August 17, 2024

Thank you, Mrs. Thelma, for teaching me the stories of Jesus in Children’s Church so long ago. Has it really been fifty years since I sat in her weekly service for six of the best years of my life? Along with other amazing memories I can remember standing each Sunday to recite our cornerstone Bible verse in unison. “First Corinthians Fifteen Three B and Four,” we’d begin, our voices just a few notches short of an all-out yell, “‘that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.’” Today I can still quote that passage without a bobble although I don’t get orange jelly slices any more for saying it. Oh, well!

But, yes, Jesus really existed. The Bible says so, and thanks to Mrs. Thelma, I can’t ever remember questioning the Bible! Perhaps you’ve heard too the same little saying that I picked up somewhere along my faith journey, “The Bible says it. I believe it and that settles it for me!” But truth be told, not everyone believes what the Bible says about Jesus. To many the Bible was written by religious zealots with an ax to grind who couldn’t possibly be trusted. “I would need proof from something other than the Bible if I’m ever to be convinced,” some might be heard saying, and upon hearing this objection most Christians are stopped cold.

Many don’t have the foggiest idea whether or not there even ARE any sources other than the Bible to prove that Jesus lived, and if I have to be honest, other than the early writings of Christians who lived in the one hundred years or so after the death of Jesus, I’m not sure I could have rattled off any myself. So over the next ten weeks that’s exactly what I’ll do—demonstrate for you that there are solid literary and historical proofs outside of the Bible that refer directly to Jesus, and they are quite early! In fact, our list will include only sources within the first and second centuries following the death of Jesus in 33 A.D.

Now you’ll be able to answer any objections that might present themselves to you by those who dispute the historicity of Jesus. I am indebted to the writings of Pastor Bryan Windle of Associates for Biblical Research whose research I have adapted for this series.

—Daniel McCabe