THE TESTIMONY OF THE HISTORIANS

First of all, let's ask a series of questions:
Can we know if Jesus Christ really existed or do we believe in his existence just because the bible tells us about him?

Aren't there more ways to find out?
 

There were two famous contemporary historians of Jesus Christ, whose writings and references we still have today, who wrote about him. One of them was Josephus and the other Tacitus.

- Josephus
He was a Jewish historian who was born in AD 37, into a family of priests, and died in AD 100. He wrote many books in Rome and is known as the father of modern historians, as he was the first to tell the story of humanity in a documented and real way, and not in the form of a story. Thanks to his work we can better understand life in ancient times. It is true that the writings we have of Josephus are copies of the originals, so there may well be some changes. Still, they are widely recognized for their historical accuracy. And it is precisely in them that we are told about the existence of Jesus Christ. For example, one of the mentions he makes about Jesus Christ in his books is found in "Jewish Antiquities" (book 18, chapter 3) and says:

“About this time Jesus appeared, a wise man, if it is correct to call him a man, since he was a worker of impressive miracles, a teacher for men who receive the truth with joy, and he attracted to him many Jews and many Gentiles what's more. It was the Christ. And when Pilate, faced with the denunciation of those who are the main ones among us, had condemned him to the Cross, those who had loved him first did not abandon him since he appeared to them alive again on the third day, the holy prophets having predicted this and a thousand other wonders about Him. And the tribe of Christians, named after Him, has not ceased to grow to this day.”

- Tacitus
Tacitus was another famous historian who was born around AD 60 and died around AD 120. Within his “Annals”, which he wrote in his last years of life (AD 115 to 117), he provides us with information about the Christians at the burning of the city of Rome from the year 64 AD
“But neither with human remedies nor with the largesse of the prince or with the expiatory cults did the infamous belief that the fire had been ordered lose force. Consequently, to put an end to the rumours, Nero presented as guilty and subjected to the most far-fetched torments those whom the common people called Christians, abhorred by their ignominy. The one from whom they took their name, Christ, had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate; the execrable superstition, momentarily repressed, broke out again not only through Judea, the origin of evil, but also through the City, a place where all kinds of atrocities and shame come together from everywhere and where all kinds of atrocities and shame are celebrated. The case was that they began by arresting those who openly confessed their faith, and then, by denouncing them, a huge crowd, and they were convicted not so much of the accusation of the fire as of hatred of mankind. But their torture was joined by derision, so that they perished torn by dogs after having made them cover themselves with beast skins, or nailed to crosses, at nightfall, they were burned so that they served as lighting during the night. Nero had offered his gardens for such a spectacle, and he gave circus festivals mixed with the plebs, dressed as a charioteer or mounted on the chariot. For this reason, even if they were guilty and deserved the maximum punishment, they provoked compassion, given the idea that they perished not for the public good, but to satisfy the cruelty of one alone.”

These testimonies not only prove that Jesus Christ was a real man, but also prove the historical truth of what the Bible tells about his conviction (given by Governor Pilate), his death on the cross and the exponential increase in Christians after his resurrection. On the other hand, the evident hatred that Tacitus felt for the faith of the Christians lends greater veracity to his testimony.

We also have the testimony of other writers of the time such as Suetonius (c. 70 to 120 AD), another historian who, in his book "Life of the Twelve Caesars", spoke about the persecution suffered by Christians. On the other hand, Pliny, who lived at the same time as Tacitus and who was consul of Bithynia around 110 AD, wrote a large number of letters addressed to the Emperor Trajan asking him how he should punish Christians who refused to worship the statue. of the emperor.

All these extrabiblical testimonies show that Jesus Christ was a historical man, so that no one can deny this evidence. However, despite the value of these testimonies, we must say that they are not enough to know the person of Jesus Christ, since it is evident that those who were against the Christian faith will not provide exact information, or at least, objective.

THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY
It is only through the Bible that we can accurately know about Jesus Christ. Mainly, through the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). (The word Gospel means “good news,” alluding to the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.) The Gospels tell of the life and public ministry of Jesus Christ. Through them we know that Jesus Christ is God made man, who came to this world to die on the cross and rise again on the third day to give us eternal salvation. Given the importance of the message, it is very necessary to know who and when wrote the gospels and how much truth there is in them.

