49. Closely related to the question of the length of Jesus' ministry is
another: Can definite dates be given for the chief events in his life? For
the year of the opening of his public activity the gospels furnish two
independent testimonies: the remark of the Jews on the occasion of Jesus'
first visit to Jerusalem, "Forty and six years was this temple in
building" (John ii. 20), and Luke's careful dating of the appearance of
John the Baptist, "in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar" (iii. 1, 2).
John ii. 20 leads to the conclusion that the first Passover fell in the
spring of A.D. 26 or 27, since we learn from Josephus (Ant. xv. 11. 1)
that Herod began to rebuild the temple in the eighteenth year of his
reign, which closed in the spring of B.C. 19. Luke iii. 1 gives a date
contradictory to the one just found, if the fifteenth year of Tiberius is
to be counted from the death of his predecessor, for Augustus died August
19, A.D. 14. Reckoned from this time the opening of John's work falls in
the year A.D. 28, and the first Passover of Jesus' ministry could not be
earlier than the spring of 29. This is at least two years later than is
indicated by the statement in John. The remark in John is, however, so
incidental and so lacking in significance for his argument that its
definiteness can be explained only as due to a clear historic
reminiscence; but it does not follow that Luke has erred in the date given
by him. Although Augustus did not die until A.D. 14, there is evidence
that Tiberius was associated with him in authority over the army and the
provinces not later than January, A.D. 12. One who lived and wrote in the
reign of Titus may possibly have applied to the reign of Tiberius a mode
of reckoning customary in the case of Titus, as Professor Ramsay has shown
(Was Christ born at Bethlehem, 202). If this is the fact, Luke reckoned
from the co-regency of Tiberius; hence the fifteenth year would be A.D. 25
or 26, according as the co-regency began before or after the first of
January, A.D. 12. This would place the first Passover of Jesus' ministry
in the spring of 26 or 27, in agreement with the hint found in John.

50. If the public ministry of Jesus began with the spring of 26 or 27, the
close of three years of activity would, come at the Passover of 29 or 30.
The former of these dates agrees with the early Christian tradition
already mentioned. But before accepting that traditional date another
matter must be consi