Josephus & Jesus

An amazing new book just came out. In Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ, T. C. Schmidt argues that Josephus (37–100) personally knew those Jewish authorities who put Christ on trial. Josephus served as the preeminent Jewish historian of biblical times. Born in Jerusalem during the year 37, raised in a well-known priestly family of royal descent, a Pharisee at 19, a priest in his early 20s, and a Jewish general of Galilee at 30, Josephus was well-connected in the ancient world. Those connections helped him write this about Christ around the year 93:

“And in this time there was a certain Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man, for he was a doer of incredible deeds, a teacher of men who receive truisms with pleasure. And he brought over many from among the Jews and many from among the Greeks. He was [thought to be] the Christ. And, when Pilate had condemned him to the cross at the accusation of the first men among us, those who at first were devoted to him did not cease to be so, for on the third day it seemed to them that he was alive again given that the divine prophets had spoken such things and thousands of other wonderful things about him. And up till now the tribe of the Christians, who were named from him, has not disappeared.”

Though Josephus wasn’t a Christian, he makes several statements that corroborate what the apostles teach us through the NT. Take notice of what Josephus in the fifth line above: “at the accusation of the first men among us.” Who were these “first men among us?” Schmidt argues that Josephus directly knew High Priest Ananus II, the son of High Priest Annas and the brother-in-law of High Priest Caiaphas (John 18:13). Ananus II was likely at Christ’s trial (Mark 14:55). In other words, Josephus had direct encounters with those who accused Christ. Incredible!

I have great interest that you believe with all your mind that Christ is the God-man who spilt his blood for your sins, rose from the dead, sent His Spirit, and beckons you to spread the gospel in all the world. By seeing that a non-Christian (a Pharisee at that!) supports the Gospels, my hope is that you are encouraged to live more for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Chance Sumner