In this article, I will continuing to look at early non-Christian references to Jesus to show that Jesus was an historical person, just as was Julius Caesar. Then, toward the end of the article, we will very briefly consider the historical records from first century Christians as they appear in the New Testament. The intent is to reinforce the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth actually lived and taught in the time and place ascribed to Him in the New Testament.

6. Josephus (37-100). Josephus was a Jewish leader who was given charge of the contingent of soldiers who defended Yodfat in Galilee during the early days of the Jewish rebellion against Rome. When Josephus' garrison was near defeat, the soldiers made a pact to commit suicide, much as others did at Masada in A.D. 73. Significantly Josephus was the lone survivor (did he rig the drawing of lots?). When he was captured by Vespasian and his son, Titus, Josepheus claimed to have a divine revelation that Vespasian would be the next Roman emperor. When Vespasian became emperor, Josephus was held in high regard. During the siege of Jerusalem, Josephus tried to persuade his Jewish brethren to surrender to Rome. Because of his supporting the Romans and later writings, he is viewed as a traitor and held in disrepute among the Jews. A quotation from his Antiquities of the Jews is so favorable toward Christ that most scholars think that it has been revised by Christians. The quotation reads as follows (I have placed in italics those parts that are thought to be later Christian additions):

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man; if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, and a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him: for he appeared to them alive again, the third day: as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, is not extinct at this day (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.3).

Even when the "edited" parts are removed, we are left with an important early reference to Jesus. Leaving out the disputed material, Josephus said this about Jesus:

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, and a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, is not extinct at this day (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.3.3).

This paragraph confirms that Jesus lived, He was a well-known teacher, He was a doer of wonderful works, He attracted both Jews and Gentiles to His doctrine, Pilate condemned Him to the death of crucifixion at the suggestion of the leaders among the Jews, His disciples did not forsake Him because of His death, but became known as Christians, a religious group that continued to exist in Josephus' day, even though Jesus had been dead since A.D. 29/30.

Not only does he refer to Jesus here, he also mentions the death of Jesus' brother:

And so he [Ananus the high priest] convened the judges of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man called James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned (Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1).

Josephus tells us that Jesus was identified as Christ, at least by some, and that He had a brother named James. The Scriptures also mention James as one of Jesus' brothers (Matt. 13:55; Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 1:19; 2:9). On October 12, 2002, an announcement was made that an ossuary had been found bearing an inscription that stated it was the ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus. Some archaeologists acknowledged the antiquity of the ossuary but thought the inscription was forged for financial reasons. After a five year trial, the judge in Jerusalem declared that the archaeologists had not been able to prove that forgery had occurred. The actual ossuary of the brother of the historical Jesus may have been found.

7. Lucian of Samosata (125-180). This Greek author wrote a satire entitled The Death of Peregrinus which was a satire against Christians, showing how Christians were viewed by their contemporaries. He wrote, "The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day,– the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account" (The Death of Peregrinus, 11-13). This document mentions Jesus' crucifixion and that He was worshiped.

8. Claudius Caesar's (41-54) Edict Against Grave Robbery. In 1878 a marble slab was found in Nazareth that may represent a clumsy attempt by Claudius to suppress rumors of Jesus' resurrection. Here is the inscription, translated as follows:

One can see how the emperor might have issued this edict because of Jesus' missing body, although there may be other explanations that caused the edict to be issued.

9. The Alexamenos Graffito. Also known as the graffito blasfemo, this inscription was found on the Palatine Hill in Rome and is now in the Palatine Antiquarium Museum. The image depicts a human-like figure attached to a cross and possessing the head of a donkey. To the left of the donkey-headed crucified victim is a man raising his hand in a gesture that suggests worship. Underneath the image is an inscription, "Alexamenos worships [his] God." One has little trouble understanding the belittling message of the graffiti. Jesus is compared to the donkey-headed man who was crucified – the god of Alexamenos.

