The Narrow Path Ministries

I've heard a couple of different things about how old Jesus was during His ministry. I havent heard any discrepencies about the duration of His ministry (about 3 1/2 years), just His aproximate age.

I've heard some say He started His ministry around age 27 and went to the cross around age 30...

Others say He started His ministry around age 30 and went to the cross around age 33...

Can we know for sure, and would this make a difference when interpreting Dan 9:26 which mentions the death of the Messiah?

Dan 9:26 ~ "And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, ..."

Thanks

According to the best information I have seen, Jesus began His ministry around AD 26 or 27, which was the fifteenth year of Caesar Tiberius (Luke 3:1). Jesus was approximately (though not necessarily exactly) thirty years old at that time (Luke 3:23).

Irenaeus claims that Jesus was about 50 when He was crucified, which would have made his ministry almost 20 years in duration. Few, if any, scholars believe that Irenaeus was correct in this suggestion.

Approximately 40 days of actual ministry are recorded in the Gospels. These were spread out over no less than two years and several months, since they encompass at least three Passovers (John 2:13; 6:4; 18:28), which occurred only once a year.

Many scholars believe that the unnamed feast of John 5:1 was also a Passover. If so, this means that there were four known Passovers in Jesus' ministry, making its full length no less than three years and several months.

Most believe that Jesus was crucified in the year AD 30, though certainty on this point is unavailable.

That makes more sense...

However that makes me a bit confused on how our calendar dating system was established. I have been under the impression that Jesus' age sort of "set the pace" for our dating system. In other words when Jesus was 10 years old it was at that time 10A.D. or when Jesus was 23 years old that meant it was 23A.D. and so on.
Maybe thats why I thought He was 26-27 years old when He started His ministry. He wasnt necessarily 26-27 years of age when He started His ministry, but it was the year 26-27A.D.

So our dating system didnt start with Jesus birth. In other words Jesus age and the year are not parallel...would that be correct?

That is correct.

Of course, those who first started designating the years by BC and AD thought they had it synchronized with the time of Jesus' birth. They just miscalculated.

By the time the mistake was recognized, the conventional dating for all historical dates, which had traditionally been dated as BC/AD, had become so well established, there was no sense in changing them all.

We know that Jesus was born prior to the date 4 BC, because Herod the Great died in that year, and he was clearly alive when Jesus was born (Matthew 2).

What a trip...

Thanks Steve.