Secular testimonies that Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

[Xavier]

This is an updated post from the history forum for non-Catholic inquirers to Christianity.

One among the many irrefutable proofs of the Resurrection of Jesus that serious skeptics are forced to contend with is the testimony of Flavius Josephus, first century Jewish historian and eyewitness to the remarkable fulfilment of Our Savior's prophesies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Fr. Eusebius praises Josephus for the accuracy of his reporting which agrees admirably with the Holy Scriptures. Of course, for the Saints and for us, the testimony of Christian historians like St. Luke and of the other Evangelists and the Apostles is infinitely superior to that of any Jewish or pagan historian, ancient or modern; but we should know that modern secularists treat Josephus almost like a secular bible when it comes to the history of first century events. So imagine just how shocked they must be to find this clear and explicit testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus in the Antiquities of Josephus!

"About this time appeared Jesus, a wise man if indeed it is right to call Him man; for He was a worker of astonishing deeds, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with joy, and He drew to Himself many Jews many also of Greeks. This was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the denunciation of those that are foremost among us, had condemned Him to the cross, those who had first loved Him did not abandon Him for He appeared to them alive again on the third day, the holy prophets having foretold this and countless other marvels about Him. The tribe of Christians, so named after Him, has not ceased to this day."

1. This historical testimony attests to all the most important facts in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ; His divine Wisdom, His astonishing miracles, His lofty doctrine, His powerful preaching attracting men and women from all races and cultures; finally His crucifixion under Pilate and glorious Resurrection in accordance with what the great Prophets of Israel had written; and shows all this was almost universally known among the Jews of the time, even those hostile or indifferent to the Gospel.

2. The testimony is so clearly Josephan that it throws all secular critics into the greatest and insuperable difficulties; they have no choice at all but to desperately plead that it is a forgery to maintain their secularism. But this is an absurd and farcical pretense. The passage fits perfectly with all we know of Josephus' style and vocabulary; it has unique expressions as "tribe of Christians" and calls Jesus "a wise man" etc that occur nowhere else. As the CE notes moreover, "all codices or manuscripts of Josephus's work contain the text in question; to maintain the spuriousness of the text, we must suppose that all the copies of Josephus were in the hands of Christians, and were changed in the same way."

3. And its authenticity was universally taken for granted for centuries "Third, Eusebius ("Hist. Eccl"., I, xi; cf. "Dem. Ev.", III, v) Sozomen (Church History I.1), Niceph. (Hist. Eccl., I, 39), Isidore of Pelusium (Ep. IV, 225), St. Jerome (catal.script. eccles. xiii), Ambrose, Cassiodorus, etc., appeal to the testimony of Josephus; there must have been no doubt as to its authenticity at the time of these illustrious writers."

The CE notes Josephus, like Gamaliel and others, may have been content with discreetly operating within the synagogue; among a number of other possible explanations for why he was not baptized. Regardless, this clear testimony from a historian so universally regarded as credible is convincing proof that the Jews of Jesus' time were well acquainted with the fact of His Resurrection.

Like the Holy Shroud of Turin, and the 500 eyewitnesses to the Resurrection, and the heroic lives and martyrdoms of the holy Apostles sealing and confirming their testimony to Jesus and His Resurrection in their blood, the Testimonium Flavium, as it is called, affords no small proof of the Resurrection! It must command the attention of every serious inquirer into Christianity.

[Xavier]

Some of the early Christians knew that Josephus bore testimony to Christ. His testimony should be another clear call to non-Christians to believe in Jesus Christ and be saved. It should confirm the wavering in the Faith. And console the faithful, that the Lord God we serve has done and is able to do astonishing things and the whole world testifies to it.

Josephus, the son of Matthias, priest of Jerusalem, taken prisoner by Vespasian and his son Titus, was banished. Coming to Rome he presented to the emperors, father and son, seven books On the captivity of the Jews, which were deposited in the public library and, on account of his genius, was found worthy of a statue at Rome. He wrote also twenty books of Antiquities, from the beginning of the world until the fourteenth year of Domitian Cæsar, and two of Antiquities against Appion, the grammarian of Alexandria who, under Caligula, sent as legate on the part of the Gentiles against Philo, wrote also a book containing a vituperation of the Jewish nation. Another book of his entitled, On all ruling wisdom, in which the martyr deaths of the Maccabeans are related is highly esteemed. In the eighth book of his Antiquities he most openly acknowledges that Christ was slain by the Pharisees on account of the greatness of his miracles, that John the Baptist was truly a prophet, and that Jerusalem was destroyed because of the murder of James the Apostle. He wrote also concerning the Lord after this fashion: "In this same time was Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it be lawful to call him man. For he was a worker of wonderful miracles, and a teacher of those who freely receive the truth. He had very many adherents also, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles, and was believed to be Christ, and when through the envy of our chief men Pilate had crucified him, nevertheless those who had loved him at first continued to the end, for he appeared to them the third day alive. Many things, both these and other wonderful things are in the songs of the prophets who prophesied concerning him and the sect of Christians, so named from Him, exists to the present day."