The New Testament Evidence
To quote the New Testament as evidence for the historical Jesus may appear to be circular reasoning to unbelievers, but it is not. Whether or not one believes that Jesus is the Son of God and whether or not one believes the Bible is a revelation of God to mankind, the fact is that the New Testament documents exist, they were written in the first century, and they are historical evidence of what early Christians believed and taught.

Given below is a chart for the dates when the various New Testament books are thought to have been written. I have purposely chosen a book that comes from a liberal perspective to date the various books of the New Testament so that the dating does not represent a conservative perspective. The presuppositions of this perspective are as follows: (a) The Pauline Epistles include some books written by Paul, but other books that were imitating Paul, but actually were written after his death; (b) Mark was the first gospel and was used as a source by Matthew and Luke; (c) the Johannine corpus of literature was written after the death of John. In more recent years, New Testament scholars have moved toward dating the books of the New Testament to earlier dates than cited below. Here is a list of dates for the New Testament arranged in chronological order:

Dates Assigned to the Books of the New Testament Arranged in Chronological Order from Understanding the New Testament, Howard Clark Kee, Franklin W. Young, and Karlfried Froehlich, 1965 (not an Evangelical sourcebook)

1 Thessalonians A.D. 50-52
2 Thessalonians A.D. 50-52
1 Corinthians A.D. 54-55
Galatians A.D. 53-54
2 Corinthians A.D. 55-56
Romans A.D. 56-57
Philippians A.D. 58-60
Colossians A.D. 58-60
Philemon A.D. 58-60
Mark A.D. 70
Ephesians A.D. 75-100
James A.D. 75-100
Matthew A.D. 85-100
Luke A.D. 85-100
Acts A.D. 85-100
John A.D. 90-110
1 John A.D. 90-110
2 John A.D. 90-110
3 John A.D. 90-110
Hebrews A.D. 90-95
1 Peter A.D. 90-95
Revelation A.D. 90-95
1 Timothy A.D. 100-130
2 Timothy A.D. 100-130
Titus A.D. 100-130
Jude A.D. 110-130
2 Peter A.D. 130-150

The first thing that we notice is that the Pauline epistles are the earliest material in the New Testament and that they were written within thirty years of the death of Jesus. We cannot examine every book of the New Testament in intricate detail, but let us look at the two earliest books, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and see what Christians believed about Jesus at this early date, within thirty years of Jesus' death. Here are some things gleaned:

• Jesus is Lord and Christ (1 Thess. 1:1, 3, 6; 3:11; 5:9, 23, 28; 2 Thess. 1:1, 2; etc.)
• He had apostles (1 Thess. 2:6)
• Jesus died (1 Thess. 4:14) for "us" (1 Thess. 5:10)
• The Jews had killed Jesus (1 Thess. 2:15)
• Jesus was raised from the dead (1 Thess. 1:10; 4:14)
• The Christians expected Jesus to come again (1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:16-18; 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2) at which time He will raise the dead and take the living saints with Him into heaven (1 Thess. 4:16; 5:10; 2 Thess. 2:1) and render vengeance to the wicked (2 Thess. 1:7-9; 2:8). The day of His coming is not imminent (2 Thess. 2:3ff.)
• Salvation comes through the Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 5:9)
• Commandments were given by Paul from the Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 4:2; 2 Thess. 3:6)
• The readers had turned to God from idols (1 Thess. 1:9)
• The readers had entered God's kingdom (1 Thess. 2:12)
• The word that Paul preached was not the word of men, but of God (1 Thess. 2:13)
• There were churches of God in Judea in Christ (1 Thess. 2:14)
• These churches had suffered at the hands of the Jews as also had those in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 2:14)
• The Jews had persecuted "us" (1 Thess. 2:15)
• The Jews had forbidden Christians to preach to Gentiles (1 Thess. 2:16)

Though the life of Jesus is related in much greater detail in the four gospels, one is forced to explain how these basic facts about Jesus were already in existence and being preached from Judea to Thessalonica within thirty years of Jesus' death. Thirty years is not enough time for the development of legend, folklore, and myth. And, why couldn't the "superstition" be exposed as a fraud simply by displaying the rotted body of Jesus?

