Date of Jesus’ birth

Christian Worship:  Manual, the companion book to our hymnal, offers this explanation:  “The other suggestion for the selection of December 25th to celebrate Christ’s birth resulted from an early computation that his death on the cross occurred on March 25th.  There was a theological belief held by some that the death and birth dates of religiously significant persons is the same.  By this reckoning, March 25th was not only the date of Jesus’ death but also the day on which he was conceived in the womb of Mary, thereby establishing the birth date nine months later” (p. 374).

A feature article in the December 2015 Forward in Christ also addressed your question.  It stated:  “And what about the day and time Jesus was born? No one could go to the town clerk of Bethlehem to find a birth certificate. The records, if there were any, may have been part of the Roman census, but they were gone. Could anyone suggest the day he was born?

“Clearly, the answer to that question is no. But Christians in the third century felt that the coming of Jesus occurred on the day that God created the world. Really? Who knew that? Well, the cycle of seasons always began with the first day of spring and the coming of new life. So the first day of spring was also considered the day God created the world. For these people, spring began on March 25. Some adopted that date for the birth of Jesus, but others began to adopt that day as the day that Jesus was conceived. If you count nine months from March 25, you come to Dec. 25.”

The fact of the matter is that we do not know the date of Jesus’ birth.  That is not a problem.  This is what we do know:  “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about…” (Matthew 1:18-25)  God bless your Christmas celebration.