Historical Evidence of Jesus Outside of the Bible

Cornelius Tacitus

The greatest Roman historian in the days of the Empire was Cornelius Tacitus (born between 52 and 54 A.D.). Writing about the reign of Nero (54-68 A.D.), he described the great fire which destroyed Rome in 64 A.D. and told of the rumor that Nero burned the city himself in order to gain greater glory in its rebuilding. In his Annals 15.44, Tacitus says:

"Therefore, to scotch the rumor, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, from whom they got their name, had been executed by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate when Tiberius was emperor; and the pernicious superstition was checked for a short time, only to break out afresh, not only in Judea, the home of the plague, but in Rome itself, where all the horrible and shameful things in the world collect and find a home."

For Tacitus, Christus would have been considered a proper name; but to the Jews and for the first Christians, it referred to the Messiah. The Jews did not believe him to be the Messiah and would have referred to him merely as Jesus. It is thought that this information came from a summary report from Pilate himself. It may sure be one of the ironies of history that the only mention Pilate receives from a Roman historian is in connection with the part he played in the execution of Jesus.

Tacitus makes a further reference to Christians in a fragment of his Histories, dealing with the burning of the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D. This is preserved by Sulpicius Severus (Chron. 2.30.6).

Suetonius

Suetonius wrote of the lives of the first twelve Caesars in 120 A.D., from the life of Julius Caesar onward. In his Life of Nero (26.2), Suetonius says:

"Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men addicted to a novel and mischievous superstition."

Another possible reference to Christianity occurs in Suetonius's Life of Claudius (25:4), of whom he says:

"As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome."

This reference to the expelling from Rome (ca. 50 A.D.) can be also be found in Acts 18:2, "And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome." It is likely that the strife among the Roman Jews at that time was over the introduction of Jesus Christ. Suetonius wrongly infers that "Chrestus" (Christ) was actually in Rome at the time.

The prophecy of Agabus in Acts 11:28 is "that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius." Suetonius confirms this report in his Life of Cladius 18.2, where he mentions that during Claudius's reign there were "constant unfruitful seasons."

Lucian

Lucian, a Greek satirist likened to Mark Twain, wrote in the second century about Christ in these words in a work entitled, On the Death of Peregrine.

The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day--the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. . . . You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property.

From this same source we also learn that the Christians had "sacred writings," which they read frequently. They also spared no trouble or expense to help each other in matters Affecting their community. Unfortunately, the goodness of Christians led them to be easily taken advantage of by unscrupulous people.

Mara Bar-Serapion

The British Museum possesses a manuscript of a letter written between the first and third centuries A.D. The author was Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian who was writing to encourage his son in prison to imitate wise men. The letter reads in part:

What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment 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 that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger, the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; he lived on in the teaching, which he had given.

Pliny the Younger

An author and administrator, Pliny the Younger (62-113 A.D.), the Roman governor of Bithynia, which is in Asia Minor wrote to the Emperor Trajan (98-117 A.D.), asking for guidance in how to deal with accused Christians. At that time it was illegal to be a Christian, and some were tortured or killed. In his letter Pliny describes an early worship service:

They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to commit any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food or an ordinary and innocent kind. (Epistles, Book 10.96 written in 112 A.D.)

Emperor Trajan

Pliny's inquiry received the Emperor's attention and response, which is published along with Pliny's letters:

The method you have pursued, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those denounced to you as Christians is extremely proper. It is not possible to lay down any general rule, which can be applied as the fixed standard in all cases of this nature. No search should be made for these people; when they are denounced and found guilty they must be punished; with the restriction, however, that when the party denies himself to be a Christian, and shall give proof that he is not (that is, by adoring our Gods) he shall be pardoned on the ground of repentance, even though he may have formerly incurred suspicion. Information without the accuser's name subscribed must not be admitted in evidence against anyone, as it is introducing a very dangerous precedent, and by no means agreeable to the spirit of the age. (Pliny, Epistles, Book 10.97)