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in A.D. 54-55, he said,
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time (1 Cor. 15:1-8).

From this citation, we learn that Paul preached the atoning death of Jesus, His burial, and His resurrection as the core facts of the gospel. To prove the resurrection, he cited witnesses: Cephas, the Twelve, and over 500 brethren who saw the risen Jesus at one time, most of whom were still living when he wrote. He also referred to the Lord's brother, James, and himself as additional witnesses. One cannot question these facts, regardless of what he believes about the resurrection of Jesus or the inspiration of the Bible. The fact remains that within thirty years of the death of Jesus, these beliefs about Jesus were being publicly proclaimed with appeals to eyewitnesses to support the truthfulness of what was being preached.

One can work his way through every book of the New Testament in the same manner as has been done with reference to the books of 1-2 Thessalonians and this one brief citation from 1 Corinthians. These historical documents tell us what the first century disciples believed to have occurred with reference to Jesus of Nazareth.

Conclusion
However much animus one may have toward Christianity and Jesus, he cannot deny what is attested by non-Christian sources:

A man name Jesus lived at the time assigned to Him in the New Testament
He was a popular teacher who attracted both Jews and Gentiles
He did "wonderful works"
He had a brother named James
He died by crucifixion at the hands of the Roman government under the rule of Tiberius Caesar while Pontius Pilate was procurator in Judea, at the instigation of the Jewish people.
Three hours of darkness over the Mediterranean world was experienced on the day of the Jewish Passover (attested by both Thallus and Phlegon; cf. Matt. 27:45)
His death did not destroy the influence of His disciples inasmuch as a resurgence of life occurred shortly after Jesus' death
Claudius' edict against tampering with a grave may be an allusion to the empty tomb, but we cannot be sure
Jesus gave a "new law" for His people. The Christian movement spread throughout the known world, reaching Rome no later than the reign of Nero, at which time controversy over Christ so disturbed the Jews in the city that Nero expelled them from Rome. Subsequently, Nero persecuted Christians.

By the beginning of the second century, Christians were being subjected to sentences of death throughout the empire, because they confessed Jesus as God.

The custom of Christians was to assemble on a fixed day for worship and sing praises to Jesus as God and bind themselves under oaths to live righteously.

The non-Christian sources correspond remarkably well with what the New Testament documents assert about Jesus.

Now let us add what we know from Christian sources. Whether or not one believes in the inspiration of Scripture and whether or not he believes that Jesus is the Christ, one must also face the fact that the New Testament documents are first-century documents. Even the liberal dating of the New Testament documents assigns the earliest of them to within thirty years of the time of Jesus, though they date some of them in the second century and deny that some of them are written by the one whose name is stated to be its author. From the earliest two letters, 1-2 Thessalonians, one finds that Christians believed these things about Jesus:

Jesus is Lord and Christ (1 Thess. 1:1, 3, 6; 3:11; 5:9, 23, 28; 2 Thess. 1:1, 2; etc.)
He had apostles (1 Thess. 2:6)
Jesus died (1 Thess. 4:14) for "us" (1 Thess. 5:10)
The Jews had killed Jesus (1 Thess. 2:15)
Christians believed that Jesus was raised from the death (1 Thess. 1:10; 4:14)

The Christians expected Jesus to come again (1 Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:16-18; 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2) at which time He will raise the dead and take the living saints with Him into heaven (1 Thess. 4:16; 5:10; 2 Thess. 2:1) and render vengeance to the wicked (2 Thess. 1:7-9; 2:8). The day is not imminent (2 Thess. 2:3ff.)
Salvation comes through the Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 5:9)

Conclusion
The facts gleaned from non-Christian sources and the earliest New Testament documents give reasons for believing in the historical Jesus. We close with this observation by F. F. Bruce (1910-1990), Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, who wrote,

Some writers may toy with the fancy of a 'Christ-myth', but they do not do so on the ground of historical evidence. The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar (The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 119).