Literal Goosebumps: This Passage About Jesus Was Written by a Non-Christian in 91 AD - Listen and You'll Get Chills
A passage written about the life of Jesus Christ by a famous historian of the era is one of several historical references to him outside of the Bible.
Flavius Josephus was a Jewish-Roman historian who wrote during the first century AD.
“His greatest work, Antiquitates Judaicae (The Antiquities of the Jews), completed in 20 books in AD 93, traces the history of the Jews from creation to just before the outbreak of the revolt of AD 66–70. It was an attempt to present Judaism to the Hellenistic world in a favourable light,” according to Britannica.
It contains references to Jesus, though Josephus was not a Christian.
In a recent “Blessed to Bless Project” video clip on YouTube about proof of Jesus outside of the Bible, the host read the most well-known passage in “Antiquitates,” regarding Jesus, saying it dated to 91 AD.
“At the same time there appeared in Judea an extraordinary person called Jesus, if it be lawful to call him a man. He was a famous worker of miracles, a teacher of those who were desirous of receiving the proof in simplicity,” the host said.
“And brought over to him many disciples, both Jews and Gentiles: This was the Christ whom Pilate at the accusation of the princes of the great men of the nation delivered up to the ignominious punishment of the cross, notwithstanding which, those who first loved him did not forsake him,” he continued.
“He appeared to them alive again the third day after his crucifixion with numberless other wonders concerning him,” Josephus wrote. “And thanks to this day, there is a set of people who bear the name of Christian, as owning him for their head lord and master.”
Proof of Jesus Christ Outside Of The Bible – Here’s a famous passage from 1st century historian Josephus about Jesus, “a worker of miracles,” who was crucified but appeared alive again to his disciples on the third day. #ancienth… https://t.co/duHJuap0hW via @YouTube
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) September 5, 2026
The host noted that Josephus wrote this account about 20 years after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple in AD 70. Jesus had prophesied the destruction of the temple before His death about four decades earlier, according to the biblical account.
The Bible answer site Got Questions reports on the passage from “Antiquitates” that some parts of it are commonly believed to be additions by a later Christian translator, including “if it be lawful” to even call Jesus a man and about Christ’s resurrection on the third day. But that Josephus wrote about the historical person of Jesus is not in dispute.
In another passage in “Antiquitates,” the historian made a passing reference to Jesus when writing about the religious leaders of the time having his half-brother James stoned. That event is not recorded in the Bible.
The Bible Archaeology Report lists Josephus’s “Antiquitates” as No. 2 on its top 10 list of historical references to Jesus outside of the Bible.
Roman historian Tacitus is No. 1. He wrote about Jesus in his work “Annals” when discussing how Emperor Nero tried to deflect blame that he may have been responsible for the great fire of Rome in AD 64.
“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,” Tacitus wrote.
“Christus [i.e. Jesus], 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 Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
Thallus, another historian on the Bible Archaeology Report list, is thought to be the first non-Christian to write about Jesus, circa AD 55. He is quoted by Julius Africanus around AD 220 to discuss the darkness that accompanied Jesus’ crucifixion.
“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun,” Julius Africanus wrote.
Earlier this year, a geological study published over a decade ago, which concluded that an earthquake occurred in ancient Israel around the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, resurfaced in a viral social media post.
The study’s finding, published in International Geology Review in 2012, is consistent with the biblical account, which said an earthquake occurred immediately after Jesus’ death.
The apostle Matthew wrote in chapter 27 of his Gospel that darkness covered the land starting at midday, as Jesus hung on the cross, and that this phenomenon lasted for the next three hours.
Then, around 3:00 p.m., “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
Soon thereafter, Jesus “cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”
“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many,” Matthew recorded.
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The Bible says there was a great earthquake when Jesus died on the cross (Matthew 27:50‑54). Now, scientists have found real evidence that this happened.
A group of geologists studied the ground near the Dead Sea and… pic.twitter.com/i941plPplx
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“When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”
Many historians point to Friday, April 3, AD 33, as the likely date of Jesus’ execution.
The Bible itself is filled with many firsthand accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus, and there are more surviving manuscripts of it than any other work from antiquity.
Cold Case Christianity reported, “There are over 24,000 ancient fragments and manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today. We find additional Biblical documents all the time; our collection continues to grow. Compared to other ancient texts (like the Iliad, for example, with less than 2,000 ancient fragments or copies), the New Testament is singularly unique among ancient literature.”
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