Jesus in History – Moktashef

Jesus according to Historians

The Importance of Biblical Consistency

The Historical accuracy of every word of the Bible has been debated over the two millennia that it existed. However, the core of the Bible centers around the New Testament, and specifically around Jesus Christ. Jesus is the center of the Christian faith, as the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” In other words, the core of the Christian faith centers around three ideas: 1) Jesus really lived, 2) Jesus died, 3) Jesus rose from the dead. If any of those three statements is false then, as Paul states, “our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” So it is important to look at historical sources who were not Christians to verify that these three points are, in fact, all true. Fortunately there are several sources that do corroborate the Biblical narrative of Christ’ death. Below will have a brief look into two historians who directly reference Jesus as a historical figure.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus, better known simply as “Tacitus”, was a Roman politician who wrote on the history of the Empire from A.D. 69-96 (the death of Domitian). The exact year of his writing of “The Annals” is unknown but it is assumed that it was written around A.D. 117. The date is unknown because much of the book has not survived. Only one part was found in Corvey Abbey in Germany, and the second part was found in Monte Cassino in Italy. These fragments of the total manuscript contain the bulk of what is currently known about the Roman Empire from the dates they cover. In these documents contains a section that states:

“But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of placating Heaven, could stifle scandal or dispel the belief that the fire had taken place by order. Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices,27 whom the crowd styled Christians.28 Christus, the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus,29 and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, …”[1]

This references the beginning of the Emperor Nero’s persecution of the Christians in Rome in order to cast blame for a great fire that took place in A.D.64. The growing rumor was that Nero himself had ordered the fire to take land to expand his palace. It is thought, and even stated by Tacitus, that Nero used the Christians as scapegoats to remove those rumors. However, Tacitus also states that Christ was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate in Judea, in the reign of Tiberius. Tiberius was the Roman Emperor from A.D. 14-37, and since the sentencing took place in Judea, a region of Israel, this agrees with the story presented in the Gospels.

Flavius Josephus

Perhaps the most famous ancient historian to mention Jesus directly is Flavius Josephus. Josephus was a Roman historian who wrote books, one of which was an autobiography that details when he was born and when he began writing his books. From his autobiography “The Life of Josephus. Written by Himself”, we know that Josephus was born in A.D. 37, “in the first year of Gaius Caesar’s imperium”[2] He also states that he wrote down the events of the Jewish nation to “vindicate truth and prevent the perversion of facts” as he had seen many false narratives about the war between the Romans and Jews and he wished to have the truth recorded. We also know that around the year A.D. 94 Josephus wrote another book called “Antiquities of the Jews” which detailed the history of the Jewish people and their lands. In this book Josephus writes:

“At the same time there appeared in Judaea an extraordinary person called JESUS, if it be lawful to call him a man. He was a famous worker of miracles, a teacher of those who were desirous of receiving the truth in simplicity, and brought over to him many disciples, both Jews and Gentiles. This was the CHRIST, whom Pilate, at the accusation of the princes and great men of the nation, delivered up to the ignominious punishment of the cross, notwithstanding which, those who first loved him did not forsake him. He appeared to them alive again the third day after his crucifixion, which the divine prophets had foretold, together with numberless other wonders concerning him. And thence, to this day, there is a set of people, who bear the name of Christians, as owing him for their Head, Lord, and Master.”[3]

From this section we have the Biblical story corroborated entirely, in writing by a non-Christian historian, only sixty years after the death of Christ. Josephus corroborates that Jesus was a person in Judea, a worker of miracles and a teacher, was killed on a cross by Pilate, and appeared to his disciples alive again three days later; the exact same narrative that the Bible speaks of.

Conclusion

These two historians both write about the sacrifice of Jesus, as a historical figure. From their works we can know that Jesus was known in the 1st century Roman world and that his disciples spread their belief in his miracles and resurrection, even to the point of their deaths. These accounts can give confirmation that Jesus was a real person, with his miracles, death, and resurrection all be told of by non-Christian authors; giving validation to the story presented in the Bible.

[1] (Tacitus n.d., 15.44)

[2] (Josephus 1773, 41)

[3] (Josephus 1773, 343)

References

Josephus, Flavius. 1773. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated into English, by Sir Roger L’Estrange, Kt. Viz. 7. Translated by Roger L’Estrange. Vol. 1. London.