The great Doctor who gave us our Latin Vulgate Bible here explains that Josephus plainly testifies to these things as incontrovertible.

"The Jews themselves also bear witness to Christ, as appears by Josephus, the writer of their history, who says thus: 'That there was at that time a wise man, if (says he) it be lawful to have him called a man, a doer of wonderful works, who appeared to his disciples after the third day from his death, alive again according to the writings of the prophets, who foretold these and innumerable other miraculous events concerning him: from whom began the congregation of Christians, yet he was no believer, because of the hardness of his heart and his prejudicial intention. However, it was no prejudice to the truth that he was not a believer, but this adds more weight to his testimony, that while he was an unbeliever and unwilling, this should be true, he has not denied it to be so."

Here, the Saintly Bishop of Milan points out that the principal facts in the life of Christ including His public ministry and miracles, His life and Gospel, His death and crucifixion, His burial and Resurrection were so well known as to be undeniable even to those who did not openly confess Christ. If non-Christians say Josephus was not a Christian, this only adds all the more weight to his testimony. If they claim he became a Christian, then they should do so also.

Thus modern skeptics, who are aware of the great credibility of Josephus, but find this testimony inexplicable because of their a priori prejudice against Christianity, should come with the aid of grace to the realization that this testimony is absolutely true. Jesus Christ is really the promised Messiah, and He really died under Pontius Pilate on Nisan 14, 33 A.D. and rose from the dead the Third Day.

Finally, two holy Doctors explain why the fact of the Resurrection is so certain that, like the existence of God can be known from its effects in creation, so the Lord's Resurrection, which is the new creation, can be known through its effects in history, in the lives of the Apostles, and in those who converted.

"For this reason therefore by the miracles [wrought by the Apostles] He renders the evidence of His Resurrection unequivocal, so that not only the men of those times--this is what would come of the ocular proof--but also all men thereafter, should be certain of the fact, that He was risen. Upon this ground also we argue with unbelievers. For if He did not rise again, but remains dead, how did the Apostles perform miracles in His name? But they did not, say you, perform miracles? How then was our religion instituted? For this certainly they will not controvert nor impugn what we see with our eyes: so that when they say that no miracles took place, they inflict a worse stab upon themselves. For this would be the greatest of miracles, that without any miracles, the whole world should have eagerly come to be taken in the nets of twelve poor and illiterate men!"

St. Thomas Aquinas, in Summa Contra Gentiles, said:

"The Divine Wisdom, that knows all things most fully, has deigned to reveal these her secrets to men, and in proof of them has displayed works beyond the competence of all natural powers, in the wonderful cure of diseases, in the raising of the dead, and what is more wonderful still, in such inspiration of human minds as that simple and ignorant persons, filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost, have gained in an instant the height of wisdom and eloquence.* By force of the aforesaid proof, without violence of arms, without promise of pleasures, and, most wonderful thing of all, in the midst of the violence of persecutors, a countless multitude, not only of the uneducated but of the wisest men, flocked to the Christian Faith, wherein doctrines are preached that transcend all human understanding, pleasures of sense are restrained, and a contempt is taught of all worldly possessions. That mortal minds should assent to such teaching is the greatest of miracles, and a manifest work of divine inspiration leading men to despise the visible and desire only invisible goods. Nor did this happen suddenly nor by chance, but by a divine disposition, as is manifest from the fact that God foretold by many oracles of His Prophets that He intended to do this. The books of those prophets are still venerated amongst us, as bearing testimony to our faith. This argument is touched upon in the text: Which (salvation) having begun to be uttered by the Lord, was confirmed by them that heard him even unto us, God joining in the testimony by signs and portents and various distributions of the Holy Spirit (Heb. ii, 3, 4). This so wonderful conversion of the world to the Christian Faith is so certain a sign of past miracles, that they need no further reiteration, since they appear evidently in their effects. It would be more wonderful than all other miracles, if without miraculous signs the world had been induced by simple and low-born men to believe truths so arduous, to do works so difficult, to hope for reward so high. And yet even in our times God ceases not through His saints to work miracles for the confirmation of the Faith."

