Welcome back my beautiful family! As always, it's a pleasure to have you here with me. For today's study I decided to talk about something that could either make-or-break the case for Christianism. Yes, it could either reinforce once more our faith, or... it can do the exact opposite. To keep things interesting and per our tradition, please feel free to watch the video I have prepared for this topic below; as always, the video is a summary of what we'll discuss in writing and better detail in this post. Without much else to say... let's watch the video!
Ok, did you watch the video? Hopefully you did... but it's 'ok' if you're more of a reading person and would just like to read the post. This is a judgement free zone :)
For today's topic we are going to be answering the question we read in the posts' title: "Is there evidence for Jesus outside of the Bible?" What are your thoughts? What have you heard or read? Do you think there's evidence? Will the abundance or lack of evidence change what your beliefs are?... ... ...
Intro
Jesus is the central figure of christianity. The story of salvation and the hope that millions of christians have, all rely and have as a main focus the beautiful character of Jesus. Man sinned and lost it's place in God's kingdom; all humanity was bound to pay the price of disobeying God's perfect law... death. Jesus, seeing in the lost human race a beautiful pearl of infinite price, voluntarily gave Himself to live the perfect life and pay the price that the law demanded. He came into this earth and took human form, He lived amongst us, He loved us...and He died for us. Upon His death our debt with the Heavenly Father was paid, humanity once more had direct access to the Father and the sacrifice system, which pointed towards the death of Jesus, was abolished. Jesus now lives and credits His sacrifice to any human who is willing to accept Him and His gift. Upon receiving Him into our lives and accepting His gift, we now can be sure that we're saved and an eternal life of perfection next to Him awaits for us when He returns. Death cannot keep us and everything we have here we know is only temporary... Jesus is coming for all of us.
That story right there is the gospel in a paragraph. That story right there is the core, root, heart and soul of christianity. Without Jesus, Christianism has nothing going for it. The consequences of this become fairly obvious then, no? For the many who want to discredit christianity, there's no need to prove that anything in the Bible happened or not... they just need to prove that Jesus never came. Without Jesus, Christianism would simply vanish. The question now is, did Jesus came and walked on this earth? For the skeptic, and despite the many scholars agreeing that the gospel books in the Bible are credible and reliable historic accounts, reading Jesus' story in the Bible is not enough. More evidence, extra-biblical evidence is needed to substantiate the presence of Jesus in this planet. This brings us to the main question of this topic, and the question many skeptics ask, is there such an evidence? Is there evidence for the existence of Jesus outside of the Bible?
Well, I am not going to keep you waiting... "lucky" for us, and the "bad news" for those who want to discredit christianity (or even the existence of God), is that THERE IS evidence for Jesus outside of the Bible. Praised be God for that! Jesus is not a mere human-imagination invention or a fiction character in a book. For the rest of this post, we are going to take a quick dive into some of the evidence for Jesus that can be found outside of the biblical realm. Deal?
The Evidence
Before we start going over the historical documents that record Jesus as a man that walked this planet, it is very important to be emphatic and say that there's no better record of Jesus than the gospel books in the Bible which have been, over and over and by many scholars, recognized as reliable historical accounts. Lee Strobel in his book "The Case for Christ" presents a good summary of interviews he had with different experts across different fields that speak about the historic reliability of the gospel books in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Not only these books are a historical piece, but some of the recordings in the Bible date to within 30 or less years from the incidents they record which, compared to any other historical record, it is definitely a 'record'. Among other scholars that have studied and written about this topic you can find: Craig L. Blomberg Ph.D, Bruce M. Metzger Ph.D, Edwin M Yamauchi Ph.D... among others.
Why do I state what I just said in the previous paragraph? Because the gospel books in the Bible is the record we have of who Jesus was, what He did, who He walked with, what His ministry was...etc. The other documents/records that we're going to present here are merely corroborative. This means that they help us confirm the existence of Jesus... they don't help us understand very well His life. Are you following me? With this... let's begin.
Evidence #1: Josephus, the Jewish Historian
Flavius Josephus, born in the year 37 A.D., was a Jewish-Roman historian who wrote mainly about the wars between the romans and the jews. I don't intend to give his entire biography so please, feel free to search his name in any search engine. The point is, Josephus' writings are trusted and reliable historical documents to the academic community. This is important because... drum roll please... although in a very minor degree, Josephus writes and documents the existence of Jesus in his writings. SO EXCITING!!!! Having lived so close to the years that Jesus walked this planet, his mentioning of Jesus is extremely important and a validation that Jesus did indeed walked this planet.
One of Josephus main writings was titled "The Antiquities" and in that historical account we find the following text:
"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.” [1,2]
From this simple, yet very important text from Josephus, we learn two things: (1) Jesus did indeed walked amongst us, and (2) it wasn't just any Jesus, but the Jesus who was known as "Christ" which we know means "the Messiah".
