A 2015 survey conducted by the Church of England found that twenty two percent of adults in England did not believe Jesus was a real person. This fact may be obvious for some but astonishing to others based on religious beliefs. However, by simply looking at two factual historical writings not part of Christianity, one can see that there is evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth.
Evidence for the life of Jesus (Christ) can be found in the writings of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who wrote a history of Judaism around 93AD. Josephus makes two references to Jesus, one of which is controversial because it is thought to be corrupted by Christian scribes. The other documentation is not as suspicious. This reference to Jesus (in Book 20) was meant only to identify Jesus’ brother James, who was the leader of the church in Jerusalem at the time;
“... called a meeting of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah … James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had transgressed the law, and he handed them over to be stoned.”
The only reason for referring to James in this writing was that James’ death resulted in Ananus losing his position as high priest. James (Jacob) was a common Jewish name at this time -many men named James are mentioned in Josephus’s works, so Josephus needed to specify which one he meant. The common custom of simply giving the father’s name (James, son of Joseph) would not work here, because James’s father’s name was also very common. Therefore Josephus identified this James by reference to his famous brother, Jesus. But James’s brother Jesus (Yehoshua) also had a very common name (Josephus mentions at least 12 other men named Jesus). Therefore, Josephus specified which Jesus he was referring to by adding the phrase “who is called Christos [the messiah].”
Few scholars have ever doubted the authenticity of this short account. In fact, the huge majority accepts it as genuine. This phrase—“who is called Christ”—is very unlikely to have been added by a Christian for two reasons. First, in the New Testament and in the early Church Fathers of the first two centuries C.E., Christians consistently refer to James as “the brother of the Lord” or “of the Savior” and similar terms, not “the brother of Jesus,” presumably because the name Jesus was very common and did not necessarily refer to their Lord. Second, Josephus’s description in Jewish Antiquities of how and when James was executed disagrees with Christian tradition, likewise implying a non-Christian author.
About 20 years after Josephus lived, one can find writings of Tacitus, a man who held one of the highest offices of state at the beginning of the second century AD. From Tacitus one can learn that Jesus was executed while Pontius Pilate was in charge of Judaea and Tiberius was emperor. Both of these reports found in Tacitus’ writings fit with the timeframe of the gospels. Tacitus calls the Christian religion a destructive superstition. The following is an excerpt from one of Tacitus’ writings:
“...Nero substituted as culprits and punished in the most unusual ways those hated for their shameful acts … whom the crowd called ‘Chrestians.’ The founder of this name, Christ [Christus in Latin], had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate …”
Tacitus presents four pieces of knowledge about Jesus:
Christus, used by Tacitus to refer to Jesus, was one distinctive way by which some referred to him, even though Tacitus mistakenly took it for a personal name rather than an epithet or title
Christus was associated with the beginning of the movement of Christians, whose name originated from his
Christus was executed by the Roman governor of Judea
the time of Chritus death was during Pontius Pilate’s governorship of Judea, during the reign of Tiberius. (Many New Testament scholars date Jesus’ death to c. 29 C.E.; Pilate governed Judea in 26–36 C.E., while Tiberius was emperor 14–37 C.E.)
All of this information “checks out” and falls in line with Biblical writings.
Through Tacitus and Josephus writings alone, one can conclude that Jesus was called Christ and existed as a man. His personal name was Jesus. He was called “Christos in Greek,” which is a translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” both of which mean “anointed” or “anointed one.” Josephus states and Tacitus implies this (keep in mind that Tacitus was unaware of this because he reported, as Romans thought, that Jesus’ name was Christus). Jesus had a brother named James (Jacob), as Josephus reports. Jewish leaders of the day expressed unfavorable opinions about him, at least according to some versions of the Testimonium Flavianum. Pilate rendered the decision that Jesus should be executed. Pilate’s execution method was specifically by crucifixion, according to Josephus. Jesus was executed during Pontius Pilate’s governorship over (26–36 C.E.), as Josephus implies and Tacitus states, adding that it was during Tiberius’s reign.
There is other evidence for the life of Jesus of Nazareth (the gospels, the Bible in general, writings from other ancient historians, the Paul theory, and the mythical invention theory), but these are the two are the most compelling that are very unlikely to have been edited by Christians. It is up to you to learn more and decide for yourself whether or not Jesus truly walked the earth over 2,000 years ago. If you decide that Jesus was not a real person, well, your faith walk is going to have to take a pause at this moment in time. Now if you have decided that Jesus really did exist, your walk of faith is going to continue but get a little bit more complicated. This is because the next question you need to ask yourself is this: Was Jesus of Nazareth really God?
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there is only one truth. it’s up to you to decide for yourself based on faith and facts whether or not Jesus truly walked the earth over 2,000 years ago
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