The Dates of Christ’s Birth, Baptism, and Crucifixion
The Scriptures contain sufficient data to enable us to accurately determine the year when Jesus was born, and also the dates of his baptism and crucifixion. The present AD date, as fixed in the 6th century by Dionysius Exiguus for the beginning of the Christian Era, is now generally recognized to be in error by those who have given the matter careful study. Ussher’s scheme of chronology, given in the margins of many Bibles, places the date of Jesus’ birth 4 years earlier than AD 1; but we believe that the true date was only 1 1/4 years earlier, i.e., in Autumn 2 BC. {1} The Scriptural data proves, also, that Christ was baptized in Autumn 29 AD, and crucified in Spring 33 AD. These dates are corroborated by symbolical time- measurements in the Great Pyramid.
When John came preaching the baptism of repentance, all men were in expectation of the advent of the long- promised Messiah, and reasoned within themselves whether or not John was the Christ; (Luke 3:15) but John answered them, no, that Christ would come after him. (John 1:15, 45)
It was when Jesus was 30 years of age that he came forward to be baptised by John, (Luke 3:21-23) and from that time, being anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, he began his ministry. (Acts 10:36-38)
Luke states (Luke 3:1-3) that it was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar that John the Baptist started his ministry. Tiberius began to reign at the death of Augustus on the 19th of August in the year 14 AD, and his 15th year, therefore, extended from 19th August 28 AD, till 19th August 29 AD (see diagram).
Certain writers have taken as the starting point for Luke’s reckoning the year 12 AD in which, they say, Tiberius was made co-regent with Augustus. There is no proof, however, that such a method of reckoning was ever used. None of the ancient ecclesiastical writers ever imagined that to be the meaning of the evangelist. Nowhere in histories, monuments, or coins of unquestioned authority, is there a trace of any other reckoning of the years of Tiberius Caesar, than from the death of Augustus on the 9th of August, 14 AD.
By comparing verses 13, 24-31, and 36, of the first chapter of Luke, it will be seen that Jesus was about 5 months younger than his cousin John the Baptist. According to the requirement of the Law Jesus could not begin his ministry until he was 30 years of age. (Numbers 4:3,Lu 3:23) As this requirement must have been equally binding upon John, it means that John began his ministry at 30 years of age 5 months before Jesus.
It cannot be supposed that Luke would have been so careful to fix the exact date of the commencement of John’s ministry, had he not understood that he was at the same time fixing the date of the most important event in the history of the world, namely, the Advent of the Messiah.
Just as in the first chapter he connects the birth of Jesus with that of John, so in the 3rd chapter he connects the beginnings of their ministry. A more literal rendering of Luke 3:23, which supports this view, is given in Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott. After informing us (in the first three verses) when John began his ministry, Luke now desires to draw attention to the commencement of Jesus’ ïùç ministry, and (in verse 23) says: ‘Also Jesus himself [like John] was about thirty years old [when he] began [his ministry]:’ (The literal word for word rendering requires the insertion of the words in the brackets, in order to bring out the sense of the verse. The Greek word kaß may be equally well translated ‘and’ or ‘also.’)
Now, as we have seen, John’s ministry, beginning in the 15th year of Tiberius, must have dated from some time within the year commencing 19th August 28 AD, and Jesus’ ministry, therefore, 5 months later, must have dated from some time within the year commencing 19th January 29 AD. It can be more particularly shown, however, that it was in the middle of the Israelitish year, i.e., in Autumn 29 AD, that Jesus was baptized and his ministry began. Luke 1:5 states that John’s father, Zacharias, was a priest of the course of Abia. On referring to 1 Chronicles 24:5-19 we find that the priests were divided into 24 courses, Abia being the 8th in order. During the twelve months of the year, which according to the commandment of God began in Spring, (Deuteronomy 16:1,Ex 12:2) each course in its order would require to serve in the temple for two weeks. (For a similar arrangement see 1 Kings 4:7, also 1 Chronicles 27:1-15) This would make Zacharias’ term of office expire at the close of the 4th month.
Luke 1:8-13 states that it was while Zacharias was ‘executing the priest’s office in the order of his course’ that an angel appeared and informed him that his wife would have a son whom he was to name John, and verses 23 and 24 go on to say: ‘And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own home. And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months.’ The succeeding verses show that at this time, at the commencement of the 6th month (i.e., at the commencement of the 10th month from the beginning of that year), the annunciation was made to the virgin Mary; and that when ‘the days were accomplished that she should be delivered’ (or 9 months later), she ‘brought forth her first-born son,’ Jesus. (Luke 2:6-7) According to the above scriptural data Jesus must have been born in Autumn of the year 2 BC, 18 months (4 + 5 + 9 = 18) after the commencement of the (Israelitish) year in which the angel appeared to Zacharias as he performed the priestly office in the order of his course; and he was baptized 30 years later, in Autumn 29 AD, or 5 months after John the Baptist began his ministry in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
– Morton Edgar
{1} The once commonly accepted date for the birth of Jesus, 4 BC, is based upon the supposition that king Herod the Great died in the year 4 BC. If 4 BC was the true date of Herod’s death, then according to Matthew 2:16, Jesus would have been born in either 4 or 5 BC. However, it is now apparent that Herod died in the opening part of 1 BC. The reasons are detailed in the landmark article ‘The Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great,’ by William Filmer, Journal of Theological Studies, 1966, October. – Editor