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I Researched Every Ancient Reference to Jesus Outside the Bible

Sam Leiper

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What would we actually know about Jesus if the entire New Testament disappeared?

I have wanted to look at this properly for a while. You often see long lists of ancient writers supposedly providing independent evidence for Jesus: Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, Thallus, Mara bar Serapion, Lucian, Celsus and others.

But when you actually trace the references back to their sources, the picture becomes much more complicated.

In this video, I go through the significant non-Christian references to Jesus from the ancient world up to around AD 200, including the disputed ones. I look at what they actually say, how close they are to the events, whether they provide independent information about Jesus, and whether some of the claims made about them go beyond the evidence.

That takes us from Josephus and the increasingly interesting debate surrounding the Testimonium Flavianum, to Tacitus and the execution of Christus under Pontius Pilate, Pliny describing Christians singing hymns to Christ as to a god, the mysterious "wise king" of Mara bar Serapion, and the much weaker claims surrounding Thallus and Phlegon.

I also look at Lucian mocking Christians for worshipping their crucified lawgiver, Celsus attacking the virgin birth, miracles and resurrection, and the complicated Jewish traditions about Jesus preserved in later rabbinic literature.

What surprised me most was that the evidence is both smaller and more interesting than I expected.

There are not dozens of independent historians confirming the Gospel accounts. But neither does Jesus disappear when we step outside Christian literature.

Josephus and Tacitus in particular leave us with a small but significant historical footprint.

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00:00 Is There Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?
01:59 Josephus and Jesus
03:34 The Testimonium Flavianum
04:33 New Evidence: T. C. Schmidt
06:06 Josephus on James, the Brother of Jesus
07:31 Pliny the Younger
09:24 Tacitus on the Execution of Jesus
12:11 Suetonius and “Chrestus”
13:46 Mara bar Serapion and the “Wise King”
16:03 Thallus and the Crucifixion Darkness
18:13 Phlegon of Tralles
19:53 Lucian and the “Crucified Sophist”
21:50 Celsus Attacks Christianity
24:49 Jesus in the Talmud
27:32 What Would We Actually Know About Jesus?
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20 Comments

@LogosLeaper Creator 4 weeks ago Pinned

Josephus is the most convincing, right?

@Bodorgan19 2 weeks ago

I used to work with an Italian from Rome that used to openly deride Britain for pretty much everything. One day I replied "well at least we didn't kill Jesus" The comment did not go down very well.

@benk79 2 weeks ago

Oh you're a Spurs fan, I see the need to find God now 😂

@fenwoods 2 weeks ago

4:41 Whoa. Wild way to find out an old high school buddy became a biblical scholar.

@peterpayne2219 4 weeks ago

I love how someone could look at you and see a soccer hooligan, without having any idea of how smart you are on this topic.

@e7702 4 weeks ago

Just FYI, constructive suggestion for your future content... there is a continuous knocking sound, perhaps you are hitting your desk while recording. It's a bit distracting

@shriggs55 3 weeks ago

Thanks,man.Nice and concise review of a difficult subject.

@whatsupdoc84 10 days ago

Very nice conclusion. I enjoyed this entirely. Fascinating and thoughtfully composed! This is my first time here, and I am looking forward to seeing another video soon. Thank you!

@The_Penguin_City 2 weeks ago

La mención histórica en SuetonioEn la biografía del emperador Claudio, el historiador romano Suetonio escribió que los judíos fueron expulsados de Roma debido a los disturbios constantes incitados por un tal "Cresto" (Chresto).Los eruditos debaten el significado de este pasaje:La postura tradicional: Muchos historiadores y teólogos creen que Suetonio se refería a Jesús de Nazaret, pero malinterpretó Christus usando el nombre común más familiar Chrestus.La postura alternativa: Algunos especialistas clásicos sugieren que se trataba de un agitador judío real y desconocido llamado Cresto que vivía en Roma en ese momento y causaba tensiones locales.

@dkeener13 2 weeks ago

this is good work, thanks. I think this collection of evidence tells us more about Jesus' late 1st/early 2nd century followers than it does about Jesus himself. But it does seem to paint a picture that's reasonably consistent with the canonical new testament story.

@zzyyxx100 5 days ago

Both religious and secular scholars agree the most definitive, historical proof that Jesus existed is Josephus. 1. Joseus was a non christian jewish aristocrat and historian. He had no personal incentive to invent or promote Christian belief. 2. He places Jesus during the time of Pilot, and notes the crucifixion matching the timeline of the new testament without being a biblical text. 3. In antiquities, Josephus mentions the brother of Jesus, who was called the Christ, whose name was James." Most scholars view this reference as entirely factual authentic.Because it doesn't have the theological language of later copyist. And really, there truly was no reason for Josephus to write about Jesus. There was no benefit to him.

@markadams7046 4 weeks ago

Those people aren't confirming the story of Jesus because they all lived after Jesus. They are just confirming that they have heard a story about Jesus from others. Not one of them is writing about any event in the bible during the time of those events.

@thetardsrule 1 day ago

Bro there's this 'Thud' 'Thud' sound in the background that's unbearable with headphones on; might be the desk.

peace & love though :)

@rmonstress 13 days ago

How in depth and a subject Ive been wanting to research myself. Thank you for your beautiful research and for posting!!

@lqr824 2 weeks ago

I see you're a new or small channel. Kudos on an extremely watchable and informing video. Frankly this is as good as any of the channels on such topics I've watched--Religion for Breakfast and so on. It's not a competition, the more the merrier, and the top channels should welcome your success.

@vejeke 3 weeks ago

Literally everything we know about Jesus comes from stories written down by people who never met him. That's the actual level of evidence.

@TempestFirestrike 4 weeks ago

Flaging Celsus as biased for critically assessing christian claims is itself being biased especcally as we don't have a first hand account of his writing only what Origin cherry picked and strawmanned or felt he could attack... What is really interesting is the counter claims he puts forward as well known information, and of coarse as rome adopted christanity we know anti-chirstian writings would of been removed...

@nimblehorse 4 weeks ago

"Strictly speaking it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a ‘Jew’ or to call a contemporary Jew an Israelite or a Hebrew."
(1980 Jewish Almanac, p. 3).

@firstnamelastname8105 4 weeks ago

I was the inspiration behind the passage about Onan….. over thousands of years there were lots of mutations….. one of the more interesting modern versions is David Benatar 😮😮

@James-ll3jb 3 weeks ago

The actual sentences in Tacitus that stand as historical references to Jesus himself are easily interpretable as interpolation. For the "movement" wasnt temporarily "checked" at his execution, but began only after his death (Acts 3).