When Was Jesus Born?

 

The Bible's answer

The Bible does not give a specific date for the birth of Jesus Christ, as these reference works show:

* "The true birth of Jesus Christ is unknown." - New Catholic Encyclopedia.

* "The exact date of Christ's birth is not known - Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. 

While the BIble does not directly answer the question, "When was Jesus born?" It does describe two events surrounding his birth that lead manu to conclude that he was not born in December.

Not in Winter

1. The registration.  Shortly before Jesus was born, Caesar Agustus issued a decree ordering "all the inhabited earth to be registered."  Everyone had to register in "his own city," which might have required a journey of a week or more. (Luke 2:1-3)  That order-probably made to support taxation and military conscription-would have been unpopular at any time of the year, burt it is unlikely that Augustus would have provoked his subjects further by forcing many of them to make long trips during during the cold winter. 

2. The sheep.  Shepherds were "living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their flocks." (Luke 2:8) The book of Life in the Time of Jesus notes that flocks lived in the open air from "the week the Passover [late March]" through mid-November.  It then adds: They passed the winter under cover; and from this alone it may be seen that the traditional date for Christmas, in winter, is unlikely, since the Gospel says that the shepherds were in the fields."

In early fall

We can estimate when  Jesus was born by counting backward from his death on Passover, Nisan 14 in the spring of the year 33 C.E. (John 19:14-16) Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his three-and-a-half-year ministruy, so he was born in the early fall of 2 B.C.E. - LUKE 3:23.

Why Is Christmas on December 25?

Since there is no evidence that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred on December 25, why is Christmas celebrated on this date?  The Encyclopedia Britannica says that church leaders probably chose it "to coincide with pagan Roman festival marking the 'birthday of the unconquered sun,"at the time of the winter solstice. According to the Encyclopedia Americana, many scholars believe that this was done "in order to  make Christianity more meaningful to pagan converts." 

Next time: What is Prophecy? - The Bible's answer

From the jw.org publications