Evidence for the Crucifixion of Jesus

2021-08-23

There are several sources of note that concern the crucifixion of Jesus. Let us consider some of these.

Mara Bar-Serapion

This Stoic philosopher wrote a letter to his son sometime after A.D. 73, who mentioned the death of a series of three wise teachers. He references Jesus in the following:

What advantage did... the Jews [by killing] their wise king, because their kingdom was taken away at that very time? God justly repaid the wisdom of these three men... and the Jews, desolate and driven from their own kingdom, are scattered through every nation. Socrates is not dead, because of Plato; neither is Pythagoras, because of the statue of Juno; nor is the wise king, because of the new laws he laid down. (Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament. An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence, p. 54)

From this text, we can see Jesus was crucified. As a result, God destroyed the nation of the Jews, which we knew came to pass in A.D. 70. There is also a reference to new laws, which we know from the New Testament that Jesus fulfilled the Jewish Law: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23).

Flavius Josephus

This Jewish historian wrote Antiquities of the Jews around A.D. 93, and in Antiquities 18.3.3, we read the following:

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, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. (Antiquities 18.3.3, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Antiquities_of_the_Jews/Book_XVIII#Chapter_3)

This is not without controversy. This portion of the text, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, is believed to have biased interpolations. However, most scholars agree that the original text referenced the life and execution of the Lord.

Tacitus

This Roman historian discussed Nero’s persecution of Christians. Writing in the early second century, he mentions the Lord’s crucifixion:

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 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 centre and become popular. (Annals 15.44, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_15#44)

The Talmud

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a), a Jewish text dating from the second century, speaks of the crucifixion, or hanging, of Jesus:

It was taught: On the day before the Passover they hanged Jesus. A herald went before him for forty days [proclaiming], “He will be stoned, because he practiced magic and enticed Israel to go astray. Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward and plead for him.” But nothing was found in his favor, and they hanged him on the day before the Passover (see Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament, p. 114)

Lucian Of Samosata

This second century Greek satirist references the Lord in which Christians:

...still worship today, the man in Palestine who was crucified because he brought this new form of initiation into the world (see Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament, p. 59)

Considerations

Jesus Christ’s death was referenced by various ancient sources, some of which did not hold Him in high esteem. Because the event was mentioned by many independent sources, the more likely the claim of Jesus’ death is valid. In addition, because these are all early sources, this adds to the credibility that Jesus truly was crucified. Because Jesus’ death by crucifixion historically fits with the type of executions in the first century Roman Empire, this supports the evidence. Lastly, because many of these men were not Christians, and, in some cases, were hostile to the Christian cause, more credibility is added that Jesus of Nazareth truly was crucified. If you also include scriptural testimony, which includes the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John, and the Pauline epistles, the sources of such testimony become quite numerous.