What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: When Was Jesus Really Born?
It’s Christmas time, and people believe a lot of misconceptions about the holiday, so over the next few weeks I’m going to look at the truth behind Christmas mythology, starting with the biggest misconception: not the question of “how can the North Pole support an industrial infrastructure large enough to produce toys for all the children in the world?” but the question of whether Jesus was really born on December 25th.
Was Jesus born on December 25th?
Most Christians celebrate baby Jay’s birthday on December 25th, but he likely wasn’t born on that day. Neither the Bible nor any historical documents provide a precise date, and early Christians didn’t even celebrate Christmas. Therefore, Jesus could have been born on December 25th, but it could also have been March 7th, or any other date. Here are some popular options for Jesus’s birth date:
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January 6 or 7 is an auspicious day for Orthodox Christians
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November 18 – according to Clement of Alexandria
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March or April – based on biblical passages describing shepherds watching over their flocks.
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September or October—based on Father John the Baptist’s membership in the “Order of Abijah.” This theory is too complex to explain here, but it’s fascinating, and I encourage you, like me , to delve into the rabbit hole of the Abijah priestly order .
If Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th, why is today Christmas?
No one knows for sure why we often choose December 25th as Jesus’s birthday, but there are some theories. Here are two of the most common:
Solar Theory: The first reliable reference to Jesus’s birth on December 25th appears in the Philocal Calendar, a Roman almanac written in 354. The calendar lists December 25th as both the date of Christ’s birth and the date of an older festival, the “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun,” suggesting that both festivals were celebrated in Rome on the same day (or at least were designated as such by the 4th century). According to this theory, the Romans thought, “We’re still celebrating this day,” and the early Christians thought, “We have your Unconquered Sun here ,” and adopted the 25th for celebration, ultimately outliving the Romans and leaving the pagan holiday as a mere footnote, celebrated by no one but my friend Gary.
Theory of Reckoning : Early Christians believed that prophets and martyrs died on the same day from the moment of their conception. I suppose some skeptic in the second century carved a devastating tablet refuting this, but this is what many early Christians believed. Jesus’s martyrdom/conception was believed to have occurred on March 25, so his birth must have occurred on December 25 (assuming he was punctual).
There are other theories: the date was chosen to coincide with Hanukkah, Saturnalia, the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, or the 2006 Eagles-Bears game. The thing is, we don’t know for sure, but it’s likely a “a little from column A, a little from column B” situation. Computational theory provided the theological justification for the date, and solar symbolism provided cultural significance; after all, both Jesus and Santa like it when we work together.
What is the true meaning of Christmas?
Ultimately, the uncertainty surrounding the exact date of Jesus’s birth is irrelevant. Christmas doesn’t exist because a Roman bureaucrat wrote it into the calendar or because some pagans wanted to blow off some steam. Whether you celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Christ or as a midwinter festival of lights, the meaning of this holiday has been collectively shaped over the centuries and is constantly changing to suit the needs and desires of the people who celebrate it. Whether it’s a somber religious expression or listening to Mariah Carey over a glass of eggnog, it’s all good.