Dating Jesus' Birth Part 1

John 2:3 · 2026-07-18 · Jason Wolin

John 2:3 · Jesus' Birth. Dating Jesus' Birth Part 1 — sermon from Dissertation on BibleSlides.

Dating Jesus' Birth Part 1 Dating Jesus' Birth Part 1 Why Study Chronology For many, chronology takes a back seat to more interesting topics. Why spend the time to study it? The answer is simple: chronology is the backbone of history. In the same way that our backbone may not be something we think about often but is essential to everything else we do, chronology holds together the precious redemptive story of the Bible. One of the unique claims of Christianity is that it is historical and therefore falsifiable. It would be of no advantage for an invented religion to open itself up to such scrutiny. In fact, if the events of the Bible are not historically accurate, then our faith is worthless. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14, "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." Therefore, demonstrating the chronological consistency of the Scriptures is an academic necessity and an apologetic argument. Additionally, understanding the chronology allows us to reconstruct events, compare them along secular timelines to paint in additional color and context building out the beauty of real life situations. And what better place to begin that study than with the birth of the central figure of our Christian faith. Dating the Birth of Christ How do we date the birth of Jesus? What are some common things you've heard? 4BC? 5BC? 6BC? Those are the most common but they are most certainly wrong. How can it be that the most important event in human history is so commonly dated incorrectly? How is the date of Christ's birth determined. What are the chronological markers that help us date the birth of Jesus Christ? There is one indicator that is very concrete. In fact, it's so concrete and that it seems like it should just silence any further discussion. This single check coupled with a possible double-check gives us a great starting place to lock in the birth of Christ to within a relatively narrow window. In other words, John the Baptist's ministry BEGAN in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. Now the reason this is helpful for dating the birth of Christ is that we know from Luke 3:23 that Jesus was about 30 when he began his ministry. John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministry within close proximity to each other. So if we know when John began his ministry and count backward 'about 30 years' we should get a close approximation of when Jesus was born. So that's why have interest in this date of when John the Baptist begins his ministry. So Luke 3 tells us that John began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius. The beginning of Tiberius' reign is a hard date. That's why you see an anchor here. This is a fixed, anchor date with ZERO debate. Sept 17, AD 14 Tiberius Caesar begins his rule. So if we count forward from he…

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