The noted quote is not the only reference to Jesus that we find in Josephus' writings. The "Testimonium Flavianum" is another portion of writing attributed to Josephus and it reads as follows:
“About this 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 Christ. 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 Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared”[3]
There has been a LOT of controversy for this text among scholars. In GENERAL the consensus is that the text is an authentic reference to Jesus, BUT, there is agreement in that the text has had some interpolations (alterations) to the original. The three portions I have highlighted in red are the 3 main parts of the text that scholars have agreed are likely not part of the original. The first one, implying that Jesus was more than just human, seems to be a little too rich for Josephus to have written, particularly since he was not really a believer or a follower. The second, after having read the previous text in which Josephus talks about Jesus as one "who was called the Christ", it is highly unlikely that he now makes the assertion that Jesus indeed was Christ. Finally, the third makes allusion to the resurrection which is a belief which Josephus probably did not had. REGARDLESS of the possible alterations/interpolations in the text, in general the text is considered genuine and is, yet, another piece of evidence that Jesus existed and that he was crucified. The mentioning of Pilate makes it the more credible as it matches what we know of Jesus' crucifixion from the Bible.
Evidence #2: Tacitus, the Roman historian
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Historian who, according to Edwin M. Yamauchi Ph.D - an expert in New Testament studies, has the single most important reference to Jesus outside of the Bible. Suffice to say that Tacitus writings are considered reliable historical accounts among the academic community. Please, feel free to search more about Tacitus' life through your preferred search engine.
In the book "The Case for Christ", chapter 4 ("The Corroborative Evidence") Doctor Edwin M. Yamauchi explains why one of Tacitus' texts is so an extremely important record of Jesus outside the Bible. Let's first take a look at the reference from Tacitus:
“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 superstitution, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, 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.” [4]
AMEN! Yet another reference to the existence of Jesus outside of the Bible and in an account very similar to what the Bible describes about Jesus and His followers' life. Dr. Yamauchi explains that this verse basically alludes to the fact that a man, Christus, suffered the Roman extreme penalty (crucifixion) - to a great degree an embarrassment to the punished. The fact that a group of people, christians, were following the teachings of a man punished in the most severe way... has to be explained.
Today we know what the explanation is... don't we? Jesus was not just a mere man. He was (and IS) the Son of God made flesh. People were following Him even after His death because (1) they knew there was something different about Him, and (2) because this 'man' didn't just died... he resurrected. Jesus' tomb is empty and I praise God for that! From the text is evident that many followers preferred to give up life and suffer punishment than to leave behind their beliefs in the crucified man. That right there friend... says a LOT. Electing to die and/or be punished for a belief in a lie is not something humans do. Christians were willing to die because they knew who Jesus was and what his reward was for all those who believed in Him. Same reward that today you have the option to choose.
Supplementary Notes...
External references (not biblical) to the life and existence of Jesus, at the time the Bible gospel books indicate, can be found. More importantly, the evidence is found among some of the most distinguished and important historical writings from recognized and respected authors and historians. Jesus walked this earth, there is no denying it. Furthermore, as stated in external references, there was something special about Him; people followed Him and believed in Him. Now, skeptics and even atheists may now say that just because Jesus existed, it doesn't mean he actually resurrected (which is crucial to Christianism). As far as I know, there's no external reference that clearly states that Jesus resurrected, but, again, the gospel books (and the New Testament books in general) are considered reliable historical accounts and there we clearly see stated that Jesus did indeed resurrect.
Here's the thing, even without the biblical accounts, and without external references directly stating that Jesus resurrected, the evidence is all around us. The fact that almost 2,000 years later Christianism is still alive means that throughout the ages, from the moment that Jesus walked among us, people have believed in Him. Considering that Christianism started when Jesus came, and that Jesus died and people witnessed His death... it would make no sense to see the spread of Christianism if Jesus would've stayed death... especially after having suffered and died from the most embarrassing and terrible way the romans could kill someone. If Jesus would've just been a regular guy that died, Christianism would've never prosper and spread. People didn't just believed in Jesus, people were willing to renounce to everything they own, including life itself, for their beliefs on Him. There is a reason Christianism didn't die when Jesus did... because Jesus didn't stayed dead. He came back to life and people saw Him... they recorded the encounters (ref. the story of Paul in the Bible).
All through history and historic records we see the evidence of people willing to die and give up everything to follow Jesus (See writings of 'Pliny the Younger' - a Roman). People don't do that to follow men that died and have no significance anymore. Christianism is alive because it anchors on a God that is alive, that came, that walked among us, that die, and that resurrected... on a God for which we find evidence in the Bible and outside of it. That's the Jesus I believe in... the living Son of God.
Conclusion
Friend... Jesus is not a fiction character. He lived, He walked on this earth, He died, and He now lives waiting until His heavenly clock marks the final hour of this earth to come and reward each of us according to our works. Obviously I am extremely excited because my faith is not a 'blind faith'. I am not following the words of a man who once said had a revelation without much evidence other than the man's own words. My faith is a living faith because there is EVIDENCE, and RECORDS, outside of the word of God (Bible) that the man I put my faith was and is indeed a real 'man'; more than a man, the Son of the living God. The Creator. That for whom many were and are willing to give up everything... including life itself.
What about you? Does this excites you? No matter how you look a the question, the answer is all the same... Jesus is real. Jesus did walked on this earth. The question now is... what will you do about it?
Until next one,
References:
Josephus, The Antiquities 20.200.
Edwin Yamauchi, Josephus and the Scriptures,” Fides et Historia 13 (1980), 42–63.”
Josephus, The Antiquities 18.63–64.”
Tacitus, Annals 15.44.
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