I gotta have my orange juice.

Andreas Köstenberger argues that AD 33 is the date of the crucifixion. James Jordan argues instead for AD 30 based on Herod’s death in AD 44 (Acts 12) and Paul’s fourteen years (Gal 2; Acts 11–12). It seems difficult to adjust Jordan; is there potential to adjust Köstenberger?

Köstenberger connects the fifteenth year of Tiberius’s reign (Luke 3) with the three Passovers Jesus attends (John 2, 6, 11). He holds that the first Passover could have been no earlier than AD 29, making the crucifixion no earlier than AD 31. But I think Köstenberger is wrong to say that the fifteenth year requires that Luke 3 must be no earlier than August of AD 28. We see a counterexample in the resurrection itself: Jesus rises the third day at dawn: Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday morning.

Thus, if we allow for this possibility, Tiberius’s fifteenth year begins as early as the winter of AD 28 rather than August. That makes it possible for the first passover to be in AD 28, and this is consistent with Jordan’s chronology. Köstenberger actually allows for this kind of flexibility in language in how he reckons the possible end of the fifteenth year; but not for its beginning:

The earliest possible date at which Tiberius’s “fifteenth year” began is August 19, a.d. 28, and the latest possible date at which his “fifteenth year” ended is December 31, a.d. 29.

Taken together, Jordan shows that the crucifixion could have been no later than AD 30, while this adjustment to Köstenberger’s argument shows that it could have been no earlier than AD 30.