Confirmation of Jesus in non-Christian Sources

Introduction

Negative Bible critics charge or imply that the New Testament documents are unreliable since they were written by disciples of Jesus or later Christians. They note that there is no confirmation of Jesus in any non-Christian sources. Several factors undermine the validity of this criticism.

The Evidence

There is overwhelming evidence that the New Testament is a reliable record composed by contemporaries and eyewitnesses of the events. There are more manuscripts, earlier manuscripts, better copied manuscripts, and manuscripts written by more people who were closer to the events than for any other piece of ancient history. Archaeology is continually confirming details of their writing. If the New Testament record is unreliable, we have no hope for any reliable knowledge of ancient happenings.

The objection that the writings are partisan involves a significant but false implication that witnesses cannot be reliable if they were close to the one about whom they gave testimony. This is clearly false. Survivors of the Jewish holocaust were close to the events they have described to the world. That very fact puts them in the best position to know what happened. They were there, and it happened to them. The same applies to the court testimony of someone who survived a vicious attack. It applies to the survivors of the Normandy invasion during World War II or the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The New Testament witnesses should not be disqualified because they were close to the events they relate.

Related to the charge that Jesus lacks testimony by unbelievers is that there is strong evidence, but a lack of weak evidence.

Suppose there were four eyewitnesses to a murder. There was also one witness who arrived on the scene after the actual killing and saw only the victim�s body. Another person heard a second-hand report of the killing. In the trial the defense attorney argues: �Other than the four eyewitnesses, this is a weak case, and the charges should be dismissed for lack of evidence.� Others might think that attorney was throwing out a red herring. The judge and jury were being distracted from the strongest evidence to the weakest evidence, and the reasoning was clearly faulty. Since the New Testament witnesses were the only eyewitness and contemporary testimonies to Jesus, it is a fallacy to misdirect attention to the non-Christian secular sources. Nonetheless, it is instructive to show what confirming evidence for Jesus can be gleaned outside the New Testament.

The Sources

Some excellent resources have been made available to give fuller descriptions of this testimony. Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict , devotes a chapter to the non-Christian evidence. F. F. Bruce wrote the popular-level analysis of the evidence in The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable, and Bruce�s Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament is a more in-depth and thoroughly documented study. A recent work on the subject is by Gary Habermas in one chapter of The Historical Jesus.

Ancient Historians

A surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from historians who were contemporary to him or lived soon after. These include:

• Tacitus. The first-century Roman Tacitus is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world. He gives the account of the great fire of Rome, for which some blamed the Emperor Nero:

  Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures of 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 Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. (Annals 15.44)

  This passage contains references to Christians, named after Christus (Latin for Christ), who suffered the �extreme penalty� under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. The �superstition� which started in Judea and had made its way to Rome was most likely the resurrection of Jesus.

• Suetonius. Suetonius was chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian (reign, 117�138). Two references are important:

  Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city. (Claudius, 25)

  After the great fire at Rome.... Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief. (Nero, 16)

  These brief references establish a few things. There was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century. Certain Jews caused disturbances relating to this man. Suetonius, writing many years later, was not in a position to know whether the disturbances were instigated by Chrestus or by Jews against his followers. At any rate Claudius became annoyed enough to throw every Jew out of the city (including Paul�s associates Aquila and Priscilla) in 49. Also, Christians were persecuted after the Rome fire, and they had professed a new religious belief.

• Josephus. Flavius Josephus (37/38�97) was a Jewish revolutionary who changed allegiance to the Romans in the Jewish revolt in time to save his life. He became a historian, working under the auspices of Emperor Vespasian. His Antiquities dates to the early 90s and contains two passages of interest. The first refers to James, �the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ� (20:9). This confirms the New Testament facts that there was a man named Jesus, who was known as �Christ� and had a brother named James. The second reference is much more explicit and controversial:

  Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats.... He was (the) Christ... he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. (Antiquities 18:3)

  The genuineness of this passage has been questioned by scholars from all areas of belief because it seems doubtful that a Jew who lived and worked outside the Christian context would have said such things about Jesus. Even the apologist-theologian Origen (ca. 185�ca. 254) said that Josephus did not believe Jesus was the Messiah (Contra Celsum 1:47). Despite these concerns, there are reasons in favor of accepting most of the text as genuine. First, there is good textual evidence for the mention of Jesus, and no textual evidence against it. Second, the text is written in the style of Josephus. Third, some of the words most likely did not come from a Christian. Fourth, the passage fits its context both grammatically and historically. Fifth, the reference to Jesus in Antiquities 20 seems to presuppose an earlier mention. Finally, an Arabic version of the text contains the basic elements without the questionable parts:

  At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. 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. But those who became 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. (cited in Habermas, 186)

  Even without portions that are likely Christian interpolations, this text is an extraordinary witness to the life, death, and influence of Jesus. It notes that Jesus was known as a wise and virtuous man who had Jewish and Gentile disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified. The disciples reported that he had risen from the dead on the third day. The idea had been attached to his proclamation that he was the Messiah.

