What is the historical proof that Jesus existed?
Some people doubt whether we can accept what the Bible says about Jesus Christ.
Is it only the Bible that records that there was a man called Jesus?
Is there any other evidence of Jesus that has been recorded in other, non-Christian, historical documents?
Table of Contents:
1. Jeremy Bowen (BBC’s former Middle East correspondent) Evidence of Jesus.
Jeremy Bowen, the presenter of the ‘Son Of God’ programme which was shown on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 1 April 2001, said:-
I thought you couldn’t corroborate anything that was in the Gospels…
Jeremy Bowen on BBC’s ‘Son Of God’ programme. ‘Son of God (TV series)’ Wikipedia. 1
To start with I didn’t know there was a historical character called Jesus – I thought that you had to believe in Jesus the same way as you have to believe in God.
I discovered that in fact there is a lot of historical corroboration for the existence of this man – for example there′s a Romanised Jewish historian who writes about a man called Jesus, a Jew who attained a following of people in his area, who was known as a worker of deeds and who was put to death by the authorities…”
In the United States, the series was shown on the Discovery Channel under the name ‘Jesus: The Complete Story’ as a single three-hour programme, two weeks after its UK broadcast.
So let’s look at some of the historical evidence of Jesus in non-Christian writings:
2. Evidence of Jesus from Lucian of Samosata.
Here is some non-Christian evidence of Jesus from a second-century Greek satirist, Lucian of Samosata (c. 125 – after 180)
The Christians . . . worship a man to this day – the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. . .
Lucian of Samosata 3
[It] was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.”
Lucian is jesting about the early Christians, and although he does not mention Jesus by name he is unmistakably referring to him.
That is obvious historical proof that Jesus existed
3. Historical proof that Jesus existed from Tacitus the Roman historian.
Probably the most important is found in the report by the Roman historian Tacitus, writing about the decision of Emperor Nero to blame the Christians for the fire that had destroyed Rome in A.D. 64:
Consequently, to get rid of the report, [that he was responsible for the fire that razed Rome] Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Roman historian Tacitus 5
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…”
This information is interesting because it says that the name ‘Christians’ came from the founder called ‘Christus’ which is the Latin spelling of the Greek ‘Christ’.
But that is not all, Tacitus, also tells us that Christ ‘suffered the extreme penalty’ that is the penalty of crucifixion.
Also, he mentions two rulers at that time, who are recorded in the Bible:-
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea”
Luke 3:1 NIV
That’s a lot of interesting evidence of Jesus Christ from an unbeliever.
This is definite historical proof that Jesus existed.
4. Evidence of Jesus from Pliny a Roman governor.
Another important source of evidence of Jesus Christ from non-Christians can be found in the letters of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan.
Pliny was the Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor.
For example, Pliny asks Trajan’s advice about how to carry out legal proceedings against those accused of being Christians, and he relays this information he has learned about them:
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up;
Pliny the Younger 7
after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food – but food of an ordinary and innocent kind”
Notice that Christ is mentioned and that the Christians saw Him as being Divine.
So not only was He human, (He was a real human being living at that time in history) but also God.
It also shows some early practices of the Christians:-
They met on a set day for worship.
They held onto His teachings, and they celebrated a meal, which is known now as; ‘Communion’, the sharing of bread and wine.
Again, this is historical proof that Jesus existed.
5. What an imaginary newspaper might have written at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The Roman and Jewish authorities have admitted that they have put soldiers at the tomb where the body of Jesus of Nazareth lies, otherwise, ‘the body of Jesus may rise from the dead’!
This Jesus has been heralded as a Prophet over the last three years and multitudes have witnessed him doing many signs and wonders: healing many people and they have even seen some rise from the dead!
What concerns the authorities the most, is that Jesus has been heard to say that he would be raised from the dead after three days.
This would cause a threat to the authorities and so a group of soldiers are guarding the tomb at this very moment to prevent such an unwelcome event.
The authorities are feeling doubly nervous because they snatched this Jesus and held an unlawful court throughout the night and into the early morning.
It is rumoured that they couldn’t get any of the witnesses to agree on a story and when they finally dragged him off to see the Governor, Pontius Pilate, he looked as if he had been severely beaten up.
The Jewish authorities quickly rounded up a mob to give the Governor a hard time and because of the hostility of the crowd, the Governor changed his verdict from ‘not guilty’ to being condemned to death by crucifixion.
The Roman soldiers immediately whipped Jesus almost to the point of death and led him away to be crucified.
Later that day the soldiers put a spear into his side to make sure that he was dead.
Amazingly, the officer in charge of the execution was overheard to say that he thought that this man was the Son of God.
All the God-fearing people in Jerusalem are waiting to see whether this increased security will be able to stop the words of this Prophet from turning into reality – only time will tell!
***** STOP PRESS *****
Reports have just come in that over one hundred people claim to have seen this Jesus of Nazareth.
They insist that this is the same man that had been crucified and that he has now risen from the dead!
[An imaginary newspaper article nearly 2000 years ago!]
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NIV
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he [Jesus] appeared to Cephas [Simon Peter] and then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep [died]. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me [the apostle Paul] also…”
See a timeline from 600 B.C. to Jesus’ birth.
What do the Jews think of Jesus?
There is a lot of star information, so does any of that information point towards the Star of Bethlehem?
When was Jesus born?
More detailed articles:
Jesus’ childhood and birth. God’s new work before miracles…
Turin Shroud and Sudarium of Oviedo
References and credits – open in new tabs:
Jeremy Bowen on BBC’s ‘Son Of God’ programme. ‘Son of God (TV series)’ Wikipedia last edited on 5 September 2023. ↩
Image copyright: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. ↩
Lucian, The Death of Peregrine, 11-13, in The Works of Lucian of Samosata, transl. by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler, 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1949), vol. 4., cited in Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus, Joplin, Missouri: College Press Publishing Company, 1996), 206 ↩
Image copyright: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. ↩
Tacitus, Annals 15.44, cited in Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ,(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 82 ↩
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. ↩
Pliny, Letters, transl. by William Melmoth, rev. by W.M.L. Hutchinson (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1935), vol. II, X:96, cited in Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus, (Joplin, Missouri: College Press Publishing Company, 1996),199 ↩