Here's a question I get asked all the time: "Robbie, how do we know Jesus was even a real person?"
It's a fair question. And honestly, I love it when people ask. Because faith isn't about checking your brain at the door: it's about engaging with the evidence, wrestling with the hard questions, and discovering what holds up under scrutiny.
So let's run an experiment together. Let's set the Bible aside for a moment: not because it's unreliable, but because I want to show you something fascinating. There's a whole world of ancient historical sources that mention Jesus, and they weren't written by his followers. They were written by Roman officials, Jewish historians, and even critics of Christianity.
What did they have to say? Let's dig in.
Why This Question Matters
I'll be honest with you. When I first started exploring faith seriously: in the shadow of 9/11, when everything I thought I knew about life got turned upside down: I needed to know that what I was believing was grounded in something real. Something solid.
I didn't want a faith built on wishful thinking. I wanted truth.
And here's what I discovered: the historical evidence for Jesus of Nazareth is remarkably strong. In fact, there are at least 14 sources from at least 7 different authors attesting to Jesus within the first and second centuries. That's substantially more evidence than we have for most notable individuals from first-century Galilee.
The vast majority of historians: whether Christian, atheist, agnostic, or otherwise: agree that Jesus was a real historical figure who lived in first-century Palestine, gathered followers, and was crucified under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.
But don't take my word for it. Let's look at the sources themselves.
Josephus: The Jewish Historian
Flavius Josephus was a first-century Jewish historian who worked for the Roman Empire. He wasn't a Christian. In fact, he was a Pharisee who later became a Roman citizen. His writings are considered some of the most valuable historical documents we have from that era.
In his work Jewish Antiquities, written around A.D. 93-94, Josephus mentions Jesus twice.
The most significant passage is called the "Testimonium Flavianum." Here's what it says:
"About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man… He wrought surprising feats… He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him."
Now, scholars have debated this passage for centuries. Some believe later Christian scribes may have added or altered a few phrases. But here's the key point: the vast majority of historians accept that the core of this passage is authentic. Josephus really did write about Jesus.
Even more compelling is his second reference, where he mentions "James, the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ." This casual reference: almost in passing: suggests that Jesus was a known historical figure whose identity didn't need explanation.
Tacitus: The Roman Senator
If Josephus gives us a Jewish perspective, Tacitus gives us a Roman one. And it's not flattering.
Tacitus was a Roman senator and historian, widely considered one of the greatest historians of ancient Rome. Around A.D. 116, he wrote about the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64 and Emperor Nero's persecution of Christians. Here's what he said:
"Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus."
Let that sink in for a moment.
A hostile Roman source: someone with no reason to fabricate evidence for Christianity: confirms that:
- Christ was a real person
- He was executed under Pontius Pilate
- This happened during the reign of Emperor Tiberius
- His followers were called Christians
Historians often describe this as "probably the most important reference to Jesus outside the New Testament." Tacitus clearly viewed Christianity with disdain, which actually makes his testimony more credible. He had nothing to gain by affirming Jesus existed.
Pliny the Younger: The Roman Governor
Around A.D. 112, a Roman governor named Pliny the Younger wrote a series of letters to Emperor Trajan asking for advice on how to deal with Christians in his province.
In these letters, Pliny describes the practices of early Christians, noting that they would meet regularly, sing hymns "to Christ as to a god," and bind themselves by oath to live moral lives. He mentions that Christianity had spread rapidly across his region: affecting people of "every age, every rank, and even of both sexes."
What's fascinating here is that Pliny is writing just 80 years after Jesus' crucifixion, and Christianity has already spread like wildfire across the Roman Empire. These weren't isolated fanatics. This was a movement that captured the hearts of thousands.
And at the center of that movement? A man named Jesus, whom his followers worshipped as divine.
Other Ancient Sources
The evidence doesn't stop there. Several other ancient sources reference Jesus:
The Babylonian Talmud (compiled between A.D. 70-500) contains references to Jesus, including a passage that corroborates his crucifixion on the eve of Passover. Again, this is a Jewish source: not a Christian one.
Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian philosopher writing around A.D. 70, compares Jesus to Socrates and Pythagoras as wise men who were unjustly killed.
Lucian of Samosata, a Greek satirist from the second century, mocked Christians but acknowledged that they worshipped "the man who was crucified in Palestine."
Each of these sources comes from a different perspective: Jewish, Roman, Greek, Syrian. None of them were trying to promote Christianity. Yet all of them confirm that Jesus was a real person who made an extraordinary impact on history.
What Does This Evidence Tell Us?
So what can we establish from these non-Christian sources alone?
Here's what the historical record confirms:
- Jesus lived in first-century Judea
- He was known as a wise teacher who performed remarkable deeds
- He gathered devoted followers
- He was crucified under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Emperor Tiberius
- His followers believed he was the Messiah (the Christ)
- They worshipped him as divine
- The movement he started spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire
That's remarkable. Without opening a single page of the New Testament, we can establish the basic framework of Jesus' life and the early Christian movement.
What This Means for Faith
Now, does this "prove" everything Christians believe about Jesus? Does it prove his resurrection or his miracles or his divinity?
No. And that's not what I'm trying to do here.
What this evidence does is establish that the story of Jesus isn't a myth invented centuries later. It's rooted in real history. The people who wrote about him: both friends and enemies: agreed that he was real.
For me, that matters. It means my faith isn't built on fairy tales. It's built on a foundation of historical reality.
And here's the thing: once you establish that Jesus was real, the next question becomes even more important. Who was he, really? What did he teach? And why did his followers believe so strongly that they were willing to die rather than deny him?
Those are questions worth exploring. That's the experiment I invite you to take with me.
If you want to dig deeper into the evidence for faith, check out more resources at faithexperiment.com. Because testing your beliefs isn't the enemy of faith( it's the beginning of it.)
