The case for Christ’s death by crucifixion is largely not debated anymore outside of the Muslim case against it. Nearly 100% of Christian and non-Christian scholars believe that Jesus was a real person that lived and died at the hands of a Roman crucifixion squad. However, I want to equip FTRM readers with as much evidence for death by crucifixion as I can present.
If you have not read the first post in this series, please check it out as I present the Christian evidence for the crucifixion of Jesus in it. Historical Jesus Series – Part 3: Examining the Evidence for the Crucifixion – Finish the Race Ministries (ftrministries.com)
As a reminder, I am using a very scientific method to rate the quality of the evidence—the Thomas Magnum Mustache evidential rating scale. A rating of 1 adds no value to the case, and a rating of 5 is evidence that strongly supports the case. Ratings of 2-4 are on a sliding scale between 1 and 5 mustaches.
Non-Christian Sources
There are at least 10 non-Christian sources that can be used to verify the death of Jesus. For the sake of brevity, I am only going to list the two best; the Roman historian Tacitus, and the Jewish historian Josephus.
“Their name comes from Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate.“
Tacitus
The premier historian of the Roman Empire, Tacitus, wrote a history of the Roman Empire he called the Annals that detailed the time stretching from Augustus to Nero.[1] In passing, Tacitus tells a story about a fire that broke out in Rome in the year 64, for which Nero was responsible. Nero fell under some political pressure and needed a scapegoat for the fire, blaming the Christians in Rome. Tacitus writes about it, saying,
“Therefore, to squelch the rumor, Nero created scapegoats and subjected to the most refined tortures those whom the common people called “Christians,” hated for their abominable crimes. Their name comes from Christ, who, during the reign of Tiberius, had been executed by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Suppressed for the moment, the deadly superstition broke out again, not only in Judea, the land which originated this evil, but also in the city of Rome, where all sorts of horrendous and shameful practices from every part of the world converge and are fervently cultivated.”[2]
There is so much to unpack in this small paragraph. Still, sticking only to the crucifixion of Christ, we can see Tacitus corroborates every source I have listed before now. Furthermore, Tacitus is clearly hostile to Christians, so this small paragraph carries a disproportionate amount of weight towards validating the death of Jesus. Because it is likely a minimum of third-hand reporting by Tacitus, I have slightly downgraded the evidence rating.
Magnum Mustache rating – 3 Magnum Mustaches
Lastly, we have the Jewish historian and Roman ally Josephus. Josephus was a Jew, born in A.D. 37, raised in Jerusalem by a father who was the high Jewish priest Matthias.[3] Outside of the authors of the New Testament, Josephus has the best understanding of the ministry of Jesus due to his physical proximity to the origin of the Christian Church and his close ties to the religious elite in Jerusalem. There can be no doubt that Josephus would have heard and seen the Christian movement up close and personal.
Josephus has two passages that lend significant support to the crucifixion. The first is found in his Antiquities 20.200 where Josephus describes the martyrdom of James the brother of Jesus writing,
“Having such a character, Ananus thought that with Festus dead and Albinus still on the way he would have the proper opportunity. Convening the judges of the Sanhedrin, he brought before them the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ, whose name was James, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned.”[4]
Here we see that Ananus, takes advantage of a gap in Roman oversight to murder James. The same James from the book of James in the New Testament and the brother of Jesus. That Josephus uses Christ to identify James means Josephus believed Christ was a real person.
“And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so.”
Josephus
The second mention of Jesus by Josephus can be found in his Antiquities 18.63 (catchy titles). This passage is somewhat controversial because there appears to be some tampering with it, probably by Christians because of the high view of Jesus displayed in the text. I will give you the whole passage, and anything lined out is suspected by NT scholars of being added after the fact. Here it is:
“At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one should call him a man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a fallowing both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. He was the Messiah. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. For he appeared to them on the third day, living again, just as the divine prophets had spoken of these and countless other wondrous things about him. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out.”[5]
From a historical point of view both Tacitus and Josephus add a lot to the evidence for the death and resurrection of Jesus. Josephus offers more substance and a probable eyewitness understanding of the Jerusalem Church and the early Christian movement. For this reason, Josephus receives a higher evidential rating.
