This is assuming each mother’s pregnancy went full-term. To arrive at this date, start at the conception of John the Baptist, Sivan (June), count forward six months to arrive at Gabriel’s announcement of the conception of Jesus, Kislev (December), then count forward nine more months, the time it takes for human gestation, to reach Tishri (September), when Jesus was born.” “We can approximate the month of Jesus’ birth to be around the time of Tishri (mid to late September). Elizabeth was six months pregnant when Mary arrived, and Mary left three months later. The events took place within the living memory of the writers or their families, such as the reign of Herod during which time Matthew tells us Christ was born.īible scholars also try to time Christ’s birth by timing the birth of his cousin John according to the sparse information about Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary outlined in Luke. Evidence in the Bibleīible scholars work from what Scripture tells us regarding the history of Jesus. He decided that Christ was born in AD 1, and his system was adopted in Europe around 200 years later. His purpose was to establish when Easter should be celebrated by working backward using a complicated system of his own. To complicate matters, Julius Caesar also determined that a year would be calculated beginning with “the accession of absolute power by the then emperor,” according to .Ībout 500 years later, “a mathematically-minded monk…Dionysius Exiguus invented the concept of AD,” stated. One was his new Julian calendar and the other calendar began with the year Rome was established: 753 BC. There were two dating systems at the time of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Several factors are involved in establishing the year of Christ’s birth. How was the date of Christmas decided, and when was Jesus really born? What Year Was Jesus Born? Confusion in Historical Calendars The year Jesus was born is not given in the biblical account ( Luke 2). Neither date is likely correct in light of several clues uncovered by historians and information in the Bible itself. The birth of Jesus Christ is traditionally celebrated on December 25, although “around 37% of Orthodox Christians, mainly in Egypt and Russia, celebrate Christmas on January 7,” owing to a difference in the way their calendars were devised.