Irenaeus, Jesus and Bar Cochba

Howls of delight or outrage arise when non-scholars discover that the “historic Jesus” and the “historic Paul” might not be as “historic” as the Church would have them.  The delight (or outrage) comes because those non-scholars believed the catechism they were told, and only when they bothered to check the documents for themselves, they discovered that Church catechism is a collection of conflated narratives that were agreed upon because that conflation created a cohesive “history” out of a collection of disjointed documents which disagree with each other.

One of the prime examples of this is when non-scholars discover that Jesus was not crucified at age 30.  They make this discovery by reading Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.22.5 (Greek portion from Eusebius, History of the Church 3.23.3):

Illi autem, ut figmentum suum de eo quod est scriptum vocare annum domini acceptum affirment, dicunt uno anno eum praedicasse, et duodecimo mense passum, contra semetipsos obliti sunt, solventes eius omne negotium, et magis necessariam, et magis honorabilem aetatem eius auferentes, illam inquam provectiorem, in qua et docens praeerat universis. quomodo enim habuit discipulos si non docebat? quomodo autem docebat magistri aetatem non habens? ad baptismum enim venit nondum qui triginta annorum; ita enim, qui eius annos significavit Lucas, posuit: Iesus autem erat quasi incipiens triginta annorum, cum veniret ad baptismum; et a baptismate uno tantum anno praedicavit; complens tricesimum annum passus est, adhuc iuvenis exsistens, et qui necdum provectiorem haberet aetatem. quia autem triginta annorum aetas prima indolis est iuvenis, et extenditur usque ad quadragesimum annum, omnis quilibet confitebitur; a quadragesimo autem et quinquagesimo anno declinat iam in aetatem seniorem, quam habens dominus noster docebat, sicut evangelium *et omnes seniores testantur, qui in Asia apud Iohannem discipulum domini convenerunt, id ipsum tradidisse eis Iohannem. permansit autem cum eis usque ad Traiani tempora.* quidam autem eorum non solum Ioannem, sed et alios apostolos viderunt, et haec eadem ab ipsis audierunt, et testantur de huiusmodi relatione.

...και παντες οι πρεσβυτεροι μαρτυρουσιν, οι κατα την Ασιαν Ιωαννη τω του κυριου μαθητη συμβεβληκοτες, παραδεδωκεναι τον Ιωαννην. παρεμεινεν γαρ αυτοις μεχρι των Τραιανου χρονων.

They, however, that they may establish their false opinion regarding that which is written, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, maintain that he preached for one year only, and then suffered in the twelfth month. They are forgetful to their own disadvantage, destroying his whole work and robbing him of that age which is both more necessary and more honorable than any other, that more advanced age, I mean, during which also as a teacher he excelled all others. For how could he have had disciples if he did not teach? And how could he have taught unless he had reached the age of a master? For when he came to be baptized he had not yet completed his thirtieth year, but was beginning to be about thirty years of age; for thus Luke, who has mentioned his years, has expressed it: Now Jesus was, as it were, beginning to be thirty years old when he came to receive baptism); and [they affirm that] he preached only one year reckoning from his baptism; on completing his thirtieth year he suffered, being in fact still a young man, and who had by no means attained to advanced age. But that the age of thirty years is the prime of life for a youth, and it extends up to the fortieth year, everyone will allow it to be confessed; but from the fortieth and fiftieth year it declines already into the senior age, which our Lord had while he was teaching, just as the gospel and all the elders, who had dwelled with John the disciple of the Lord in Asia, testify that John delivered. For he remained with them until the times of Trajan. But some of them saw, not only John, but also other apostles, and heard these same things from them, and testify concerning the previously related matter.

Reference to John remaining until the times of Trajan is also in Against Heresies 3.3.4:

Sed et quae est Ephesi ecclesia a Paulo quidem fundata, Iohanne autem permanente apud eos usque ad Traiani tempora, testis est verus apostolorum traditionis.

Αλλα και η εν Εφεσω εκκλησια υπο Παυλου μεν τεθεμελιωμενη, Ιωαννου δε παραμειναντος αυτοις μεχρι των Τραιανου χρονων, μαρτυς αληθης εστι της των αποστολων παραδοσεως.

But also the church in Ephesus, which was founded by Paul, and having John remaining among them all the way up until the times of Trajan, is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles.

Trajan was emperor from 9-117 CE.  Irenaeus locates the “ministry” of Jesus in the time of the Kitos Revolt, rather than in the era before the Jewish War of 66-73, the dating that has been catechetically accepted.  

Irenaeus ‘ later dating of  Jesus’ ministry still manages to place the “historic” Jesus before Bar Cochba, in an attempt to avoid linking the two.