There is a HUGE problem in Windsor, Ontario. There is a huge fake news story circulating throughout the WHOLE CITY! But I’m afraid it gets worse, this story has spread like a cancerous disease throughout the whole world. People are spreading the fake news that Jesus Christ NEVER EXISTED! We intend to set the record straight, Jesus did actually exist and here is just a small sample of evidence.
Roman Sources
Let’s start with the Roman historian Tacitus. Tacitus was writing of a fire in Rome and how the Emperor Nero placed the blame for this fire on Christians. This ancient writing is one of the earliest secular histories that record Christ and the spread of the church. It has been dated at 116 AD, about 84 years after the resurrection of Jesus, He writes,
“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.” (Annals, book 15, Chapter 44)
In Tacitus’ letter we learn that Christ suffered the extreme penalty (death by crucifixion) under the authority of Pontius Pilate and then shortly after the church was born. Tacitus calls it a “mischievous superstition”, we call it the resurrection. The message of the resurrection of Jesus started in Judea and was spread through the whole Roman Empire. The amazing fact is, Jesus’ body was not found. All the authorities had to do was present the body and this “mischievous superstition” would have been destroyed. But they could not, instead the message of Jesus was spread throughout the whole Empire and could not be stopped. This is the testimony of Scripture and the testimony of secular history.
Furthermore, Suetonius records the same truth that Tacitus does, albeit more briefly. He writes in his history of the Caesars,
“Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition.” (The Lives of the 12 Caesars, Nero 16)
These persecutions under Nero were occurring in the mid 60’s AD, merely 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus. These two historical sources, when compared with the Bible further demonstrate the truth and historicity of the Bible. The Bible is not a made up story of fiction. It is actually eye witness accounts of what happened to a real historical human being, Jesus of Nazareth, and the amazing result of His life after His resurrection. He did die by crucifixion and shortly after men were preaching that He rose again. As a result of this the message of Christianity spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire. It was not stopped despite persecution, and the body of Jesus was never found. These are the historical facts.
Still further evidence is found in a letter written by Pliny the younger to the Emperor asking what he was to do with the Christians. He writes in his letter concerning the worship of the Church,
“They affirmed, however, the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they 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 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 of an ordinary and innocent kind.” (Pliny, Book 6)
The fact that a whole letter was written about the early church tells us a lot about the impact and significance of Jesus. How is it that one man, born in a remote part of the world (Judea), who died as a criminal, all of a sudden is being worshipped by a group of people that has grown so large and influential that the Emperor of Rome is being consulted as to what to do with them? In his letter it becomes clear that some Christians left the faith at the threat of persecution (just like the Bible says), but he also writes of two women who were interrogated,
“I judged it so much the more necessary to extract the real truth, with the assistance of torture, from two female slaves, who were styled deaconesses: but I could discover nothing more than depraved and excessive superstition.” (Pliny Book 10)
These women would not deny their Lord even though they were tortured. The depraved and excessive superstition of these women was probably the glorious truth of the resurrection of Jesus and new life in Him. What we have here is an amazing testimony to the faithfulness of God, and further evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. These women would have been alive during a time when there were still people who had either seen the resurrected Jesus, or known someone who had seen the resurrected Jesus.
Jewish Sources
Josephus is a Jewish historian who also wrote of the ministry of Jesus. Now it is true that many scholars debate the authenticity of the passage dealing with Jesus, but if we take even the most conservative reading of this passage, that even liberal scholars can agree on, it still becomes clear that Jesus of Nazareth was an amazing man who lived in the first century,
“Now around this time lived Jesus, a wise man. For he was a worker of amazing deeds and was a teacher of people who gladly accept the truth. He won over both many Jews and many Greeks. Pilate, when he heard him accused by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, (but) those who had first loved him did not cease (doing so). To this day the tribe of Christians named after him has not disappeared”(Josephus)
Even in this conservative rendering of the text, we learn that Jesus was a wise man, did amazing things, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and shortly after had a group of followers called Christians who continued to the present day of his writing (and even today).
These are just a few pieces of secular evidence that agree with the testimony of the New Testament. The New Testament is a reliable historical source that tells us of the man, Jesus of Nazareth, His life, works, death, resurrection and early church movement, that has not lost momentum to this very day.
Hopefully this article will help stop the spread of this outrageous fake news story. Jesus did exist!
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Sources:
Tacitus
http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.11.xv.html
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/tac/a15040.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/15B*.html
Seutonius
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html
Pliny the younger
http://www.ancient-literature.com/rome_pliny_epistulae_X96.html
http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/Pliny/Pliny10-096-E.html
Josephus
http://pleaseconvinceme.com/2012/is-there-any-evidence-for-jesus-outside-the-bible/
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