Silly question? Maybe or maybe not. Did you know according to a study done by Barna Group in 2015, 40% of our nation do not believe Jesus existed; 25% of the people polled who were younger than 35 think that Jesus was a fictional character; 22% believe Jesus is a mythical figure; and 17% were unsure if Jesus existed or not. So here are three pieces of evidence to consider that support that Jesus was in fact real.
Evidence #1: Jewish Genealogies.
By definition a genealogy is the record or account of the ancestry and descent of a person or family. In today’s culture we don’t take special care of keeping up with our family’s ancestry. But this was not the case for many in ancient times. For them, genealogies were everything, especially in ancient Hebrew traditions. This is one reason why there are so many of them found in the Old Testament, the longest ones are found in 1 and 2 Chronicles. To really grasp where I am going with this, you need to understand the Jews kept very meticulous records of their family ancestry and for many reasons:
1) to prove one’s identity as a Jew. If a person could not show that their ancestral line descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they could not truly be a Jewish citizen nor participate in Jewish culture. 2) It was also important for the purchase of land. There were twelve tribes of Jews that descended from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and each received a specific land inheritance from God. In order for a Jew to inherit any specific land within Israel, they had to prove their Jewish ancestry and which of the twelve tribes they belonged to. If they could not prove that, they had no right to inherit land in Israel. 3) Genealogies were also important for priestly reasons. Only male Jews who had descended from the tribe of Levi and descendants of Aaron could join the Levitical priesthood. If they could not prove that, they could not become a Levitical priest. 4) Genealogies were important for royalty. They proved whether or not a person was descended from kings and showed who could rightly ascend to the throne of Jerusalem. 5) Genealogies were important for inheritance rights. In Jewish culture the firstborn male was responsible for carrying on the family line. It was a position of strength and honor, because he would be the family’s next leader. In addition, as the family’s next leader, he would inherit the majority of his father’s possessions and wealth. A record of the genealogy would show this and prove this to generations to come. And so, in summary, genealogies were important to show a person’s heritage, inheritance, legitimacy, and rights.
But what does this have to do with proving Jesus? Well, when someone wishes to read about the account of Jesus’ birth many turn to Matthew’s gospel. It just so happens that when we open up to the first book of the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew, the first thing Matthew deals with, even before the birth of Jesus, is the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew 1. It is 17 verses long and includes 42 generations.
Now, why would Matthew open up his account of the gospel with a genealogy? It’s because his audience was Jewish. Now it might not mean as much to us today, but in Matthew’s day, for reasons just given, this was significant. Notice that verse 1 says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This genealogy proves two things about Jesus: it proves that Jesus is descended from Daivd who was the second king of Israel, which means that Jesus is in a royal line and rightful king to the throne of Jerusalem. And it proves that Jesus is descended from Abraham which shows he was a Jew.
So for Matthew, before dealing with the birth of Jesus, he needed to prove Jesus to the Jews. He needed to show Jesus was Jewish. It’s why he opens up his account of the gospel the way he does. If anyone during Matthew’s day questioned the heritage and legitimacy of Jesus, they could put their questions to rest by showing Jesus’ ancestry. This genealogy is the first proof Matthew offers to prove Jesus to the Jews. And by understanding the importance and significance of Jewish genealogies this is evidence we can use even today. Think about it: No one doubts the existence of Abraham or David, so why should we doubt the existence of Jesus, who Matthew has clearly shown descended from them.
Evidence #2: Biblical eye-witnesses.
The Institute For Creation Research says this, “The Bible, like many books, was written by eyewitnesses (Luke 1:2; 2 Peter 1:16) to the events and circumstances that they recorded.” Peter says in 2 Peter 1:16, “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty”. Note the word “we”. It’s plural.
What Peter is saying is that all of the gospel writers wrote their account of Jesus’ life based on what they personally witnessed. Peter who wrote 1 and 2 Peter was an eye-witness. James, who wrote the book of James and was Jesus’ brother, was an eye-witness. John who wrote the gospel of John as well as 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, and Revelation, was an eye-witness to the life of Jesus. Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament, was an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus. So there is eyewitness testimony that accounts for Jesus’ existence. And if anyone would attempt to question their testimony, I think it’s wise to remember that each of these died for what they testified to, and liars make for poor martyrs.
Evidence #3: Non-biblical eye-witnesses. (Probably most compelling to non-believers).
Perhaps, the Bible is still not enough for someone to believe in Jesus historically. Someone might say there is no evidence outside the Bible that Jesus existed. They might argue that if Jesus was such a significant and historical person, there should be more evidence outside of the Bible and there is none.
The truth is, they would be wrong to make such a claim. For someone to claim that Jesus never existed and that there is no evidence outside the Bible proving so, is to go against what almost every historical expert would claim including skeptics, atheists, and agnostics. One such is Bart Erhman, who is an agnostic and teaches at UNC, and had this to say on the legitimacy of Jesus’ existence: “The reality is that whatever else you may think about Jesus, he certainly did exist. This view is held by virtually every historical expert on the planet.” In other words, you are welcome to believe what you want to believe about Jesus’ identity; but one thing no one can deny is Jesus’ existence. So credible historical experts around the world including skeptics, agnostics, and even many atheists believe that Jesus existed historically. They are confident Jesus is not a mythical or fictional character.
Why do they believe this? The reason they believe so is because they believe the Bible is, at the very least, historically true. Bart Erhman even once said that “the Bible is the most historically significant book in the history of the world”.
Why do historical scholars like a Bart Erhman, who are not followers of Jesus, believe the Bible is historically accurate when it comes to Jesus’ legitimacy? It’s because there is overwhelming evidence outside the Bible that supports Jesus’ existence. Indeed, the evidence is so overwhelming that someone like Erhman would say it is silly to believe Jesus did not exist. So claiming that Jesus did not exist is to go against and completely ignore what historical, archaeological evidence would tell us. And according to Bart Erhman the convincing proof is that “Jesus was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians in passages that corroborate portions of the New Testament that describe the life and death of Jesus.”
Who are these first century Jewish and Roman historians? While there are many, let me give you one Jewish historian and one Roman historian. Our Jewish historian is Flavius Josephus. He was a first century Jewish historian and according to Bart Erhman Josephus, more so than others, is our best Jewish eyewitness of matters that pertain to Jesus. The reason is Josephus wrote a massive 20 volume history of the Jewish people. In it are records of many events regarding Jesus’ life, Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God, and Jesus’ followers. Josephus even records the event of Jesus’ death and the claim that he is risen from the dead by the early church.
Our Roman historian is Tacitus. He wrote what is called the Annals of Imperial Rome. It’s a first century history of the Roman Empire. In it Tacitus records how emperor Nero falsely accused Christians of crimes which led to the early church’s persecution that even Peter in his epistle accounts for. He also recorded Jesus’ trial by Pontius Pilate.
Now here’s the cool part: Neither Josephus nor Tacitus were followers of Jesus, so no one can say these two were biased towards Christianity. They are historians who simply recorded the events of their lifetime and included in their historical accounts were events concerning Jesus of Nazareth. That means what they wrote coincides with everything the gospel writers bore witness to about Jesus. Which means there are writings outside the Bible that support the eyewitness testimony of the New Testament authors. If that is true, then the evidence must point to Jesus really existing. If the evidence is that overwhelming, then no man can deny the legitimacy of Jesus. And if Jesus is historically true, one must consider what else is true about him.