NATIVITY OF CHRIST

The date of the birth of jesus christ can be calculated only approximately; the most probable date seems to be about the year 7 or 6 b.c. It is well known that the calculations of dionysius exiguus upon which the system of determining the year of Christ's birth is based are in error. Matthew 2.1 says that the birth of Christ took place in the days of King herod (the great). It is known from josephus that Herod died in the spring of the year 4 b.c. In the 15th year of Tiberius, Jesus was about 30 years old (Lk 3.23); this would be the year a.d. 28–29.

One may date Christ's birth more precisely from the information given by Lk 2.2, that the birth took place at the time of the census under Cyrinus. Cyrinus was Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, who was governor of the province of Syria. During his administration a census took place in Judea previous to the incorporation of that kingdom into the province of Syria upon the deposition of Archelaus in a.d. 6. This census took place while Caesar Augustus was ruling the Roman Empire (30 b.c.–a.d.14). The relationship of the census under Quirinius to the imperial census is a matter of perplexity for historians. Perhaps Quirinius inaugurated the census under a special commission in 6 or 7 b.c. after his first term as governor and completed it by a better known census during his second term, a.d. 6 to 12. No further precision of the date can be made, since the date of December 25 does not correspond to Christ's birth, but to the feast of the Natalis Solis Invicti, the Roman sun festival at the solstice.

According to Matthew and Luke, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a village in Judea about six miles south of Jerusalem, slightly to the west. The place is mentioned in the Gospel account to show Christ's Davidic ancestry, since Bethlehem is the city of David. The fact of the birth at Bethlehem is not stated anywhere else in the New Testament; the account in Jn 7.40–42 implies the ignorance of the people regarding the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. There was no apologetic reason for the Gospel writers to invent the Bethlehem birthplace merely to confirm Christ's Davidic origin, since the popular belief at the time did not suppose that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. There is no written evidence in Jewish tradition for the Bethlehem birthplace of the Messiah before the third century a.d. The popular thought in Our Lord's time was that the birthplace of the Messiah was unknown, and that when He came, He would present Himself in such a way that no one would know where He came from. Since it would have served no useful purpose for the early Christians to invent Christ's birth in Bethlehem, one must conclude that He was actually born there. Mi 5.1 is obscure.

Bibliography: j. blinzler, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 2:422–425. a. bea and u. holzmeister, Chronologia vitae Christi (Rome 1933). h. u. instinsky, Das Jahr der Geburt Christi (Munich 1957). b. botte, Les Origines de la Noël et de l'Épiphanie (Louvain 1932).

[r. l. foley]