Christmas is not far off.
December 25, 2026.
That means Jesus was born 2,026 years ago, just when the calendar flipped from B.C. to A.D., right?
If we wanted to make a birthday cake for Jesus, should we put 2,026 candles on it? We might risk burning the house down, but that would be the correct number of candles, wouldn’t it?
Actually…probably not.
Most likely, it should include a few more candles than that (and not just because Jesus preexisted before coming to earth).
And guess what? When Jesus was born, the calendar didn’t change from B.C. to A.D.—because there was no B.C. and A.D. until a Christian monk devised that system more than 500 years after the life of Jesus. And almost every historian believes that monk made a mistake and Jesus was actually born sometime in the B.C. years!
The problem is, we don’t have a birth certificate for Jesus, and Scripture gives us only hints and clues as to when Jesus was actually born, so there has been debate about the exact timing of it almost since the beginning of the Church.
The Relevant Data
Here is a list of some of the most important pieces of information that help us calculate when Jesus was born.
- The death of Herod the Great, since he was still alive at Jesus’ birth
- The Magi arriving when Jesus was a toddler and Herod was still alive
- Chronological markers for John the Baptist’s life since Jesus was conceived and born 6 months after John
- The shepherds watching sheep in the fields around Bethlehem
With these clues to work with, scholars use historical records to attempt to identify the year and perhaps the month for Jesus’ birth. That sounds straightforward enough. However, ancient history is messy. They didn’t keep records the same way we do. There have been different calendars at play. Therefore, today we have to sort through scraps of data and piece it together as best as we can.
And this makes figuring out when Jesus was born complicated.
“Today we have to sort through scraps of data and piece it together as best as we can.”
The Year
For over 100 years, the scholarly consensus has been that Jesus was born in 5 or 6 B.C. This is largely based on the 1891 work of Emil Schürer titled A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ. He calculated the death of Herod the Great as being in March or April of 4. B.C.
This calculation for Herod’s death is based on the fact that the ancient Jewish historian Josephus mentions that Herod died shortly before Passover and that there was an eclipse not long before his death (Antiquities 17.6.4). This is then aligned with the partial eclipse that occurred on March 13, 4 B.C. This fact, combined with other chronological markers for the reign of Herod mentioned in Josephus, has led the majority of scholars to conclude that Herod died in 4 B.C.
If that’s the case, then Jesus had to be born before 4 B.C. since Herod was still alive at his birth. Not only that, but when the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, Herod ordered the killing of all the baby boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger (Matthew 2:16). This suggests that Herod believed Jesus was a toddler by this time based on the information the Magi gave him. This would indicate that Jesus had been born in 5 or 6 B.C.
“For over 100 years, the scholarly consensus has been that Jesus was born in 5 or 6 B.C.”
While this chronology has been the consensus for a long time, re-evaluations of the data over the last several decades leads some scholars to suggest that Herod actually died in 1 B.C. or even A.D. 1. There are two primary factors in these re-evaluations. The first is precision about the beginning of Herod’s rule based on Josephus. Should Herod’s rule over Jerusalem be counted from 37 B.C. or 36 B.C.? And does Josephus intend to include only full years in the length of his reign or also partial years at the beginning and end? The second consideration is the suggestion that a more significant eclipse occurred in 1 B.C. This eclipse is a better candidate than the one mentioned by Josephus since the eclipse of 4 B.C. was partial and only visible briefly after midnight, making it an unlikely marker tied to Herod’s death.
If this re-evaluation is accurate, then Jesus would have been born in 2-3 B.C. What’s fascinating about this date is several early church fathers, such as Hippolytus and Clement of Alexandria, dated Jesus’ birth to 2 or 3 B.C.
Some contend that this date also fits better with the chronological marker for the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry. It occurred in the “fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (Luke 3:1, NASB). This year would be either A.D. 27 or 28. Luke 3 also notes that Jesus was around 30 years old at this time (Luke 3:23). If 30 years old is pretty exact, that too would place Jesus’ birth in 2 or 3 B.C. (though advocates of the 5 or 6 B.C. date point out Luke seems to be giving an approximate age—about 30—so it’s possible Jesus was 32 or 33).
