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Suetonius, a Roman historian, wrote in about AD 120 (Life of Claudias 25,4) , concerning a large Jewish community in which riots had broken out: "Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the City." It has been argued whether this "Chrestus" is a variant or misspelling of "Christus" the Greek spelling of Christ, or speaking of an entirely different person, but most scholars agree that this was probably speaking of Christ.
Josephus, a Jewish historian in about AD 90 (Jewish Antiquities 18,3,3) wrote concerning Christ, 'Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross.......And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
Some phrases are thought even by Christian scholars to have been added later by over zealous Christians because they are not remarks typical of an unbelieving Jew, but even without those sections this seems an obvious reference to the Jesus Christ of the Bible.
In Jewish Antiquities (18,5,2), Josephus wrote this concerning John the Baptist:
"Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God. "
And again in Jewish Antiquities (20,9,1), Josephus wrote this concerning Jesus brother, James:
"Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but 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."
Tacitus (The Annals 15,44) said this of Nero, regarding Jesus and Christians:
"Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus (Christ), 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 Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired."
There are two versions of the Jewish Talmud, which is a commentary on the Jewish Bible and other customs and historical events; one originating in Jerusalem and the other in Babylonia. In the Babylonian Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin (43A), there is an interesting reference to Jesus.
"It has been taught on the eve of the Passover they hanged Yeshua (Jesus). And an announcer went out in front of him for forty days saying, 'He is going to be stoned because He practiced sorcery and enticed and led Israel astray. Anyone who knows anything in his favor, let him come and plead in his behalf.' But, not having found anything in his favor, they hanged him on the eve of the Passover."
These quotes are very interesting. Tacitus and Suetonius do not have any reason to mention either Christ or Christianity in their writings. Neither were Christians or seemed favorably disposed toward them, yet they both corroborate both Christ’s existence and the existence of the Christian movement. The fact that Jesus is mentioned by Josephus and in the Babylonian Talmud is remarkable as well. The Talmud quote speaks of sorcery, no doubt the miracles that Jesus performed which were unexplainable from a wordly standpoint. The writers of the first and second century, obviously, must have seen both Christ and the Christian movement as a large enough cultural epidemic so as to warrant mention in their literature.
When it comes right down to it though it does not matter whether Christ is attested in 5 manuscripts or 5,000. Belief in Christ should not be based on worldly proofs, but on faith. Faith in Christ is not mere intellectual assent to His having existed, but faith in Him that He is who He said that He is, the Son of God come in the flesh, who lived a perfect life of love and died as a sacrifice to save us from the sentence of death each of us individually has earned by sinning against Him and each other.
"We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about His Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in His heart."
(1 John 5:9-10)
One outstanding author for related materials is Josh McDowell - Search for his books at Amazon.com:
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