Some may feel this entry is too long… But I find stuff like this fascinating…
Whenever I tell people the New Testament is the best record we have of Jesus’ life, his teachings and his character, almost without fail someone asks for evidence for Jesus outside the Bible because they don’t feel(?) the Bible is reliable. To me, such request is akin to saying, “Teach me about President Lincoln, but I don’t want to read anything written by his closest friends.”
Nevertheless, there are well-known (in the academia anyway) references to Jesus in the ancient writings. In the preserved works of Roman history, documenting the day-to-day events of the empire (all written by people unaffiliated with and often hostile to the Christian church), we see examples that support the Bible accounts of Jesus and of early Christians:
Josephus, Flavius (A.D.37 – A.D.~100)
Josephus (Wiki) was a Jewish historian and soldier. After having been defeated by the Romans, he found favor of Roman general Flavius (hence he was known as Flavius Josephus). Under the patronage of the Empire, he wrote comprehensive historical works of Jews and Judaism.
In Antiquities, Book 18, Ch.3, Part 3, he writes about Jesus and his followers causing “trouble”:
Now there arose at this time a source of further trouble in one Jesus, a wise man who performed surprising works, a teacher of men who gladly welcome strange things. He led away many Jews, and also many of the Gentiles. He was the so-called Christ. When Pilate, acting on information supplied by the chief men around us, condemned him to the cross, those who had attached themselves to him at first did not cease to cause trouble, and the tribe of Christians, which has taken this name from him is not extinct even today.
Also in Antiquities, Book 20, Ch.9, Part 1, the execution of James, the brother of Jesus (and the author of the book of James in the New Testament), is mentioned:
…so he assembled the sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned…
Tacitus (A.D.55 – A.D.117)
Tacitus (Wiki) was a Roman senator, consul, governor and historian. His surviving major works include The Annais and The Histories.
In The Annais, book 15, he writes about Nero’s persecution of the Christians after Jesus was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius (see Luke 3:1). You can sense the disdain he had for Judea:
Consequently, to get rid of the report, 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, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular
Suetonius (A.D.69 – A.D.140)
Suetonious (Wiki) was a Roman historian and a friend to Pliny the Younger (below). With Pliny’s help, he found favor in the eyes of emperor Trajan and served under him in various posts. He’s best known for The Lives of the Caesars.
In The Lives of Caesars — Claudius, Sec.25, he writes Claudius banned the followers of Christ from Rome:
He banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus
In The Lives of Caesars — Nero, Sec.16:
Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class mf men given to a new and mischievous superstition.
Celsus (2nd century, A.D.), as quoted by Origen
Celsus (Wiki) was a Greek philosopher and a staunch opponent of Christianity. He viewed Christianity as a threat to the stable pagan communities. His original work is lost, but much of his work is quoted in the rebuttal to his work, Contra Celsus, by Origen (Wiki), penned some 70 years later.
..[Celsus] accuses [Jesus] of having “invented his birth from a virgin,” and upbraids Him with being “born in a certain Jewish village, of a poor woman of the country, who gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery; that after being driven away by her husband, and wandering about for a time, she disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who having hired himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty, and having there acquired some miraculous powers, on which the Egyptians greatly pride themselves, returned to his own country, highly elated on account of them, and by means of these proclaimed himself a God.”…
(note Celsus in effect acknowledges the claims of virgin birth and the miracles Jesus performed)
Pliny the Younger (A.D.62 – A.D.113) & Emperor Trajan (A.D. 53 – A.D. 117)
The snail-mail exchanges between Pliny the Younger, the governor of Pontus/Bithynia from 111-113, and emperor Trajan are well preserved. In this exchange, he consults Trajan on whether his dealings with troublesome Christians were conducted in a manner to his approval:
Pliny to Emperor Trajan:
It is my practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better give guidance to my hesitation or inform my ignorance? I have never participated in trials of Christians. I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or investigate, and to what extent. And I have been not a little hesitant as to whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no difference between the very young and the more mature; whether pardon is to be granted for repentance, or, if a man has once been a Christian, it does him no good to have ceased to be one; whether the name itself, even without offenses, or only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished.
Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.
Soon accusations spread, as usually happens, because of the proceedings going on, and several incidents occurred. An anonymous document was published containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ–none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do–these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.
They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food–but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.
I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it. It is certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the established religious rites, long neglected, are being resumed, and that from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for which until now very few purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine what a multitude of people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is afforded.
Trajan to Pliny:
You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it–that is, by worshiping our gods–even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.
This past weekend, some 40 of us from Life Christian Fellowship and Life Baptist Church visited Centro Shalom, a church in Tijuana, Mexico, ministering to the poorest in the region. Additional photos from the trip here.
Friday afternoon, after VBS was over, we went out to the town, hand-delivering clean water for drinking. Had to walk for about 3 hours because cars cannot access the narrow dirt roads nor the rickety bridge (one of the guys tripped and caused slight damage to it). I was amazed at the dedication and the love of the local church members (mostly teenagers) who do this on a regular basis. The 40+ of us carried about 90 one-gallon bottles (and those bottles got heavier by the minute under the scorching sun). I could not imagine how the 15-or so of the local kids do this, carrying 5-6 bottles each, when additional visitors aren’t there to help most of the time.
