Did Jesus Really Exist?

After many years in church services on Sundays and Wednesdays, we tend to take the idea of Jesus’ existence on Earth as a given. We have a common understanding ingrained in our society to reflect our unchallenged bias toward the existence of Jesus. We celebrate a holiday in December called, “Christmas,” which is heavily predicated upon the reality of a physical birth of Jesus. We have a celebration of the apparent physical resurrection of Jesus called “Easter”. We even walk around thinking to ourselves: “What would Jesus do?” None of this celebration is a bad thing; and, it is definitely not absurd to live your life trying to be like the Jesus we read about in the pages of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, I do want to point out that all of our celebrating Jesus and striving to be like Jesus is pointless if He never existed in the first place. Yes, we might find personal solace or comfort in these celebrations and goals, but if Jesus did not exist, then we are just celebrating for celebration’s sake; we are simply acting differently for its own sake

So, my question to you is this: Do you have a good reason to believe that Jesus really existed? If so, then this article may not be for you; but if you do not have a good reason to believe He existed, then this article may be exactly what you need.

How do we know if anyone existed?

Before we can prove whether or not Jesus existed, we must first establish the case for how we can know if anyone existed. Think of any historical figure, recent or distant past. People that come to mind are Alexander the Great, various Roman emperors, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Billy Graham. How do we know they existed? The obvious answer lies in the historical records for each individual. 

Although we have not spoken to any of these men personally (with the exception of Billy Graham, maybe), we can be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that these men existed because of the records of the eyewitnesses who saw them and talked with them. In addition to the records about these men, we might even find archaeology pertaining to various goals they accomplished or actions committed in their name. While these two things might not completely convince the most skeptical of their existence, they do serve as a foundation to believe that it is likely to believe they existed.

Evidence for Jesus’ existence.

Now with an understanding of how we can tell if anyone existed in the past, we turn to an examination about the historical evidence for Jesus. We will break down this section into two smaller sections: biblical support and extra-biblical (outside the Bible) support.

Biblical Support for Jesus

This may seem like a basic answer, but it is a credible answer. The biblical accounts of the life of Jesus were biographies of Jesus before they ever became part of the Bible. Long before the Church canonized the New Testament, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were circulating around the early church (John was written much later, around 90 A.D./C.E.) This is important because their stories, before being read as “The Bible”, were being read as history, informing the readers about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!

Furthermore, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were all written within 40 years of Jesus’ death in 33 A.D./C.E. which means most of the individuals involved in the stories like the disciples, family members of Jesus, and various Jews and Romans would have still been living when these documents were being circulated. These eyewitnesses would have been the first “line of defense” to stop these documents from spreading if the stories in the Gospels were false.

Extra-Biblical Support

Moving to the “not-so-basic” response to the question of Jesus’ existence, there is plenty of evidence outside the New Testament that suggests Jesus was a real person of history. First, the Jewish historian, Josephus, mentions Jesus in the Antiquities:

At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus, and his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon their loyalty to him. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive. Accordingly they believed that he was the Messiah, concerning whom the Prophets have recounted wonders.

The takeaways from this excerpt are significant. One, Jesus is mentioned as a real person. Two, Jesus is mentioned as a man condemned to be crucified by Pilate. Three, Josephus presents evidence of the disciples claiming Jesus resurrected, and that they believed He was the Jewish Messiah.

Second, Roman historians, Tacitus and Thallus, like Josephus, identify Jesus as a real, historical person. Additionally, they document Jesus’ death on the cross by describing the darkness and the earthquake that occurred as the Gospels indicate. Here are their words: “On the whole world there passed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.” 

Practical Application

So, what does this mean for us? 

If we are followers of Jesus, this should greatly encourage us to know that the key Person of our faith is looking more like fact than a fairytale. We can take hold of the words of Jesus knowing someone did not fabricate His life and His teachings using their own understanding of the world. Although we have not proven His Divinity (which we might discuss in a later post), we can be assured that we are placing our faith in a real person rather than a myth or legend.

On the other hand, if we are skeptical of Christianity, this should challenge us to consider where our skepticism lies. If we have never given the story of Jesus a second thought because of how “fairy tale-ish” it sounds, maybe we should take a deeper look.  Jesus of Nazareth is a well-documented historical figure that cannot be overlooked. As I mentioned earlier, we have not addressed His divinity (or resurrection for that matter), so our understanding of Jesus may differ; but what we should not deny is the existence of this man who, as it seems, changed history.