- The writers of the four gospels
The names of the gospels let us know their authors: Matthew wrote the "Gospel according to Matthew", Mark the "Gospel according to Mark", Luke the "Gospel according to Luke" and John the "Gospel according to John".

Matthew , who was also named Levi, was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. Before being his disciple, he was a publican, that is, a tax collector. So, having been a disciple of Jesus Christ himself, his testimony is especially valid as it is firsthand.

Marcos was serving alongside the apostle Peter and participated in the work of evangelization from its beginning; partly because his mother fervently served the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, she had many occasions to know him in detail. He was also the nephew of Barnabas, who had dedicated himself to the Lord's service shortly after Christ's resurrection. It was Barnabas who took Mark with him on the first missionary journey with Paul. Later, he was helping the apostle Paul in Rome and became very useful for his ministry. For all this, Mark was well known among the early Christian churches and a trusted servant.

Lucas was a doctor from Antioch (Syria). Although we cannot know exactly when he began to be part of the disciples of Jesus Christ, we can be sure that it was in the beginning, since in Luke 1:3 it tells us that he himself had “diligently investigated all things from their origin ”, just like the other writers of the other gospels. The fact that he was a collaborator with the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys shows us that Paul trusted him a great deal.

Finally, John , like Matthew, was another of the apostles of Jesus Christ and was especially loved by the Lord. Since his mother was the sister of Mary, the mother of the Lord, she was also his cousin, so we can imagine that she had the opportunity to get to know him more closely.

As we can see, the four authors were more than qualified to
write the gospels and we can understand how reliable his writings have been for all Christians from the beginning.

- Date of writing of each gospel
It is not an easy task to date the year in which each gospel was written, but let's start with the least difficult one: the “ Gospel according to Luke ”. We know that Luke wrote the "Acts of the Apostles" as a continuation of his gospel. Therefore, if the book of the "Acts of the Apostles" ends its narrative with the two years of house arrest in Rome of the apostle Paul (between the years 60 to 62 AD), we can deduce that the "Gospel according to Luke" was written at least two or three years before, possibly during the time that the apostle Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea (between 58 and 60 BC). So this gospel, by simple calculation, was written no more than 30 years after the death on the cross of Jesus Christ. Moreover, without leaving the realm of probability, it is possible that it was written even about 10 years after the death of Christ.
 

As for the “ Gospel according to Matthew ”, it is known that it was written before the “Gospel according to Luke”. The reason for stating this date is because there are very few records about him. It is said that Matthew spent 15 years in Jerusalem preaching the gospel to the Jews and then left, having written his gospel, to the east, reaching even beyond Iran, which may be very true. Since Matthew was one of the twelve apostles, his gospel was quickly received and accepted and used in evangelization in many parts of the empire. We know, for example, that Paul carried with him a copy of the "Gospel according to Matthew," referring to it as "Scripture." For his part, the apostle Peter, who was an eyewitness to Jesus, also used the "Gospel according to Matthew" to bear witness to the Lord. And Mark left written in his gospel references to the Gospel of Matthew that he heard in the messages that Peter gave. All these indications give us testimony that the "Gospel according to Matthew" was written at a very early date, about 10 years (or at most 15) after the cross of Christ.

As for the " Gospel according to Mark ", it must be later than the "Gospel according to Matthew" (if it is true that Mark wrote it in Rome for the Roman Christians), although many believe that it was the first gospel to be written. In the writings we have from the early days of the church, it is said that Mark wrote his gospel as a compilation of Peter's messages after his death as a martyr in Rome in AD 64. Although Mark got to know the Lord very closely, the Peter's testimony, as his disciple, was more valuable. But, according to these writings, since Peter used very basic Greek, it was Mark who wrote the gospel instead. It is said that this gospel is addressed to the Christians who lived in Rome, specifically, to the poor and uneducated slaves. And this is why, unlike the “Gospel according to Matthew”, which was written for the Jews in great detail, the “Gospel according to Mark” is very simple in writing and content. If we think about it, there is no reason for Mark to wait for Peter's death to write this gospel. Moreover, the testimony of one of the fathers of the church tells us that Mark wrote this gospel when he left to evangelize with the apostle Peter, and this thesis earns many points in his favor.
 

