More is almost always better. That is certainly the case when investigating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The last couple of weeks we have looked at the writings of both Cornelius Tacitus, and Flavius Josephus. Both of these first century writers mention not only Jesus and His crucifixion, but also the early tradition of His resurrection from the dead. But there is still more. Several other non-Christian writers make mention of Jesus and the movement He began.
Pliny the Younger (61—c.113 AD) was a Roman senator and friend of Cornelius Tacitus. In a letter to Emperor Trajan, Pliny wrote about his experience with Christians asking his advice concerning the interrogation of those Christians who failed to “burn a pinch of incense to Caesar,” and renounce their loyalty to Christ. Pliny wrote: “But they declared that the sum of their guilt or their error only amounted to this, that on a stated day they had been accustomed to meet before daybreak and to recite a hymn amongthemselvestoChrist,asthough he were a god, and that so far from binding themselves by oath to commit any crime, their oath was to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, and from breach of faith, and not to deny trust money placed in their keeping when called upon to deliver it. When this ceremony was concluded, it had been their custom to depart and meet again to take food, but it was of no special character and quite harmless.”
Though this passage does not mention the crucifixion or resurrection, it gives additional evidence from a pagan source that Jesus was a real historical person.
Suetonius (c. AD 69 – c. AD 122) was a Roman lawyer and lists Pliny theYoungerasaclient.Suetoniuswas also a historian and wrote extensively about twelve of the Roman Caesars. He mentions Christians in only one passage: He [Claudius] expelled the Jews from Rome, since they were always making disturbances because of their instigator Chrestus [Christus].
Most scholars date this passage by Suetonius to the year AD 49 and that Luke mentions it in passing in his account about Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:2). Again, the passage does not mention the crucifixion or the resurrection but it does provide one more independent source of evidence that Jesus was a real person.
Mara bar Serapion, however, does mention the crucifixion. Serapion was a stoic Syrian philosopher who wrote in a letter to his son a brief mention of the crucifixion. Serapion wrote: “or the Jews [by killing] their wise king becausetheirkingdomwastakenaway at that very time” . Most scholars date the passage to shortly after AD 73. Once again, in this passage we have an independent historical source to the crucifixion of Jesus.
Additionally, Thallus was a historian who wrote a history of the Mediterranean world in about AD 55. However, the original no longer exists but, a Christian author, Julius Africanus cited Thallus in a work he wrote in AD 220. But that original is also lost to history except for a later writer, Georgius Syncellus, quoting Africanus wrote the following in AD 800: “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks wererentbyanearthquake,andmany places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his history, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.”
How cool is that? Although this is a third-hand passage it gives corroboration to the Gospel account of Jesus’s crucifixion and stands as anotherindependenthistoricalsource recalling the event. But there is more. LucianisanotherSyrianpaganwriter who lived in the late 2nd century. He wrote about Jesus twice in his work; The Passing of Peregrinus. In it he makes mention of Jesus being a wise man in one instance, and reports Jesus to have been crucified in Palestine in another. Historian John Meier suggests it was common knowledge writing; “No doubt Lucian is reflecting on knowledge that was ‘in the air’ at that time.” Lucian joins the list of writers giving evidence of Jesus having been a historical person and that He was crucified by the Romans under Pilate.
The last source we will look at is that of Celsus. Celsus was a Platonic philosopher who wrote a critical work dated 177-180 A.D. on Christianity in which he mentions both the crucifixion and the resurrection. Sometime around 175 CE, the Neoplatonist thinkerCelsuswroteacomprehensive attack on Christianity entitled True Doctrine. In this work Celsus’s criticisms attempted to discredit Christ’s conception, birth, childhood, ministry, death, resurrection, and continuing influence. But in the process of writing his disputation, in actuality, he affirmsthatJesuswasarealhistorical person, that many believed in His resurrection, and that the disciples truly believedtheyhadseentherisenJesus. And that is what we have argued all along. When one couples these pagan sources of evidence with the very early oral traditions about the resurrection, and the Gospel accounts written by the eyewitnesses, the combined list of sources is quite extensive.
Joinusnextweekaswesummarize all the sources we have presented over the last few weeks. Until then, the question demands an answer, is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.