Historical Evidence For Jesus
Transcript
INTRO: Good afternoon and welcome back to the Sunday School Podcast, the pod all about digging deeper into the Bible using social, historical, and scientific context. I’m Sean Parker, and today we’re going to ask and hopefully answer the question, “Is there evidence for Jesus?”
Christianity hinges on the birth, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. Unfortunately, we don’t have any podcasts or Youtube videos of Jesus from the first century AD. So there is still an element of faith that must be held, but there is also a good amount of evidence that Jesus actually existed.
In my opinion, risking an eternity of damnation requires a lot more faith than devoting yourself to a God that brings your life joy and fulfilment. But for those who lack that faith, hopefully some historical evidence could help.
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1 Corinthians 15:14-18 says
14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
Obviously Jesus’ existence is pretty pivotal to Christianity. Many skeptics say that he never existed. That there is no evidence. But, we will see that this just isn’t true.
I can personally say that the change Jesus has instituted in my life, is enough evidence for me, but I understand that some need more than that.
Let’s begin by looking at literary evidence. For starters, we have the Bible. One might call the Bible biased, but by definition it is a primary source. It holds eye witness accounts to the events of Jesus’ life. Most of the books of the New Testament were written by those that were with Him...the apostles.
I’ve discussed in a previous episode the reliability of the Bible. It is a historical document just like any other, and should be treated as such.
Some may say that the apostles made up the entire New Testament. If this is so, it’s hard to believe that they would have hung onto their beliefs for so long. They didn’t gain very much if this were a lie. In fact, almost all of them would go on to be brutally martyred for their beliefs. I don’t know many people that would take a lie to the grave to end up being crucified or tortured in some other way.
The Apostle’s accounts also corroborate each other. One thing that almost counterintuitively affirms their authenticity is the differences between them. If they were all exactly the same, it could be concluded that they were copied rather than written from an independent perspective.
The time the gospels were written was also within a timeframe that the authors would have been alive during Jesus ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all predict the fall of the Jerusalem Temple, yet none of them mention it occurring. The temple fell in AD 70, so it would make sense that the gospels were completed prior to this historic event. This is important, because Jesus’ crucifixion would have occurred around AD 30.
But, let’s put aside Biblical accounts. Let’s look at external, and non-Christian sources.
The first comes from a historian named Thallus. He wrote about an unusual darkness that occurred when Jesus was crucified. This points to the authenticity of Jesus, but also corroborates the words of Matthew 27:45
45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
Next, a Roman historian named Suetonius wrote about Jews being expelled from Rome during Claudius’ reign for rioting in the name of “Chrestus”. If this Chrestus were just a misnomer for Christ, then this writing would match up with what Luke says in Acts 18:1-2
1After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,
Near the end of the second century AD, a philosopher named Celsus wrote what he felt was a refutation to Christianity. I think this source is neat, because the historian was clearly biased against Jesus, yet he affirms his existence. He writes about Jesus and the miracles He performs, while calling him a sorcerer.
He was attempting to refute the gospels, but succeeded in enhancing them. Neither he, nor any other historian of this time tries to refute that Jesus existed or that He performed miracles. Amazing
Next, we have Lucian of Somosata. He wrote about the philosopher Peregrinus. During his writings, he mentions that Peregrinus was brought to ruin by Christians. He says, “that other whom [Christians] still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world. . . ”
So, he affirms that there was a Jesus, and He was crucified in Palestine.
Another great secondary source comes from the Roman historian Tacitus. He wrote:
“Therefore, to squelch the rumor [that the burning of Rome had taken place by Nero’s own order], Nero supplied (as culprits) and punished in the most extraordinary fashion those hated for their vice, whom the crowd called ‘Christians.’ Christus, the author of their name, had suffered the death penalty during the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate. The pernicious superstition was checked for a time, only to break out once more, not merely in Judea, the origin of the evil, but in the capital itself, where all things horrible and shameful collect and are practiced.”
This shows that the gospels were accurate in their account that Jesus died under the reign of Tiberius when Pilate was the Prefect.
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Lastly, we have the accounts of Josephus. He wrote the Testimonium Flavianum. Josephus was a Jewish historian. He wrote that:
“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 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. ”
Being honest, there are some issues with this statement. It appears that some early Christians inserted some language into this writing. There are several statements that would be uniquely Christian.
“If indeed one ought to call him a man” for instance. Pointing to Jesus deity.
“He was the Messiah.” It would have been strange for Josephus to make that statement.
Lastly, “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.”
But, if you remove these obviously interpolated statements, you are left with what would have made sense for Josephus to write.
The corrected writing would read as:
“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise 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. 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. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”
There is support for this change. An Arabic translation was discovered that closely matched the reconstructed writing.
Josephus’ other writings align well with the reconstructed version as well. Most scholars today believe that the second version is accurate.
If this is the case, we have further historical evidence that Jesus existed, performed miracles, and was crucified.
Aside from literary evidence, there is some archeological evidence, though not much. The most supportive and significant discoveries are around the cities mentioned in the gospels. Every major city mentioned in the gospels and Acts have been discovered and excavated.
This gives weight to the validity of these works, thus supporting the rest of their claims as they regard Jesus.
At the end of the day, most religious and secular scholars feel it can reliably be believed that Jesus existed. Though they may differ on whether he was God come to earth or not.
Those of us with faith can believe that Jesus came without evidence, but it’s not unreasonable to want evidence. God gave us reason and understanding. Being intellectual beings, we want to see that God’s words ring true.
Seeing that there is no evidence denying the existence of God, and rather affirming it, helps us see that God’s promises can be trusted.
We can trust that we serve a living God. A God that came and suffered as we suffer, was tempted as we are tempted. But, unlike us, Jesus overcame that temptation. He lived a perfect life and eventually died as a restitution for our sin debt.
He didn’t have to suffer on the cross for the remission of our sins. He could have called 10,000 angels to come and save Him. Instead, he suffered and died for you and me.
I’m so grateful that Jesus lived.
Outro: As always, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, don’t forget to leave a review in whatever player you use to listen to podcasts.
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