If we start counting from 457 B.C., we come to 27 A.D, when Jesus was baptized at "about 30 years old".
Was our Lord baptized in 27 A.D. or 29 A.D.?
Let’s review the facts.
John the Baptist was six months older than our Lord (
Luke 1:26, 36); hence he was of age (thirty years, according to the Law--
Num. 4:3; Luke 3:23, etc.) and began to preach six months before our Lord became of age and began his ministry.
The date of the beginning of John's ministry is clearly stated to have been the "
fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar," the third emperor of Rome. (
Luke 3:1) This is a clearly fixed date of which there can be no reasonable doubt.
Tiberius became emperor at the death of Augustus Caesar,
in the year of Rome 767, which was the year
A.D. 14. But
those misled by the inaccurate statements of Josephus relative to Herod, and who place the birth of Jesus at B.C. 4, in order to harmonize with him, run across a difficulty in this clearly stated date given by Luke, and endeavor to make it also harmonize with their B.C. 4 theory.
To accomplish this end
they make the claim that Tiberius began to exercise authority some two to four years before Augustus died, and before he was fully constituted emperor. They claim that possibly his rule might have been reckoned from that date. But such suppositions will be found baseless, by any who will investigate the matter on the pages of history.
It is true that Tiberius was exalted to a very important position by Augustus, but it was not four years before Augustus' death, as their theory would demand,
but ten years before, in A.D. 4, and the power then conferred upon him was only such as had been enjoyed by others before his day. It was in no sense of the word imperial power, and in no sense of the word can his "
reign" be said to have begun there
: he was only the heir-apparent. Even in the most exaggerated use of language, his "
reign"
could not be said to have commenced before Augustus' death and his own investiture in office at the hands of the Roman Senate,
A.D. 14.
History says, "
The Emperor, whose declining age needed an associate, adopted Tiberius A.D. 4, renewing his tribunal power." Article
TIBERIUS, Rees' Cyclopedia.
"He [Augustus] determined accordingly to devolve upon him [Tiberius] a share in the government, this formal investiture placed him on the same footing as that enjoyed by the veteran Agrippa during his later years, and there can be no doubt that it was universally regarded as an introduction to the first place in the empire, the program for the succession was significantly shadowed out: Tiberius had been ordered to assume his place at the head of the Senate, the people, and the army, the adoption, which took place at the same time, is dated June 27 (A.U.C. 757)--A.D. 4."
Merivale's History of the Romans (Appleton's), Vol. IV, pp. 220,221
Thus there is conclusive proof that the first year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar was not two to four years before Augustus died; and that the honors referred to as conferred during Augustus' reign were conferred ten, and not four, years before Augustus' death, and then
were in no sense imperial honors.
Nowhere in histories, monuments, or coins of unquestioned authority, is there a trace of any other reckoning of the years of Tiberius Caesar, than from the date of Augustus on the 19th of August
14 A.D.
We may, therefore, consider the date of
Luke 3:1 not merely the only one furnished in the New Testament, but an unequivocal one. There can be no doubt about it in the minds of any who have investigated it.
Tiberius began to reign in A.D. 14.
The fifteenth year of his reign would therefore be the year A.D. 29, in which year, Luke states (
3:1-3), John began his ministry. Since our Lord's 30th birthday and the beginning of his ministry was in October, and since John's birthday and the beginning of his ministry was just
six months earlier, it follows that John began his ministry in the spring, about April first--just as soon as he was of age; for
God's plans are always carried out on exact time.
So, then, John was thirty years old in
A.D. 29, about April first, consequently he was born
B.C. 2, (For the benefit of those not much accustomed to calculating dates, we call attention to the fact that in the beginning of the year A.D. 29, only 28 full years had elapsed: the twenty-ninth was only beginning.) about April first.
And Jesus' birth, six months later, would have likewise been B.C. 2, only about October first.
Now it is self-evident that if our Lord were only six months younger than John than he too would have been
30 years of age in 29 A.D., the age in which he began his ministry (
Luke 3:23) shortly following his baptism by John at the river Jordan.
Remember my brother, “
All scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God (that is the humble and teachable man of God)
may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work.”
2 Tim 3:16, 17
May you continue to grow in the graces and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
