There is no doubt that Jesus is one of the most popular religious figures in the world today. We were told, especially by John, that He was God himself in the likeness of man. He was the only begotten son, the lamb that was slain for the remission of sins. But, did Jesus really exist or perhaps he was just one of the legends of oral history?
Can We Really Trust the Synoptic Gospels?
Much of what is known about the life of Jesus is contained in the first three books of the New Testament. Unfortunately, however, the earliest of these books (usually believed to be Mark) was written some fifty years after the death of Jesus by men who did not have any personal relationship with him. These men wrote with pseudonyms which suggest they were one of Jesus' disciples. Of course, the authors had to do this to make their accounts more believable.
Furthermore, the other gospels were written some thirty to fifty years after the first (Mark) by early Christians who probably lived in different cities, speaking different tongues. This makes it scholarly impractical to validate the existence of Jesus relying solely on the accounts of the Synoptic gospels.
What Does History From Non-Christian Sources Say About Jesus?
A more reliable way of ascertaining whether Jesus really existed or not is to consider what pagan historians say about him. And, sincerely, not much was really reported about Jesus from these sources. There are neither official records of Jesus' birth, his death, nor his trials. Nevertheless, scholars found two pagan references about Jesus.
The first time Jesus was mentioned in a pagan source was in the year 112 CE. In a letter written by Pliny the Younger, who was then the governor of a Roman province, he asked his emperor, Trajan, how to handle some groups of Christians who were meeting illegally. These people, he tells the emperor, worship Christ as God.
A second reference to Jesus came in the year 115 when, in writing the history of Rome, Tacitus, a renowned Roman historian, blamed Christians for a fire outbreak which occurred in the year 67. He explained that the Christians got their names from Christus....who was executed in the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius.(Annals 15.44).
Although Tacitus' testimony, surely, confirms the story we already know about Jesus' trial before Pilate, it did not provide further details about the life of Jesus.
Conclusion
There is no denial that Jesus, indeed, existed following the references from non-Christian sources. However, the scanty details provided about the life of Jesus raises further questions as to whether he was actually as popular as the synoptic gospels wanted us to believe. While the latter question may be probed on another day, Jesus is not a fiction. He did exist.
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There is no denial that Jesus, indeed, existed following the references from non-Christian sources. However, the scanty details provided about the life of Jesus raises further questions as to whether he was actually as popular as the synoptic gospels wanted us to believe. While the latter question may be probed on another day, Jesus is not a fiction. He did exist.
Image sourced from Google
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There is also a theory that Jesus was a Buddhist monk who came to India and did not die after in crucifixion. Later, in his name Christianity was formed to unite people in the name of a religion so that they may be exploited for political gain.
Surely, this is an interestingly amazing perspective. Thanks for your contribution.
It's a foolish theory that contradicts eyewitness testimony in the Bible. Christianity is what Jesus taught.
Good article
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thanks for posting God bless you i really love this.
Yes he existed
It's not a matter of faith whether or not Jesus existed. There's overwhelming evidence from eyewitnesses and those who talked to eyewitnesses that Jesus lived. There's also the evidence of the miracles themselves and how that affected people. The church went from about 120 to over a million in less than 40 years.
(Luke 1:1-4 NIV) Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, {2} just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. {3} Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, {4} so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
(2 Peter 1:16 NIV) We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Paul was an enemy of the church until Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus. His story is perhaps the most convincing one when it comes to Jesus.
(Acts 26:10-18 NIV) And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. {11} Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. {12} "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. {13} About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. {14} We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' {15} "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' "'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. {16} 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. {17} I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them {18} to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
Paul said this about how many people saw the resurrected Christ.
(1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NIV) For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. {6} After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. {7} Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, {8} and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
There is no doupt the historical Jesus existed, i am sure you can find many more sources, all the doupt is aboout what he claimed he was.Do you think he really was more than just a human? is he the son of the God? if yes then what God? what is God anyway?
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” -C.S. Lewis