.Jesus didnt believe he was God.
He said he was Gods Son over and over again.
I believe Jesus knew who he was.
Early sources behind our gospels also attest to the crucifixion, such as the
pre-Markan passion narrative in Mark’s gospel and
hypothetical Q. New Testament scholar Eric Rowe explains that “Q and pre-Mark both surely do attest to the crucifixion of Jesus…. Mark is passing on pre-existing tradition and that the crucifixion is not the author’s own addition to the story” (12). According to Rowe, to show that Matthew and Luke attest to Christ’s crucifixion independent of Mark is difficult because they almost certainly derived their crucifixion narrative from Mark and/or Q.
Beyond the early Christian writings, perhaps the two most important extra-biblical references come from the historians
Josephus Flavius (37-100 CE) and Cornelius Tacitus (56-120 CE). Flavius (writing around 94 CE) refers to the crucifixion, “And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross” (13). It is true that of Flavius’ two passages that refer to Christ, this one was subject to a Christian scribe’s interpolation. However, many scholars believe that the interpolation was done over a historical core where Flavius did, by his own hand, refer to Christ’s crucifixion and trial. Concerning the pre-interpolation passage scholar James Dunn writes that “few have doubted that it came from Josephus’ pen” (14).
Cornelius Tacitus, writing around 116 CE, tells us that Christ
“suffered the extreme penalty” of crucifixion under “Pontius Pilate” (15). According to Paul Eddy and Gregory Boyd, that Tacitus provides attestation to Christ’s crucifixion is now “firmly established” (16). It is widely held that Tacitus provides independent attestation to Christ’s crucifixion (17).
Mara Serapion (50-? CE) is a further ancient writer of interest who refers to the crucifixion of the “wise king.” Although this reference is debated, many scholars see the wise king as a reference to Christ, although, unfortunately, it does not provide a direct reference. New Testament scholar Robert Van Voorst sees little doubt that the reference to the execution of the “king of the Jews” refers to Christ’s death on the cross (18), while Bruce Chilton and Craig Evans view the reference as relating to the inscription on the cross of Christ’s crucifixion, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark (15:26) (19). Historians have dated this letter somewhere between 73 CE and 200 CE which means it could be early or late.
The crucifixion receives further attestation by many other later writers over the following centuries. There is
Lucian’s (120-190 CE) satirical piece called The Passing of Peregrinus that mocks Christian faith and calls Christ a “crucified sophist” and the
Babylonian Talmud says that Christ “was hanged on the eve of the Passover.” These sources, and others we have not mentioned, although important historically for historians examining the contexts in which they were authored, don’t provide much historical value in terms of early, independent attestation to Christ’s crucifixion. What value they do have, however,
is that they assume a constant tradition of Christ’s crucifixion. At no point do they doubt that there was such a figure as Jesus Christ who was crucified. That these sources are hostile to the Christian movement, often deriding it as a disease and superstition, yet accept these basic Christian claims is informative, especially given the rhetorical ammunition it would have given them had they discovered the crucifixion was merely a fabrication.
To conclude then, what are the independent sources attesting to the crucifixion of Christ?
The historian has the following: Pre-Mark, Q, John, Paul, Hebrews, 1 Peter, Clement, Ignatius, Martyr, Josephus Flavius, and Cornelius Tacitus. This totals to eleven independent sources, excluding the later sources. If one takes two independent sources as a good rule for determining historical confidence then one seems on very strong grounds to accept the crucifixion as a genuine historical fact.
Early attestation
Christ’s crucifixion is an event that is not only independently attested in various sources but is also attested within
early sources. The idea here is that the earlier the source is to the events it describes the more value it has. This can be for several reasons, such as a decreased possibility of legend infiltrating a text, less distortion, the events being fresher in the memories of witnesses and authors, and so on. A source dating to forty years of an event would inspire more confidence than a source that dates to three centuries of the event.
Several early sources attest to the crucifixion. The pre-Markan passion narrative is one such source that Rudolf Pesch dates no later than 37 CE, just seven years after Christ’s death,
Criterion of Embarrassment
Christ’s crucifixion satisfies what historians refer to as the criterion of embarrassment
. The idea here is that it is very unlikely that an author, who we know was a follower of Christ, would make up an event that was of embarrassment to themselves, their leader, and/or to their movement. How does this criterion apply to Christ’s crucifixion?
This is the view that Christ’s earliest followers, who were raised and located in a first-century
Jewish-Palestinian context, would have held to of crucifixion. They believed that if one was crucified it is because he was cursed by the God of Israel. The significance lies in the fact that no person from this background would have taught others, especially their fellow Jews, that their leader, whom they proclaimed to be God himself, had been crucified
unless it really happened. To invent a fabricated story of their leader’s crucifixion would have amplified the difficulties the earliest Christians would have experienced when attempting to spread their message. In other words, if the crucifixion was merely an invention of the gospel authors, the authors would have come up with a far compelling more fabrication that would preferably not result in their audiences scoffing at their claims. The crucifixion therefore only makes sense if Christ had really been crucified.
In fact, the difficulty that the crucifixion caused Christ’s followers is clear to see. The disciples, even while Christ was alive and active in his ministry, responded in confusion when Christ taught he would soon be delivered to be crucified (John 13:21-29, 13: 7, 19, and Luke 24:44-45). They were certainly not foreseeing their movement’s leader receiving a humiliating death deemed fit for the common criminal.
Paul here is plainly referring to the difficulty the earliest Christians would have experienced while trying to convince others of their leader’s teachings, despite this leader having been nailed to a cross like a failed messiah and common criminal. William Craig explains,
“Jewish Messianic expectations included no idea of a Davidic Messiah who, instead of throwing off Israel’s enemies and establishing David’s throne in Jerusalem, would be shamefully executed by them as a criminal. Jesus’ crucifixion was something the early church struggled to overcome, not something it invented. Jesus’ crucifixion is one datum upon which all historical scholars, even the most radical, agree” (24).
“The title “Son of Man” was Jesus’ favorite way to describe himself; it refers to a human being, much the same as the phrase “son of Mike” would refer to a child of Mike. However, we aren’t dealing with a matter of either human or transcendent as the title implies. For in Daniel 7, the Son of Man rides the clouds. In the Hebrew Scriptures riding the clouds is something only God does—or something foreign gods are described as doing (Ex. 14:20; 34:5; Num. 10:34; Ps. 104:3; Isa. 19:1). In other words, this human figure is unique in his possession of characteristics that reflect the transcendent divine. Jesus as the Anointed One, the Christ, represents both God and man” (26).
That Christ referred to himself using this title upset his opponents and it is why during a trial the high priest “tore his clothes and declared” him to have committed blasphemy deserving of death (Mark 14).
The crucifixion coheres with other data from the gospels. For example, Christ came under fire when his disciples were accused of violating the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28; Matt. 12:1-21; Luke 6:1-5). He also allegedly violated the Sabbath because of miraculously healing a person (Mark 3:1-5; Luke 6:6-11; Matt. 12:9-14), for forgiving sin when such a role is reserved only for God (Matt. 9:1-8), for purportedly using demonic power (Matt. 12:22-37), and for claiming that he would build the temple up in three days after tearing it down (Matt. 27:40; John 2:19). All these factors contributed to the Jewish authorities dragging Christ before Pilate.
