Did Christians Invent the Story of Jesus?

Watch the video above and talk about it with a group or mentor. Learn more.

Some skeptics of Christianity have argued that Christians invented the story of Jesus and that he was not a historical figure but merely a legend. Others say Jesus existed, but he was simply a good teacher who was made into more by his followers. “He was compassionate. But all the stuff about miracles and raising from the dead was just made up.” Are these people right?

Jesus Was Known Outside of the Bible

A lot of writers from outside the Bible discussed Jesus. This is surprising since Jesus was an unimportant person from an unimportant part of the world. The Roman province of Judaea, which made up much of the land of ancient Israel, was considered a “backwater” province during the time of Jesus.

Secular (non-religious) historians from the first and second centuries confirm the general outline of the New Testament (NT) documents. These historians include, but are not limited to:

• Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37-100).
• Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 52-54).
• Pliny the Younger (A.D. 112).
• Thallus (A.D. 52).
• Jewish Talmud (A.D. 500).
• Lucian (100’s A.D.).
• Suetonius (A.D. 120).

When we combine the testimony of these secular historians, we learn the following information about Jesus which matches the story of the NT:

1. Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate at Passover time.
2. He was believed by his disciples to have risen from the dead three days later.
3. Jewish leaders charged Christ with sorcery and believed that he was born illegitimately.
4. The sect of Christianity could not be contained – it across the Roman world.
5. Nero and other Roman rulers bitterly persecuted and martyred early Christians.
6. These early Christians denied polytheism (the worship of many gods).
7. They lived dedicated lives according to Christ’s teachings and worshiped him as God.

This is most of the core of the teaching of the NT. And it’s all established by non-Christian writers.

[External Resource: Is There Any Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?]

The Story of Jesus Did Not Evolve in the New Testament

Some people will say that the story of Jesus grows throughout the NT. One of the earliest written books of the NT, 1 Corinthians, was probably written 52-57 A.D., while people who would have known Jesus were still living. In other words, that’s not a good time to be making up things about Jesus – when people who could confirm or deny the details of his life and ministry were there to contradict lies about him.

One of these earliest passages about Jesus says:

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

The writer, the Apostle Paul, establishes the fact that Jesus died for our sins and he was raised from the dead. Many people saw him. It would have been easy for people to say, “That’s not true” because they were still alive. But there is no evidence of such a contradiction. This story of Jesus had been circulated since the early 30’s A.D. It did not spring into existence from nothing. As Paul said in Acts 26:26, the things Jesus did were “not done in a corner.” They were public knowledge.

[Related Resource: How Do We Show Someone the Bible Is Trustworthy?]

The Writers of the New Testament Did Not Write Legends

When you read Homer you know he’s making up a legend in the Odyssey and the Iliad. Some ancient writers purposely attributed false statements to important historical figures so their own teachings would be credible (these documents are called “pseudepigrapha” from two Greek words meaning “false” and “writing”). But what about the NT documents? Are they “false writings?”

Luke 1:1-4 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

Luke gathered facts like a good historian. His goal was not to concoct a legend but to verify the events surrounding the life of Jesus. Luke’s gospel account contains detailed information about the birth of John the Baptist and the miraculous conception of Jesus (Luke 1-2).

[Related Resource: Is the Bible Historically Reliable?]

There is compelling evidence for believing that the Jesus of the Bible is a reflection of who he truly was on earth. The writers of the NT wrote soon enough after the events that people who had witnessed them were still living. Luke, a medical doctor, did the work of a historian in chronicling Jesus’s ministry (the Gospel of Luke) and the history of the early church (Acts). People outside the Bible concluded that Jesus existed and that he had a strong following of believers very early, absolutely no later than 64 A.D. with the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Nero. This was just thirty years after Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection in Jerusalem.

We can trust that Jesus not only existed, but that he is who the Bible says he is: the son of God, Messiah, Savior, and Lord of all the earth.