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3. AT THE HANDS OF PONTIUS PILATE

In examining the circumstances of Jesus' death, we can begin with absolutely no controversy at all: Pontius Pilate executed Jesus. That fact is attested by two independent sources who, albeit for different reasons, have no reason to mislead us on this basic point. The source with the least conflict of interest is the Roman historian Tacitus, writing early in the second century, who provides that fact in his Annals 15.54. Discussing the aftermath of Rome's disastrous fire of 64 A.D., Tacitus tells us that many Romans believed that the catastrophe had resulted from the gods' anger at the many cults then active in Rome.

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.

Tacitus goes on to say that the crucifixions, burnings, and mutilations to which the Christians were subjected were so excessive that they aroused "a feeling of compassion" among the people.

The second secular source is Flavius Josephus. His brief comment on the career of Jesus (Ant. 18.63-64) has been the subject of so much analysis and commentary that it has been given a title of its own, the Testimonium Flavianum. Here is the full text, bearing in mind that the earliest Greek version available to us dates from the 11th century, and had been through many transcriptions prior to that time.

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Scholars have observed a fishy smell about this passage since the mid 1500's. Most obvious is the bald declaration that Jesus was the Christ, the Greek term for Messiah. Josephus, was we have seen, was an extremely conservative Pharisaic Jew who in all his writings denounces would-be messiahs in the bitterest terms; they are frauds and deceivers, exploiters of the hated fourth philosophy that Josephus blames for destroying the Jewish nation. There is simply not the slightest indication elsewhere in his voluminous writings that Josephus believed in a messiah, that he would have been at all congenial to one had he appeared, and that he would been convinced for a second that such a messiah had risen from the dead. Further, the Christian writer Origen, writing around 280 C.E., complains that Josephus did not believe that Jesus was the Christ. Yet by 324 C.E., the Christian historian Eusebius records Josephus just as we have him above.

For some time it has been the overwhelming consensus of scholars across the theological spectrum that in the interval between Origen's complaint and Eusebius' text, an industrious Christian scribe decided to tweak Josephus' account with a more affirming reference to Jesus. Other blatantly Christian tweaks that this scribe might have applied have been debated for centuries, but again there is a broad consensus that the original Testimonium Flavianum reads something like this:

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of incredible deeds, a teacher of such men as receive these novelties with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. When Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

Even in its restored form, Josephus' testimony confirms a great deal about Jesus. He made his reputation as a doer of wonders -- magic tricks, healings, miracles, or signs of the approaching endtime, depending on one's point of view. He was very popular (though Josephus' statement that many Gentiles accepted Jesus' ministry is certainly an anachronism based on the spread of Christianity among Gentiles at the end of the first century, when Josephus wrote). Most likely because of that popularity, Jesus was opposed by Judea's ruling elite, who evidently complained to Pilate to do something about him. But it was Pilate who ordered and carried out Jesus' crucifixion.

Next: AND HE WAS RICH

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