The Testimonium Flavianum
AuthenticityGenuine core
In a second passage Josephus describes Jesus directly: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man ... a doer of wonderful works ... Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross ... the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day" (Whiston's translation). Most scholars hold that a genuine core of this passage goes back to Josephus. The core fits his style and his neutral phrase "the tribe of Christians". If genuine, it is a Jewish historian, independent of the Gospels, recording that Jesus was known as a wise teacher and a worker of wonders, that he was crucified by Pilate after being accused by the leading men of his own people, and that his followers carried on after his death.
Genuine core. The passage as it has come down to us also contains "if it be lawful to call him a man", "He was the Christ" and "he appeared to them alive again the third day". These read as Christian additions, and Josephus, who was not a Christian, would not have written them. The likely core confirms Jesus' reputation as a teacher and wonder-worker, his execution by Pilate after accusation by Jewish leaders, and the persistence of his followers. These are facts also supported by other evidence; the passage strengthens their sourcing rather than adding new ones.
Explore the counterarguments
A minority of scholars hold that the whole passage was inserted by Christians. Since Christian copyists clearly added to it, any reconstruction of what Josephus wrote is a scholarly judgment rather than a reading of a surviving text. An Arabic version quoted by the 10th-century writer Agapius is reported to lack the confessions, which supports the idea of additions but cannot show exactly what the original said. And the passage was written about 60 years after the events.