JESUS
The following are extra-biblical sources for Jesus’s existence, by those who either hated him or were indifferent to him. These are not an exhaustive list. (1) Tacitus’s last major work, titled Annals, written c. 116–117 CE. Josephus, a Jewish first-century priest, Annals XV.44, as translated in Van Voorst, Jesus Outside, pp. 42–43. (2) Josephus, first-century, Jewish Antiquities, XX.9.1. (3) Rabbinic traditions Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a; compare Sanhedrin 67a.
For the name “Jesus,” Strong’s gives “Jehovah is salvation.” “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). He is not only a Jewish savior, but for all races: “And he is the propitiation [satisfying God’s demand for our sins] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2; see PROPITIATION).
Christ had no beginning. Micah 5:2, when prophesying that the birth of Christ would be in “Bethlehem,” says, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (see also John 8:58 and John 1:1, 14). Where the Bible says Christ is “the beginning of the creation of God,” Strong’s gives for “beginning” = “beginning, origin,” it means that Christ is the origin of creation (Ephesians 3:9). Where it says Christ is “the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15), this is explained three verses later (v. 18) as being in reference to His resurrection: “the firstborn from the dead.” Where the Bible says that Christ was “begotten” of the Father, it is again in reference to His resurrection: “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Acts 13:33).
Christ created everything: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1: 3); “all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
In John 14:28 Jesus said, “For my Father is greater than I.” Later it is explained in John 17:5 that the difference was only while Christ was on earth: “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Christ “had” this heavenly glory when He was in heaven, and because He was preparing to go back to heaven, He asked for it back. The only time it is recorded that He showed His glory here on earth was when He was “transfigured” and “they saw his glory” (Luke 9:32). In a parallel passage of the transfiguration, it tells us what this “glory” was that “his face did shine as the sun” (Matthew 17:2). “Glory” in the Bible almost always refers to a bright light—in this case as bright “as the sun,” which would be one reason He could not have shown His glory all the time while here on earth, as people would have gone blind just looking at Him. The Bible tells us we are to honor the Son of God the same as the Father! “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:22–23).
Fairy tales that say Jesus Christ got married after His resurrection and had children are denying the ascension of Christ. “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The Bible talks freely about Christ having “brothers,” “sisters,” and “mother,” but does not even hint that Christ was married. Not even when referring to those who were married as an example to those who wanted to be. “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” (1 Corinthians 9:5). In this passage, Paul was arguing that he had the right to get married if he wished to because the other apostles were married, as were Jesus’s brothers, so certainly if Christ was ever married, Paul would have said, “and even Christ was,” but he made no such claim, for He never was.
The resurrection of Christ is tied to your salvation!
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Christ’s resurrection from the grave was a real physical resurrection, not a spiritual resurrection. Spirits do not resurrect, for your spirit leaves at death: “For as the body without the spirit is dead…” (James 2:26; see the false teaching of SOUL SLEEP). Those who teach that Christ’s Spirit rose, but not His body, believe that Christ ceased to exist (at least in a conscious state) for three days and three nights until His resurrection. But the Bible plainly says that Christ’s Spirit left His body while on the cross: “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46). Where the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:50,“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…” it is talking about the need for a new body that could not die. We will still have a “body,” but one that will not have a sin nature but a “spiritual body” that will not decay or grow old. Verse 44 of this same passage says, “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body,” which is the body that will not die (1 Corinthians15:42). Our fleshly bodies are not raised by themselves but by the Spirit of God: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). In Luke 24:13–31 two of Christ’s disciples walk with our Lord after the resurrection but do not recognize Him, and some have used this to say He did not have a real body. But the passage plainly says, “Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him” (Luke 24:15–16). It was not Jesus’s body that was the problem, but their eyes. There are some who will point out that it says Jesus stood in the midst when the “doors were shut” (John 20:19), and they do not believe a normal body could have entered the room with the doors being shut. But a normal body could not have walked on water either—still, Jesus did it (Matthew 14:25–26). Jesus Christ made the universe and the laws of nature. He could do whatever He wanted, including healing the sick, blind, mute, and resurrecting the dead.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses (it is not wrong to name false religious groups, as both Christ and Paul did—Matthew 16:6, 12; Acts 23:6–8; Romans 16:17–18) say they believe in the resurrection of Christ, but they only believe in a spiritual resurrection. When a Jehovah’s Witness is asked, “Where is the body of Christ?” some respond that God hid it in outer space (they have no verse in the Bible to support this), and some say that the worms ate it. This is blasphemy! “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 13:34–35). “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption” (Acts 2:31). Christ’s body did not decay!
