Historical Facts about Jesus:
These early non-Christian sources provide the following facts about Jesus Christ:
- Jesus was from Nazareth.
- Jesus lived a wise and virtuous life.
- Jesus was crucified in Judea under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar at Passover time, being considered the Jewish king.
- Jesus was believed by his disciples to have died and risen from the dead three days later.
- Jesus’ enemies acknowledged that he performed unusual feats.
- Jesus’ disciples multiplied rapidly, spreading as far as Rome.
- Jesus’ disciples lived moral lives and worshiped Christ as God.
This general outline of Jesus’ life agrees perfectly with the New Testament.[23]
Gary Habarmas notes, “In total, about one-third of these non-Christian sources date from the first century; a majority originate no later than the mid-second century.”[24] According to the Encyclopedia Britannica “These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus.”[25]
Early Christian Accounts
Early Christians wrote thousands of letters, sermons and commentaries about Jesus. Also, creeds which speak of Jesus, appeared as early as five years after his crucifixion.[26]
These non-biblical writings confirm most New Testament details about Jesus, including his crucifixion and resurrection.[27]
Incredibly, over 36,000 complete or partial such writings have been discovered, some from the first century.[28] These non-biblical writings could reconstruct the entire New Testament except for a few verses.[29]
Each of these authors writes of Jesus as a real person. Christ-mythers disregard these accounts as biased. But the question they must answer is: How could a mythical Jesus have so much written about him within a few decades of his life?
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