[Xavier]

Pontius Pilate is mentioned in the Gospels and the Creed. He was the Roman procurator of Judaea under whom our divine Savior was crucified and is a well known figure to secularists. So is Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of the time. There is also an extant letter from Pilate to Caesar attesting to the many wonderful works of Jesus and His glorious Resurrection. Liberals today try to run away from this as they generally do from everything about Our Lord Jesus by claiming "forgery" without evidence; in truth, this text was cited as indisputably authentic by Sts. Peter and Paul in their testimony for Christ before the emperor Nero (see the Acts of Peter and Paul); and in later centuries by St. Justin, Tertullian etc writing their Letters of Apologia or Defense of Christianity to the Roman Emperors. The text from Catholic Culture's translation.

Pontius Pilate is also mentioned by Roman historian Tacitus, official biographer of the Roman emperors, as the one under whom Christ was crucified. He is mentioned as well by Josephus as we have already seen. This text was preserved for us by converted Pharisee Nicodemus, of which the Gospels, in particular the Apostle and Evangelist St. John, make mention as a disciple of Christ in secret. Josephus also mentions St. John the Baptist, and St. James the Apostle, who consequently are well known to secularists, as we shall see later on.

To the most mighty, venerable, most divine, and most terrible, the august Caesar, Pilate the governor of the East sends greeting. I have, O most mighty, a narrative to give thee, on account of which I am seized with fear and trembling. For in this government of mine, of which one of the cities is called Jerusalem, all the people of the Jews have delivered to me a man named Jesus, bringing many charges against him, which they were not able to convict him of by the consistency of their evidence. And one of the heresies they had against him was, that Jesus said that their Sabbath should not be a day of leisure, and should not be observed. For he performed many cures on that day: he made the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; he raised up the dead, he cleansed the lepers; he healed paralytics that were not at all able to make any movement of their body, or to keep their nerves steady, but who had only speech and the modulation of their voice, and he gave them the power of walking and running, removing their illness by a single word. Another thing again, more powerful still, which is strange even with our gods: he raised up one that had been dead four days, summoning him by a single word, when the dead man had his blood corrupted, and when his body was destroyed by the worms produced in it, and when it had the stink of a dog And seeing him lying in the tomb, he ordered him to run. Nor had he anything of a dead body about him at all; but as a bridegroom from the bridal chamber, so he came forth from the tomb filled with very great fragrance. And strangers that were manifestly demoniac, and that had their dwelling in deserts, and ate their own flesh, living like beasts and creeping things, even these he made to be dwellers in cities, and by his word restored them to soundness of mind, and rendered them wise and able and reputable, eating with all the enemies of the unclean spirits that dwelt in them for their destruction, which he cast down into the depths of the sea. And again there was another having a withered hand; and not the hand only, but rather the half of the body of the man, was petrified, so that he had not the form of a than, or the power of moving his body. And him by a word he healed, and made sound. And a woman that had an issue of blood for many years, and whose joints and veins were drained by the flowing of the blood, so that she did not present the appearance of a human being, but was like a corpse, and was speechless every day, so that all the physicians of the district could not cure her. For there was not any hope of life left to her. And when Jesus passed by, she mysteriously received strength through his overshadowing her; and she took hold of his fringe behind, and immediately in the same hour power filled up what in her was empty, so that, no longer suffering any pain, she began to run swiftly to her own city Kepharnaum, so as to accomplish the journey in six days.

And these are the things which I lately had in my mind to report, which Jesus accomplished on the Sabbath. And other signs greater than these he did, so that I have perceived that the wonderful works done by him are greater than can be done by the gods whom we worship.

And him Herod and Archelaus and Philip, Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people, delivered to me, making a great uproar against me that I should try him. I therefore ordered him to be crucified, having first scourged him, and having found against him no cause of evil accusations or deeds.

And at the time he was crucified there was darkness over all the world, the sun being darkened at mid-day, and the stars appearing, but in them there appeared no lustre; and the moon, as if turned into blood, failed in her light. And the world was swallowed up by the lower regions, so that the very sanctuary of the temple, as they call it, could not be seen by the Jews in their fall; and they saw below them a chasm of the earth, with the roar of the thunders that fell upon it. And in that terror dead men were seen that had risen, as the Jews themselves testified; and they said that it was Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, and Moses and Job, that had died, as they say, three thousand five hundred years before. And there were very many whom I also saw appearing in the body; and they were making a lamentation about the Jews, on account of the wickedness that bad come to pass through them, and the destruction of the Jews and of their law.

