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Testimony Of Josephus
J. L. McKinley
One of the most important non-biblical texts
concerning the historical Jesus is that of the Jewish historian Josephus.
He was born Joseph ben Mattathias to a noble
priestly family. At the age of nineteen he joined the Pharisaic party. When he
was 27, he led a diplomatic delegate to Rome to meet with Nero. Two years later
he was put in charge of the Jewish forces at Galilee during the revolt against
Rome. During the fighting he was captured and eventually embraced the Roman
cause and served as interpreter for the Roman General, Titus, during the siege
of Jerusalem. After the war he became a Roman citizen and devoted the remainder
of his life to writing under the employment of the Flavian emperors Vespasian,
Titus, and Domitian. In fact, he took a Roman name to honor his patrons. His
loyalty to the emperors would guarantee that his works would be copied in the
public scriptoria. However, after the fall of Rome, his works were preserved by
Christians only. The Jews viewed Josephus as a traitor and his works were never
referred to in any Rabbinic literature.
In Josephus’ works Jesus is only mentioned twice.
The first reference is in connection to the death of His brother James in 62 AD
The text tells of the newly appointed high priest Ananus, who illegally
"convened the court of the Sanhedrin, and brought before them the brother
of Jesus the so-called Messiah, who was called James, and some other men, whom
he accused of having broken the law, and handed them over to be stoned" (Antiquities XX200). Most scholars accept
this text as authentic.
However, the other reference to Jesus has been the
subject of much debate. This text has been called the Testimonium Flavianum.
"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, (if indeed one should call
him a man). For he was a performer of astonishing deeds, a teacher of men who
are happy to accept the truth. He won over many Jews, and also Greeks. (He was
the Christ). In response to a charge presented by the leading men among us,
Pilate condemned him to the cross; but those who had loved him at first did not
give up, [for he appeared to them on the third day alive again, as the prophets
of God had spoken this and thousands of other wonders about him]. And still to
this day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not disappeared." (Antiquities XVIII. 3:3).
Most scholars accept that Josephus referred to Jesus
in this text but also believe that Christian copyists doctored the text for
apologetical reasons. The portions of the text in brackets are usually thought
to be the parts that were interpolated by Christian copyists. The question to
consider is whether Josephus, who was an unbeliever, would have written that
Jesus was perhaps Deity, the Messiah, and risen from the dead.
We shall briefly consider some of the evidence that supports the full authenticity of the text:
(a) Josephus
later refers to James as "the brother of Jesus the so-called
Christ," in such a way as to suggest that he already made reference to Jesus in
this manner. It’s unlikely that Josephus would have written these words without
giving an explanation for his Gentile readers. If we accept the text under
consideration containing the words "He was the Christ" as authentic,
it explains his comment in regard to the death of James.
(b) There
is no evidence against the passage on
the ground of
textual criticism; the
manuscript evidence is as unanimous and ample as it is for anything else in
Josephus. Thackery and Klausner, two leading scholars on Josephus, affirm that
the fuller version is written in the style of the Jewish historian. Loeb
translator, Louis Feldman, states that the vocabulary and style are, with some
exceptions, basically consistent with other parts of Josephus.
(c) The description
of Jesus as a
"wise man" is not typically Christian, but is used by
Josephus in his descriptions of Solomon and Daniel.
(d) The description
of Christians as a
"tribe" (phylon)
occurs nowhere in early Christian
literature.
(e) The
writer of this text lays primary blame
for the crucifixion on Pilate rather than the
Jewish authorities which was different from the way second and third century
Christians wrote of the death of Jesus. It was common for Christian writers to
condemn the Jews for being the instigators of the crucifixion of Christ.
(f) The
words "to this day the tribe of Christians, named after Him,..." does not make
sense without the phrase "He was the Christ."
It is possible that Josephus in fact wrote the
disputed phrases in the text. There are
two likely explanations to explain these words coming from the pen of an
unbelieving Jew.
1.
They
were written with a “tongue in cheek” sarcasm, or
2.
Being
a historian, he simply wrote what the Christians believed. Josephus was highly concerned with improving relations
between the Jews and Rome. An early Roman historian named Suetonius testified
that Rome reacted harshly toward Jews because of Christian evangelism (Acts 18:2; Suetonius; Life of Claudius 25:4). One way to improve that relationship was to show to the Romans
that Christians were not a sect of Judaism by listing their unorthodox
doctrines. For example, referring to Jesus as being more than a man was
inconsistent with the monotheistic culture that the Romans identified with
Judaism.
However, even if the three disputed sections are not
in the original writings of Josephus, we still have a powerful testimony for
the existence of the historical Jesus. We read that He not only performed
"astonishing deeds," but that after He was put to death, His
followers who "loved Him at first did not give up." Thus anyone who
contends that there is no mention of Jesus outside the New Testament as an
argument for their unbelief has simply not examined the historical evidence.