Q: The summary at the beginning of the Book of Mark in my Bible includes approximate dates and key events. It listed Jesus' birth as 2-3 BC. Why wasn’t it 0? My limited understanding is that it was supposed to be 0, but when the BC/AD system came into existence several centuries after the birth of Christ, they made a mistake in calculating the actual year of His birth. Just curious if you have any other insight or info on this.
A: Remember that the chapter summaries in Bibles are not inspired Scripture (nor are the numbers or the section headings). Those summaries are brief introductions or commentary to help provide the reader with context.
Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 BC, most likely closer to 6 BC. You have it right, though... it was based on a different calendar system. In the reckoning of time based on BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Dommini = year of our Lord), there was no year “0,” so it goes straight from 1 BC to 1 AD, which is only a minor problem, but it helps explain why dating ancient times from historical records is difficult. Eras were generally the basis for how to number years and they differed from one nation to the next. In 525 AD, Dionysius Exiguus came up with the current system to replace the Diocletian calendar. He didn’t have the data required to determine the exact year when Christ was born (though he honored Christ with the designations of BC and AD). Since we know that Herod the Great reigned until 4 BC, and since we know that Jesus was about 1 to 2 years old when Herod had the children of Bethlehem killed, we now believe that Jesus was born around 5-6 BC. There are some scholars who have even suggested that His birth may have been as early as 18 BC and that he was close to 50 when He died. The important thing to remember when you read the biblical accounts is that they never give a date – they only describe who was in leadership, so it is our only means by which to compare dates to the calendar we currently use.
Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 BC, most likely closer to 6 BC. You have it right, though... it was based on a different calendar system. In the reckoning of time based on BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Dommini = year of our Lord), there was no year “0,” so it goes straight from 1 BC to 1 AD, which is only a minor problem, but it helps explain why dating ancient times from historical records is difficult. Eras were generally the basis for how to number years and they differed from one nation to the next. In 525 AD, Dionysius Exiguus came up with the current system to replace the Diocletian calendar. He didn’t have the data required to determine the exact year when Christ was born (though he honored Christ with the designations of BC and AD). Since we know that Herod the Great reigned until 4 BC, and since we know that Jesus was about 1 to 2 years old when Herod had the children of Bethlehem killed, we now believe that Jesus was born around 5-6 BC. There are some scholars who have even suggested that His birth may have been as early as 18 BC and that he was close to 50 when He died. The important thing to remember when you read the biblical accounts is that they never give a date – they only describe who was in leadership, so it is our only means by which to compare dates to the calendar we currently use.
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