B.C. If Jesus was 34-36 at his death in A.D. 29-30, this would put his birth at around between 5 and 6 B.C. It is a conclusion reached primarily by the estimate that Jesus’ ministry lasted about three years and that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began His ministry (Luke 3:23). What Year Was Jesus Born?