Every era has an origin. Every age has an inspiration. Every dispensation has a purpose. And every culture tells time through its most remarkable story. For Christians, that story is the birth of Jesus Christ. Eternity stepped into human history, and humanity noticed.
The traditional markers are known as BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini), which is Latin for "in the year of our Lord." These aren't just convenient historical metrics for an extensive timeline. They remind us that all history turns on the person of Jesus.
In Hebrew, the word ʿēt (עֵת) in Ecclesiastes 3:1 means "appointed time." In Greek, kairos (καιρός) carries the sense of divine construction. Scripture teaches that Jesus came at just "such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). Time has more than a chronological purpose; it has an appointed meaning in the eyes of Christ followers.
"When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son" (Galatians 4:4). Again, time is on a calendar, measures from moment to moment, but its purpose is a divine moment. But what does each mean to the believer?
The Origin of BC and AD
The system we use in the Gregorian calendar to divide time into two benchmarks was developed by a 6th-century Scythian (Roman) monk named Dionysius Exiguus. His goal wasn't to invent a new calendar—it was to honor Christ.
Before this distinction, Rome dated events by the reign of the emperor Diocletian, who had persecuted believers. Dionysius wanted a Christ-centered alternative.
He calculated years forward from the birth of Jesus, labeling them Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi, or "In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ." What came before was simply "Before Christ." Exiguus made the Resurrection the seminal point of human history.
Two centuries later, the English historian Venerable Bede popularized the BC/AD system in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Soon, it became the Christian world's universal timeline, and the rest of the world followed.
The Introduction of BCE and CE
The terms BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) were introduced in the 1600s by the astronomer Johannes Kepler, best known for discovering the three laws of planetary motion.
Kepler, a devout Lutheran, was not seeking to erase Christ from history. His goal was to align astronomical tables with a more universally intelligible chronology system.
When he published his Rudolphine Tables (1627)—a landmark work that refined the laws of planetary motion—he used "Aerae Communis (meaning of the common era) to standardize time for scholars across Europe who used different calendars.
For Kepler, science and faith were not in conflict. He believed studying the heavens was a form of worship, famously writing, "I was merely thinking God's thoughts after Him." Thus, his use of "Common Era" was a tool for unifying study, not a rejection of the divine origin of time.
However, this was the Age of Enlightenment (1685 to 1815). Essentially, it was the world's first "woke" period. This is when scholars considered BCE and CE as options to avoid explicitly Christian references, although this wasn't Kepler's intent.
This is Not About Semantics
Modern secularism wanted a universal system that didn't favor any faith. That desire for inclusivity is understandable. However, that intended result is paradoxical. The Christ-centered timeline remains, only renamed.
Chronologically, BC and BCE are identical. Theologically, they are separate. The Apostle Paul warned, "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). When we remove Christ from the very measure of time, we subtly shift our focus from the Creator to creation.
Although this is considered "neutral" to this day, the numbering system never changed. Year 1 CE still represents the exact moment traditionally understood as Jesus' birth. It proves that the modern world may remove His name from the calendar, yet it still counts its days from His arrival.
This is About Belief
The differences between BC and BCE relate to worldview. Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." How can we number time if we don't understand what shapes it?
To mark years as Anno Domini is to confess that Christ is Lord of history, "the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13). To label them "Common Era" risks turning sacred history into secular chronology.
Scientists think this. Theologians know this.
Christian educators and believers everywhere should help others see this difference. The gospel does not demand we impose words, but it calls us to remember who defines time itself.
In the end, whether we write BC, BCE, or AD, the hinge of history hasn't moved. The birth of Jesus remains the moment that split eternity in two. Every date on every screen and printed page still testifies—quietly, but unmistakably—that God entered time to save His creation.
As the calendar turns and the years advance, the Christian heart can echo the ancient confession: Every year is the year of our Lord.
