CHAPTER 12

THE NATIVITY DATE - THE GORDIAN KNOT

     Matthew 2:1 "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the King." Luke 2:1 "A decree went forth from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." Luke then went on to say that the taxation was superintended by Cyrenius (the Greek form of the Roman name Quirinius).

    Three important characters now appear on the stage. What do we know about their dates? In respect of Augustus there is no problem at all. He became sole Emperor after the Battle of Actium in September B.C. 31, and reigned until his death on August 19th A.D. 14.

    The taxation under Quirinius was mentioned in Acts 5:37 as the time of the revolt by Judas the Galilean, and this took place according to Josephus "in the thirty-seventh year of Caesar's victory over Antony at Actium," in other words A.D.6, but Luke mentioned another occasion by his words, "This was the first enrolment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria." (Luke 2:2) No definitive secular record has yet been found of this earlier taxation. But Luke's words stand as direct evidence.

    Herod’s dates are normally fixed by the chronological notices provided by Josephus, and the general consensus of opinion is that he died in B.C. 4. This provides us with an impossible tangle from which the scholars say there is no way out, as my old friend Alan warned me. They aver that someone amongst the Gospel writers must have got his facts wrong. I call this the Gordian Knot, and in the development of the following chapters I shall attempt to cut it. But let me say right away that I don’t believe either Matthew or Luke "got it wrong." Why should their heads be on the chopping block, rather than Josephus with his chronology of Herod, or more to the point, the historians who assess his work?

    Using the results of the last chapter, we are in a position to make a rough assessment of the dates of birth of both John and Jesus, assuming that their respective ministries began when they attained the age of 30. Using A.D. 29 as our terminus a quo we make a backward step of 30 years and come to the year -1. What does this mean? The following time-line will explain.

THE PROBLEM ARISING BY RECKONING FROM B.C. TO A.D. 

BC3

BC2

BC1

AD1

AD2

AD3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

 

  The astronomical mode of reckoning makes B.C.1 the year zero in order to avoid the ambiguity of the transition from B.C. to A.D. Hence -1 is the astronomical mode of referring to B.C. 2. If Jesus was born in B.C. 2 then by the Gordian Knot it is two years after Herod’s death! This cannot be the case, because Herod caused the slaying of the Bethlehem infants about two years after the birth of Jesus. Furthermore, there is no known record of an enrolment for taxation in B.C. 2. But it was within the reign of Augustus Cæsar; there is no problem there.

    Rather than try to answer these vexed questions at this stage, it will be better to look for some further positive evidence we can get our teeth into. I should like to quote from a number of early writers amongst the Christian fathers.

    QUINTUS SEPTIMUS FLORENS TERTULLIAN (c160 - 225). He was brought up in Carthage as a pagan, but converted to Christianity prior to A.D. 197. He wrote mainly in Latin, but a few lines of Greek are also extant. In "Test. Ad Judæos C.8" he says that “After Cleopatra, Augustus reigned 43 years. All the years of the Empire of Augustus were 56 years. In the 41st year of the Empire of Augustus, when he had been reigning for 28 years after the death of Cleopatra, the Christ was born. And the same Augustus survived, after Christ is born, 15 years.”   [Augustus began to rule as Consul in B.C.43. Hence Jesus’ birth would be in B.C.2. He died in August A.D.14 and by simple arithmetic this produces a figure of -1 (i.e. B.C.2) for the birth of Christ. And 28 years after the death of Cleopatra, universally accepted as being B.C.30, also gives B.C.2.]

    IRENÆUS, Bishop of Lyons, (c130 - 200). He said, "Our Lord was born about the 41st year of the reign of Augustus." Bearing in mind what has already been said about the ancient use of the word "about" we come to the same result, namely B.C.2.

    EUSEBIUS, Bishop of Cæsarea (264 - 340). In his Ecclesiastical History i.5 he said, "It was in the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus, and in the 28th year from the subjection of Egypt on the death of Antony and Cleopatra." The 42nd year of Augustus ran from autumn B.C. 2 to autumn B.C. 1. The 28th year from the subjection ran from autumn B.C. 3 to autumn B.C. 2. The overlap between these two dates is the autumn of B.C. 2.

    JULIUS SEXTUS AFRICANUS. (3rd century Christian traveller and historian, author of “Chronographies”, a history of the world, to A.D.221)   He placed the birth of Christ in A.Ad 5499 (the meaning of which is related to the creation of the world, and by calculation it equates with Olympiad 194, year 2, = 3/2 B.C.)

 

     ORIGEN. (A.D.~185-253) Sometime subsequent to A.D. 231 he wrote in his “Homilies”, a fragment of which remains, that Christ was born in the 41st year of Cæsar Augustus, who reigned for 56 years, and that after the birth of Christ there remained 15 years. These figures are virtually the same as those of Tertullian, and give the result of B.C.2.

 

     EPIPHANIUS. (A.D.~315-403) In his “Panarion” for the healing of all heresies, (20.2) he states, like Eusebius, that Augustus reigned 56 years and 6 months, and that Jesus was born in his 42nd year. This gives B.C.2. Later he says that this was the year when Octavian was Consul for the 13th time, and Silvanus. The Consul lists give “Augusto XIII et Silvano” for B.C.2.

 

    HIPPOLYTUS OF THEBES. (Edition J.Albertus Fabricius, 1716, p.52) Available fragments give two dates, either the 42nd year or the 43rd year of Augustus. Hence the dates are B.C.3/2 and B.C.2/1.

     CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, theologian from Athens, (c150 - 215). He said that the nativity was "in the 15th year before the death of Augustus," i.e. autumn B.C. 2.   

   Whilst the majority of modern writers still try to adjust their chronologies to fit a nativity date between B.C. 8 and B.C. 4, the testimony of most of the early church fathers is to B.C. 2, as shown by these eight witnesses. Who then are we to believe? Is it not far safer to accept the testimony of those who lived way back in those days, who wrote as though they had no knowledge of Josephus? On page 71 of David Hughes' book "The Star of Bethlehem Mystery" he presents a histogram of the sources, ancient and modern, and the dates of Christ's birth. It is significant that of the ancient sources, the maximum sits squarely at 3/2 B.C. whereas for modern sources the maximum is at B.C.6, thereby illustrating the problem graphically.

    Using the information given by these eight witnesses, we have the following time-line to guide us in readiness for further research.

 

THE BIRTH AND MINISTRY OF JESUS AND JOHN

BC3

 

BC2

Birth of John the Baptist in March

Birth of Jesus in September

BC1

 

-
-
-

 

AD28

 

AD29

March.  Call of John the Baptist at 30 years of age. 

September. Baptism of Jesus at 30 years of age. 

AD30