And the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour. And on the evening of the first day of the week there was a sound out of the heaven, so that the heaven became enlightened sevenfold more than all the days. And at the third hour of the night also the sun was seen brighter than it had ever shone before, lighting up all the heaven. And as lightnings come suddenly in winter, so majestic men appeared in glorious robes, an innumerable multitude, whose voice was heard as that of a very great thunder, crying out: Jesus that was crucified is risen: come up out of Hades, ye that have been enslaved in the underground regions of Hades. And the chasm of the earth was as if it had no bottom; but it was as if the very foundations of the earth appeared along with those that cried out in the heavens, and walked about in the body in the midst of the dead that had risen. And he that raised up all the dead, and bound Hades, said: Say to my disciples, He goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see him.

And all that night the light did not cease shining. And many of the Jews died, swallowed up in the chasm of the earth, so that on the following day most of those who had been against Jesus could not be found. Others saw the appearing of those that had risen, whom no one of us had ever seen. And only one synagogue of the Jews was left in this Jerusalem, since all disappeared in that fall.

With that terror, being in perplexity, and seized with a most frightful trembling, I have written what I saw at that time, and have reported to thy majesty. Having set in order also what was done by the Jews against Jesus, I have sent it, my lord, to thy divinity.

[Xavier]

The First Century Roman Historian Cornelius Tacitus was the official biographer of the Roman emperors, including the emperor Tiberius Caesar, the emperor under whom Our Saviour was crucified. No friend of the Christians, this hostile witness nevertheless attests many of the basic facts in the life of Christ and His first Apostles, the first persecutions and their unjust character.

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind ... Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed."

In brief, Christ was crucified under Pilate. But Christianity began to spread both in Judaea and in Rome. Christians were not guilty of anything, but were accused of all sorts of things. Tacitus says Nero found it convenient to use them as scapegoats. When it was announced that torture and death awaited those who proclaimed themselves as Christians, many were still not afraid to do so. Many thus were persecuted and killed, but Christianity continued to grow, seeded by the blood of the martyrs. Even among pagans and non-Christians, the feeling began to grow that Christians were being unfairly treated and unjustly persecuted for no fault of theirs.

[Xavier]

An important new testimony I have not seen spoken of much in modern scholarly sources comes from Mara Bar Serapion. This letter was written around A.D. 74, and bears clear allusions both to Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, and the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_bar_Serapion

"What else can we say, when the wise are forcibly dragged off by tyrants, their wisdom is captured by insults, and their minds are oppressed and without defense? What advantage did the Athenians gain from murdering Socrates? Famine and plague came upon them as a punishment 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 their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea and the Jews, desolate and driven from their own kingdom, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates is not dead, because of Plato; neither is Pythagoras, because of the statue of Juno; nor is the wise king, because of the 'new law' he laid down." - Mara bar Serapion, A.D. 74

There is the horribly vile polemic Toledoth Yeshu (probably written in response to the Gospel of St. Matthew, which begins with the Generations of Jesus - Toledoth Sepher, as Fr. Haydock writes, the Book of the Generations of Jesus Christ, Son of David and of Abraham in His humanity. Anti-Christian Jewish polemicists often used to take the first part of a Christian Book, then put their own sinful spin on it). Nevertheless, this vile polemic bears indirect witness from even a hostile source to all the facts of Jesus' life, including His working miracles in the Name of YHWH, which they absurdly attributed to sorcery, showing their own lack of faith in God (as if a sorcerer is going to work miracles in the Name of the Most High, and as if God's Name would accomplish this for anyone other than the true Messiah - Jesus worked miracles as God because He was the I AM). Many Jewish converts in later ages attest there are more hidden derogatory references to Jesus Christ in the Talmud. Celsus, a Jew of later times refuted by Origen, also shows acquaintance with some of these false reports (the claim that the Body of Christ was "stolen" by disciples after His death, an early Jewish fable, is also repeated) but we'll see that later.

This man was a Syrian Stoic philosopher, and yet he was able to see what the blindness of the Sanhedrin could not - that the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem was divine judgment on an unfaithful city, as Jesus Himself had prophesied. As Fr. Eusebius documents in detail from Jewish historians themselves, the time period from 33 A.D. to 70 A.D., when time was already running out for repentance, was one of continual oppression for the Jews, and a clear call to repentance. St. James the Just of Jerusalem, held in honor by all, even the Jews, whom Josephus also mentions, was slain around A.D. 63 and at that very event, many said divine chastisement would now surely come to Jerusalem. Shortly thereafter, St. Simon, second Bishop of Jerusalem, another cousin brother of Our Lord (through Alphaeus, brother to St. Joseph, according to ancient sources) was taught by interior inspiration to leave that forsaken city. History bears complete testimony that not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem and all were forewarned about it.

And so the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. is yet another part of which the OAM is talking of when it says, "the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time". Recently, there was a discovery of a section of the Gospel of St. Mark predating 50 A.D. called 7Q5. All who wish can see why this happened to Jerusalem.