Did the Jesus of the New Testament Exist?

Part Three: Jewish Sources & Summation of Evidence

External Evidence from Jewish Sources

Jeffrey Jay Lowder, the co-founder and past President of Internet Infidels, Inc., has declared, “I think there is ample evidence to conclude there was a historical Jesus. To my mind, the New Testament alone provides sufficient evidence for the historicity of Jesus, but the writings of Josephus also provide two independent, authentic references to Jesus.”

Who was this Josephus? He was the son of Mattathias, he was born into a Jewish upper class priestly family around A.D.37. He was of the strict religious sect: the Pharisees. When the rebellion broke out against Rome rule in Palestine, Josephus was given command of the Jewish forces in Galilee. When the Roman general Vespasian captured the city of Jotapata,  Josephus was also captured. To flatter the Roman general, he claimed to be a prophet and the messiah. Josephus gained favor with Vespasian by predicting the general would attain the position of emperor. Josephus’ prediction came true at Vespasian’s inauguration in A.D.69. Josephus was brought to Rome and became a first rate historian for the Jewish people. Professor Bruce Metzger commented: “Because Josephus was deemed a renegade to Judaism, Jewish scribes were not interested in preserving his writings for posterity” (1968, p. 75).

Around the year A.D. 94, Josephus wrote the Antiquities of the Jews. In this work he gives one of the greatest attestations of the historical existence of Jesus:

“And there arose about this time Jesus, a wise man, if indeed we should call him a man; for he was a doer of marvelous deeds, a teacher of men who receive the truth with pleasure. He led away many Jews, and also Greeks. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross on his impeachment by the chief men among us, those who had loved him at first did not cease; for he appeared to them on the third day alive again, the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him: and even now the tribe of Christians, so named after him, has not yet died out” (Antiquites. xviii.33).

While explaining why Ananus was disposed as High Priest, Josephus confirmed that James was the biological brother of Jesus.

“When therefore, Ananus [the high priest] was of this [angry] disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road. So he assembled the Sanhedrin of Judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was Jesus” (Jewish Antiquities 20.9.1; Josephus, The Works of Josephus, trans. W. Whiston (Peabody MA: Hendrickson, 1987), 537-8).

The Babylonian Talmud is from the writings of Rabbinic Jews containing the Jewish Theology. It was complied between AD 70 and 200. It mentions the official arrest warrant for Jesus: “On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu [Jesus]. And an announcer went out in front of him for forty days, saying: “he is going to be stoned, because he practiced sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray. Anyone who knows anything in his favor, let him come and plead in his behalf. But not having found anything in his favor, they hanged him on the eve of Passover” (Sanhedrin 43a). Notice several facts included here will correspond with the Gospels. 1) Jesus Turned people away (Matt. 15:3-9). 2) The Jews had sought to arrest Jesus (Luke 22:54) ; and 3) stone him (John 8:59). 4) Furthermore it claims he was hung on the cross prior to beginning of the Passover. This historical source tries to defame Jesus. Of his mother, it claims Mary “was the descendant of princes and governors, played the harlot with carpenters” (b. Sanh. 106a). While suggesting Jesus was born of fornication (John 8:41); the Babylonian Talmud never suggests Jesus was a myth.

Extra Biblical Historical Evidence Compared to the New Testament

In comparing these external evidences of Jesus’ existence to the internal evidence of the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, it is clear they are in agreement as to the facts concerning Jesus.

  1. Jesus was born about 4 BC.
  2. He grew up in Nazareth in Galilee.
  3. His nationality was Jewish.
  4. Mary was his mother and His “father” was a carpenter.
  5. Jesus had a brother named James (Gal. 1:19).
  6. His ministry was at first closely associated with that of John the Baptist.
  7. Jesus was known to be wonder-worker.
  8. He was known as a wise and good teacher. Many of his followers regarded Him as divine.
  9. Some of his disciples worshiped as God.
  10. The Jews sought to arrest him.
  11. At other times the Jews wanted to stone him.
  12. Jesus was crucified.
  13. Under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius.
  14. His crucifixion seems to have been accompanied by a very long dankness.
  15. Earthquakes are associated with the time of His death.
  16. His disciples soon after His death began saying that He had risen form the dead.
  17. By AD 49 a riot over Christ arose in Rome resulting in Claudius banishing the Jews.
  18. His followers were willing to die for Him.
  19. The Apostle James was killed when Ananus was high priest.
  20. Christians were blamed for burning of Rome during the time of Nero.
  21. By the turn of the first century Christianity had spread all the way to Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1)
Verdict of the Historians

How valid is the evidence for the historicity of Jesus? F. F. Bruce wrote, “The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar.” To reject all this historical evidence for Jesus’ existence has some serious repercussions. “If we maintain that the life of our Lord is not a historical event, we are landed in hopeless difficulties; inconsistency, we shall have to give up all ancient history and deny that there ever was such an event as the assassination of Julius Caesar” (Monser, 1961, p. 377).

In his book Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospels, Michael Grant claims that “in recent years, ‘no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non historicity of Jesus’ or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary.” He goes on to explain why this is so. “We can no more reject Jesus’ existence than we can reject the existence of a mass of pagan personages whose reality as historical figures is never questioned.”

Professor of Ancient History at Miami University, Edwin Yamauchi has said, “we have better historical documentation for Jesus than for the founder of an other ancient religion.”

Even an agnostic Bart Ehrman, has had to admit that Jesus “”He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees” (Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. New York: HarperCollins).

Richard A. Burridge sums this evidence up well when he states: “There are those who argue that Jesus is a figment of the Church’s imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that anymore.”

All this evidence both internal and external demands a verdict. Those who reject the historical Jesus have the burden of proof to explain why they claim Jesus never existed. The belief of many is that the evidence is overwhelming. The conclusion must be: Jesus lived and died two thousand years ago just as the Gospels claim.

Summary

Jaraslox Pelikan said, “Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of western culture for almost twenty centuries. It is from the birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that millions curse and in his name that millions pray.” Jesus is the most influential person in human history. But more importantly, is by belief that this man was the Son of God that many are saved. Jesus said, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

– Daniel R. Vess

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Categories: The Forum