Outside the Bible and the writings of early Christians, there are very few other references to Christ from the late first and early second centuries. Should that bother us? No, not at all! For two reasons: first, the total extant literature from this period would fill a very small section of one ordinary bookshelf, so it is not surprising if there is little about Christ. Second, the resurrection of Christ is amply proven from many other facts.
He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Mat. 28:6
Very early in the second century, a Roman historian named Publius Cornelius Tacitus referred to the resurrection of Christ as a “pernicious superstition.” Gaius Suetonius, another Roman historian writing about the same time, called it a “new and mischievous superstition.” The great Jewish writer, Flavius Josephus, may have affirmed the fact of Christ’s resurrection in the late first century, but the authenticity of the passage is disputed. The dispute is not because of any conflicting manuscript evidence—for there is none—but because the passage appears to some critics to be too Christian! Outside the Bible and the writings of early Christians, there are very few other references to Christ from the late first and early second centuries. Should that bother us? No, not at all! For two reasons: first, the total extant literature from this period would fill a very small section of one ordinary bookshelf, so it is not surprising if there is little about Christ. Second, the resurrection of Christ is amply proven from many other facts. Here are twelve of them:
1. The Old Testament prophesied hundreds of years before Christ that Israel’s messiah would be killed and then rise from the dead (Psa. 16:10; Isa. 53; Hos. 6:2).
2. The Old Testament contains many specific predictions about the lineage, birth, life, ministry, betrayal, and manner of death of the Messiah (see Psa. 22), which could not have been staged by Jesus or His supporters. Even the exact time of Christ’s life was prophesied (Dan. 9:24-27).
3. Jesus predicted His betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection so often that even His enemies knew of the three days (Mar. 14:58; 15:29; Mat. 27:63).
