A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must take your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else he was a madman or something worse." [Mere Christianity]

Jesus Christ - Fact or Fiction?

Introduction
Anyone who wants to take Christianity seriously might as well begin with the most elementary of questions: did Jesus Christ, founder of the Christian church, actually exist? After all, if he did exist and the claims about him are true then Christianity is worth a closer look. If, however, it is all a myth as some have claimed, then it is all a hoax and a deception. Christians and non-Christians, we owe it to ourselves to find out. Below we will look at the witness of history to establish the historicity of Jesus.

The New Testament contains considerable information about Jesus: (a) he was born in Bethlehem; (b) he was conceived of a virgin; (c) he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty; (d) he ministered for three and a half years performing numerous miracles, healing the sick and even raising the dead; (e) he was crucified during the reign of Pontius Pilate; (f) he was raised from the dead. Are any of these corroborated by non-Christian writers? Let’s have a look. We will examine three lines of evidence: (1) evidence from ancient historians (mostly pagan); (2) evidence from ancient Jewish rabbis; (3) the witness of the New Testament.

1. Evidence from Ancient Historians about Jesus
Cornelius Tacitus
Tacitus was a Roman historian born around AD 52. In the book Annals xv.44 he writes the following concerning the emperor Nero and the great fire in Rome:

“To suppress the rumor [that he himself had started the fire], he [Nero] falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus [a variant of the Greek Christos from where we get the word Christ], the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also.”

It is evident that Tacitus was not at all friendly to Christians or to Christianity. Nonetheless, his account concurs with the New Testament on several important points: (a) Jesus Christ was an actual historical person; (b) he was crucified by Pontius Pilate; (c) the early Christians faced persecution but remained steadfast in their faith.

Lucian
Lucian was a Greek satirist who lived in the second century AD. Of Jesus the founder of Christianity he wrote in his book The Passing Peregruis:

“…the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world…”

Flavius Josephus
Josephus was a Jewish historian who wrote in Greek at the end of the first century AD. In his work Antiquities xviii.33 we read:

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians so named from him are not extinct at this day.”

In an Arabic manuscript of Antiquities the above passage appears in a slightly different format:

“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Whichever of the above two versions is considered the more authentic, it is evident that here we have strong non-Christian evidence to the historical existence of Jesus and his death when Pilate was procurator. Josephus has another interesting passage in Antiquities xx.9.1, relating to James a brother of Jesus:

“…he [the High Priest in Jerusalem] assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be stoned.”

Seutonius
Seutonius was a Roman historian who lived in the second century AD. In his work Life of Claudius 25.4 he wrote:

“As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus [another spelling of Christos, the Greek root from where the word Christ derives], he expelled them from Rome.”

Mara Bar-Serapion
In the British museum there is a manuscript, part of a letter written some time after AD 73 by Mara Bar-Serapion, a Gentile Syrian, to his son.

“What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise me: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; He lived on in the teaching which He had given.”

Thalles the Samaritan
Thalles was a Samaritan historian who wrote in AD 52 and mentioned Jesus. His writings have been lost, but a portion of what he wrote survives in a quotation in the writings of Julius Africanus. With regards to the darkness that enveloped Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion Julius comments:

“Thalles, in the third book of his histories, explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun – unreasonably, as it seems to me” (unreasonably since an eclipse cannot occur during full moon).

2. Evidence from Jewish Rabbinic Writings
There are several Jewish writings that acknowledge the existence of Jesus. The most important are the Talmud and the Toledot Yeshu. The Babylonian Talmud is a collection of sayings of Jewish rabbis. It was completed in the fifth century AD but contains traditions and sayings going all the way back to the time of Jesus and even before. In rabbinic sayings Jesus is at times referred to as Ben Pantera or Ben Stada. “Ben” is Hebrew for “son”. “Pantera” is probably a corruption of the Greek “parthenos” which means “virgin”. Ben Pantera therefore is a corruption of “son of a virgin” and an indirect testimony to the mystery of the birth of Jesus. The derivation of Ben Stada is harder to pinpoint but perhaps is also related to the mystery surrounding his birth. Here is a sample of some of the more relevant passages from the Talmud:

“On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu [Jesus]” (Sanhedrin 43a).

Here Jesus is called “Yeshu” which is the Hebrew version of the name.

“The Rabbis have taught: Always let the left hand repel and the right hand invite, not like Elisha who repulsed Gehazi with both hands, and not like Rabbi Joshua ben Perachyah, who repulsed Yeshu the Nazarene with both hands. . .” (Sanhedrin 107b).

Here Jesus is called “the Nazarene” testimony that he was from Nazareth, like he gospels indicate.

“Jesus practiced sorcery and had corrupted and misled Israel” (Sanhedrin 107b).

“There is a tradition: Rabbi Eleazor said to the sages, has not the son of Stada brought magic spells from Egypt in an incision on his skin?” (Shabbath 104b)

A word of comment is appropriate here. According to the record of the gospels, the rabbis accused Jesus of performing the miracles he performed through sorcery: “But the Pharisees said, by the prince of the devils he casts out devils” (Matthew 9:24). There was a Jewish tradition that Egypt was the land where sorcery was most developed: “Ten measures of sorcery came down into the world. Egypt received nine measures, and all the rest of the world one” (Kiddushin 49b). The above quotations therefore support the gospel record both in that Jesus was accused of using sorcery and in that he came from Egypt.