Verses that show Christ’s resurrection was bodily:
John 2:19–21: “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”
Luke 24:34–43:“Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.”
John 20:25–27: “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
Deity of Jesus Christ:
Those who teach that Christ was not God believe he was an angel before He came to earth, but the person who hung on the cross was not an angel, and no angel is called the “only begotten Son” (John 3:16). “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son…But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” (Hebrews 1:5, 13). Jesus is called both the “Son of man” and the “Son of God” in Scripture. Verses that seem to make Christ less than God are referring to the Son of Man or His human body: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature…” He was man by His mother and God by His Father. He was not half man and half God, but 100 percent of both (Colossians 2:9). Because He became a man and was rejected by those of His time, and forsaken by His own followers the night of His betrayal, He understands our feelings (Hebrew 4:15). And because he was whipped, spat upon, beaten, and crucified, He understands our suffering (Philippians 2:6–11). And because Christ is God, He has all the power in the universe, and can help us. Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).
Verses that show that Christ is God:
1) “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6).
2) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, and v. 14 shows that the “word” is Jesus Christ).
3) “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Thomas did not say unto “them” (both Jesus and His Father) but unto “him,” one person, Jesus Christ, and he called Him God.
4) “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9; Jesus was 100 percent God, “all the fulness” in a human body, but without the sin nature).
5) “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).
6) Men and angels refused worship (Acts 10:25–26; 14:11–15; Revelation 19:10, 22:8–9), but Christ accepted worship (Matthew 14:33, 28:17, etc.), and only God is to be worshiped (Matthew 4:10; Hebrews 1:5–8).
Christ is superior over all others
(Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna, etc.):
That “in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:18–19). “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). No one else claims to have had a virgin birth (see VIRGIN BIRTH), all others had an earthly father. No one else lived a sinless life (1 John 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21). No one else did the works that He did: “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing” (John 9:32–33). “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did…” (John 15:24). No one else ever spoke like Christ spoke: “The officers answered, Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). None of the others (Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna, etc.) died for their followers: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). All others will bow before Christ someday: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). None of the others even claimed to have risen from the dead: “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). All others were created by Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16). Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9). There are not many roads that lead to heaven—Christ is the only way: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; see VIRGIN BIRTH; see TRINITY).
The following are extra-biblical sources for Jesus’s existence, by those who either hated him or were indifferent to him. These are not an exhaustive list. (1) Tacitus’s last major work, titled Annals, written c. 116–117 CE. Josephus, a Jewish first-century priest, Annals XV.44, as translated in Van Voorst, Jesus Outside, pp. 42–43. (2) Josephus, first-century, Jewish Antiquities, XX.9.1. (3) Rabbinic traditions Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a; compare Sanhedrin 67a.
For the name “Jesus,” Strong’s gives “Jehovah is salvation.” “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). He is not only a Jewish savior, but for all races: “And he is the propitiation [satisfying God’s demand for our sins] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2; see PROPITIATION).
Christ had no beginning. Micah 5:2, when prophesying that the birth of Christ would be in “Bethlehem,” says, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (see also John 8:58 and John 1:1, 14). Where the Bible says Christ is “the beginning of the creation of God,” Strong’s gives for “beginning” = “beginning, origin,” it means that Christ is the origin of creation (Ephesians 3:9). Where it says Christ is “the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15), this is explained three verses later (v. 18) as being in reference to His resurrection: “the firstborn from the dead.” Where the Bible says that Christ was “begotten” of the Father, it is again in reference to His resurrection: “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Acts 13:33).
Christ created everything: “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1: 3); “all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
In John 14:28 Jesus said, “For my Father is greater than I.” Later it is explained in John 17:5 that the difference was only while Christ was on earth: “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Christ “had” this heavenly glory when He was in heaven, and because He was preparing to go back to heaven, He asked for it back. The only time it is recorded that He showed His glory here on earth was when He was “transfigured” and “they saw his glory” (Luke 9:32). In a parallel passage of the transfiguration, it tells us what this “glory” was that “his face did shine as the sun” (Matthew 17:2). “Glory” in the Bible almost always refers to a bright light—in this case as bright “as the sun,” which would be one reason He could not have shown His glory all the time while here on earth, as people would have gone blind just looking at Him. The Bible tells us we are to honor the Son of God the same as the Father! “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:22–23).
