Did Jesus Exist?
A refutation of the claim that Jesus Christ
was a fictional character
Even in this day and age some scholars argue that Jesus Christ, the founder
and central figure of Christianity, never existed. They instead use colorful
phrases like “mythic hero,” “savior archetype,” and “invention of the early
church.” But does this claim hold any weight?
The following are the two most common arguments for the a-historicity, or
non-existence of Jesus:
Objection 1: There are no extra-biblical records of
Jesus.
Objection 2: If Jesus had existed, then there would be
more records of him. Objection 1: There are no
extra-biblical records of Jesus. It surprises many Christians
to know that there are ancient records of Jesus outside of the
Bible and other Christian writings (despite what some unbelievers may
claim). Some agnostics believe that the Bible is purely fiction, and that
without external evidence its claims about Jesus are not credible. First,
even if there were no evidence of Jesus outside of the Bible, the Bible
itself would be an excellent source to gather data about his life. After
all, when famed archaeologist Heinrich Schlielman was looking for the city
of Troy, the Iliad was the first place he looked for clues to its location.
Second, we do have numerous credible sources of Jesus’ existence that
demolish the claim of skeptics that he was a fictional character. They are
listed below in order from most reliable to least reliable: 1. Jospehus
2. Tacitus
3. Pliny the Younger
4. Lucian of Samosata
5. Suetonius Flavius Josephus: A Traitor Turned Historian (90 A.D.)
Josephus was a commander of the Jewish forces in Galilee during the revolt
against Rome. He then surrendered during the war and became a Roman citizen
and writer for the Emperors. His major works include Jewish War
(75-80 A.D.) and Jewish Antiquities (90 A.D.). In his Jewish
Antiquities he includes a section that has become known as the “Testimonium
Flavianum,” which is perhaps the most famous of Josephus passages
because it mentions Jesus of Nazareth:
“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct
was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the
Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be
crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon
their loyalty to him. They reported that he had appeared to them three days
after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly they believed that
he was the Messiah, concerning whom the Prophets have recounted wonders.”
This passage is remarkable in its clarity and description of Jesus. There is
no mistaking that Jospehus is referring to Jesus of Nazareth, the wise and
virtuous teacher who was crucified by Pontius Pilate and reported to be the
risen messiah from whom the Christian faith emerged. Some skeptics have
objected that the passage is a forgery created by Christians, but there is
little evidence to support this theory. First, this version of the
Testimonium discovered by Schlomo Pines stayed in circulation in the
Arab east, which put it far from Christian influence in the west. Moreover,
obvious Christian additions to the text, which plagued other versions, have
been removed. Second, there are numerous phrases that Christians would not
normally use to describe Jesus, like calling Him a “wise man” as opposed to
other illustrious titles. Finally it contains a writing style that naturally
follows Josephus’ which makes this document an excellent piece of evidence
towards the historicity of Jesus Christ.
Cornelius Tacitus: The Great Roman Historian (116 A.D.)
Considered to be the greatest Roman historian, Cornelius Tacitus wrote the
Annals of Roman history. This work recounts, among other things, the
events surrounding the fire in Rome during 64 A.D. Many people believed that
emperor Nero had something to do with the fire, (hence the expression “Nero
fiddled while Rome burned”) so to deflect suspicion Nero found the perfect
scapegoat: Christians. Tacitus records what happened:
"...to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed to have ordered the
conflagration, the fire of Rome. Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely
charged with the guilt, and punished Christians, who were hated for their
enormities. Christ, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius
Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious
superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea,
where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also, where all
things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center
and become popular." Most scholars assert that this report
is trustworthy and has not been tampered with by later Christians. A
Christian interpolator would surely have mentioned Jesus’ teachings or at
the very least explicitly mentioned his resurrection. Aside from these
missing points, the key facts of his report include the fact that Tacitus,
like Jospehus, links Jesus to Pontius Pilate. He also refers to Christ as “the
founder of the name,” as opposed to the founder of Christianity. This
denotes the fact that Christ did not directly call believers “Christians,”
but that Christ’s followers are named after Him. Next, the phrase “but
the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again,” may
refer to the time when the disciples went into hiding, but then after the
resurrection went out to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world (Matthew
28:19). Finally, Tacitus is known for being a meticulous scholar, so he
would not have mentioned Christ based on rumors or hearsay. If he had relied
on such sources he would have used the Latin dicunt or ferunt
or say it was a rumor as he did when reporting the rumor concerning Nero and
the fire.
Pliny the Younger: The Politician Dealing with Christians (112
A.D.) Pliny the Younger was the governor of Bythinia (Turkey)
when he wrote this letter to Emperor Trajan in the year 112 A.D. In it he
recounts troubles he’s having with Christians and seeks guidance from the
Emperor on how to prosecute them. While it is not as descriptive as Josephus
or Tacitus, it remains an important documented account of Christ’s
existence. "They affirmed, however, that the whole of their
guilt, or their error, was, that they were in the habit of meeting on a
certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verse a
hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath, not to
any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to
falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to
deliver it up."
Lucian of Samosata: The Greek Satirist (165 A.D.)
Lucian of Samosata was a well-known Greek Satirist of the second century.
His book “The Death of Peregrinus” chronicles the life and death of the
philosopher Peregrinus who converted to Christianity and later left it for
cynicism. In the book Lucian lampoons Christians for being gullible and
foolish and he blames the religion’s founder for “introducing this new
cult to the world:”
“next after that other, to be sure, whom they (the
Christians) still worship, the man who was crucified in Palestine because he
introduced this new cult to the world.” "Then, too, their
first lawgiver persuaded them that they are all brothers... after they have
thrown over and denied the gods of Greece and have done reverence to that
crucified sophist himself and live according to his laws."
