Did Jesus Exist?

Did Jesus Exist?

The Non-Christian Sources

Suetonius

- Recording an event from AD 49

“Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome.”

- If “Chrestus” refers to Christ, then there were likely Christians in Rome by AD 49, which makes sense with what Scripture says about Paul’s arrival in Rome to a large group of Christians in AD 60

Summary of the Evidence

Tacitus

Writing about the fire in Rome in 64 CE

Pliny (110 CE)

- Governor of Bithynia

- Dealt with Christians in Bithynia and the trouble they caused

“They maintained, however, that thh amount of their fault or error had been this. That it was their habit on a fixed day to assemble before daylight and recite by turns a form of words to Christ as a god; and that they bound themselves with an oath, not for any crime, but not to commit theft or robbery or adultery, not to break their word, and not to deny a deposit when demanded. After this was done, their custom was to depart, and to meet again to take food, but ordinary and harmless food.”

- Earliest non-Christian account of what Christians believed, confirms many biblical beliefs of Christianity

- There must have been Christians in Bithynia by the late 80s

“But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, 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 Pilate, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but also in the City [Rome], where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world meet and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who confessed; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of arson, as of the hatred of the human race.”

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1. Jesus Christ was executed in Judea during the period when Tiberius was emperor (AD 14-37) and Pilate was governor. (Tacitus)

2. The movement spread from Judea to Rome (Tacitus)

3. His followers worshipped him as (a) god (Pliny)

4. He was called “the Christ” (Josephus)

5. Followers were called “Christians” (Tacitus, Pliny)

6. Numerous Christians in Bithynia and Rome (Tacitus, Pliny)

7. His brother was James (Josephus)

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Josephus

- Wrote in AD 90 in Jewish Antiquities

- Aristocratic Pharisee, captured by the Romans after the war from AD 66-70

“...convened the judges 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. Those of the inhabitants of the city who were considered the most fair-minded and who were strict in observance of the law were offended at this.”

- Disputed cases:

Testimonium Flavium:

“About that time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”

Origen, a later Christian writer, claimed that Josephus didn’t believe Jesus was the Christ.