With Easter approaching, I wanted to revisit a topic that I continue to see resurfacing, mostly on Facebook and Internet message boards. A popular modern theory is that, quite simply, Jesus never existed, and that there is little to no evidence outside of the Bible that points to a man named Jesus of Nazareth. Is this claim actually true?
First, let's look at the
extra-Biblical evidence for Jesus. The
following documents testify to the existence of a man named Jesus of Nazareth
(sometimes the Romans called him "Christus" or "Chrestus"),
and all of them were written within 100 years of the time period he was said to
have lived in (circa 6 BCE - 30 CE):
Tacitus, a first century Roman
historian (who lived circa 56-117 CE), mentioned
a man called "Christus" being
executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (reigned 14-37 CE), and Emperor
Nero's persecution of Christians in 64 CE: "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 Pilatus,
and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke
out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where
all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre
and become popular. 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. Mockery
of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they
were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to
the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had
expired." [1]
Suetonius, another first century
Roman historian (who lived circa 69-122 CE), also mentioned Christians being
punished by Emperor Nero [2]. He also
mentioned a man named "Chrestus", in his account of the life of
Emperor Claudius (reigned 41-54 CE): "Since the Jews constantly made
disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus,
he expelled them from Rome". [3]
Josephus, a Jewish historian (who lived circa 37-100 CE),
mentioned Jesus, James and John the Baptist in Antiquities. His main
passage about Jesus has been disputed, due to doubt over whether or not some of
the phrases in the passage were added at a later date. The following is the paragraph, with what is
commonly believed to be additions by a later Christian translator in brackets: “At
this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man [if indeed one ought to refer to him
as a man]. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who
received the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many
Jews and among many of Greek origin. [He was the Messiah-Christ.] And when
Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned
him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so.
[For on the third day he appeared to them again alive, just as the divine
prophets had spoken about these and countless other marvelous things about
him.] And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has
not died out.” [4] Later, Josephus describes
the death of Jesus' brother, James: “But this younger Ananus, who, as we told
you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very
insolent. He assembled the Sanhedrin of
judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus the so-called
Messiah-Christ, whose name was James, and some others. When he had formed an
accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them over to be
stoned.” [5]
Pliny the Younger (who lived circa
61-112 CE), was a magistrate of Rome during the late first and early second century. He wrote a series of letters to Emperor
Trajan. One of them concerned what
should be done with the Christians he arrested: "They also declared that
the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had
met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst
themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by
oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery and
adultery." [6]
Mara bar Serapion was an Assyrian
Stoic philosopher, who wrote one letter to his son which has survived. Most scholars date this letter to being composed
shortly after 73 CE (Mara was taken captive circa 72 CE by the Romans). He wrote the following passage in his letter:
"What else can we say, when the wise are forcibly dragged off by tyrants,
their wisdom is captured by insults, and their minds are oppressed and without
defense? What advantage did the Athenians gain from murdering Socrates? Famine
and plague came upon them as a punishment for their crime. What advantage did
the men of Samos 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 and the Jews, desolate and driven from their own
kingdom, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates is not dead, because of
Plato; neither is Pythagoras, because of the statue of Juno; nor is the wise
king, because of the 'new law' he laid down." [7] Some scholars see the reference to the
"wise king" as an early non-Christian reference to Jesus.
A common response when these
extra-Biblical references are presented is as follows: "These documents
were written between 40-90 years after the death of Jesus, so they can't be
considered valid references".
Actually, the fact that anything was written about Jesus within a
century of his death is unusual, considering that in the ancient world, biographies
and histories were often not written about a person or event for at least a
couple of centuries. For example, Alexander
the Great lived circa 356-323 BCE, but his earliest biography was not written
until the first century BCE, leaving a gap of 300 years [8]. The biography and sayings of Buddha were not
written until the first century CE, over 400 years after his death [9]. To have multiple sources mentioning the same
relatively obscure person within the time frame of a century after his death
was not common.
In terms of the Biblical evidence
for Jesus' existence, we have the four Gospels, written by
eyewitnesses and their companions, which all tell the story of Jesus, his life
and teachings, and his death and resurrection.
The letters of early church fathers (such as Papias, Polycarp and a
document known as the Didache), written between 95-150 CE, quoted extensively
from all four of the Gospels and said that they contained the words of
Jesus. We also have an early fragment of
John's Gospel (known as Papyrus P52), dated roughly to the first half of the
second century CE. The four Gospels were
in circulation and being quoted by 100 CE, which means that they were written
within 70 years of the death and resurrection of Jesus (which occurred circa 30
CE). In addition, we have the letters of
Paul, Peter and James, who all were martyred prior to 67 CE. All of these letters testified to the
existence of Jesus and his death and resurrection, and all were written within
40 years of the events.
In
conclusion, the claim that Jesus never existed is not sound. There are simply too many sources that were
written within a century after his lifetime to attest to his existence.
References
[1] Tacitus, Annals 15.44
(written circa 116 CE), translated by Church and Brodribb
[2] Suetonius, Life of Nero 16.2 (writen circa 121 CE)
[3] Suetonius, Life of Claudius 25.4 (written circa 121 CE)
[4] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18.63-64 (written circa 93-94 CE)
[5] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.200 (written circa 93-94 CE)
[6] Pliny the Younger, Letters, 10.96 (written circa 111 CE)
[7] Mara ben Serapion, The Epistle
[8] "Diodorus Siculus", http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/Introduction*.html
[9] http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/SALANC.html