“Rabbi Abbahu has said, if a man says to you, ‘I am God’, he lies. If he says, ‘I am the Son of Man’, he shall rue it. If he says, ‘I ascend to heaven,’ then this should apply to him, ‘he has said it and will not be able to do it’” (Taanith 65b)

The reference to Jesus here is too obvious to need any elaboration.

“You shall have no son or disciple who burns his food publicly, like Jesus the Nazarene” (Sanhedrin 103a).

Here is another reference to Jesus. The phrase “burns his food publicly” is probably a reference to apostasy. In the view of the rabbis, the teaching of Jesus was an apostasy from their faith.

In the Talmud we even find a reference to the resurrection of Jesus: “Resh Lakish has said, woe to him who recalls himself to life by the Name of God” (Sanhedrin 106a).

Perhaps the clearest Jewish text regarding Jesus is the Toledot Yeshu, which outlines some of the events in the life of Jesus. It acknowledges the miracles Jesus did but rejects that he was the messiah. It was written around the 6th century AD. Here are some of the more interesting statements.

“Miriam gave birth to a son and named him Yehoshua, after her brother. This name later deteriorated to Yeshu. On the eighth day he was circumcised. When he was old enough the lad was taken by Miriam to the house of study to be instructed in the Jewish tradition”

“Yeshu proclaimed, ‘I am the Messiah; and concerning me Isaiah prophesied and said, 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’ He quoted other messianic texts, insisting, ‘David my ancestor prophesied concerning me: 'The Lord said to me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.’”

“He started out toward Jerusalem and, arriving at Knob, acquired a colt on which he rode into Jerusalem, as a fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah.”

“Then the Sages selected a man named Judah Iskarioto and brought him to the Sanctuary.”

“Yeshu was taken prisoner to the synagogue of Tiberias, and they bound him to a pillar. To allay his thirst they gave him vinegar to drink. On his head they set a crown of thorns.”

“Yeshu was put to death on the sixth hour on the eve of the Passover and of the Sabbath.”

“On the first day of the week his bold followers came to Queen Helene with the report that he who was slain was truly the Messiah and that he was not in his grave; he had ascended to heaven as he prophesied. Diligent search was made and he was not found in the grave where he had been buried. A gardener had taken him from the grave and had brought him into his garden and buried him in the sand over which the waters flowed into the garden.”

“The disciples went out among the nations--three went to the mountains of Ararat, three to Armenia, three to Rome and three to the kingdoms buy the sea. They deluded the people, but ultimately they were slain.”

The parallel of the above to the gospel narratives is so close that further comment is unnecessary.

3. The New Testament
Last but not least is the witness of the New Testament. It is the most important for a number of reasons.

First, it was written within a very short time after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel of John, the Revelation and the three epistles of John were the last to be written and they date from around AD 90-95. By contrast, the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, the thirteen epistles of Paul, and the epistles of Peter, James and Jude were all written before AD 70, i.e. within forty years of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Second, those who wrote the New Testament were closely connected with the events they describe. Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus and therefore eyewitnesses. Mark wrote his gospel based on the memoirs of Peter who was also a disciple. Luke was not an eyewitness, but as an established scholar research well the accounts of others before he wrote down the gospel that bears his name. With regards to the Acts of the Apostles, Luke was a companion of Paul in some of his travels so what he accounts is first hand experiences. Paul had not known Jesus before the crucifixion, but was very well acquainted with the apostles in Jerusalem with whom he spent time learning about Jesus. Finally, James and Jude were brothers of Jesus who had known him from childhood and therefore themselves eyewitnesses.

Third, the historical details that appear in the different writings of the New Testament are accurate and in full agreement with what we know about those times from other writings outside the New Testament. There are literally hundreds of examples that could be mentioned – the cities of Palestine, Asia Minor and Greece fit perfectly with how we know them from outside sources; the names of important figures like Pilate, the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the family of Herod, Felix and Berenice, Quirinius and Festus and so on, these are all historical persons we also meet outside the New Testament. It is only natural to conclude that the New Testament accounts that are so accurate in their description of the geography of the area or in the mention of historical figures we know from elsewhere are also accurate in what they say about Jesus.

Finally, we know that the New Testament writings have not been “doctored” by subsequent editors but have been handed down through the ages exactly as they were written. Today there are nearly 15,000 extant manuscripts, partial or complete, of different parts of the New Testament, dating from as early as AD 120, i.e. within twenty-five years of the composition of the gospel of John and the Revelation. By comparing the different manuscripts scholars have been able to confirm the high accuracy with which the New Testament text was transmitted from generation to generation. When we open our Bibles to read, we can therefore be confident that whatever we read of Jesus is what the ancient authors wrote.

Conclusion
We have seen that both pagan and Jewish writers had no doubts about the existence of Jesus – they mention him repeatedly in their writings. Naturally, both pagans and Jews viewed Jesus and his claims with some suspicion or even hostility since Christianity threatened their system of beliefs and as such referred to him at times in derogatory terms. Yet they never questioned his existence but rather corroborate not only that he existed, but also the main events of his life and death, as we know them from the gospels.

We have also looked briefly at the witness of the New Testament and have concluded that everything it narrates is placed within a valid historical context and as such we have no reason to question the historicity of the statement it makes concerning the life and death of Jesus.

It is precisely because the nature of the evidence is so overwhelming that Jesus is indeed a historical person that no serious historian or ancient scholar will dispute it.