by Colt Howell
Every Christmas we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” and picture the manger scene. But somewhere along the way, you may have heard that Jesus was actually born between 4 and 6 B.C.
Wait…how could Jesus be born Before Christ?
Yeah, that does sound like someone fumbled the math. Let’s figure it out.
A Calendar Glitch 2,000 Years in the Making
Our modern way of numbering years, which is B.C. (“Before Christ”) and A.D. (Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of our Lord”) was invented about five centuries after Jesus lived. Around A.D. 525, a monk named Dionysius Exiguus decided to re-center world history on the birth of Jesus. Admirable goal! Unfortunately, his calculations were… let’s just say “optimistic.”
Most historians think Dionysius landed a few years late. So when he labeled Jesus’ birth as “A.D. 1,” the real event had already happened, probably around 5 B.C. Give or take a year or two.
(And yes, there’s no “Year 0.” We jump straight from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1. Math teachers everywhere weep.)
Herod: The Historical Anchor
Matthew tells us Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great, the same king who tried to snuff out Bethlehem’s babies after the magi’s visit.
We know from the Jewish historian Josephus that Herod died in 4 B.C.
That means Jesus had to be born before that. Simple deduction. If you picture the wise men arriving sometime after the manger scene, and Herod dying soon after, then a birth date of about 5 B.C. makes a lot of sense.
The “Quirinius Problem”
Luke also mentions a census “while Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:2). That’s caused some head-scratching, because the most famous census under Quirinius happened later, in A.D. 6, too late for Herod.
But there are good explanations: Quirinius likely held an earlier administrative role in the region, or Luke could be referring to an earlier registration connected to Augustus’s empire-wide decree. Luke’s track record as a careful historian suggests he knew exactly what he was talking about, even if modern readers have to squint to follow it.
The Bigger Point: God’s Timing Was Perfect
So yes, the calendars are off by a few years. Our “B.C.” should probably start around 5 B.C. But honestly, that’s a bookkeeping issue, not a theological one.
Paul writes in Galatians 4:4, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son.” The Romans had built highways that connected the empire, the Greek language tied distant peoples together, and the Jewish Scriptures had primed hearts with hope. The stage was perfectly set.
Even if our calendar missed it by a few years, God didn’t.
So When Was Jesus Born?
If you’re asking historically: somewhere between 6 and 4 B.C., probably 5 B.C. If you’re asking theologically: exactly when God meant Him to be.