Jesus Died in his Forties
That’s right, Jesus died in his forties, at least that’s what one of the early church leaders, Irenaeus, of the second century taught. Here’s his reasoning:
“For He came to save all through means of Himself—all, I say, who through Him are born again to God — infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, thus sanctifying infants; a child for children, thus sanctifying those who are of this age, being at the same time made to them an example of piety, righteousness, and submission; a youth for youths, becoming an example to youths, and thus sanctifying them for the Lord. So likewise He was an old man for old men, that He might be a perfect Master for all, not merely as respects the setting forth of the truth, but also as regards age, sanctifying at the same time the aged also, and becoming an example to them likewise. Then, at last, He came on to death itself…” (Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 22)
Irenaeus was known for his allegorical interpretations of things. In order for Jesus to save people of a particular age then he had to be a particular age. Irenaeus divided the ages into infants, children, boys, youths and old men. So in order for Jesus to save old men, he argues, Jesus must have become an old man. (And by the way, Irenaeus defines old men as over 40, not me!)
What about biblical support of this argument?
“You are not yet fifty years old, the Jews said to him, and you have seen Abraham!” (John 8:57)
Irenaeus argues that if Jesus was 30-33 years old when the Pharisees said this to him then they would have said “You are not yet forty years old…”
It made me wonder, all those times when I say that Jesus ministered for three years or that he died when he was about 33 years of age, how do I know that it’s right. I’m just going by what people have told me. Does the bible tell us how old Jesus was when he died?
Well first of all, we know that Jesus was baptised and therefore began his ministry when he was about 30 years old as it tells us in Luke 3:23, “Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.” So how do we know that Jesus ministered for about three years. John in his gospel records three Passovers through Jesus ministry and as Passover happens once a year surely that shows that Jesus ministered for three years.
But when you get stuck into studying the gospels, you soon realise that they’re not supposed to be completely chronological as they’re not just biographies. Particularly with John, he uses Passovers to signify something in particular. So if Jesus was, as Irenaeus says, in his forties when he died, then John could’ve just picked out three out of the possibly 20 Passovers in Jesus’ ministry to signify something particular. So the three Passovers in John’s gospel don’t necessarily equate to three years.
My conclusion (at the moment) is that we don’t definitely know. I’d love for someone to point out how we can be certain, but I certainly haven’t come across anything. Jesus certainly didn’t reach his late forties as Pilate only governed until 36AD ad Herod who died in Acts 12 ruled until 44AD and so if Jesus was born around 5BC then the oldest Jesus could’ve been when he died is 41. And I certainly don’t think Jesus had to be an old man to save old men. So has Irenaeus got it wrong? Has tradition got it wrong? There’s only one way to find out… Fight!
wow, isn’t it amazing how we can assume things are right without knowing whether they are in the word. shows us that evangelicalism has the same potential for taking on the traditions of men as any other stream of christianity. whilst roundly denouncing others that do likewise.
Interesting indeed. We do seem to get a lot of what we “think” is right from some extremely extra Biblical material. I don’t agree that Jesus had to of been a certain age to save those people, we’d never say, “Jesus was part woman…or else how does he save women?” (note, women are saved through child bearing). That sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. But how old was he? Not sure it matters, definatly couldn’t say.