Pagan
Testimonies for Jesus Christ
1. Dated
Pagan Testimonies
“Look
not for any end, moreover to this curse until God appears to accept upon His
head the pangs of thy own sins vicarious”
Virgil,
Fourth Eclogue, 20BC
Now
the virgin is returning
A
new human race is descending
from
the heights of heaven
The
birth of a child, with whom
the
iron age of humanity will
end
and the golden age begin
Virgil
wrote of the birth of the "offspring of Jove" and the restoration of
the world. The coming of this child would end the iron age of humanity and
commence a golden age, an age in which "all footprints of our guilt/ Shall
perish" and "all the earth/ Shall be all-fruitful." There were
also references to the coming of a Virgin, the crushing of a serpent, and the
abolition of the ancient blight of wickedness so firmly rooted in the human
heart. It is perhaps unsurprising that Dante, more than a millennium later,
would state of his literary and spiritual father, Virgil: "Through you I
became a poet, through you, a Christian."
Whats
more very early evidence of the crucifixion comes from two 1st century pagan
historians. Firstly Thallus a Samaritan
born historian who writing just 19 years after Our Lord’s ascension in 52AD
recorded the crucifixion of Our Lord in an attempt to prove that the darkness
that enveloped the world at the time was a product of a solar eclipse. Even
though his works have been lost to history we know this because the 3rd Century
Julius Africanus cites his work in defense that the darkness was miraculous
simply because the festival of passover happens at the full moon which of
course precludes a solar eclipse. “Thallus in the third book of his histories,
explains away this darkness as an eclipse of the sun -unreasonably, as it seems
to me" . Notice that Thallus did not deny the existence of Jesus Christ
but merely speculated as to the causes of the strange events surrounding His
death.
Cornelius
Tacitus (53-112 AD)
"Hence
to suppress the rumour he [Nero] falsely charged with the guilt and punished
with the most exquisite tortures the persons commonly called Christians who
were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to
death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the
pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through
Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also."
Annals, XV.44. Cornelius also wrote "a wise man who was called Jesus. . .
.... Pilate condemned Him to death. He also noted that Jesus' disciples
"reported that He had appeared to them three days after His crucifixion
and that He was alive."
Speaking
for the ancient Romans says “People were generally persuaded in the faith of
the ancient prophecies, that the East was to prevail and that from Judea was to
come the Master and Ruler of the World.”
Suetonius
(69-120AD)
“He [Claudius] drove out of Rome the Jews who
were perpetually stirring up trouble at the instigation of Chrestus [another
spelling of Christus}” Life of Claudius. The authenticity of this cannt be
doubted for it is recorded by St Paul in Acts 18: 2 “And finding a certain Jew
named Aquila born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with Priscilla his wife
because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, he came to
them”. In the “Lives of the Caesars” 26. 2 he goes on to say “Punishment by
Nero was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and
micheivous superstition”
Pliny
the Younger (c 61-113AD)
A
Roman Governor of Bithinia in Asia and witness to the historical Jesus too
writes around 77 years after Our Lord’s ascension of the testimony of the early
Christians who would sing to the person of Christ as their God nearly 4
centuries before the Catholic Church proclaimed the dogma of His divinity. He
records how persecuted Christians in their defense described their meetings and
songs of “a hymn to Christ as God”.
“What advantage did the Athenians gain from
putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for
their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras?
In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain
from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was
abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of
hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven
from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for
good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. PythagDras did not die for good; he
lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; He lived on
in the teaching which He had given.”
