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Did Ancient Secular Historians Confirm Jesus’ Existence?

There are not very many people who deny that Jesus ever lived. But there are some who take that stand in the hope of convincing themselves that the Bible is an untrustworthy group of writings. But it won’t work. The evidence for His existence is overwhelming.

One of their favorite complaints is that those Biblical writers do not count since they were all part of His close personal friends. If He never existed, how could they have been His close personal friends? Then they say that they were conspirators in an effort to start a new religion.  This won’t work either because these men were from different locations and after the Savior’s ascension, they went their separate ways, spreading the gospel...and they all taught the same thing. Their writings about Jesus were done after his death and resurrection and could not have been accurately written without inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Their question as to why these men wrote detailed accounts of Him while others did not is self explanatory. They followed Him, ate with Him, traveled with Him and listened to His teachings for over two years. But that does not even tell the entire story. If you follow a person daily and hear him talk, after two years, how much of what you heard, can you tell without error? If there were twelve of you, how accurately would the twelve tell of His teachings without disagreeing on any point?  There is no way whatsoever, except by inspiration.

Jesus promised His apostles that he would send them a comforter (The Holy Spirit) who would:  (I) Bring all things He had taught them to their remembrance:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26 emphasis added-JHH)

(2) That he would guide them into all truth:

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:13 emphasis added JHH)

Then, by reading the first and second chapters Acts, you will see the detailed account of the comforter, the Holy Ghost descending upon these men and giving them the power to speak the truth in all the doctrine of Jesus. Peter’s first sermon is recorded there.

So, it is very obvious why these men were the primary writers and advocates of Jesus Christ. Why should they not be counted as the prime source? They were the ones who had the information.

Some insist that Josephus, a Jewish historian who was born approximately 3 years after Jesus ascended, would have written much more about Jesus, had He been a real live man. They even try to infer that some Christian later added the small amount of references he does make about Jesus. That is pathetic in a effort to discredit any of these other writers. Josephus was a strong Jew and his historical work was done under the close scrutiny of both the Caesar, and the Jewish Sanhedrin. These people did not want anything good written about Jesus and had Josephus really told of the wonders of Jesus, his works would surely have  been destroyed and he, himself would have been endangered.

His remarks, although brief and few, were actually highly complimentary of Jesus even though he attempted to make it look questionable. One of his brief mentions of Him in his “Jewish Antiquities” follows:

"we learn that Jesus was a wise man who did surprising feats, taught many, won over followers from among Jews and Greeks, was believed to be the Messiah, was accused by the Jewish leaders, was condemned to be crucified by Pilate, and was considered to be resurrected." (Wilkins, Michael J. & Moreland, J.P. Jesus Under Fire [Zondervan Publishing House, 1995], p. 40)

You will notice that he makes no personal observations but mentions only what people said, and well done. He was not contemporary with Jesus but was with many of his followers.

Most of the ancient writers who do not even mention Jesus, were devout Jews who would have preferred that doctrine of Jesus would simply disappear and therefore did not mention Him.

But there were many other writers who did, not the least of whom were the Jewish prophets under the Old Testament law of Moses. They did not mention His name but certainly prophesied of the Messiah with details which were fulfilled entirely by Jesus, His virgin birth, life, death and resurrection.

And perhaps one of the most concrete proofs of Jesus  being a genuine living being comes begrudgingly from the Jewish Talmud. Although uncomplimentary, it is still truthful acknowledgment:

"we learn that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, gathered disciples, made blasphemous claims about himself, and worked miracles, but these miracles are attributed to sorcery and not to God."  (Ibid)

» left by Goshwin Stone from Georgia (1 year 188 days ago.)

Well-written Joel. For me personally, though it may offend some people, I do not really care one way or the other whether Jesus lived as a human being or not. I believe the Christed Spirit descended into mankind 2000 years ago and helped us evolve into more loving and compassionate beings. For this I am thankful.

 

I will leave it to others to argue the point as to whether Jesus existed or not as a human being.

 

Blessings

» left by Joel Hendon⁽¹⁷⁹⁾ (1 year 188 days ago.)

Thanks for reading and commenting Goshwin, I do appreciate it. I don't understand though, how people could ever try and deny that Jesus lived on the earth (and I do know you did not say that)  With thousands of early manuscripts still in existence acknowledging that he did, more than for the existence of any other human.

And, I really can't imagine where you would find any reason to feel that the "Christed" spirit descended into mankind 2000 years ago. I know of no inference of such and when you mention that it helped us to evolve into a more loving and compassionate people...??? This world is so full of hate and and lack of compassion, I cannot imagine this being a result of a benevolent spirit. Any charitable works are done with some ulterior motive except in truly rare instances.  Thanks again for your comment.

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