Emperor Hadrian

Serenius Granianus, proconsul of Asia, wrote to Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) about the treatment of Christians who were being tried. Hadrian replied to Minucius Fundanus, his successor, with a statement against those who would accuse Christians falsely or without the due process of law. In a letter preserved by Eusebius, a fourth-century church historian, Hadrian says:

I do not wish, therefore, that the matter should be passed by without examination, so that these men may neither be harassed, nor opportunity of malicious proceedings be offered to informers. If, therefore, the provincials can clearly evince their charges against the Christians, so as to answer before the tribunal, let them pursue this course only, but not by mere petitions, and mere outcries against the Christians. For it is far more proper, if any one would bring an accusation, that you should examine it.

Hadrian said that if Christians should be found guilty after they had been examined, then they should be judged "according to the heinousness of the crime." If the accusers were only slandering the believers, then those who inaccurately made the charges were to be punished. (See Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 4:9.)

Thallus

We now appeal to a lost work by an historian of the first century that was quoted in 221 A.D. by Julius Africanus. Thallus wrote about the death of Jesus in his history of the Eastern Mediterranean world covering the time from the Trojan War to his own day (52 A.D.). This work is lost, but other authors cite fragments. It is debated about whether Josephus refers to this man as a wealthy Samaritan, who was made a freedman by Emperor Tiberius and who loaned money to Agrippa I. Africanus found a reference dealing with the darkness that covered the land at the time of the crucifixion and writes:

On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. (Julius Africanus, Extant Writings, 18 in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6, p. 130.)

Africanus objected to Thallus's assessment because he could not see how an eclipse could take place when there was a full moon, as is the case when the Jews observed the Passover. Africanus does not tell us if Thallus mentions Jesus' name or not.

Josephus

This Jewish historian, writing in about 93 or 94 A.D. in his Antiquities of the Jews, spoke about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are two versions of this statement, one in Greek and the other in Arabic. The Greek text dates as early as 315 A.D. but has been disputed. Though Josephus was not a Christian, the language he uses may very well be how a cynical Jew might refer to Jesus.

About this time there arose Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it be lawful to call him a man. For he was a doer of wonderful deeds, and a teacher of men who gladly receive the truth. He drew to himself many both of the Jews and of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, on the indictment of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those who loved him at the first did not cease to do so, for he appeared to them again alive on the third day, the divine prophets having foretold these and ten thousand wonderful things about him. And even to this day the race of Christians, who are named after him, has not died out. (Antiquities 18:3.)

Origen says that Josephus did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah (Contra Celsum 1:47). For this reason many scholars have debated whether Josephus actually penned these words. However Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (1:11) quotes the passage as genuine.

In 1972 Professor Shlomo Pines of Hebrew University in Jerusalem argued for an Arabic version of this same text which he believes to be older than the Greek one. This version was found in a church history written by Agapius, an Arab bishop in Baghdad. The Arabic version reads:

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 from 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 his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah of whom the prophets have recounted wonders.

Professor Pines believes that medieval Christian censorship was probably responsible for the differences between the two versions. Whether one accepts the Greek or the Arabic, the essential story of the death and resurrection of Jesus was known by Josephus and recorded in his Antiquities of the Jews.

In another passage in the Antiquities, Josephus writes about the martyrdom of the brother of Jesus, called James:

(Ananus) assembled the Sanhedrin of the judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned. (20:9)

The Talmud

The Talmud is a collection of Jewish traditions, which were written down by Rabbi Akiba in 135 A.D. A very significant quotation is found in Sanhedrin 43a, dating from the Tannaitic period (70-200 A.D.).

On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, "He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf." But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!

It is important to note at this point that the word "hanged" is a variant expression meaning that he was crucified. Gal. 3:13 speaks of the curse on "every one who hangs on a tree." The word "hang" is used of crucifixion also in the case of the two thieves (Luke 23:39). Another possible reference to Jesus in the Talmud states that he was either thirty-three or thirty-four when he died (Sanhedrin 106b).