Finally, the " Gospel according to John " was written by the apostle John in the last years of his life, collecting in it what he used to preach in his messages. We see in this gospel very important words of the Lord Jesus that none of the other three mention. It is estimated that it was written around the 80s AD, although it is possible that it was earlier.

After looking at the dates and historical evidence, we can be sure that the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke were written no later than 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, although it is very likely that they were written between 15 and 20 years. later.

- The credibility of the gospels
When considering the credibility of the gospels, it is important to understand that the gospels were not addressed to the Christian circle of the time, but were written publicly in order to evangelize as many people as possible. In fact, many of those who read the gospels did so at the high price of a copy. When the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written, there were still many living witnesses, both believers and unbelievers, who saw or personally knew Jesus Christ before he was crucified. The fact that the Gospels were accepted as reliable writings at that time speaks volumes about their credibility. If anything false had been written about Jesus Christ, the very people who knew him would have rejected the gospels. But, on the contrary, the fact that the people who read the gospels admitted the truth of what was written, is a strong proof of their credibility. Because of this, we can be sure about the gospels that they are not empty human inventions, but reliable records about Jesus Christ.
 

- On the other books of the New Testament
Most of the books entitled “Letter (or epistle) to the…” were written by the apostle Paul. For example, the "Letter to the Romans" was written by Paul for the Christians in Rome. In the same way, the "Letter to the Corinthians" was written for the believers in Corinth. Currently there is no historian who doubts that both letters were written by the apostle Paul, something that was already confirmed by the Christians of the first century. Among them, Paul tells us that he was one of the eyewitnesses of the risen Christ and that there were, as the "Letter to the Corinthians" relates, more than 500 brothers to whom the risen Lord appeared alive.

THE TESTIMONY ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
In addition to the Bible and all the encyclopedias that assume the death of Jesus Christ on the cross as a historical fact, we can verify the veracity of the Lord's resurrection by reasoning for ourselves, seeing the course of history. We must admit that all the Christian churches that exist today began with a group of Christians in Jerusalem who began meeting just after the death and resurrection of Jesus. And all of them believed in the real resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day because, as we have seen before, many were eyewitnesses to this fact and even touched the risen Christ with their own hands. Furthermore, history itself teaches us that the testimony of the first Christians spread rapidly through the main cities of the Mediterranean, thus forming new churches. This faith spread beyond Europe in the first century, reaching India and China in the East, Spain and England in the West, and Ethiopia in the South. In this way, the Christians themselves spread the Gospel, that is, the story of Christ's death and resurrection, throughout the world.
At this point, we can ask ourselves the following: if Jesus had not risen, would all these things have been possible? If Jesus Christ had not been resurrected, the churches would never have existed. Jesus Christ himself repeated many times to his disciples that he was going to die, being nailed to a cross, but that he would rise on the third day. If Jesus Christ had not risen, his tomb would not have been empty either. Announcing his resurrection with his body there would have made no sense and it is obvious that no one would have believed in him.

One could imagine that someone interested would have taken the dead body of Jesus Christ, for example, the Jewish leaders. But it should be remembered that it was impossible for the priests to take his body away. If that had been the case, at the moment the disciples began to announce the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the fastest and most effective way to disprove them would have been to show them his lifeless body. However, they couldn't do it, because, effectively, they didn't have it. On the other hand, it would be even more unlikely for the disciples to take the body of Christ and make up the resurrection story because if Jesus Christ never rose, they had been deceived. And what need did they have to take away the corpse of someone who had deceived them for several years? No one is willing to die for a lie, and the disciples were well aware that if they bore witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they too would end up suffering persecution and death. But instead of fearing for their lives, they went out into the world to announce the redemptive work of Christ. And this they were able to do because they had seen with their own eyes the risen Lord.

As the Bible says, Jesus Christ rose on the third day. He is the only God and Savior able to give us forgiveness of all our sins and eternal salvation.
 

“Furthermore, I declare to you, brothers, the gospel that I have preached to you, which you also received, in which you also continue; by which also, if you hold fast the word that I have preached to you, you are saved, if you did not believe in vain.  For first of all I taught you what I also received: 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; and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. Later he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at the same time, many of whom are still alive, and others already asleep. Then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, like an abortive, it appeared to me. Because I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
1st Letter to the Corinthians 15: 1 ~ 4.