We know the birth of Christ divides the Western calendar into two eras, BC and AD, 公元前/後. I had always assumed that such a defining moment would fall precisely in 1 BC or 1 AD. Interestingly, no. The time of Jesus’ birth, according to current archaeological study, fell somewhere between 4-6 BC. By the time 1 AD rolled around, our Savior was already a toddler.
This highlights the distinction between archaeology and theology. When Caesar decreed the calendar, people lacked the archaeological precision for the birth of Christ. But you gotta give it to them, 4-6 BC is not that bad! What’s important to us, is hardly the precision of our calendar, but the remembrance of God giving us the unimaginable gift, His own beloved Son, to save us the unworthy, the broken, and the condemned. The exact date, time, or alignment of the stars, pale in comparison.