Flavius
Josephus, Jewish Historian 93-94 A.D
"Now
there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a man,
for He was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the
truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him both many of the Jews, and many of the
Gentiles. He was the Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men among us, had condemned Him to the cross, those that loved Him at
the first did not forsake Him; for He appeared to them alive again in the third
day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning Him. And the tribe of Christians so named from Him are not
extinct at this day” Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII.iii.3. In a second
reference, Flavius Josephus refers to the stoning to death of James in
62 AD writes “But the younger Ananus who, as we said, received the high
priesthood, was of a bold disposition and exceptionally daring; he followed the
party of the Sadducees, who are severe in judgment above all the Jews, as we
have already shown. As therefore Ananus was of such a disposition, he thought
he had now a good opportunity, as Festus was now dead, and Albinus was still on
the road; so he assembled a council of judges, and brought before it the
brother of Jesus the so-called Christ, whose name was James, together with some
others, and having accused them as law-breakers, he delivered them over to be
stoned” Antiquities of the Jews XX ix.1
Lucian
of Samosata (c120-180AD)
“The Christians, you know, worship a man to
this day, the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was
crucified on that account...You see, these misguided creatures start with the
general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the
contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them;
and then 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. All this they take
quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods, alike,
regarding them merely as common property."
Justin
Martyr (150 AD)
“They
pierced my hands and my feet [is] a description of the nails that were fixed in
His hands and feet on the cross; and after He was crucified, those who
crucified Him cast lots for His garments, and divided them among themselves;
and that these things were so, you may learn from the 'Acts' which were
recorded under Pontius Pilate”.
Tertullian
(155-200AD)
“Tiberius
accordingly, in whose days the Christian name made its entry into the world,
having himself received intelligence from the truth of Christ's divinity,
brought the matter before the senate, with his own decision in favor of Christ.
The senate, because it had not given the approval itself, rejected his
proposal. Caesar held to his opinion, threatening wrath against all the
accusers of the Christians” Apology, V. 2
2. Undated
Pagan Testimonies
“In
the 24th Year of Tchao-Wang of the dynasty of the Tcheou on the 8th
day of the 4th moon, a light appeared in the South West which
illumined the Kings Palace. The monarch struck by its splendour, interrogated
the sages. They showed him books in which this prodigy signified the appearance
of the great Saint of the West who’s religion was to be introduced into their
country”
Spoke
of “the Saint”
Both
spoke of the Logos and of the Universal Wise Man “yet to come”
Spoke
of “A saviour and redeemer to unloose man from the primal eldest curse”
After
recounting the sayings of the ancient oracles and the Sibyls about a “King
whome we must recognize to be saved” asked in expectation “To what man and to what period of time do
these predictions point?”
The
second first Century non-Christian Roman writer Phlegon also wrote of Christ’s death and
ressurection in his chronicles saying " Jesus while alive, was of no
assistance to himself, but that he arose after death, and exhibited the marks
of his punishment, and showed how his hands had been pierced by nails.” Phlegon
even mentioned "the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign
Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took
place." Later the great Christian theologian Origen would cite Phlegon in
defending Julius Africanus’s argument that the darkness of the Passion of
Christ was supernatural when he wrote “Phlegon mentioned the eclipse which took
place during the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and no other [eclipse],
it is clear that he did not know from his sources about any [similar] eclipse
in previous times...and this is shown by the historical account itself of
Tiberius Caesar”
Spoke
of “A universal King”
“On the eve of the Passover, Yeshu was
hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and
cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and
enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him
come forward and plead on his behalf. But since nothing was brought forward in
his favor, he was hanged on the eve of the Passover… Do you suppose that he was
one for whom a defence could be made? Was he not a Mesith (enticer), concerning
whom Scripture says, Neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him
(Deut. 13:9)? With Yeshu however it was different, for he was connected with
the government (or royalty, i.e., influential). Our Rabbis taught: Yeshu had
five disciples, Matthai, Nakai, Nezer, Buni, and Todah” Sanhedrin 43a.
Secondly
the Amoa “Ulla” composed by Ulla a 3rd century Palestinian Jew and disciple of
Rabbi Youchanan adds more weight to the Jewish acknowledgement of the
historical Jesus “And do you suppose that for (Yeshu of Nazareth) there was any
right of appeal? He was a beguiler, and the Merciful One hath said: "Thou
shalt not spare neither shalt thou conceal him." It is otherwise with
Yeshu, for He was near to the civil authority”
That
the Jews believed Jesus Christ was a historical person is also corroborated by
Justin martyr who wrote that Justin Martyr wrote that that Jews of his day
befieved "Jesus [was] a Galilean deceiver, whom we crucified”