What is the date of Jesus’ birth?
Dr. Harold Hoehner’s work, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Zondervan, 1977), serves as the best academic work to date the birth of Christ. Dr. Hoehner was educated at Cambridge University and his scholarship is quite convincing. Here’s his summary from his first chapter, “The Date of Jesus’ Birth.”
“The traditional date for the birth of Christ from as early as Hippolytus (A.D. 165-235) has been December 25th. In the Eastern Church January 6th was the date for not only Christ’s birth, but also the arrival of the Magi on Christ’s second birthday . . . Chrysostom (A.D. 345-407) in 386 stated that December 25th is the correct date . . . It is clear that Christ was born before Herod the Great’s death and after the census. In looking at the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke one would need to conclude that Christ was born of Mary within a year or two of Herod’s death. In looking to some of the other chronological notations in the Gospels, the evidence led to the conclusion that Christ was born in the winter of 5/4 B.C. Although the exact date of Christ’s birth cannot be known, either December 5 B.C., or January, 4 B.C., is most reasonable.” – pp. 25-27