“What’s fascinating about this date is several early church fathers, such as Hippolytus and Clement of Alexandria, dated Jesus’ birth to 2 or 3 B.C.”
Nevertheless, for now, the standard accepted date by historians is that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. which places Jesus’ birth sometime in 5 or 6 B.C.
The Time of Year
Do we know which month or at least time of year Jesus was born?
December 25th
Most of the world celebrates the birth of Jesus on Christmas, December 25th. How did this date become associated with Jesus’ birth? (For more details on this question, including why Christmas isn’t pagan, see this article here).
The evidence suggests that there was interest in calculating the date of Jesus’ birth in the early church, but they came to different conclusions about it.
For example, around the year A.D. 200, in a work titled Stromata, Clement of Alexandria gave his calculation that Jesus was born on November 17 or 18 based on his reckoning of how long before the death of Emperor Commodus Jesus’ birth occurred. However, he noted that others had differing opinions.
“There are those who have calculated not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day. They say that it took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, on the twenty-fifth day of Pachon [May 20] … Others say that He was born on the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day of Pharmuthi [April 19 or 20].”
He also mentions that the followers of Basilides believed Jesus was born on January 10 or January 6.
“Most of the world celebrates the birth of Jesus on Christmas, December 25th.”
Writing around the same time, Julius Africanus suggested the date of December 25th. From his reading of the Luke and Matthew, he calculated the Annunciation to Mary and conception of Jesus to be March 25, so nine months later would be December 25. In his commentary on Daniel, Hippolytus reached the same conclusion based on his understanding of the 70 weeks prophecy in Daniel 9.
December 25 eventually became so widely accepted in the Western church (whereas the East connected it with January 6) that by the time of Augustine (c. A.D. 400) he could simply say that this was the tradition concerning when Jesus was born.
So, it seems that December 25 rose to the top as the preferred date through a simple historical process of various church leaders espousing that date through their own calculations and writings.
But the actual time of Jesus’ birth might be a few months earlier in the year.
Two Hints from the Text
The first hint is the announcement to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would have a son whom they should name John. Zechariah was on duty as a priest at the time when the angel Gabriel announced this news to him in the temple during the incense offering. His priestly division was Abjijah (Luke 1:5), and he was serving at the appointed time for the division of Abijah (Luke 1:8). 
When did the division of Abijah serve in the temple?
According to 1 Chronicles 24:10, Abijah’s priestly division was number 8 out of 24. Each division served for a week with all 24 divisions serving together at major festivals. Based on that, Zechariah would’ve been on duty in late May or early June. Afterwards he went back home and Elizabeth conceived John, presumably in late June.
We know from Luke 1:26 that Jesus was conceived six months after John’s conception, meaning he was conceived sometimes toward the end of December. This would mean that Jesus was born in September of the following year.
“Zechariah would’ve been on duty in late May or early June. Afterwards he went back home and Elizabeth conceived John, presumably in late June.”
Surprisingly, this calculation fits nicely with another small but important detail in Luke, which is our second clue.
Luke tells us that when Jesus was born the shepherds were watching their sheep in the fields around Bethlehem (Luke 2:8). These fields would have been the surrounding wheat and barley fields. Bible scholar Cyndi Parker, who lived in Jerusalem and is an expert on the historical setting of gospels, points out that the only time of year flocks are in the fields is after the harvest and before planting.[1] They eat the stubble from last year’s crop and fertilize the fields for next year’s crop.
What time of year is that?
The fields are available to the flocks from July through September.
Therefore, based on those two textual clues, and assuming Mary went full term, it seems quite possible that Jesus was born sometime in September.
Conclusion
In the end, however, we don’t know with certainty exactly when Jesus was born. Does this mean that celebrating his birth on December 25 is meaningless?
Not at all.
Because the point is not so much when but that Jesus was born. Not so much chronology as theology.
We celebrate the reality that Gabriel announced to Mary:
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:30-33, NASB).
And we marvel with John that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NASB).
“The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
And so, whether in September or December or some other time of year, we can sing with gladness:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity[2]
[1] See Cyndi Parker. Encountering Jesus in the Real World of the Gospels. Peabody, MA. 2021. p. 105.
[2] Lyrics from Charles Wesley, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” 1739.
For more from John, see his website and Listener’s Bible Commentary.
