What Was The Date Of Christ's Resurrection?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, August 19, 2026 (Donate)
This is such a great question! The Bible does not give a
modern calendar date for Christ's resurrection—nor did we expect it to. In
fact, today, we use the Gregorian calendar which didn’t exist in
Christ’s day.
An earlier form of the Gregorian was in effect—the Julian
calendar—named for Julius Caesar. The Gregorian calendar has leap
years and things like that to correct the Julian calendar which would
drift slight over centuries.
When we ask the question about Jesus’ resurrection date, it
would be convenient to have it on our modern calendars and not use the Julian
calendar or the Babylonian calendar (commonly called the Jewish
calendar) as the date drifts and moves around compared to our modern calendar.
With that said, the most common date used and defended
historically is Sunday, April 5, AD 33 as translated to our modern calendar. This
follows from placing the Crucifixion on Friday, April 3, AD 33, with Christ
rising on the first day of the week. Of course, you can’t give a date, without
some debate, but this date tends to stand up to the scrutiny.
Why Is The Date Debated?
The debate is centered on a range that it could have
happened. Obviously, people aren’t arguing the Christ resurrected in AD 1776.
We have to go back to time markers given in God’s Word—the absolute authority
in all matters.
Then secondarily, we use historical data to help us out.
When we do this, we are initially narrowing down the timeframe primarily surrounding
AD 33. For example, scriptural time markers give chronological points
rather than a numbered Roman year on the Julian calendar.
For instance, historians must correlate the reigns of
Tiberius Caesar and Pontius Pilate (Luke 3:1). Both were in power at the same
time—one as emperor and the other as governor of Judea under Tiberius.
The Bible tells us that the
beginning of John the Baptist's ministry was in Tiberius's fifteenth year. He
baptized Jesus after this when He was "about thirty years of age" and
this marked when His ministry began (Luke 3:23). Keep in mind that Christ was
born about 4 BC (yes, there was an early error in the initial calculation for Christ’s birth—King Herod, who was a lesser king for the region of Judea, under
Caesar, died in 3 BC). Jesus was born while King Herod was still alive, but he
died soon after that.
The Bible also mentions at least three Passovers that Jesus
celebrated (John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55). Some suggest that Jesus, therefore, had His
ministry for three years. However, what we can know is that it was at least
three years—it could have been a little more.
Another requirement for the crucifixion occurs in connection
with the Passover week overlapping with the weekly Sabbath causing it to become
a High Day or High Sabbath with Passover itself occurring on the day before the
Sabbath (Saturday).
Another mild disagreement arises over ancient Jewish
calendars (the Jewish group called the Essenes used a 365-day solar calendar;
others used a lunar 354-day calendar with intercalary months). So, mapping
these chronological points shows how intense this can get regarding this
debate!
What Dates Sticks Out?
Even with all this, most dates are eliminated quickly as
possibilities. First, Pontius Pilate provides firm historical boundaries. Jesus
had to have been crucified while Pilate governed Judea, historically and generally
without much dispute, this is dated at AD 26-36. Caiaphas provides another
historical boundary. Caiaphas served as high priest during the period in which
an AD 33 crucifixion would fall (generally from AD 18-36).[1]
Simply consider this next piece of biblical data. The
Passover began the day before the Sabbath which is also called the Preparation
Day (preparing for the Sabbath, see John 19:31)—that is when the Last Supper
took place—it was the Passover meal Jesus shared with His disciples.
Then Jesus was later arrested that night and crucified later
that day during the daylight portion of the Passover/Preparation Day; and He
was put in the grave prior to the Sabbath which began at sunset. The
Pharisees still needed to eat the Passover meal after Jesus was turned over to
be crucified (John 18:28).
Doing a little research, we find that (as correlated to our
Gregorian calendar), AD 30 was a Thursday, AD 31 was Tuesday, AD 32 was a
Monday, AD 33 was a Friday, AD 34 was a Tuesday, AD 35 was a Monday and AD 36
was a Friday.[2]
Thus, most dates can be eliminated as the Passover was not
on a Friday for most of these dates. This leaved AD 33 as the reasonable date and
AD 36, which is far too late. The AD 36 date would have Jesus being about 40
years old having a about 7-8-year ministry, which seems to be a stretch.
Why Is AD 33 Biblical And Defensible?
Luke places John the Baptist's ministry in the fifteenth
year of Tiberius (Luke 3:1-3). Tiberius's reign, based on Roman historical
accounts, is reckoned normally from AD 14. This points toward AD 28/29. Jesus
began His ministry afterward, and John records at least three Passovers,
indicating a ministry extending several years. This fits AD 33 considerably
better than AD 30. AD 30 is based on a Thursday crucifixion but then, there
would be no need to rush to get Him buried prior to the Sabbath.
A Friday crucifixion also fits the traditional chronology of
Friday (1st day); Saturday (2nd day); and Sunday (3rd
day). The Bible repeatedly asserts that Jesus was to rise on the third day (Matthew
16:21, Matthew 17:23, Matthew 20:19, Matthew 27:64, Mark 9:31, Mark 10:34, Luke
9:22, Luke 13:32, Luke 18:33, Luke 24:7, Luke 24:21, Luke 24:46, Acts 10:40, 1
Corinthians 15:4).
Jesus indeed rose on the first day of the week (Sunday, now
called the Lord’s Day to honor Christ’s resurrection):
Now when He rose early on the first
day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast
seven demons. (Mark 16:9, NKJV).
See also Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1, John
20:19. So counting backwards from Sunday being the third day, the Sabbath being
the second day, then Friday must be the first day.
This is consistent. Christ died Friday, April 3, AD 33, His
resurrection occurred Sunday, April 5, AD 33. Christ rose on the third day. So,
while Scripture does not require Christians to affirm a particular modern
calendar date, April 5, AD 33 is biblically consistent, historically plausible,
and strongly defensible.
Bodie Hodge, Ken
Ham's son in law, has been an apologist defending 6-day creation and opposing
evolution since 1998. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as
a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers
News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.
Bodie
launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal
website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken
on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and
universities. He is married with four children.
Mr. Hodge earned a
Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale (SIUC). Then he taught at SIUC for a couple of years as a
Visiting Instructor teaching all levels of undergraduate engineering and
running a materials lab and a CAD lab. He did research on advanced ceramic
materials to develop a new method of production of titanium diboride with a
grant from Lockheed Martin. He worked as a Test Engineer for Caterpillar,
Inc., prior to entering full-time ministry.
His love of science
was coupled with a love of history, philosophy, and theology. For about one
year of his life, Bodie was editing and updating a theological, historical, and
scientific dictionary/encyclopedia for AI use and training. Mr. Hodge has over
25 years of experience in writing, speaking and researching in these fields.
*Image generated by ChatGPT
[1]
Take note that likely places Caiaphas as a lower level priest around the time
Jesus stayed back at the Temple when he was 12.
[2] As
indicated by Larry Pierce in James Ussher, The Annals of the World, translated
by Larry and Marion Pierce, Second Printing December 2003, Master Books, Green
Forest, Arkansas, page 822.
