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Jesus of Nazareth
The central figure of human history — a Galilean carpenter whose life, death, and reported resurrection split time in two.
Jesus of Nazareth was born around 5–4 BC, most likely in Bethlehem, and raised in the Galilean village of Nazareth. He was baptized by John in the Jordan around AD 27 and began a public ministry that lasted roughly three years. He was executed by crucifixion under the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate around AD 30 or 33. His followers claimed he rose from the dead on the third day, and on the strength of that claim a movement began that would eventually reshape the Western world.
The Historical Figure
Jesus is attested not only by the New Testament but by non-Christian sources as we'll. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing around AD 116, records that the founder of the Christian movement, “ Christus,” was executed under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius (Annals 15.44). The Jewish historian Josephus, writing in the 90s, refers twice to Jesus: once in a disputed passage (Antiquities 18.3.3) and once in an undisputed passage about the death of James, “ the brother of Jesus who was called Christ” (Antiquities 20.9.1). The fact of Jesus’ existence and execution is accepted by virtually every relevant scholar, Christian and non-Christian alike.
His Ministry
Jesus taught in synagogues, on hillsides, in boats, and at dinner tables. His parables — the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, the Talents — are among the most widely known stories in human history. He healed the sick, cast out demons, forgave sins, and called twelve men to follow him. His teaching was at once familiar and shocking: he quoted the Hebrew Scriptures constantly and then interpreted them in ways that provoked both awe and fury. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He touched lepers. He broke Sabbath conventions. He said that the kingdom of God had arrived in his own person.
His Claims
Jesus made claims about himself that his contemporaries understood as either blasphemous or divine. He claimed authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5–7). He claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). He claimed that he and the Father we're one (John 10:30). When the high priest asked him directly, “ Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” he answered, “ I am” (Mark 14:61–62). That answer is what led to his execution.
“ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16His Death and Resurrection
Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, tried before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate, and crucified outside Jerusalem. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. On the third day, his followers found the tomb empty, and over a period of forty days he appeared to them repeatedly, including to more than five hundred people at once (1 Cor. 15:6). The resurrection is the claim on which the whole Christian faith rests. For a fuller account of the historical case, see the Resurrection page.
“ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4Sources
- Craig S. Keener, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels (Eerdmans, 2009).
- E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (Penguin, 1993).
- John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, 5 vols. (Doubleday/Yale, 1991–2016).
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Fortress, 1996).
- Tacitus, Annals 15.44; Josephus, Antiquities 18.3.3; 20.9.1.