Is There Credible Evidence for Jesus Outside His Biographies?
Interview #3: Edwin M. Yamauchi, Ph.D.
Josephus
- Josephus was a very important Jewish historian of the first century. He was born in 37 AD and he wrote most of his four works toward the end of the first century.
- Josephus mentions Jesus in The Antiquities and the Testimonium Flavianum.
- Today there’s a remarkable consensus among both Jewish and Christian scholars that the passage as a whole is authentic, although there may be some interpolations.
- Why did Josephus only mention Jesus in passing, but covered other figures like John the Baptist in greater detail? Because Josephus was interested in political matters and the struggle against Rome, so for him John the Baptist was more important because he seemed to pose a greater political threat than did Jesus.
He convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man named James, the brother of Jesus, who was called the Christ, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned.
Josephus, The Antiquities
Tacitus
- Tacitus was the most important Roman historian of the first century.
- This is an important testimony by an unsympathetic witness to the success and spread of Christianity.
Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Jedaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome… Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty: then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.
Tacitus
Pliny the Younger
- Pliny the Younger was the nephew of Pliny the Elder, the famous encyclopedist who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Pliny the Younger became governor of Bithynia in north-western Turkey.
- In book 10 of his letters to his friend, Emperor Trajan, he specifically refers to the Christians he has arrested.
- Most likely written about 111 AD, these letters attest to the rapid spread of Christianity, the worship of Jesus as God, and that they were not easily swayed from their beliefs.
The Day The Earth Went Dark
- The New Testament gospel writers claim that the earth went dark during part of the time that Jesus hung on the cross.
- A historian named Thallus (52 AD) wrote a history of the eastern Mediterranean world beginning with the Trojan War. Although his work has been lost, it was quoted by Julius Africanus in about 221 AD—and it made reference to the darkness that the gospels had written about.
Other Jewish Accounts
- There are a few passages in the Jewish Talmud, an important work finished about 500 AD, that mention Jesus, calling him a false messiah who practiced magic and who was justly condemned to death.
- They also repeat the rumor that Jesus was born of a Roman soldier and Mary, suggesting there was something unusual about his birth.
- In a negative way these Jewish references do corroborate some things about Jesus.
Paul
- The apostle Paul never met Jesus prior to his death, but he said he did encounter the resurrected Christ and later consulted eyewitnesses to make sure he was preaching the same message as them.
- Paul began writing his New Testament letters years before the gospels were written down. His letters contain extremely early reports concerning Jesus.
- Paul focus on Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection. He doesn’t mention the parables or miracles highlighted in the gospels.
- Paul corroborates some important aspects of the character of Jesus—his humility, obedience, love for sinners, and so forth.