• Thallus. Thallus wrote around A.D. 52. None of his works are extant, though a few fragmented citations are preserved by other writers. One such writer is Julius Africanus in about 221, who quotes Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ:

  On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. (Extant Writings, 18 in the Ante-Nicene Fathers)

  Africanus identifies the darkness which Thallus explained as a solar eclipse with the darkness at the crucifixion described in Luke 23:44�45.

Government Officials

Other non-Christian sources were ancient government officials, whose occupations put them in a unique position to have official information unavailable to the public.

• Pliny the Younger. Pliny the Younger was a Roman author and administrator. In a letter to the Emperor Trajan in about 112, Pliny describes the early Christian worship practices:

  They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food�but food of an ordinary and innocent kind. (Letters 10:96)

  This passage confirms several New Testament references. The most notable is that early Christians worshiped Jesus as God. Their practices also betray a strong ethic, probably that of Jesus. There is also a reference to the love feast and Lord�s Supper. Later in the same letter, Pliny calls the teaching of Jesus and his followers �excessive superstition� and �contagious superstition,� which may refer to Christian belief and proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus.

• Emperor Trajan. In reply to Pliny�s letter, Emperor Trajan gives the following guidelines for punishing Christians:

  No search should be made for these people; when they are denounced and found guilty they must be punished; with the restriction, however, that when the party denies himself to be a Christian, and shall give proof that he is not (that is, by adoring our gods) he shall be pardoned on the ground of repentance, even though he may have formerly incurred suspicion. (ibid., 10:97)

  This sheds some light on how the early Roman government viewed Christianity. They were to be punished for not worshiping the Roman gods, but the persecution was not without restrictions.

• Hadrian. The Christian historian Eusebius (ca. 265�339) records a letter from Emperor Hadrian to Mincius Fundanus, the Asian proconsul. Not unlike Trajan�s letter to Pliny, Hadrian gives some instruction on handling Christians:

  I do not wish, therefore, that the matter should be passed by without examination, so that these men may neither be harassed, nor opportunity of malicious proceedings be offered to informers. If, therefore, the provincials can clearly evince their charges against the Christians, so as to answer before the tribunal, let them pursue this course only, but not by mere petitions, and mere outcries against the Christians. For it is far more proper, if anyone would bring an accusation, that you should examine it. (Ecclesiastical History, 4:9)

  The passage confirms that Christians were often accused of breaking laws and were punished, but that temperance was encouraged.

Other Jewish Sources

In addition to the Jewish writers of the New Testament and Josephus, other Jewish witnesses refer to the life of Jesus.

• Talmud. Talmudic writings of most value concerning the historical Jesus are those compiled between 70 and 200 during the so-called Tannaitic Period. The most significant text is Sanhedrin 43a:

  On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, �He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favour, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.� But since nothing was brought forward in his favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover! (Babylonian Talmud)

  This passage confirms the crucifixion, the timing of the event on the eve of Passover, and the accusation of sorcery and apostasy. This text also informs us of the herald who went out preceding the death of Jesus (cf. John 8:58�59 ; 10:31�33, 39). Another reference in this section mentions five disciples of Jesus. Most of the other references to Jesus and Christianity in the Talmud are much later and of questionable historical value.

• Toledoth Jesu. One rather later witness is Toledoth Jesu, an anti-Christian document compiled in the fifth century. This document explains that the body of Jesus was secretly moved to a second grave because the disciples were planning to steal the body. When the disciples came to the tomb, Jesus� body was gone, so they concluded that he was resurrected. Meanwhile the Jewish authorities were being informed of the true location of Jesus� body. Though quite late, this document probably reflects common early opinion (cf. Matt. 18:11�15).

Other Gentile Sources

There were Gentile sources for the life of Christ other than the Romans. These include:

• Lucian. Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer whose works contain sarcastic critiques of Christianity:

  The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day�the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.... You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property. (Death of Pelegrine, 11�13)

  Following Habermas, several things can be ascertained from this text. Jesus was worshiped by Christians. He had introduced new teachings and had been crucified for his teachings. His teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus� laws. Further, the followers of Jesus believed themselves immortal and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods. Despite being one of the church�s most vocal critics, Lucian gives one of the most informative accounts of Jesus and early Christianity outside the New Testament.

• Mara Bar-Serapion. A Syrian, Mara Bar-Serapion wrote to his son Serapion sometime between the late first and early third centuries. The letter contains an apparent reference to Jesus:

  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 Samon 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 their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: 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 statue of Hera. Nor did the wise king die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given. (British Museum, Syriac ms, add. 14, 658; cited in Habermas, 200)

  This passage confirms four specific teachings of the New Testament: (1) Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man. (2) Jesus was considered by many to be the king of Israel. (3) The Jews put Jesus to death. (4) Jesus lived on in the teachings of his followers.

Gnostic Sources

Immediately after the time of Christ, several non-Christian groups flourished in loose connection with the church. One of the more successful was the gnostics.

