EXACTLY WHEN Was Jesus Born?

History provides no precise information about the birth of Jesus. It would seem, Jews had very little interest in celebrating births and non-Jewish historians wrote with little precision. Our interest in details like month, day and even time of day, were not characteristic of ancient historians.

In reporting the story of Jesus’ birth, both Matthew and Luke clearly demonstrated that His birth was a fact of history. Whereas Matthew aligned the birth with Herod the Great, Luke focused on Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus. Historians would concur with Matthew and Luke that Herod ruled in Judea while Augustus was emperor from Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire.

In order to satisfy today’s desire for precise information, one would need to reconstruct the information currently available. For instance, Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus seemed quite certain that Herod died on or before April 4, 04 BCE. From Matthew we learn that Jesus was born at least two years before Herod died (Matthew 2:13-16).

Deductions from Luke 3:23 and John 2:20 would also place the birth of Jesus sometime around 06-04 BC/BCE. This conclusion would require some knowledge of Herod’s rebuilding of the Temple in 20 BCE.  

In his presentation of the birth, Luke also adds, that the events took place “while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” Historians are now confirming that the Quirinius to whom Luke referred, served as governor on two occasions. One census took place during his first term in office and another in 06 CE, during his second term. These procedures took place every 14 years.

Jesus could not have been born during this second term – Herod was already dead. However, based on the 14 year cycle, Jesus should have been born in 08 BCE. However, because of political conflicts with Herod and Rome, it is believed that the census was delayed by about two years. Here again, that would place the birth of Jesus sometime between 06-04 BCE.

Whereas much of this information may seem to have little value to Christians, it is critical for dialog with skeptics who question the historical Jesus. Some of this questioning is based on the choice of December 25th as the birthday of Jesus.

For more than 200 years, no one seemed to care about celebrating the birth of Jesus. The church even announced that it was sinful to contemplate observing Christ’s birthday “as though He were a King Pharaoh.”

The idea to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25 was first suggested sometime in the year 300. Other dates like January 6, March 25 and May 20 were suggested. May 20 became a favored date since Luke stated in his report – the shepherds who received the announcement of Christ’s birth “were watching their flock by night” (Luke 2:8).

Scholars argue that shepherds guarded their flocks day and night only at lambing time, in the spring. 

The early church fathers debated their options and chose December 25 because this date was a popular pagan festival to honor the birthday of Mithras, the “Invincible Sun God.” So, it was not until December 25, 337 AD/CE, Christians officially celebrated the first Christmas. 

Some historians contend that in the early 300’s, the cult of Mithraism was a serious threat to Christianity. For a period of time Mithraism was even proclaimed to be the official state religion by Emperor Aurelian (274). It was not until the reign of Emperor Constantine, Christianity began to receive favor from the state.

In 337, Constantine gave December 25 his blessing to observe the birth of Jesus. With time the observance of Christmas eclipsed the pagan festival of honoring the birthday of Mithras. Initially, the celebration of Christ’s birth was a sacred event. In Christ’s honor, there was Christ’s mass – from which we get the term Christmas.

Through the centuries Christmas has become an amalgam of traditions. The sacredness has been lost and today, many see it as anything but a sacred event. As Christians, we would be doing ourselves and the Lord Jesus a disservice, if we were to celebrate this season as anything but a season of sacred reflection. The date should only provide an opportunity to celebrate His historic birth and to recall His purpose for coming into this world. 

For additional study, I would strongly recommend James Veitch’s article on Scythian monk, Dionysius Exiguus.