CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS

Objectives: To establish that the historical fact of the life of Jesus
            Christ is reliable.

       1.   To show that there were non-Christian references to
            Jesus.
       2.   To establish enough evidence for Jesus is indeed the
            Messiah.

A.     Why not more first century non-Christian references to Christ?
       From the point of view of Roman history of the first century,
       Jesus was a nobody.  A man of no social standing, who achieved
       brief local notice in a remote and little-loved province as a
       preacher and miracle-worker, and who was duly executed by order
       of a minor provincial governor, could hardly be expected to
       achieve mention in the Roman headlines.

       Jewish writers tended not to write about Jesus because they
       sought to discredit him.

B.     Ancient Secular Writers
  -    Cornelius Tacitus (born A.D. 52-54)
  -    Lucian of Samosata
  -    Flavius Josephus (born A.D. 37)
  -    Suetonius (A.D. 120)
  -    Plinius Secundus, Pliny the younger (A.D. 112)
  -    Tertullian
  -    Thallus, the Samaritan-born historian
  -    Phlegon, a first century-historian
  -    Letter of Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian

C.     References From the Rabbis
  -    Baraia
  -    The Amoa "Ulla"
  -    "The Talmud"
  -    Sanhedrin
  -    Baraita

D.     Encyclopedia Britannica
       Concerning the testimony of the many independent secular accounts
       of Jesus of Nazareth, it records:
   
       "These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the
       opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus,
       which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds
       by several authors at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and
       at the beginning of the 20th centuries."
 

E.     Jesus is the Messiah - fulfillment of prophecies in His life.
       In the Old Testament there are sixty major messianic prophecies
       and approximately 270 ramifications that were fulfilled in one
       person, Jesus Christ.

  Example:  Crucifixion
            A prophecy dating 1012 B.C. (Psalm 22:6-18; cf.
            Zechariah 12:10 and Galatians 3:13) also predicts
            that the messiah's hands and feet will be pierced
            (i.e., He will be crucified).  This description was
            written 800 years before crucifixion began to be
            practiced by the Romans.

  Example:  Thirty pieces of silver
            The seven ramifications of a prophecy (Zechariah
            11:11-13; cf. Psalm 41, Jeremiah 32:6-15, and
            Matthew 27:3-10) that narrows the drama down even
            further.  Here God indicates the Messiah will be (1)
            betrayed, (2) by a friend, (3) for thirty pieces,
            (4) of silver, that will be (5) cast onto the floor,
            (6) of the Temple, and (7) used to buy a potter's
            field.

  Objections:         1.   Such fulfilled prophecy was coincidental
                      2.   Jesus tried to fulfill prophecies