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NASB | Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance and retribution of our God, To comfort all who mourn, [Matt 11:2-6; Luke 4:18, 19; 7:22] |
Bible Question:
My goodness, you're full of info on this topic! I am still a little confused, forgive me. My question is how was it decided to call the year that Jesus was born the year zero, i.e., to initiate the whole BC/AD concept? It must have been some time after Jesus died for the timing to be off by a couple of years. It couldn't have been with the Julian calendar, or Caesar would have been calling that year "minus-46" !! :) I always wonder how non-Christians feel about having to recognize Jesus every time they write the date. Are Jews thinking, "He was just a prophet, yet I am reminded of Him every time I write a check?!" Thanks, reilly |
Bible Answer: Hi Reilly, You are exactly right. Early in the sixth century C.E. ( or A.D.; Common Era), Pope John I commissioned a monk, who also was a scholarly Roman abbot of the 6th century, and too an accomplished mathematician, named Dionysius Exiguus to develop a system of computation that would allow the churches to set an official date for Easter. Dionysius set to work. He calculated back in time, past Jesus’ death, to what he thought (notice I said what he thought) was the year of Jesus’ birth; then he numbered each year forward from that point. Dionysius designated the period from Jesus’ birth “A.D.” (for Anno Domini—“in the year of our Lord.”) While intending only to devise a reliable way of calculating Easter each year, Dionysius inadvertently introduced the concept of numbering the years from the birth of Christ forward, but missed it by a little over a year. Most scholars agree with what I showed you earlier, that Jesus was not born in the year Dionysius used as a basis for his calculations. Truthfinder |