Magnum Mustache rating – 5 Magnum Mustaches
The Medical Case for Death by Crucifixion
Before I jump straight into the medical case for death by crucifixion, let’s review the evidence for Christ’s death by crucifixion.
- The Gospel accounts provide eyewitness testimony and multiple independent accounts of the death of Jesus by crucifixion.
- Paul, the former persecutor of the Christians, provides us with an oral creed that was given to him by Jerusalem Church no later than 5 years after the death of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 is written eyewitness testimony of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. This passage is widely accepted in secular circles as the first written account of the Gospel.
- The Apostolic Fathers write about Christ dying and dying by crucifixion. The source material for their writings was very likely the disciples of Jesus and Paul, making them second-hand accounts of the crucifixion of Christ.
- Points 1-3 meet the criterion of embarrassment, meaning they would be considered too embarrassing to fabricate and should be viewed as an accurate account. Jesus is supposed to be the Son of God, and he was tortured and subjected to the worst kind of death possible in the Roman Empire. Therefore, we should view the early Christian accounts of the death of Jesus as a historical fact.
- Non-Christian sources that are unsympathetic to Christianity validate the Christian accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus.
When Christ appeared to all those listed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, it was not a resurrected Jesus, but Jesus who had never died in the first place. This theory stands on the premise that Christ could survive pre-crucifixion torture, crucifixion, and being impaled by a Roman spear. Is that possible?
There is only one account from antiquity of a person surviving a Roman crucifixion. Still, even in this case, there has to be an astricts placed next to the incident. Josephus explains that he came upon a crucifixion of three men who he knew and persuaded the Roman commander to bring them down from their crosses.[6] Despite being pulled off of their crosses and receiving Roman medical care, two men still died.
The Romans were brutally proficient in the art of crucifixion. First, they started by scourging their victim with a torture device called the cat o’ nine tails [pictured above]. The cat o’ nine tails tore open the victim’s flesh and dealt the victim many contusions from the small balls attached to the cords. Jesus was beaten further by a rod and fists before carrying His cross on his bloody back to Golgotha. (Mark 15:16-20).
“It is inconceivable to think that a man who had just experienced this level of brutality would be able to survive.”
Once Jesus arrived at the crucifixion site, He had 5-7” spikes driven through his wrists and ankles, which would have thoroughly disabled his hands and feet. He then hung on a cross where he would not have been able to exhale a breath unless he pushed up on his impaled ankles and wrists. Finally, when Jesus stopped moving, a Roman centurion took a spear and drove it into his side to make sure he was dead. (John 19:34).
It is inconceivable to think that a man who had just experienced this level of brutality would be able to survive. Let’s suppose for a second that Jesus did somehow survive all of this torture, undetected during his burial preparation, and was sealed in a tomb for several days. How likely is it that he could have rolled away the stone with disabled hands and then walked to where the disciples were staying on disabled feet? Once He was there, how likely is it that they would have recognized a bloody, beaten, severely dehydrated Jesus as the risen Messiah?
They would not have recognized Jesus as the risen Messiah but as the severely wounded man on the cross. The medical case for death by resurrection is a certainty.
Magnum Mustache rating – 5 Magnum Mustaches
The case for the crucifixion of Jesus can be viewed as a historical event. Christians who have read this should know that the evidence for the resurrection is equally as good and I look forward to presenting that evidence in future posts. Until then, you can catch up on the series by following the links below.
[1] Idib., 150.
[2] Idib., 150.
[3] Idib., 153.
[4] Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, 236.
[5] Idib., 238.
[6] Idib., 313.
