Every December, the question pops up: Was Jesus really born on December 25? Some say Christians borrowed the date from a pagan festival. Others argue that shepherds wouldn’t have been out in the fields during winter. And then there are those who claim we’ve just arbitrarily picked a day. But the evidence behind the traditional date for Christmas might surprise you.
Jesus’ Birthday According to Early Church History
A very smart Bible scholar, the late Harold Hoehner, published a number of articles which then developed into a book, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. In that book, he carefully reasoned from both biblical and extra-biblical historical data that Jesus was born either in December of 5 BC or January of 4 BC. But Hoehner cautions that we can’t be dogmatic about the date.
The earliest recorded source outside of Scripture we have on the actual date is by Hippolytus, who lived from 165–235 AD. You know what Hippolytus said? He puts the date of Jesus’ birth on December 25! After him, a guy named Chrysostom, writing in 386 AD (lived 345-407 AD), affirmed that date as accurate. It was after Chrysotom that December 25 became the official date in the Eastern church.
Now, when I write that these guys said the date was December 25, I don’t mean they actually said “December 25.” They used a different calendar system back then. It wasn’t until AD 525 that Pope John I asked a monk named Dionysius to make a standard calendar for the Church. The monk started the calendar when he thought Jesus was born (using BC for the years before Christ’s birth and AD for those following). He was a few years off, but by the time people figured that out, we were already too far in to change it!
The point of all that is to say, there is reasonable extra-biblical evidence for celebrating Christmas when we do. But in exploring the life of Christ, our primary piece of evidence is the Bible itself.
Jesus’ Birthday According to Luke
The first two chapters of Luke tell the story of the announcement and birth of Jesus Christ, and the first three verses of the second chapter include several pieces of historical detail that point us toward Jesus’ birthday.
Luke 2 begins with the words “in those days.” The question is: when, exactly, according to the way we count the years, was “those days”? This passage gives us quite a few clues.
Verse 1 says, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” (2:1). We have a pretty fixed date for Caesar’s reign. He was made official ruler of the Roman Empire in 27 BC and he ruled until his death in 14 AD. In Matthew 2, we find out that Herod the Great was king of Judea when Jesus was born. And we know that Herod the Great’s reign ended in 4 BC, which means that Jesus was born during or before 4 BC.
Verse 2 tells us “This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.” Quirinius wasn’t appointed governor until about 6–7 AD. This timeline discrepancy could be a problem, but the word translated here “first”—πρῶτος—can also mean “before.” In John 15:18 it’s translated “before:” “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before (πρῶτος) it hated you.” So Luke 2:2 could potentially read, “This was the registration before Quirinius was governor of Syria.”
Christmas in December
So when answering the question “Was Jesus really born on December 25?”, the answer is, “maybe.” We have very good reason to believe that it is very close if not the exact day. The lack of definiteness is not to say that these types of details don’t matter, because they absolutely do. If Luke had written, “Jesus was born on December 25,” we would believe it to be so. Instead, we believe the accuracy of the details that he did choose to include, and we rely on the history of the early church tradition to pick a specific date.
Even when there are serious questions about the authenticity and truthfulness of God’s Word, there are also serious answers. We must trust Luke’s gospel for its history if we are going to trust it for its theology. So this Christmas, feel no guilt in celebrating Jesus’ birthday on December 25. It’s the best guess we have based on the information at our disposal.
