Jesus of Nazareth Died

Pretty much every historian who looks into the question agrees that Jesus died. For instance, Dr. Bart Ehrman, a well-regarded atheist scholar, says, "One of the most certain facts of history is that Jesus was crucified on orders of the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate." Dr. Andrew Loke, a Christian, writes, "it is recognized by almost all historians that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified in c. AD 30, as attested by first- and second-century Christian and non-Christian sources."

Well, perhaps we're skeptical! How can we be so certain?

Dr. Ehrman provides one reason, writing:

"I have repeatedly stressed that a tradition appearing in multiple, independent sources has a greater likelihood of being historically reliable than a tradition that appears in only one... The crucifixion of Jesus under Pontius Pilate is, of course, contextually credible. The Romans crucified lots of people all the time. And this is one tradition that is abundantly attested—in Mark, M, L, John, and the speeches in Acts, not to mention Josephus and Tacitus."

But when we encounter a story about Jesus that does not support an early Christian agenda or that seems to run contrary to what the early Christians would have wanted to say about Jesus, the story is more likely to be historically reliable since it is less likely to have been made up.

**If your father was crucified by your government for treason, and condemned as a heretic by the respected religious leaders in your community, how would you feel about that?** I love my dad, but it would be hard not to feel ashamed. Isn't it strange that the first Christians were so eager - even insistent - to tell people that Jesus, who they worshiped as God, had been publicly stripped, tortured, exposed as an outcast, and brutally killed?

The evidence for the resurrection doesn't come from "the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it." Instead, we can look at all the evidence we have from this time period, whether Christian, Jewish, and Roman, both written texts and archaeological artifacts, the customs of the time, and so on, to develop a historical understanding of whether or not Jesus died.

Finally, the details of his death correspond with modern medical knowledge. In John 19, we are told that when his side was punctured with a spear that both blood and water came out. In a 1986 article for the Journal of the American Medical Association, two doctors say this "supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between his right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured his death."

**Jesus' death is not something we have to "take on faith." Our minds can be fully satisfied, after looking at the full historical picture: Jesus died by crucifixion.**