Taken from got questions web site. Did Jesus really exist.
Answer: Typically, when this question is asked, the person asking qualifies
the question with “outside of the Bible.” We do not grant this idea that the Bible
cannot be considered a source of evidence for the existence of Jesus. The New
Testament contains hundreds of references to Jesus Christ. There are those
who date the writing of the Gospels to the second century A.D., more than
100 years after Jesus' death. Even if this were the case (which we strongly dispute),
in terms of ancient evidences, writings less than 200 years after events took place
are considered very reliable evidences. Further, the vast majority of scholars
(Christian and non-Christian) will grant that the Epistles of Paul (at least some of them)
were in fact written by Paul in the middle of the first century A.D., less than 40 years
after Jesus' death. In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily
strong proof of the existence of a man named Jesus in Israel in the early first century A.D.
It is also important to recognize that in A.D. 70, the Romans invaded and destroyed
Jerusalem and most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Entire cities were literally
burned to the ground. We should not be surprised, then, if much evidence of Jesus'
existence was destroyed. Many of the eyewitnesses of Jesus would have been killed.
These facts likely limited the amount of surviving eyewitness testimony of Jesus.
Considering that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant area in
a small corner of the Roman Empire, a surprising amount of information about Jesus
can be drawn from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical
evidences of Jesus include the following:
The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians
of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin
for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius,
chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ)
who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).
Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James,
“the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says,
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he
was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive
again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other
wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise
man named Jesus. 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. But those who became 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,
concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”
Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed
the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).
Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including
the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes
a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.
The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of
Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging
Jewish apostasy.
Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer who admits that Jesus
was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them.
He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance
of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according
to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves to be immortal, and were characterized by
contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.
Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man,
was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and
lived on in the teachings of His followers.
Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John,
The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus.
In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources:
Jesus was called the Christ (Josephus), did “magic,” led Israel into new teachings,
and was hanged on Passover for them (Babylonian Talmud) in Judea (Tacitus),
but claimed to be God and would return (Eliezar), which his followers believed,
worshipping Him as God (Pliny the Younger).
There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular
and biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact
that literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the twelve apostles,
were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ. People will die for what they
believe to be true, but no one will die for what they know to be a lie.