4-Life of Christ: His Early Years, pt2

When was Jesus of Nazareth born? It seems that the earliest Christians were not as much concerned about the date as the fact of the birth of Christ! Harold Hoehner in CHRONOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST states, "There have been lengthy discussions on the day of Christ's birth. Those who have studied the question, have advocates for almost every month of the year....It is clear that Christ was born before Herod the Great's death and after the census. In looking at the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke one would need to conclude that Christ was born of Mary within a year or two of Herod's death. In looking to some of the other chronological notations in the Gospels, the evidence led to the conclusion that Christ was born in the winter of 5/4 B.C. Although the exact date of Christ's birth cannot be known, either December, 5 B.C., or January, 4 B.C., is most reasonable. From Matthew and Luke it seems that Jesus and Mary went from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census (Lk 2:4-5). Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matt 2:1; Lk 2:6). There was a visitation by the shepherds (Lk 2:8-20) and the Magi (Matt 2:1-12). Jesus was circumcised, presented to God in Jerusalem, and then returned to Nazareth (Lk 2:21-39). Because of a dream in Bethlehem, they went to Egypt until Herod's death and then returned to Nazareth (Matt 2:13-23). At twelve years of age Jesus went to Jerusalem and then returned to Nazareth (Lk 2:40-52)." At midweek study of "The Life of Christ" we'll cover the rest of "His Early Years" that we didn't have time to finish last time