What Evidence Do We Have That Jesus Was A Real Person

The most imporatnt decision in your life will be whether to ccept Jesus as your lord or not. This decision will shape your life and and dictte how you spend etenrity.

The critical beliefs in Christianity are that:

Mankind has fallen from God’s original intention due to sin,
God loves us so much He sent His son to rescue us,
Jesus came here and lived among us,
He suffered and died as an innocent man to pay the price for our sins,
He was raised from the dead on the third day and now rules in heaven,
Folks who repent and turn from their sinful ways, and believe in Jesus as their lord are transformed in this life and will get to spend eternity with Him in heaven, and
Folks who choose to ignore or reject Jesus and remain separated from God in this life will spend eternity separated from Him in one of the hells.

There are many reasons folks choose to reject Jesus. Some claim the bible is only a collection of myths and that Jesus either was a fictional character and never lived. Some argue that he lived but didn’t die on the cross, or if He did die, he was never raised from the dead. Contrary to those claims, there is convincing evidence from multiple sources that

Jesus was a very real historic person,
He died by crucifixion at the hands of the romans, and
He appeared alive to many after being buried in a sealed tomb for 3 days.

I encourage you to review this evidence to become convinced and further deepen your commitment to Jesus in faith.

Jesus WAS a real person

Let’s start with establishing Jesus as a real historic person. No serious historian doubts that Jesus was a real historic person who lived in Judea during the reins of Pontius Pilot and Tiberius, and that He had followers called Christians who truly believed he was raised from the dead.

Extra Biblical Writing:

Some of the key ancient documentation of Jesus existence from outside the bible are:

Flavius Josephus: The Jewish historian and military leader wrote about Jesus in his 20-volume history of the Jewish people, Jewish Antiquities, around 93 AD. This included discussion of Jesus doing surprising deeds and being crucified by Pilot. He mentions that He had a following of believers called Christians. He also writes of Jesus’ brother James who he identified as “the brother of Jesus who is called Christ” being brought before the Sanhedrin as a follower of Christ and being sentenced to death by stoning.
Tacitus: The Roman senator and historian wrote about Jesus and His execution by Pontius pilot during Tiberius’s reign in book 15, chapter 44, of his history of the Roman Empire, “Annals of Imperial Rome”, published around 116 AD.
Pliny the Younger: The Roman governor wrote to Emperor Trajan in 112 AD seeking guidance on how to proceed regarding putting Christians on trial. In one letter he stated that the early Christians would “sing hymns to Christ as to a god”.

Early Jews:

The ancient Jewish community embraced Jesus as a real person during his life and after his death. He was widely recognized as being an excellent teacher. Their issue was that He claimed to be God but did not fit the image they had of a conquering warrior king who would set them free from the romans. They accused him of being born illegitimately, of doing miracles by using evil magical forces, of making a false claim that He was God, and leading folks astray from the latest doctrines of the Jewish leaders. They disliked what he was doing but never doubted his existence. They believed he lived and was crucified, but that his body was stolen from the grave.

“Jewish rabbis who did not like Jesus, or his followers, accused him of being a magician and leading people astray, but they never said he didn’t exist.” Lawrence Mykytiuk, associate professor of library science at Purdue University. Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible – 2015

Early Christians:

The disciples and others provided eye-witness accounts of Jesus life which are recorded in the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John which were written down within 30-60 years of the events. These are well preserved to this day.

Early Muslims:

The Muslim community has always revered Jesus as a prophet and messenger from God. The Quran mentions Jesus numerous times (Isa in Arabic). It details his life story including his virgin birth to Mary, his prophetic role, and miracles he performed. Muslims consider Jesus to be one of the major prophets sent by God, following the line of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Solomon, David. The twist comes when the Quran says that Jesus avoided crucifixion and was raised directly to heaven. The Quran teaches that God (Allah) is the only true God, Jesus was not God because He was just a prophet. The Quran provided different guidance on who He was and how to deal with him, but it does not question that Jesus was here.

Surah Al-Imran (Chapter 3, Verse 45): “And (remember) when the angels said, ‘O Mary! Verily, Allah gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, held in honor in this world and in the Hereafter, and of those who are near to Allah.

Jesus Died By Crucifixion

Jesus died by crucifixion at the hands of the romans. Several of the ancient documents that document his existence, specifically state that he was crucified.

The medical community has reviewed the process of roman crucifixion and concluded that anyone that undergoes this process will surely have died.

“Clearly the weight of evidence suggests that Jesus was dead even before the spear was thrust into His side.” Journal of the American Medical Association

Jesus was Raised from the dead

Jesus was observed alive after His burial by various groups. There are 9 eye-witness accounts of the resurrected Jesus, some within, some outside the bible. He appeared to over 500 total witnesses. None of these witnesses received any earthly benefit from claiming they saw him, the only risked persecution, excommunication from their community, punishment, and torture, up to and including death.

Individual accounts of encountering the risen Jesus are provided by Matthew, John, Peter, Mary, Mary Magdalene, and the other disciples including Thomas and are recorded in the 4 gospels.

Eyewitness accounts were integrated into a Creed used by the early church. This creed was written very shortly after the resurrection. Paul learned of this creed when He visited Jerusalem 3 years after the resurrection. Paul included this creed in his first letter to the Corinthians:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve”. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

We have solid evidence that Jesus was real and that He died by crucifixion. It was common at the time, to believe that the tomb is empty 3 days after He was burried. Critics of the resurrection theory suggest the body was stolen, they do not debate that tomb was empty. Well, how else would the tomb become empty with roman guards on it 24/7.

The most compelling evidence for the resurrection is the conviction of the disciples. 12 humble disciples were willing to suffer torture and be put to death for testifying they interacted with Jesus after He was raised in the flesh. This is remarkable and very unlikely if His resurrection was a lie. For example, The Watergate perpetrators were some of the most powerful men in the world and they could not maintain their lie for just 3 months. These 12 men endured great suffering and went to the grave confessing that Jesus was raised from the dead.

Why would 500 other eyewitnesses be willing to be excommunicated from society and possibly be stoned to death for claiming they saw Jesus resurrected in the flesh if it was a lie. It wouldn’t happen.

Would you be willing to give your life for something you believe in? Each veteran does just that. God loves us so much He sent His only begotten son to rescue us, to restore that which was lost through sin. Jesus loves us so much He was willing to bear the burden of our sin on His back to the point of death, trusting in faith the Fathers’ promise to resurrect Him in glory on the third day. That is some serious faith, that is some serious love.

He is still alive, Just Ask Him

If you still don’t believe, Just ask Him. Say: “Jesus if you are who the bible says you are, the Lord of the universe, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the Savior, please reveal yourself to me in some meaningful way. I truly want to get to know you.” You must be serious about it though. If you ask with all your heart you will find Him.

Believe! He is risen. Acknowledge Him, Invite Him, Let Him lead you into the life He intended for you and then enjoy eternity with Him.

If you want to review in more detail, here are a couple links

Was Jesus Real