How could Jesus be born in 4 BC 4 years before Christ?

Answer 1

A monk named Dennis the Little in the 6th century thought that the calendar based on the founding of the city of Rome (which counted 753 B.C. as year 1) was no longer useful, so he tried to calculate the date of Christ's birth. He settled on 753 A.U.C. as A.D. 1, but he was mistaken, since Herod died in 749 A.U.C. Jesus Christ must have been born at least four years before 753 A.U.C., so you can't say for sure that He was born in 4 B.C., only that he was not born later than that.

Answer 2

Herod became king of Judea in 37 BCE, when he conquered Jerusalem at the head of a Roman army. So it would be consistent with Matthew's Gospel for Jesus to be born any time between 37 and April 4 BCE, when Herod died. Since Augustus became emperor of Rome in 31 BCE, it would also be consistent with Luke's Gospel for Jesus to be born in 30 BCE, apart from the unexplained census. Perhaps the biggest problem with such an early date is John 8:57, "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" If Jesus had been born in 30 BCE, he would have been about sixty years old at the time of that statement.

Answer 3

Assuming Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod, he could not have been born later than 4 BCE, the year King Herod died. In fact, 4 BCE is quite unlikely, as Herod died in April of that year. So we can say anything later than 5 BCE is unlikely. Matthew's Gospel suggests that he was born quite some time before the death of Herod, so a year closer than 10 BCE is more likely.

Against this, Luke's Gospel is ambiguous, in that it has Jesus born in the time of Herod, but also at the time of the census of Quirinius, which is known to have happened ten years after the death of Herod, in 6 CE.

Answer 4

When the dates were calculated in the hundreds AD a mistake was made in the calculations.

Answer 5

When the dates of BC to AD were calculated a mistake was made.

Answer 6

Because of the Jewish calendar, not matching our current calendar which originated with the Romans I believe!

Answer 7

The same way Gretel got out of that witches hot oven. Its just a story.

Answer 8

No, there was no year 0 BC (or 0 AD). Most scholars believe Jesus was born some time around 4 BC.

Answer 9

no, he was born in 5BC