Historical Account of Jesus

As I was exploring the historical account of Jesus (Yes as an actual person who lived), I was amazed at the amount of information that non-biblical historians and authors wrote about the historical account of Jesus Christ.

With regards to accounts of Jesus outside the Bible, I am going to have to revert to actual historian scholars (who arent Christian) who deem those sources credible. No historian actually questions the historicity of Jesus, but rather simply refuse that he was the son of God. I’ll give you 2 examples of the 10 non-biblical writings of Jesus. 1. Tacitus - considered the greatest Roman historian, wrote about in the Annals of the devastating fire, Nero blaming Christians, and then refers to their name coming from Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberius had been executed by Pontius Pilate. Does Tacitus only write about accounts he witnessed or was he instructed to go through the Roman Senate’s archives called the Acta Senatus and its activities? He was. Tacitus also accounts for the spread of Christianity. Tacitus’s report demonstrated that a mere thirty years after Jesus died (hence while many living witnesses of the founder were still alive) his followers were willing to be put to death for their faith, in very barbaric ways. Arnaldo Momigliano, one of the foremost historiographers of the twentieth century, consider Tacitus “a writer whose reliability cannot be seriously questioned”. Historian Ronald Mellor refers to him as “the most accurate of all Roman historians”.

Then we look at Josephus. Flavius Josephus was a Jewish politician, soldier, and historian who lived around AD37 - 100. According to Eddy and Boyd, JL, 184, he is considered the single most important Jewish historian of the ancient world. All discussion regarding Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Qumran communities must take Josephus into account according to Grossman, JF, 406. In the Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus writes about the death of Jesus’ brother James at the instigation of the high priest Ananus. Looking at Josephus who was born in Jerusalem, we must also grasp who that his father was a respected high priest named Matthias, and this places Josephus in Jerusalem at the time of Acts. It is also important to note that due to the nature of his household, they would be acutely aware of a new religious movement that was seen as a threat to Judaism. Josephus only leaves Israel after losing to the Romans in AD66, which makes it probable to consider him hearing the apostles preach in person. The passage of James makes it clear that Josephus verifies the man, James, who was put to death, and who was known as the brother of Jesus, and goes on to write that Jesus was considered Christ. A minority of scholars hold the view this was inserted at a later stage, but it remains considered true by the majority of scholars including historian Michael Licona consider it to be authentic passages. These come down to 5 supporting historical reasons it is considered accurate, and is summarized by John P. Meier. Josephus later mentions the crucifixion by Pontius Pilate. The death of John the Baptist is also mentioned. Professor Casey Elledge did an analysis that included Tacitus, Josephus and Suetonius with strong affirmation that Jesus was a real person.

For Josephus to be a well known forgery, it would mean that most scholars would agree with this, which is not the case. Here are the sources for what I shared: Evidence that demands a verdict, Sean & Josh McDowell pro, page 143 - 171 which covers all the non Christian sources, Christian sources and Archeology contributing to the historical existence of Jesus. Sources confirming Nero's fire would also include other non biblical writings like Suetonius, who mentions Jesus, and Nero's fire, Pliny the Younger who mentions how Pliny was punishing the Christians in his letter to Governor of Bithynia from AD 111-113. This consisted of 10 books. He was referring to Roman Christians and non roman Christians. He mentions the hymns they were singing to Christ as if to a God. How they took an oath to keep from theft, crime, robbery, and adultery. This can also be found in Van Voorst, JONT, page 25). Lucian of Samosata was a Greek Satirist in the second century mentioning in a scornful manner Christ, and Christians. His direct words were: "The one whom they still worship today, the man in Palestine who was crucified because he brought this new form of initiation into the world." This can be found in Van Voorst, JONT, page 59. Thallus was a historian in AD55 who wrote three volumes including the fall of Troy. A quote of his remains in "The history of the world" and includes the darkness that was visible at Jesus' crucifixion. This story simply adds limited value to the historicity though. Sources for this are Eddy and Boyd, JL page 173. Celcus, in AD 175, wrote about attacks on Christians. Celsus made the argument that Mary slept with a Roman soldier and conceived Jesus, and argued against the Christian claims. He then writes that the miracles performed by Jesus was an act of sorcery that he learned in Egypt. He had access to the new testament writings, and tried to refute it with claiming Jesus taught his followers to beg and rob. Sources are Van Voorst, JONT page 65 and Eddy and Boyd, JL, page 177. Mara bar Serapoin in AD70, who was a stoic philosopher, and in his letter he compared Jesus to the philosophers Socrates and Pythagoras, and discusses foolishness of persecuting wise people.His writing is cited in Bock, SHJ page 53. Sources for Tacitus include Van Voorst, JONT page 39, Meier, MJ page 89-90, Barnett, FHC, page 58, Momigliano, CFMH, page 111-112, Mellor, Tacitus, page 40.

Regarding Josephus, the sources are Eddy and Boyd, JL, page 184, Grossman, JF, page 406. Antiquitees 20.200. Josephus, CW page 645, Licona, RJ page 235. Twelftree, JJT page 297-301. The debated passage, is refuted by Licona, RJ in page 238 -240, and Meier MJ page 61. Charlesworth also spent time commentating on the authenticity in Charlesworth, HJ page 34. Evans, JHW page 9 also addresses the inaccuracies in the claim of the debated passages.