Introduction:  By "historicity" I mean historical authenticity. There is a yet small, but growing movement that seeks to present Jesus Christ as a mythical figure, the product of wishful thinking that is totally devoid of any historic documentation that a man named Jesus who founded Christianity ever existed. To my knowledge, there was no indication of any serious doubting on any scale that Jesus was a real historical man until about the eighteenth Century. However, some are becoming bolder today in their claims that Jesus is simply mythical, on the par of Santa Clause, etc.

I. Biblical evidence regarding Jesus Christ.

  A. The Bible is replete with allusion to Jesus as a real person. We prophetically read of Jesus' birth, life, and his betrayal, trials, and crucifixion (Micah 5: 2, Isa. 7: 14; Isa. 40: 3, 53: 3, 42: 1; Matt. 27). Matthew chapter twenty-seven is a running commentary, as it were, containing about sixteen prophetic fulfillments that took place in about a twenty-four hour period, regarding Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection. Altogether, there are about 332 prophecies regarding the Christ, all clearly fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

  B. The author of Acts wrote thus in presenting Jesus as an actual person who lived, and more, was victoriously resurrected:

II. While biblical proof of Jesus being real is easily established, how about non-biblical proof? Does secular history document that the Jesus mentioned in the scriptures actually lived about 2, 000 years ago?

  A. Historical evidence concerning Jesus. There are a number of ancient historians, writers, and educators whom we could introduce regarding the historic reality of a man named Jesus, the founder of the movement that bears his name, Christianity. These individuals are highly recognized as being reputable and reliable in their various writings and are extensively quoted even by agnostic and even atheistic learned people today.

    1. Flavius Josephus. Josephus was born in either 37 or 38 A. D. When he was 26 years old, he took upon himself the mission of seeking to improve the relations between the Jews and the Romans. He was a historian who was highly respected by the Roman world. He was held in such high regard that he was allowed to accompany Titus when Titus led the Romans Army against Jerusalem (70 A. D.). Josephus wrote several books that have come down to us today, History of the Jewish War (seven different books) and Jewish Antiquities, to name some. Josephus was not a Christian himself.

  A. Josephus wrote:

  B. In all fairness, many among scholars today are claiming that the above just quoted was not originally written by Josephus but is an interpolation. However, the passage is present in every copy of which we have knowledge, just as quoted. The above passage was twice quoted by Eusebius as early as 315 A. D. Another passage in which Josephus mentions the historic Jesus is found in Antiquities, Book 20, Chapter 9, and Section 1. This second reference has received comparatively little rejection.

      a. After exhaustive research, it could very well be that very early on, a copyist dressed up Josephus' first statement in an attempt to make it more favorable to Jesus. The passage is found in the context of references to sedition, before and after the passage. The above quotation does make reference to, "the sect of the Christians, so called from him, subsists at this time." This is probably, no doubt, part of the pure text, if the text were doctored. However, even if we allow for the early changing of the text, most would have to agree that Josephus does historically allude to Jesus.

  2. Carius Cornelius Tacitus (many of his writings were about 100 A. D.). Tacitus was a Roman historian who reportedly hated Christians.

    A. In writing about the life of Nero and the accusation that he burned the city of Rome and blamed it on the Christians, Tacitus says:

  B. Notice that while Tacitus had no regard for the Christians of whom he wrote, he does mention Christ as being the founder of their belief.

  3. Suetonius (Roman historian, born about 88 A. D.). While Suetonius does not mention Christ by name, he does refer to Christianity. This reference and many more that could be supplied proves the early origin of Christianity and details that are congruous with the biblical account.

  A. Hear his brief statement in also writing about the life of Nero whose reign began in 54 and ended in 68 A. D.:

  4. Pliny the younger, born in 61 A. D. Pliny was sent by the Emperor Trajan to Bithynia in 112 as propraetor. Having found a large number of Christians there, he wrote back to Trajan to get information on how to deal with them.

    A. Pliny says to Trajan:

  B. Under specific item number five of his letter, Pliny wrote:

  C. Under item number six, he continued:

  D. Concerned reader, as seen in the foregoing, there is no doubt that Christianity had its beginning in the First Century and that Jesus Christ is its founder. In addition to the secular writings quoted above, why should the twenty-six books of the New Testament be discounted as establishing the historicity of Jesus? "Jesus" or "Christ" is mentioned specifically in twenty-six of the books. Third John, "Jesus" and "Christ" absent) does imply Jesus (vs. 7). These books cover a critical time period of about 56 through 96 A. D. and involve ten different authors. The matter most valuable about these twenty-six books is that they have been subjected to more tests to determine authenticity than any other books (canonicity).

     Conclusion:  A man named Jesus Christ really and actually lived. This is established from secular history. He is presented as the founder of the movement that bears his name, Christianity. The Bible does more, however, than simply present the historicity of a man named Jesus. I shall conclude this study by inserting the conversation between Jesus, his disciples, and especially the statements of the apostle Peter: