What Do Ancient Writers Outside the Bible Say About Jesus?
This week we continue to look at what ancient writers outside the Bible had to say about Jesus. In doing so, we continue to see that they confirmed several key details that the New Testament authors reported about Jesus. There are nine ancient non-Christian sources that wrote about Jesus (the same number that wrote about the Roman emperor of the day). Last week we started with Josephus, Thallus and Tacitus. This week we look at two more.
Mara Bar-Serapion
Thought it’s unfortunate for us, because it’s hard to remember and pronounce his name, it’s also very fortunate that Syrian philosopher Mara Bar-Serapion wrote to his son about Jesus, sometime after AD 70. To encourage his son he compared the life and persecution of Jesus to that of other philosophers who were persecuted for their ideas. He wrote:
What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrate to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given.
Although Mara Bar-Serapion did not place Jesus above Socrates or Pythagoras, he listed him alongside them. He also confirmed some important facts about Jesus. At the least it’s confirmed that Jesus was a wise and influential man who was killed for his beliefs. We can also conclude that the Jews were involved with his death and that Jesus’ followers lived lives that reflected his teaching.
Phlegon
As in the case of Thallus, Sextus Julius Africanus wrote about a historian named Phlegon who wrote in about AD 140. In his historical account, Phlegon also mentioned the darkness that occurred at the crucifixion of Jesus:
Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth.
The early church theologian Origen also cited Phlegon several times in a book he wrote in response to criticisms from the Greek writer Celsus:
Now Phlegon, in the thirteenth or fourteenth book, I think, of his Chronicles, not only ascribed to Jesus a knowledge of future events (although falling into confusion about some things which refer to Peter, as if they referred to Jesus), but also testified that the result corresponded to his predictions. So that he also, by these very admissions regarding foreknowledge, as if against his will, expressed his opinion that the doctrines taught by the fathers of our system were not devoid of divine power.
And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place, Phlegon too, I think, has written in the thirteenth of fourteenth book of his Chronicles.
He also imagines that both the earthquake and the darkness were an invention, but regarding these, we have in the preceding pages made our defense, according to our ability, adducing the testimony of Phlegon, who relates that these events took place at the time when our Savior suffered.
So although Phlegon was not a believer in Jesus and denied some of the claims of the Gospel writers, his statements did reluctantly admit that Jesus had the ability to accurately predict the future and was crucified under the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
“But These Source Stop Short”
Some might say that these non-Christian sources stop short of confirming really key details about Jesus, like his resurrection, but remember that we’re talking about non-Christian sources. If they did confirm the resurrection they would be considered a Christian source, joining the thirty-three Christian authors who wrote about Jesus in the first 150 years.
In total we have forty-two ancient sources for Jesus and while I don’t think it’s fair to discount the Christian sources just because they’re Christian, even the non-Christian sources confirm, even if reluctantly, several of the key details of the Christian sources. All together they make a very strong case about who Jesus really was.
To deny the strength of the case of what they say is kind of a like a defense attorney saying, “Other than the four eyewitnesses who say my client committed the murder, all you have are several other witnesses who can confirm several of the key details. Clearly, the case should be thrown out!” What would you say to the attorney if you were the judge?
About half of what the Roman historian Tacitus wrote is no longer available
Let’s say, though, for the sake of argument that evolution by natural selection really is as easy as some evolutionists suggest. Tyson, in the second episode of Cosmos admitted that there are a couple of minor details that they can’t explain by natural (un-supernatural) means. Again, they have it all figured out and we can trust them that there’s no need for a creator, but there are a couple of minor details they can’t explain yet. What are those minor details? Just how the universe came into existence and how life began!
For me, the odds of it all coming about by chance are just too great and I don’t have enough faith to believe that. It’s much easier for me to believe that a God of supreme intelligence and power made it all, including you and I. What’s more, from other evidence I have presented in other posts, I believe that God has come to us in Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again.
Tyson said that people used to think that because the human eye is so intricate, more complex than anything ever built by human intelligence, that it can’t have been the result of mindless evolution. But then he goes on to show how a long series of random beneficial mutations could have all built upon each other, giving us the amazing eyes we have today. Never mind that geneticists observe that harmful mutations outnumber beneficial mutations by at least as much as ten thousand to one, and in some species by as much as ten million to one. Those are quite the odds.
Consider the game of roulette. The odds of winning are against you, it’s slightly improbable we might say, but people do win at the game. But what if someone goes into a casino and wins time after time after time after time after time? Won’t the casino owners think something’s up? Wouldn’t you? What if, when confronted he just said, “What’s the big deal? It’s not that hard to win a game.”
“mainly from Anglican (Church of England) and Puritan (Calvinist) backgrounds. The charter of the Royal Society instructed its fellows to direct their studies “to the glory of God and the benefits of the human race.” Robert Boyle (1627-1691) said that science is a religious task, “the disclosure of the admirable workmanship which God displayed in the universe.” Newton believed the universe bespeaks an all-powerful Creator. Sprat, the historian of the Royal Society, considered science a valuable aid to religion.”
As we’ve looked at over the past several weeks, the evidence is strong that Jesus really was crucified, died and rose again from the dead. As I explained last week, he did this to give his life for us as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. There’s nothing more superheroic than giving yourself to save others and then having the power to come back from the dead. Superman did it in the comics but Jesus did it in real life and you can examine the evidence of that historical event. (
Of course we should always start by looking for natural explanations, but when none are found and the evidence is strong that something actually happened, we should be open to considering the supernatural. This is certainly true when a supernatural explanation is at home. Jesus lived a sinless life and was an amazing moral teacher. He claimed to be God and to be the way to God the Father. He told people to trust in him for their eternal salvation. What’s more he backed up those claims with his miracles and he said that when he was killed he’d rise from the dead. After that he was crucified and then appeared to and convinced friends and foes alike that he had indeed risen. If someone claimed that John F. Kennedy rose from the dead that would be out of place, but with Jesus such a claim is right at home.
Jesus was publicly executed in Jerusalem. Then his after death appearances and empty tomb were first proclaimed publicly in Jerusalem. That being the case, it would have been impossible for Christianity to get off the ground in Jerusalem if the body had been in the tomb. His enemies in the Jewish leadership and Roman government would have only had to exhume the body and display it to bring an end to it all. But not only are Jewish, Roman and all other writings missing any such account, there is total silence from Christianity’s critics who would have jumped at this sort of evidence. Certainly the 2nd century critic Celsus would have mentioned it when writing against the resurrection but no such mention is made.