In my last post, I looked at the statement that Irenaeus made that Jesus was around 50 years old when He died. Today I want to look at this from a different angle. The Jesus Police suggested a good way to approximate the age of Jesus at death. There are certain markers that we know that were in place at the time of Jesus’ birth and death. By locating those markers in history, we can find out a date range for both his birth and death. Then using those date ranges, we can come up with an age range for Jesus at the time of His death.

Biblical/ historical markers concerning Jesus’ birth

Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1) Ruled from 27 BC to 14 AD.

Census (Luke 2:1) A census occurred in 6 BC according to Josephus. Quirinius’ census occurred in 6-7 AD.

Herod (Matthew 2:1) Herod died in 4 BC.

Quirinius (Luke 2:2) Governor of Syria from 6-12 AD.

The Star of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:9) Various theories place the celestial occurrence between 12 and 2 BC.

Slaughter of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16) Unknown 

It is generally accepted that Jesus was born sometime between 7 and 4 BC.

Biblical/ historical markers for Jesus’ baptism

Tiberius (Luke 3:1) Tiberius reigned from 14-37 AD.

Based upon Tiberius’ reign and that John the Baptist began ministry when he was around 30 years old, Jesus was born around 1 BC.

Biblical/ historical markers for Jesus’ death

Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:13) Governor from 26-36 AD.

Caiaphas (Matthew 26:3) High Priest from 18-37 AD.

Herod Antipas (Luke 23:7) Reigned from 4 BC to 39 AD.

The most likely year for Jesus’ death is 33 AD but other years have strong arguments for them.

Now let’s put it all together. The youngest Jesus could have been, based on the latest birthdate and earliest death date, was 20. This is highly unlikely since we know that He was 30 when He began His ministry. The oldest that Jesus could have been was 48. Again this is unlikely since it is based upon an astronomical occurrence and conjecture. The most likely age of Jesus at the time of His death is somewhere between 37 and 41 based upon the most probable dates of birth and death.

Personally, I lean toward the 41, not because I turn 41 this year, but because of the testimony of Irenaeus and John 8:47 which has the Jews questioning Jesus: "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" If the Jews knew the age of Jesus, why didn’t they choose to say “You are not yet 40”? My guess is that Jesus must have exceeded the age of 40 but had not reached 50.

Next:

Does the idea that Jesus was in ministry for 7-11 years versus 1-3 years in popular thought, change your view of Jesus and His ministry?

In dealing with the dates of his birth, there are some irreconcilable differences. Quirinius was not a ruler while Herod the Great as alive. Both play into the nativity narratives. What does this say about Biblical inerrancy? Did Luke goof?

Now I’m Surprised This Wasn’t Used As A Worship Song | internetmonk.com

What can I say. We won’t be using this at our church. But the humor and irony is almost painful.

Be sure to check this link from Don: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer_&_Shipley

I finished reading the Qur’an. Now for my thoughts… « Tad DeLay

Tad DeLay has some very good thoughts after having read the Qu’ran. Personally I have not read the Qu’ran but the way his post reads, Tad offers a very objective but Christian reading of the Qu’ran. I appreciate his willingness to see similarities between Islam and Christianity and at times defend Islam against our sound bite misinterpretations of Islamic scripture.

Tad brings some wonderful comparisons of Christian and Islamic fundamentalism that need some time to digest, though I think he is spot on. His thoughts about midrashim and Islamic teaching are worth some further investigation (by someone much wiser than me).

Please read the article (and future ones by Tad). What are your thoughts?

Call on Congress and conscience – Washington Times

Here, Walter Hoye offers his view of what happened to him on the streets of Oakland as he quietly offered an alternative to abortion. Next he went to Congress hoping to find some support for the cause. Read the article to see what he found.

I mean no disrespect to former President Carter by calling him by his first name. But his recent action has given me reason to be excited and has increased my respect and admiration of him. Jimmy Carter is leaving the SBC because of their stand on women’s equality. Eugene Cho has written a very nice piece about President Carter’s decision.
I applaud President Carter for his stand. From reading his statement, it appears that other leaders (“Elders”) have made a similar stand. We need to take this issue very seriously and work for a solution.
The Church of Jesus Christ should be at the forefront of this issue as we have been called to equality by our Savior, Jesus Christ and taught that equality by the Apostle Paul (among others). We need to reclaim the glorious gospel in all its beautiful aspects and reject inequality based upon a few proof texts and our male fears. May God lead us into the light on this issue.