• The Gospel of Truth. This second-century book was perhaps written by Valentinus (135�160). It confirms that Jesus was a historical person in several passages:

  For when they had seen him and heard him, he granted them to taste him and to smell him and to touch the beloved Son. When he had appeared instructing them about the Father.... For he came by means of fleshly appearance. (30:27�33; 31:4�6)

  In another passage we read that

  Jesus was patient in accepting sufferings... since he knows that his death is life for many... he was nailed to a tree; he published the edict of the Father on the cross.... He draws himself down to death through life.... Having stripped himself of the perishable rags, he put on imperishability, which no one can possibly take away from him. (20:11�14, 25�34)

  These quotations affirm that Jesus was the Son of God and the Word, who became a man and took on a fleshly body. He taught his followers about his Father. Jesus suffered and was crucified. His death brings life for many. Jesus was raised from the dead in an imperishable body.

• The Apocryphon of John was a second-century gnostic work that opens with a supposedly historical account of an encounter between Arimanius the Pharisee and John, son of Zebedee, the disciple. John is reputed to have said that Jesus �has gone to the place from which he came� (1:5�17). This was an apparent reference to the ascension. Arimanius replied that John had been deceived by Jesus. There is no evidence outside The Apocryphon that this event occurred.

• The Gospel of Thomas (140�200) is a collection of some spurious and some actual events and sayings of Jesus. It tells us several things about the identity of Jesus. Jesus identifies himself as the resurrected One, the Son of Man, the Son of his Father, and the All of the Universe. As in the Bible, the disciples fail to recognize the true identity of Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas refers to the death and exaltation of Jesus. It is a thoroughly gnostic document, and for this reason, as well as the late date, it has limited historical value.

• The Treatise on Resurrection is a gnostic work from the late second century. Despite its heavy gnostic philosophy, Treatise does affirm several teachings: Jesus was truly deity. Despite this, Jesus, the Son of God, took on flesh. Jesus died, rose again, and conquered death for those who have faith in him. Its value as a source is also limited.

Other Lost Sources

Beside these non-Christian sources for the life of Christ, some documents are hinted at but have not been found.

• The Acts of Pontius Pilate. Although a purportedly official document, The Acts of Pontius Pilate does not survive, it is referred to by Justin Martyr in about 150 and by Tertullian in about 200. Justin writes:

  And the expression, �They pierced my hands and my feet,� was used in reference to the nails of the cross which were fixed in his hands and feet. And after he was crucified, they cast lots upon his vesture, and they that crucified him parted it among them. And that these things did happen you can ascertain from the �Acts� of Pontius Pilate. (First Apology, 35)

  Justin also claims that the miracles of Jesus can be confirmed in this document (ibid., 48).

• Phlegon. Phlegon (b. ca. 80) was a freed slave of Emperor Hadrian. None of Phlegon�s writings are extant, but he is mentioned several times by later writers. He spoke of Christ�s death and resurrection in his nonextant Chronicles, saying, �Jesus, while alive, was of no assistance to himself, but that he arose after death and exhibited the marks of his punishment, and showed how his hands had been pierced by nails� (cited in Origen, 4:455; cf. Habermas, 210; Anderson, 19). Phlegon also mentioned �the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquake which then took place� (Origen, 14). Julius Africanus confirms the same quotations (Julius Africanus, 18).

  Habermas summarizes from the Phlegon references that Jesus predicted the future, that there was an eclipse at the time of the crucifixion, and that it occurred during the reign of Tiberius. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared and showed his wounds, especially the nail marks from the crucifixion (Habermas, 211).

Summary

The primary sources for the life of Christ are the four Gospels. However, there are considerable reports from non-Christian sources that supplement and confirm the Gospel accounts. These come largely from Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Samaritan sources of the first century.

In brief they inform us that: (1) Jesus was from Nazareth; (2) he lived a wise and virtuous life; (3) he was crucified in Palestine under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar at Passover time, being considered the Jewish king; (4) he was believed by his disciples to have been raised from the dead three days later; (5) his enemies acknowledged that he performed unusual feats they called �sorcery�; (6) his small band of disciples multiplied rapidly, spreading even as far as Rome; (7) his disciples denied polytheism, lived moral lives, and worshiped Christ as Divine. This picture confirms the view of Christ presented in the New Testament Gospels.

Sources

• Norman L. Geisler, (1999). Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics. Baker reference library (Page 381).
• J. N. D. Anderson, The Witness of History
• F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?
• F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament
• Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, C. F. Cruse, trans.
• Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews
• G. Habermas, The Historical Jesus, chap. 9
• Lucian of Samosata, The Works of Lucian of Samosata
• J. McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, chap. 5
• Origen, Contra Celsus
• Pliny the Younger, Letters, W. Melmoth, trans.
• A. Roberts and J. Donaldson, eds. The Ante-Nicene Fathers
• Suetonius, Life of Claudius
• Suetonius, Life of Nero
• Tacitus, Annals

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Gary: In service of my risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Maranatha!