Fairy tales that say Jesus Christ got married after His resurrection and had children are denying the ascension of Christ. “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The Bible talks freely about Christ having “brothers,” “sisters,” and “mother,” but does not even hint that Christ was married. Not even when referring to those who were married as an example to those who wanted to be. “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” (1 Corinthians 9:5). In this passage, Paul was arguing that he had the right to get married if he wished to because the other apostles were married, as were Jesus’s brothers, so certainly if Christ was ever married, Paul would have said, “and even Christ was,” but he made no such claim, for He never was.
The resurrection of Christ is tied to your salvation!
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Christ’s resurrection from the grave was a real physical resurrection, not a spiritual resurrection. Spirits do not resurrect, for your spirit leaves at death: “For as the body without the spirit is dead…” (James 2:26; see the false teaching of SOUL SLEEP). Those who teach that Christ’s Spirit rose, but not His body, believe that Christ ceased to exist (at least in a conscious state) for three days and three nights until His resurrection. But the Bible plainly says that Christ’s Spirit left His body while on the cross: “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46). Where the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:50,“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…” it is talking about the need for a new body that could not die. We will still have a “body,” but one that will not have a sin nature but a “spiritual body” that will not decay or grow old. Verse 44 of this same passage says, “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body,” which is the body that will not die (1 Corinthians15:42). Our fleshly bodies are not raised by themselves but by the Spirit of God: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11). In Luke 24:13–31 two of Christ’s disciples walk with our Lord after the resurrection but do not recognize Him, and some have used this to say He did not have a real body. But the passage plainly says, “Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him” (Luke 24:15–16). It was not Jesus’s body that was the problem, but their eyes. There are some who will point out that it says Jesus stood in the midst when the “doors were shut” (John 20:19), and they do not believe a normal body could have entered the room with the doors being shut. But a normal body could not have walked on water either—still, Jesus did it (Matthew 14:25–26). Jesus Christ made the universe and the laws of nature. He could do whatever He wanted, including healing the sick, blind, mute, and resurrecting the dead.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses (it is not wrong to name false religious groups, as both Christ and Paul did—Matthew 16:6, 12; Acts 23:6–8; Romans 16:17–18) say they believe in the resurrection of Christ, but they only believe in a spiritual resurrection. When a Jehovah’s Witness is asked, “Where is the body of Christ?” some respond that God hid it in outer space (they have no verse in the Bible to support this), and some say that the worms ate it. This is blasphemy! “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 13:34–35). “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption” (Acts 2:31). Christ’s body did not decay!
Verses that show Christ’s resurrection was bodily:
John 2:19–21: “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”
Luke 24:34–43:“Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.”
John 20:25–27: “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
Deity of Jesus Christ:
Those who teach that Christ was not God believe he was an angel before He came to earth, but the person who hung on the cross was not an angel, and no angel is called the “only begotten Son” (John 3:16). “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son…But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” (Hebrews 1:5, 13). Jesus is called both the “Son of man” and the “Son of God” in Scripture. Verses that seem to make Christ less than God are referring to the Son of Man or His human body: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature…” He was man by His mother and God by His Father. He was not half man and half God, but 100 percent of both (Colossians 2:9). Because He became a man and was rejected by those of His time, and forsaken by His own followers the night of His betrayal, He understands our feelings (Hebrew 4:15). And because he was whipped, spat upon, beaten, and crucified, He understands our suffering (Philippians 2:6–11). And because Christ is God, He has all the power in the universe, and can help us. Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).
Verses that show that Christ is God:
1) “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6).
2) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, and v. 14 shows that the “word” is Jesus Christ).
3) “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Thomas did not say unto “them” (both Jesus and His Father) but unto “him,” one person, Jesus Christ, and he called Him God.
4) “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9; Jesus was 100 percent God, “all the fulness” in a human body, but without the sin nature).
5) “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).
6) Men and angels refused worship (Acts 10:25–26; 14:11–15; Revelation 19:10, 22:8–9), but Christ accepted worship (Matthew 14:33, 28:17, etc.), and only God is to be worshiped (Matthew 4:10; Hebrews 1:5–8).
Christ is superior over all others
(Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna, etc.):
That “in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Colossians 1:18–19). “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). No one else claims to have had a virgin birth (see VIRGIN BIRTH), all others had an earthly father. No one else lived a sinless life (1 John 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21). No one else did the works that He did: “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing” (John 9:32–33). “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did…” (John 15:24). No one else ever spoke like Christ spoke: “The officers answered, Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). None of the others (Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna, etc.) died for their followers: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). All others will bow before Christ someday: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). None of the others even claimed to have risen from the dead: “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). All others were created by Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16). Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation” (Hebrews 5:9). There are not many roads that lead to heaven—Christ is the only way: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; see VIRGIN BIRTH; see TRINITY).
