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When was Jesus born?
Matthew: “In the days of Herod” ([ii, 1]).
Luke: “When Cyrenius was governor of Syria” ([ii, 1–7]).
Nearly every biographer gives the date of his subject’s birth. Yet not one of the Evangelists gives the date of Jesus’ birth. Two, Matthew and Luke, attempt to give the time approximately. But between these two attempts there is a discrepancy of at least ten years; for Herod died 4 B. C., while Cyrenius did not become governor of Syria until 7 A. D.
A reconciliation of these statements is impossible. Matthew clearly states that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod. Luke states that Augustus Caesar issued a decree that the world should be taxed, that “this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria,” and that Jesus was born at the time of this taxing.
The following extracts from Josephus, the renowned historian of the race and country to which Jesus belonged, give the date of this taxing and the time that elapsed between the death of Herod and the taxing, and which reckoned backward from this gives the date of Herod’s death:
“And now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind; for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left his kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Berea, and granted the kingdom to Archelaus.... When he had done these things he died” (Antiquities, B. xvii, ch. 8, sec. 1).
“But in the tenth year of Archelaus’s government, both his brethren, and the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him before Caesar.... And when he was come [to Rome], Caesar, upon hearing what certain accusers of his had to say, and what reply he could make, both banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation, and took his money away from him” (Ibid, ch. 13, sec. 2).
“Archelaus’s country was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that had been consul, was sent by Caesar to take account of people’s effects in Syria, and to sell the house of Archelaus” (Ib. sec. 5).
“When Cyrenius had now disposed of Archelaus’s money, and when the taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the thirty-seventh of Caesar’s victory over Antony at Actium,” etc. (Ib., B. xviii, ch. 2, sec. 1).
The battle of Actium was fought September 2, B. C. 31. The thirty-seventh year from this battle comprehended the time elapsing between September 2, A. D. 6, and September 2, A. D. 7, the mean of which was March 2, A. D. 7. The mean of the tenth year preceding this—the year in which Herod died—was September 2, B. C. 4.
It has been suggested by some unacquainted with Roman history that Cyrenius [Quirinus] may have been twice governor of Syria. Cyrenius was but once governor of Syria, and this not until 7 A. D. During the last years of Herod’s reign, and during all the years of Archelaus’s reign, Sentius Saturninus and Quintilius Varus held this office. Even if Cyrenius had previously held the office the events related by Luke could not have occurred then because Judea prior to 7 A. D. was not a part of Syria.
The second chapter of Luke which narrates the birth and infancy of Jesus, conflicts with the first chapter of this book. In this chapter it is expressly stated that Zacharias, the priest, lived in the time of Herod and, inferentially, that the conceptions of John and Jesus occurred at this time.
Christian chronology, by which events are supposed to be reckoned from the birth of Christ, agrees with neither Matthew nor Luke, but dates from a point nearly intermediate between the two. According to Matthew, Christ was born at least five years before the beginning of the Christian era; according to Luke he was born at least six years after the beginning of the Christian era. This is 1907: but according to Matthew Christ was born not later than 1912 years ago; while according to Luke he was born not earlier than 1901 years ago.
At least ten different opinions regarding the year of Christ’s birth have been advanced by Christian scholars. Dodwell places it in 6 B. C., Chrysostom 5 B. C., Usher, whose opinion is most commonly received, 4 B. C., Irenaeus 3 B. C., Jerome 2 B. C., Tertullian 1 B. C. Some modern authorities place it in 1 A. D., others in 2 A. D., and still others in 3 A. D.; while those who accept Luke as infallible authority must place it as late as 7 A. D.