Picture this: You’re conversing deeply with a friend who doesn’t believe in Christianity. You’ve already covered a lot, but now you’ve landed on the Bible. You explain that you believe it’s the ultimate standard of truth, the authoritative Word of God, that reveals His nature. You share how the Bible teaches that God is perfect, holy, and can’t be around sin. But because He loves us, He’s made a way for salvation through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
But then, your friend starts asking tough questions. Questions like, “How do you know the Bible is true? How do we even really know Jesus existed outside of what the Bible says?” These are both great questions! It’s easy for us to know what we believe, but we also must be ready to give a response to our hope. So, let’s explore this!
Before we go further in the evidence, it might be helpful to be grounded on the fact that the Bible is, in fact, the most historically reliable document we have from ancient times. In fact, the belief that Jesus was a real person is very much accepted even by secular historians. For example, Bible scholar Bart Ehrman even states, “There is no scholar in any college or university in the Western world who teaches classics, ancient history, New Testament, early Christianity, any related field, who doubts that Jesus existed.” So, be encouraged, reader, there are a bunch of accounts outside of the Bible that discuss the events surrounding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!
Below are just a few examples of these accounts:
Flavius Josephus
Flavius Josephus was born in 37 AD, four years after the crucifixion. He became one of the most well-known historians in the first century, recording key events concerning the rise of Christianity throughout Israel and the Roman Empire. While under the rule of Emperor Vespasian, he was given permission to write The Antiquities of the Jews. That’s a lot of pressure for someone whose work would be heavily scrutinized by the highest authority in society!
Remember that Josephus’ historical writing came from the view of a devout Jew. Many of the Jews rejected that Jesus was the Messiah, which also led to them being heavy persecutors of the early church. Josephus came from such a tradition and did not support Christians by any means. Yet, he still described Jesus in this way:
“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.”
Why does this matter? In his work, he provides details about the early church, the deaths of John the Baptist and James (Jesus’s half-brother), and descriptions of Jesus Christ. This, of course, confirms details given in the Bible, even from a source that was not Christian!
Cornelius Tacitus
Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman senator, a proconsul of Asia, and one of the most trusted historians from the first century. He is known for his highly detailed and reliable recordings from the first century. In one of his last works, called Annals, he recorded the persecution of Christians under the rule of Emperor Nero. During his reign, a huge fire would break out, and rumors would form that Nero himself had done it. In retaliation, he pinned the blame on Christians. This is what Tacitus would record concerning these events:
“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 Judea, 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.”
This account by Tacitus is crucial because it backs up several key details from the Bible. He confirms that Jesus Christ lived in Judea, was crucified by Pontius Pilate, and followers of Christ were heavily persecuted for their beliefs. The fact that he would be mentioning Jesus’ execution at all is a big deal!
Mara Bar-Serapion
Bar-Serapion was a Syrian philosopher who was alive sometime after 70 AD. It would be during his imprisonment that he would write about Jesus. He would compare Jesus’s persecution to that of his time’s philosophers. This writing shows that Jesus was perceived as a well-known figure in society. He would even refer to Jesus as a “wise king.” Specifically, these are the details he gave in his writings to his son:
“What benefit did the Athenians obtain by putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as judgment for their crime. Or, the people of Samos for burning Pythagoras? In one moment their country was covered with sand. Or the Jews by murdering their wise king?…After that their kingdom was abolished. God rightly avenged these men…The wise king…Lived on in the teachings he enacted.”
In his writing, Bar-Serapion describes Jesus as not only highly influential and knowledgeable but also mentions that the Jewish religious leaders persecuted him. Again, these details are crucial in defending the Bible’s historical accuracy.
I hope our explored sources have helped equip you to share the Gospel and its historical validity with your friend. These are only a few of the many sources we have explored, and so many others prove the Bible’s historical validity. Christianity is a reliable faith, and we have been called to engage with others to encourage them to come to faith in Jesus. So, I encourage you to make sure you are presenting this respectfully and lovingly. It’s the believer’s call to point out the faith’s goodness, truth, and beauty. And pointing out its history is just one piece of the mission of defending the faith well!
Written by Caitlyn Conn
Works Cited
https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-there-any-evidence-for-jesus-outside-the-bible/
https://robertcliftonrobinson.com/are-there-sources-for-jesus-outside-the-new-testament/