Did Jesus Christ Really Exist?

Did Jesus really exist? Most people will provide their answer from their perspective on faith and religion rather than considering the evidence that would objectively lead to an answer. Christians will claim that Jesus did exist because the Bible says so. Others believe the Bible is an unreliable source filled with myths and that it has been corrupted to the extent that it is untrustworthy. An objective consideration of the historicity of the existence of Jesus Christ should, therefore, rely on evidence from sources outside of the Bible.

Six non-Christian sources are relevant to the question of whether or not Jesus was a historical figure: Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger, Suetonius, Lucian, and Celsus. Some references by these authors are controversial because they are not entirely specific to Jesus Christ but make mention of early Christians. The historicity of Jesus is not necessarily lost in the inexactness, however, these sources are of lesser value than those that reference Jesus by name. We will, therefore, divide the sources into two categories: specific evidence and indirect evidence.

The specific evidence is limited to the historians Josephus and Tacitus, while the indirect evidence addresses references to Christians that are consistent with the claims of the Biblical narrative and/or history, showing that Jesus did exist. Keep in mind that early Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism in the Roman world, and references to Christ and Christians are sometimes derogatory. Jesus, as the central figure of Christianity, may not be mentioned directly in these references, though the Christian movement had its foundation in the life and actions of Jesus. Such references indicate that Jesus Christ did live during the 1st century CE.

Specific Evidence

Tacitus

Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian lived between 54 and 120 CE, and some scholars consider him the greatest Roman historian of all time. He wrote about Jesus in his work the Annals around 116 CE, where he makes the following comment when discussing the scapegoats Nero blamed for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE:

“Their name [Christians] comes from Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate.” 

Here, Tacitus confirms the existence of Jesus and his crucifixion at the hand of Pontius Pilate, and he continues to speak of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire, albeit from a hostile Roman perspective. He does not show any doubt that Jesus was a historical person.

Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in the 1st century CE, provides significant references to Jesus in his works, primarily in his Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War. Although some of the writings by Josephus have been subject to later Christian interpolations, most scholars agree that the core passages referring to Jesus are authentic. These passages include mentions of Jesus as a wise man, a doer of surprising deeds, and his crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.

Josephus wrote:

“Festus was now dead, and Albinus was put upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others…”

Josephus was born shortly after the death of Jesus and, being the son of the high priest Matthias, he grew up in an environment that was acutely aware of the fledgling new Christian sect. He may even have heard some of the apostles preach.

Later, in Antiquities 18.63, Josephus wrote:

“At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man if indeed one should call him a man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. He was the Messiah. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. For he appeared to them on the third day living again, just as the divine prophets had spoken of these and countless other wondrous things about him. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out.”

Though some scholars argue that this passage shows Josephus converted to Christianity, the church father Origen stated that Josephus was not a Christian. Whether he was or not, Josephus remains a respected and oft-referenced historian from the first and early second century CE. His work makes direct reference to Jesus and confirms the historical context of the death of Jesus Christ.

Indirect Evidence

Pliny the Younger 

Pliny the Younger was a Roman senator and historian who lived in the 1st century CE. In one of his letters to the Roman Emperor Trajan around 112 CE, he mentions the Christians and their worship practices. Pliny persecuted Christians for not renouncing their faith.

He notes that Christians “met regularly before dawn on a determined day, and sung antiphonally a hymn to Christ as if to a god.” Pliny’s comment implies that he believed Christ was a literal man. While not mentioning Jesus directly, Pliny’s mention of Christians and their activities serves as indirect evidence for the existence of Jesus, as these early Christians centered their beliefs and practices around him.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, a Roman historian who served under Emperor Hadrian, wrote about early Christians in his work, the Lives of the Twelve Caesars, published around 120 CE. In his biography of Emperor Claudius, he mentions the expulsion of Jews from Rome due to disturbances caused by “Chrestus.” While the reference is brief and somewhat ambiguous, many scholars interpret “Chrestus” as a misspelling of “Christus” (Christ). Suetonius also references “a new and mischievous superstition” called Christianity. He mentions that the State accused these Christians of starting the fire that ravaged Rome in 64 CE and punished them accordingly.

Considering the context, it seems reasonable that “Chrestus” could be a reference to Jesus Christ. It is unlikely that Christians would put themselves through the kind of persecution they suffered if the person they were named after as a group was fictitious.

Lucian

Lucian of Samosata was a 2nd-century Greek satirist who wrote about various religious and philosophical figures. In his work The Passing of Peregrinus he mentions the Christians and their founder, a man crucified in Palestine.

Lucian wrote of Christians:

“… that one whom they still worship today, the man from Palestine who was crucified because he brought this new form of initiation into the world.”

Lucian does not mention Jesus by name, though he contextually speaks of Jesus Christ as a historical figure. He does not question the reality of Jesus’ existence in his satire.

Celsus

Celsus was a philosopher from the second century CE. Though the original works of Celsus no longer exist, we know of their content from the church father Origen, who wrote a rebuttal. In Against Celsus, Origen argues against the claims Celsus made that Jesus was the illegitimate child of Mary and a Roman soldier, that his miracles were acts of sorcery and magic, and that he taught his followers to beg and steal. There is little doubt that Celsus considered Jesus a historical figure from the allegations he made about him.

The indirect evidence detailed above increases the likelihood that Jesus existed. The contexts they speak to are consistent with the biblical narrative. None of the persons referenced were sympathetic to the Christian cause, and none questioned the historicity of Jesus as the central figure of the Christian faith.

The two primary sources of specific evidence for the existence of Jesus come from two different perspectives. Josephus was a Jewish historian, while Tacitus was a Roman historian. Both mention Jesus by name in such a way that there can be no doubt that they considered him a historical figure. In both instances, the historians refer to the context of Jesus’s death at the hand of Pontius Pilate.

Josephus also references James, the brother of Jesus, indicating that he understood that Jesus Christ was a real person. His lineage as the son of a high priest placed him in the ideal position to be aware of the challenge the new-found Christian religion posed to Judaism.

Both Tacitus and Josephus are credible historians from the first century CE, and there is no reason to doubt their references to Jesus as a historical person when scholars hold the rest of their work in high regard. It is significant that arguably the two most revered historians from the first century CE mention Jesus by name. Neither of them had a Christian bias that may cause the skeptical observer to doubt the veracity of their work when referencing Jesus Christ.