Equally faulty is the hypothesis that the body of Jesus was taken or moved by someone other than the disciples. The major problem, among others, is that it does not account for the strongest, critically ascertained fact in favor of the resurrection — the disciples’ belief that the risen Jesus had literally appeared to them. Since one must search elsewhere to account for this major fact, this view cannot disprove the resurrection. Not only is this the case for the disciples, but even more so with Paul and James, who pose additional refutations.
Additionally, such views fail to provide a plausible person(s) to perform such an act, viable motives, a place for Jesus’ final burial, or for the fact that the act was never admitted, discovered, or otherwise reported. But again, the appearances of Jesus are not even dealt with by these theses, and this constitutes the primary refutation.
Also, it should be remembered that the Toledoth Jesu, which purports the view that Jesus’ body was dragged down Jerusalem’s streets, is a much later source, and it is disdained as nonhistorical even by Jewish scholars. Its thesis fails because such an act would have killed Christianity centuries ago, but such an act obviously did not occur. Neither does it explain Jesus’ appearances. It is no wonder that these fraud hypotheses have also had no reputable supporters in the last two centuries.98
However, we still cannot conclude that ancient extrabiblical sources, by themselves, historically demonstrate the resurrection, as is true with Jesus’ death by crucifixion. The evidence indicates that alternative theories involving a stolen or moved body are invalid, and that the tomb was empty, but the cause of this event cannot be proven at this point alone. Still, the testimony of Josephus and Phlegon, in particular, are very helpful, and supplement the excellent case in Chapter 7 from the New Testament creeds and known facts.
We conclude that ancient extrabiblical sources both provide a broad outline of the life of Jesus and indicate that he died due to the effects of crucifixion. Afterwards he was buried and his tomb was later found empty, but the body had not been stolen or moved. While we have this mystery and some factual evidence in favor of Jesus’ resurrection, additional data from other sources are needed in order to reach a final position.
1Moses Hadas, “Introduction” to The Complete Works of Tacitus (New York: Random House, 1942), pp. IX, XIII-XIV.
2An alternate theory is that the Annals included sixteen books and the Histories, fourteen books, also for a total of thirty (cf. Hadas, p. XII).
3Tacitus, 15.44.
4Ibid.
5F.F. Bruce, Christian Origins, p. 23.
6J.N.D. Anderson, Christianity: The Witness of History (London: Tyndale, 1969), p. 19.
7Chronicles 2:30.6.
8Robert Graves, “Introduction” to Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars, transl. by Robert Graves (Baltimore: Penguin, 1957), p. 7.
9François Amiot, “Jesus A Historical Person,” in Daniel-Rops, ed., Sources, p. 8.
10Suetonius, Claudius, 25.
11Graves, The Twelve Caesars, p. 197; Bruce, Christian Origins, p. 21; Amiot, “Jesus,” p. 8.
12Suetonius, Nero, 16.
13Daniel-Rops, “Silence of Jesus’ Contemporaries,” pp. 19-21; Bruce, The New Testament Documents, pp. 102-103.
14Josephus, Antiquities 20:9. The edition of Josephus used here is The Works of Josephus, transl. by William Whiston (Philadelphia: David McKay, n.d.).
15Josephus, Antiquities 18:3.
16Origen, Contra Celsum 1:47.
17Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 1:XI.
18Daniel-Rops, “Silence of Jesus’ Contemporaries,” p. 21.
19Ibid.; Anderson, Christianity, p. 20; Bruce, The New Testament Documents, p. 108. Cf. also Bruce, p. 109 for the views of British historian H. St. John Thackery and Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner.
20Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism, p. 95.
21David Flusser, “New Evidence on Jesus’ Life Reported,” The New York Times, February 12, 1972, pp. 1, 24.
22Charlesworth, ibid., p. 93.
23Ibid., pp. 93–94.
24Ibid., pp. 96–97.
25Bruce presents a somewhat similar list of facts. See The New Testament Documents, p. 112.
26Bruce, Christian Origins, pp. 29-30.
27Ibid.; Anderson, Witness of History, p. 19.
28Julius Africanus, Extant Writings, XVIII in the Ante–Nicene Fathers, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), vol. VI, p. 130.
29See the discussion below on the Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a).
30Wells, Did Jesus Exist?, pp. 12–13. Wells’ overall thesis is examined in detail in Chapter 2.
31Bruce, Christian Origins, p. 24.
32Pliny, Letters, transl. by William Melmoth, rev. by W.M.L. Hutchinson (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1935), vol. II, X:96.
33Ibid.
34Ibid.
35Ibid., X:97.
36Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, IV:IX.
37Ibid.
38Bruce, Christian Origins, pp. 54-55.
39This quotation was taken from the reading in The Babylonian Talmud, transl. by I. Epstein (London: Soncino, 1935), vol. III, Sanhedrin 43a, p. 281.
40Greek stauros, as in such references as Matt. 27:31; Mark 15:13, 14, 20, 27, etc.
41Sanhedrin 43a.
42Ibid., where this reference is apparently a third century addition to the earlier material in this section of the Talmud.
43Sanhedrin 106b.
44For instance, Yeb. IV:3, 49a.
45Hagigah 4b; Sanhedrin 106a.
46Maier, First Easter, pp. 117-118.
47Ibid., pp. 118-119.
48Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 108.
49Tertullian, On Spectacles, 30.
50Lucian, The Death of Peregrine, 11-13, in The Works of Lucian of Samosata, transl. by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler, 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1949), vol. 4.
51These additional facts are found in Lucian, ibid., 12-13.
52Bruce, Christian Origins, p. 30.
53British Museum, Syriac Manuscript, Additional 14, 658. For this text, see Bruce, Christian Origins, p. 31.