Evidence of Jesus Outside the Bible

Anush A. John
Nov 29, 2023
5 min read

Updated: Nov 29, 2024

The central force of the Bible is the account of Jesus Christ. However, a skeptical person might wonder if there are any historical accounts of Jesus outside the Bible or if the biblical writers simply fabricated the entire account.

There are several reasons why any account of Jesus outside the Bible is challenging to have:

a. Judah and Galilee, where Jesus sojourned, were at the outer extent of the Roman Empire at that time. As a result, it was considered an unimportant location. Additionally, Jesus' main ministry was on the outskirts of the central location of Jerusalem, making it even less accessible, especially at a time when communication was very onerous.

b. Many religious and political figures rose over the years, and the frequency of regional instability resulted in less attention to activities from this region. Historical writing usually focused on the upper class or important people. This is unsurprising because, at that time, only educated people were literate.

c. It is likely that much of the ancient documents have been lost. Thus a lack of documentation does not mean there is no documentation from that time. For example, even a Rome-appointed leader like Pontius Pilate, who was the governor for about ten years in Judea, is mentioned only by one Roman historian, Tacitus. Most extra-biblical information about Pontius Pilate is found in Josephus and Philo, both Jewish historians.

Despite these challenges, historical documentation about Jesus comes from the following sources. Any mention of Jesus outside the Bible in this context, even if they are negative, would give significant credibility to the historicity of Jesus.

There is historical documentation of Jesus in Roman, Jewish, and Greek writings. A summary of all these writings shows the following about Jesus:

‘Jesus was a Jewish teacher who had a group of disciples; He was a wonder-worker of some sort, performing healings and exorcisms; He was rejected by the Jewish leaders and crucified by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar; the sky turned dark at the time of His crucifixion (the pagan historian Thallus explains this as an eclipse of the sun!); His followers claimed to have seen Him risen from the dead shortly after His crucifixion; and the Christian movement spread so rapidly that within a few decades it had taken root in Rome itself.’

We shall now look briefly at some of the different sources.

Evidence from Roman Sources

Suetonius Tranquillus , Claudius 25.4

This work is dated AD 120 and talks about the riots that broke out in AD 49. He describes the reaction of Claudius to the riots and says that the Jews were expelled from Rome because of the riots which happened at the instigation of Christ.

This text is important because it shows that within a few decades, the Christian movement had reached from Jerusalem to Rome, and shows the close connection between Judaism and the early church such that the Romans considered them to be one group.

Darrell L. Bock, Studying the Historical Jesus: A Guide to Sources and Methods (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 47–49.

P. Cornelius Tacitus, Annals 15.44

In AD 64 a fire broke out in Rome thought to have been ordered by Nero, for which he subsequently attempted to blame Christians. Tacitus describes this event in his book Annals. The book is dated AD 115-117 and covers the period AD 14-68. He clearly mentions the Christians in his writings.

Therefore, to squelch the rumor, Nero created scapegoats and subjected to the most refined tortures those whom the common people called “Christians,” [a group] hated for their abominable crimes. The author of this name, Christ, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Suppressed for the moment, the deadly superstition broke out again, not only in Judea, the land which originated this evil, but also in the city of Rome, where all sorts of horrendous and shameful practices from every part of the world converge and are fervently cultivated.

C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Pliny the Younger), Epistles 10.96–97

Pliny the Younger was a Roman noble and senator who was a governor in Pontus and Bithynia (AD 111- 112). He was a prolific writer. In a letter to the Emperor, Trajan, Pliny writes the following about Christians.

That it was their habit on a fixed day to assemble before daylight and recite by turns a form of words to Christ as a god (carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere); and that they bound themselves with an oath, not for any crime, but not to commit theft or robbery or adultery, nor to break their word, and not to deny a deposit when demanded. After this, they went on, it was their custom to separate, and then meet again to partake of food, but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.

This citation by Pliny shows several importants aspects both about Christ and Christians.

He indicates that the Christian movement had spread to Rome and northern Turkey. He gives aspects of Christian worship as described in the Bible and the uncompromising devotion of believers to Jesus, especially in a culture when the Roman Emperor was recognized as god.

Evidence from Syrian Source

Mara Bar Sarapion, Syrian Philosopher

There is a letter by this philosopher just after the fall of Jerusalem, and the letter is dated AD 73. In this letter, he references Jesus as the king of the Jews, who was slain for his wisdom, though he does not mention Jesus directly.

Evidence from Jewish Sources

Joseph ben Matthias, (Flavius Josephus, A.D. 36–100)

Josephus was from a Jewish priestly family. He was a commander of the Jewish Galilean forces against the Romans in the Jewish War and became a POW in AD 67. He later found favor under Vespasian and was allowed to write Jewish history. His comprehensive work, Antiquities, traces Jewish history from creation to the fall of Jerusalem. In this work, he mentions Jesus, James and John the Baptist.

He mentions the execution of James, the brother of Jesus in AD 62 when the rule transitioned from Festus (mentioned in Acts) to Albinus. This execution was faciliated by the son of Annas. (It was Annas who was the high priest who facilitated the death of Jesus 30 years earlier). Josephus refers to James as “the brother of Jesus the one called Christ” (Antiquities 20.200).

The Testimonium Flavianum has the most comprehensive, early description of Jesus.

In Antiquities 18.63–64, Josephus has a paragraph about Jesus and endorses the following:

(1) Jesus had a reputation as a wise man and a teacher of wisdom; (2) Jesus was a man with a reputation for performing unusual works; (3) Jesus’ significant following led the Jewish leadership to respond against him; (4) Jesus was crucified in Judea under Pontius Pilate; and (5) the movement Jesus started was still alive and well at the end of the first century.

The Jewish, Roman, and Syrian writings corroborate what the gospels say about Jesus. In an era when ancient documents are scarce, any extra-biblical mention of Jesus is powerful evidence of his historical existence. The historical accounts in the gospels can, therefore, be trusted as true.