Lucian’s writing drips with sarcasm and uses terms not found in the New
Testament like “crucified sophist,” which argue against the text
being a forgery. Unfortunately, since Lucian is a playwright and not a
historian, his testimony is only of marginal value, but it is still helpful.
Gaius Suetonius: The Emperor’s Pen Man (120 A.D.)
Suetonius was a secretary for Emperor Hadrian and during that time he wrote
Lives of the Caesars. In the section concerning Emperor Claudius he
describes how Claudius dealt with rioters in Rome during 49 A.D.:
“As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the
instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.”
Most scholars assert that the passage is authentic. After all, if
it were later added by a Christian then they would have at least gotten Christ’s
name right! However, this causes doubt as to whether Suetonius was speaking
about Christ, or a Jewish revolutionary named Chrestus. The evidence seems to
point towards Christ because Chrestus was not a common name among Jews at the
time. In fact, of the hundreds of Jewish names in the catacombs, not one is “Chrestus.”
This lends support to the Jewish “Chrestus” as actually being “Christus,” or
Christ, and to the conclusion that Suetonius made a simple spelling error.
These five sources among minor sources like Thallus, Mara Bar Serapion,
Celsus, and the Talmud show that non-Christian references to Jesus do exist
and are more than adequate to prove his existence. But some skeptics are not
convinced that even this is enough and they level another objection:
Objection 2: If Jesus had existed, then there would be
more records of him.
This is called an “argument from silence.” The objection assumes
that most famous people like George Washington or Alexander the Great have had
volumes written about them. Therefore, since Jesus is one of, if not the most
famous person in history there should be volumes about him from ancient times as
well. Unfortunately, the objector does not take into account that most of Jesus’
fame came from the spread of the Church and did not occur until after the first
century. In addition, Jesus possessed many qualities and lived in particular
circumstances that would make it understandable that his life was not recorded
during the first century.
-
During Jesus’ life he never did anything that would concern
historians of His day. He was, as theologian John Meir describes, “a marginal
Jew.” He never wrote a philosophical treatise or epistle, in fact he never wrote
anything! He never addressed the Roman senate, never conquered any land, he
never even traveled more than 50 miles from his home. Even though secular
historians concede that Jesus performed miracles, so did many other wandering
Jewish Rabbis and Greek sages, this just wasn’t impressive to historians at the
time.
-
In addition to being a marginal Jew, Jesus suffered the ultimate
marginality by being crucified. Those who were crucified were the lowest of the
low, and the Romans, Greeks, and Jews would have nothing to do with any one of
the thousands of criminals executed by Rome.
-
Jesus’ message upset the established religious order of the day. He
was considered by the wealthy and powerful as a poor wandering troublemaker who
was best left alone.
-
Finally, 99 percent of the populace was illiterate, so even those
who witnessed Jesus miraculous deeds could not write them down. They instead
survived as oral tradition within the early church.
Another important note is that records from first century Palestine
and Rome are incredibly sparse. But this doesn’t stop some writers from claiming
that there should be more references to Jesus. Strong atheist Francois Tremblay,
brings us another example: "Here is a short
list of writers and historians who lived within the same century as the
Jesus myth: Caius Suetonius,
Philo-Judæus, Seneca, Pliny Elder, Arrian, Petronius, Dion Pruseus,
Paterculus, Juvenal, Martial, Persius, Plutarch, Pliny Younger, Tacitus,
Justus of Tiberius, Apollonius, Quintilian, Lucanus, Epictetus, Hermogones,
Silius Italicus, Statius, Ptolemy, Appian, Phlegon, Phædrus, Valerius
Maximus, Lucian, Pausanias, Florus Lucius, Quintius Curtius, Aulus Gellius,
Dio Chrysostom, Columella Valerius Flaccus, Damis, Favorinus, Lysias,
Pomponius Mela, Appion of Alexandria, Theon of Smyrna,"
(John E. Remsburg, "The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the
Evidence of His Existence", pp. 24-25) Tremblay brings out the
“shotgun strategy” of argumentation when he claims that since none of these
ancient writers mention Jesus and that this should be a cause of alarm for
us. First, as demonstrated before, Jesus did not have the credentials to be
recorded by numerous historians. Second, some of the historians on this list
(as I mentioned earlier: Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger) DO
talk about Jesus. Third, most of these writers and “historians” are very
obscure and had no need or desire to mention Jesus in their writings.
Apologist J.P. Holding describes three of them: “Paterculus
was a retiring army officer who wrote an amateurish history of Rome during
the beginning of the 30’s. Thus, too early to be a candidate for mentioning
Jesus. Columella Valerius Flaccus wrote only one book on
agriculture during the 50’s or 60’s, so rabble-rousing messiahs would be out
of his subject field. Phaedrus was a Macedonian freeman
who wrote fables during the 40’s. His work mainly lampooned social life and
politics in Rome. His focus on Rome and literary style also put him out of
the running concerning his need to reference Jesus.” The
writers that Tremblay lists fall into the following categories of
non-historian, obscure, or just plain not interested. In
conclusion, the evidence for the historicity of Jesus is overwhelming
compared to the small minority who say he never existed. This doesn’t even
begin to take into account the circumstantial evidence of:
-
The conversion of skeptics like Paul and James
-
The radical change in the apostle’s behavior and their eventual
martyrdom
-
The institution of new sacraments like baptism and communion
-
The emergence of the early church and the thousands of Jews who
left Judaism for Christianity
The most logical explanation for these facts and the testimony of
non-Christian sources is that Jesus did exist and is the Son of God.
Main Source:
Van Voorst, Robert E. Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to
the Ancient Evidence. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
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