Was Jesus a Real Person?
Some people say, "Jesus is just a story - like Santa Claus or a superhero." But historians - people whose job it is to figure out what really happened in the past - almost all agree: Jesus was a real person. Here's how we know.
Even His Enemies Wrote About Him
When someone's friends say nice things about them, that's normal. But when someone's enemies talk about them? That's powerful evidence.
Here are people who did NOT like Jesus or his followers - but still wrote about him:
- 1Tacitus - a Roman historian. He thought Christians were foolish. But he wrote that "Christus" was executed by Pontius Pilate during the reign of Emperor Tiberius. He confirmed the basic facts of Jesus's life.
- 2Josephus - a Jewish historian who worked for the Romans. He wrote about Jesus and about Jesus's brother James. He wasn't a Christian - he had no reason to make things up.
- 3Jewish leaders - in their own writings, Jewish teachers wrote about Jesus and argued against him. But they never said, "He didn't exist." They said he was wrong - which means they knew he was real.
Bart Ehrman is a famous scholar who does not believe Jesus was God. He's spent his life studying the New Testament as a critic. But even he says: "Jesus existed. Anyone who denies that is simply creating more problems than they solve." When even people who disagree with Christianity say Jesus was real, you can be pretty confident.
Why is it important that even Jesus's enemies wrote about him?
- If someone who didn't like you still said something good about you, would that be more or less believable than a friend saying it? Why?
- Why do you think some people say Jesus wasn't real, even when historians disagree?
- Does knowing that Roman and Jewish writers confirmed Jesus's existence change how you think about the Bible's story?