The poet claims of Jesus Christ, "All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, and all the kings that have ever reigned, put together, have not changed life on this earth as much as has that one solitary life." There are more Christians on the planet than adherents of any other faith, so the universal significance of the Christian position regarding the existence and deity of Jesus is clear. But is it justified?

We believe that Jesus is Lord because the Bible teaches that it is so. But the Koran teaches that Allah is the only God. Buddhists follow their own sacred writings, as do Hindus and scores of other religions. Do we have any other evidence to support our commitment to Christ as the King of Kings? And how do we refute the claim that the divinity of Jesus was a doctrine which evolved centuries after his life and death?

Before we formulate our answer, let's remember some facts about non-Christian evidences for Jesus:

  • The availability of international news in Jesus' day was limited, making knowledge of his Palestinian life and work improbable for historians writing in Rome.
  • Much of the literature of Jesus' era has not survived. And so we should not be surprised that non-biblical records regarding Jesus' life are limited.
  • From the time of Constantine (A.D. 312), the Church possessed State authority to suppress all anti-Christian literature. It considered pagan references to Jesus to be blasphemous, and disposed of many of them.
  • The character of the events concerning Jesus' earthly life, centering in a minor nation and religion, would have been of little interest to Rome.
  • Pagan sources would have been influenced by anti-Christian rhetoric.
  • The Jewish documents from the era are problematic in reliability and interpretation.

Despite these facts, historical evidence for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is extremely helpful in confirming the authority of his word.

Gentile references to Jesus

We'll begin with Roman historians who mention Jesus in some way. Thallus the Samaritan wrote a history of Greece and its relations with Asia from the Trojan War to his own day. According to Eusebius, his history was composed in three books. It does not exist today.

Julius Africanus preserves a quotation from Thallus's history. Written in A.D. 52, it may be the earliest non-Christian reference to Jesus: "Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun--unreasonably, as it seems to me." Julius explains that a solar eclipse could not occur at the time of the full moon, and that it was during the season of the Paschal full moon that Jesus died.

Julius and Eusebius were certain that Thallus referenced Jesus' crucifixion. This would be the earliest pagan reference to Jesus, showing that the passion story was known in Rome and non-Christian circles in the mid-first century. And Thallus's statement demonstrates that the enemies of Christianity tried to refute its claims through naturalistic interpretation of the facts it reported.

Pliny the Younger was a Roman administrator who served as governor Bithynia in Asia Minor. The nephew and adopted son of a natural historian known as Pliny the Elder, he was a great letter-writer and observer of his day. Ten books of Pliny's correspondence exist today.

Pliny wrote the first Latin passage in which Jesus is mentioned. The tenth of his correspondence books, composed around A.D. 112, contains numerous letters to Emperor Trajan regarding the administration of Bithynia. One of them concerns the problem of dealing with Christians. In it he describes his efforts to secure their revocation of Christ, and the strange beliefs they hold concerning him. Part of that description: "They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, where they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ as to a god."

Pliny provides the earliest non-biblical description of Christian worship in existence today. It demonstrates that from the first generation of their movement, Christians considered Jesus to be divine. His divinity was not the result of Constantine's edicts two centuries later, or an evolution of faith over several generations. Rather, believers have always known that Jesus existed, and that he was their Lord.

Tacitus (ca. A.D. 55-120) was the greatest historian of ancient Rome. He is best known for two works: the Annals (18 books, covering the period from Augustus' death in A.D. 14 to that of Nero in A.D. 68); and the Histories (12 books, beginning after Nero's death and concluding with that of Domitian in A.D. 96).

In Annals 15:44 we find the only early pagan explicit reference to Christ. Regarding the great fire in Rome during the reign of Nero, Tacitus reports:

Consequently, to get rid of the report [that he started the fire], 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 . . . broke out.

Tacitus was not an eyewitness to these events. But he reports them as facts of history, documenting that Jesus existed, that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and that after his death a "superstition" resulted. "Superstition" points to something supernatural, not a normal historical occurrence. We know that this event was the resurrection. And so by A.D. 115 we have evidence for Jesus' existence and death, and the belief of his followers that he was raised from the dead.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillas (A.D. 65-135) was chief secretary of Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-38). As a Roman historian with access to the imperial records, his narratives are especially noteworthy. Suetonius reports that during Nero's reign, "Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief" (Nero 16:2). Then, during the reign of Claudius, "Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city" (Claudius 25:4). This expulsion occurred in A.D. 49, and was recorded in Acts 18:2.

Mara bar Serapion was a Stoic writing later than A.D. 70 (his letter refers to the destruction of the Temple). The letter is housed in the British Museum today. It may be a reference to the Jewish execution of Jesus: "What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished." He does not name this "king," though it is probable that he refers to Jesus' crucifixion.

In conclusion, the Gentile evidences for Jesus make it clear that Christianity was known and reported by Rome in the first century after his death and resurrection. They also demonstrate the following:

  1. Jesus existed as a figure of history.
  2. The Christians believed in his resurrection.
  3. They worshiped him as their living Lord.

Jewish references to Jesus

The most significant Jewish historian of the ancient world was Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37/38-97). Born in Jerusalem, Josephus belonged to an eminent priestly family, and received extensive education. At the age of 19, he joined the Pharisees. He was opposed to Rome during the Jewish Revolt which began in A.D. 66, but later served commander Vespasian in Jerusalem.

After the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, Josephus moved to Rome, where he became the court historian for emperor Vespasian. Four works have been preserved: History of the Jewish War (in seven books), Antiquities (in 20 books), Autibiography; and On the Antiquity of the Jews (in two books).

In Antiquities, Jesus is mentioned twice. The first reference: "Ananias called a Sanhedrin together, brought before it James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ, and certain others . . . and he caused them to be stoned" (Antiquities 20:9:1). Note that Josephus mentions Jesus without comment or clarification, possibly depending upon his earlier statement regarding Jesus (see below). If so, this passage verifies the earlier text's basic authenticity. And it shows us Jesus' importance, as he could be identified by name alone.

The second reference is sometimes called the "Testimonium Flavianum":

Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works,--a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day (Antiquities 18:3:3; Whiston's translation).

If this reference is authentic, it would provide an extremely significant attribution of divinity and resurrection to Jesus. Since Josephus would have first-hand information, his statement would be especially important.

However, most interpreters do not believe that the uniquely Christian elements of the text came from Josephus. Rather, they affirm that the basic facts of the "Testimonium Flavianum" may be accepted as genuine, with theological interpretations held in judgment. As such, the text is an important Jewish record of the basic facts of Christ's life, death, and reported resurrection.

The Talmud tradition provides additional Jewish attestation to Jesus' existence. The Talmud was a compilation of Jewish oral traditions, collected in written form by Rabbi Akiba before his death in A.D. 135. The work was then revised by his student, Rabbi Meir, and the project completed around A.D. 200 by Rabbi Judah. The written record of the oral tradition is known as the Mishnah. Ancient commentary on it was called the Gemara. The combination of the Mishnah and the Gemara is the Talmud.

We would expect such literature to be biased against Jesus. And we would be correct.

For instance, the Babylonian Talmud 43a states, "It is taught: on Passover Eve they hanged Yeshu. . . . They found nothing in his favor, so they hanged him on Passover Eve." Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 107b contains a bizarre treatment of Jesus' followers and their heretical acts. It considers Jesus to be a heretic and a sorcerer. And Tosefta Hullin 2:22-24 dismisses Jesus' miracles as magic and superstition.

It is noteworthy that those who composed these early rejections of Jesus as Messiah never thought to deny his existence. This would have been the easiest way to debunk the growing Christian movement. But these writers, working so close to the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, knew that such claims would be rejected. And so their anti-Christian rhetoric further makes the case for Jesus' historical existence.