EXTRA-BIBLICAL WRITINGS
This page contains an ever-growing list of evidence that points to the authenticity of the Bible as the Word of God.
Please check back periodically as new items are added in this fascinating study!
Please check back periodically as new items are added in this fascinating study!
1. In his Antiquities of the Jews (circa A.D. 93), Jewish-Roman Historian Flavius Josephus is quoted twice as follows regarding Christ Jesus:
a) “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross,
those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so
named from him, are not extinct at this day."
b) “Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrim [sic] of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them
to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus
that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to
assemble a Sanhedrim [sic] without his consent.”
...Please visit:
http://www.josephus.org/
for further insight.
2. In a letter from Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan (circa A.D. 97) he demonstrates faithfulness of early Christians under intense inquisition, torture, and threat of death.
...Please visit:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html
for further insight.
3. Perhaps one of the BEST historical documents for the authenticity and accuracy of the Old Testament is the Talmud [Gemara]. This document contains the original Old Testament text as well as commentaries including oral history, rabbinical interpretations, legal decisions, and conflict resolutions based on Scripture dating from the time of the earliest Scripture records to the beginning of the 20th Century.
...Please visit:
http://people.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudPage.html#Page
for further insight.
4. In the Annals of Tacitus (A.D. 109) Christ Jesus is referred to as ‘Christus’, and the use of Christians as the target of Nero’s lunacy is cited in Book XV:
“Consequently, to get rid of the report [of the fire caused by his own revelry], 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, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was
added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
...Please visit:
http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.11.xv.html
for further insight.
5. Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus in his writings entitled Life of Claudius and Life of Nero (circa A.D. 120) refers
to the expulsion of the Jewish Christians from Rome, and to the persecution of Christians in Rome by Emperor Nero.
...Please visit:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/mara.html
for further insight.
a) “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross,
those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so
named from him, are not extinct at this day."
b) “Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrim [sic] of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them
to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus
that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to
assemble a Sanhedrim [sic] without his consent.”
...Please visit:
http://www.josephus.org/
for further insight.
2. In a letter from Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan (circa A.D. 97) he demonstrates faithfulness of early Christians under intense inquisition, torture, and threat of death.
...Please visit:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html
for further insight.
3. Perhaps one of the BEST historical documents for the authenticity and accuracy of the Old Testament is the Talmud [Gemara]. This document contains the original Old Testament text as well as commentaries including oral history, rabbinical interpretations, legal decisions, and conflict resolutions based on Scripture dating from the time of the earliest Scripture records to the beginning of the 20th Century.
...Please visit:
http://people.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudPage.html#Page
for further insight.
4. In the Annals of Tacitus (A.D. 109) Christ Jesus is referred to as ‘Christus’, and the use of Christians as the target of Nero’s lunacy is cited in Book XV:
“Consequently, to get rid of the report [of the fire caused by his own revelry], 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, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was
added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
...Please visit:
http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.11.xv.html
for further insight.
5. Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus in his writings entitled Life of Claudius and Life of Nero (circa A.D. 120) refers
to the expulsion of the Jewish Christians from Rome, and to the persecution of Christians in Rome by Emperor Nero.
...Please visit:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/mara.html
for further insight.
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