RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-12-01	Designations of BC and AD in Historical Dating
		The B.C./A.D. dating system is not taught in the Bible. When you see a date such as 100 B.C. the “B.C.” abbreviation means “Before Christ”. Thus, this is 100 years before the birth of Christ. When you see AD 100, what does the A.D. mean? Many think it means “After Death” but it does not. The designation A.D. is a Latin phrase 'anno domini', which means “in the year of our Lord”. If the A.D meant 'after death' it would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either the B.C. nor A.D. time scales. B.C. denotes years before the birth of Christ. AD denotes years after the birth of Christ. There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor but was not widely used until after 800. The B.C./A.D. system gained in popularity in the ninth century after Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne adopted the system for dating acts of government throughout Europe. By the 15th century, all of Western Europe had adopted the B.C./A.D. system. The purpose of the B.C./A.D. dating system was to make the birth of Jesus Christ the dividing point of world history. When the B.C./A.D. system was being calculated, they made a mistake in pinpointing the year of Jesus’ birth. Scholars later discovered that Jesus was actually born around 6—4 B.C., not A.D. 1. That is not a critical issue, but it is worth noting. The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ are the “turning points” in world history. It is appropriate that Jesus Christ is the separation of “old” and “new.” English traditionally follows the Latin usage by placing the “B.C.” abbreviation AFTER the year number (100 B.C.). However, the “A.D.” abbreviation is placed BEFORE the year number (A.D.100). So it looks like this:  Year number - abbreviation - year number. If you are referring to a time before the birth of Christ you place the year number BEFORE the B.C. abbreviation (100 B.C.). If you are referring to a time after the birth of Christ you place the year number AFTER the A.D. abbreviation (A.D.100). B.C. was “before Christ,” and since His birth, we have been living “in the year of our Lord.” Viewing our era as “the year of our Lord” is appropriate. Philippians 2:10–11 says, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In recent years there has been a push to replace the B.C. and A.D. labels with B.C.E and C.E. These mean “before the common era” and “common era” respectively. So the AD 100 example is the same as 100 CE. The advocates of this newer designation say it is better because it prevents offending other cultures and religions who may not see Jesus as “Lord.” Of course the irony, is that what distinguishes B.C.E from C.E. is still the life and times of Jesus Christ. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

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