Jesus of Nazareth (4 BC-30 AD)
Among most serious scholars of the New Testament there is no doubt that Jesus existed, although most things about Jesus are debated. Among the Sacred Books of the New Testament, it is especially the four Gospels and the four great Epistles of St. Paul that are of the highest importance for the construction of the life of Jesus. The name Jesus in Aramaic is Yeshua, a variation of Joshua. The word Jesus is the Latin form of the transliteration of the Hebrew Joshua, or Joshua, or again Jehoshua, meaning "Jehovah is salvation". Though the name in one form or another occurs frequently in the Old Testament, it was not borne by a person of prominence between the time of Josue, the son of Nun, and Josue, the high-priest in the days of Zorobabel. It was also the name of the author of Ecclesiasticus.
It is possible the Epistle to the Galatians (55-6 AD) or the First Epistle to the Thessalonians are the oldest books of the New Testament. The latter, if written by St. Paul, would date from the year 54. For almost all New Testament books there are existing manuscripts earlier than the fourth century. A tiny papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John has been the oldest "manuscript" of the New Testament. This manuscript (P52) has generally been dated to ca. AD 125. This fact alone proved that the original Gospel of John was written earlier, viz. in the first century AD, as had always been upheld by conservative scholars.
The dating of the Gospels is a matter of considerable dispute, with no consensus at hand. Earlier dates are 'conservative' scholarship, later ones, 'liberal' scholarship. Most scholars date the gospels to after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, with an allowance for Mark being written a year or two before.
The overall tendency is to date the composition of Mark to the late 60s, Matthew and Luke to the 70s (and perhaps as late as the 80s), and John to the 80s or 90s. main reason consistently given for dating the Gospels to after AD 70 is that Jesus prophesies of the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem.60 Since Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple — and, as atheists assure, since there is no such thing as real prophecy — the Gospels must have been written after that destruction occurred, in other words, after AD 70. The latest New Testament source for the life of Jesus, the Gospel of John (dated variously to between AD 70 and 110, from forty to seventy years after the death of Jesus).
The four great Pauline Epistles (Rom., Gal., I and II Cor.) can hardly be overestimated by the student of Christ's life; they have at times been called the "fifth gospel"; their authenticity has never been assailed by serious critics; their testimony is also earlier than that of the Gospels, at least most of the Gospels; it is the more valuable because it is incidental and undesigned; it is the testimony of a highly intellectual and cultured writer, who had been the greatest enemy of Jesus, who writes within twenty-five years of the events which he relates. Paul relates that Jesus was of Davidic descent (Romans 1:3), that his mission was only to Israel (Romans 15:8), that there was a last supper (1 Corinthians 11:23–26), and that Jesus was executed by crucifixion (15:3), Paul explicitly states that he received his information about the resurrection directly from eyewitnesses Peter (Cephas) and the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:3–8).
The incidents whose absolute chronology may be determined with more or less probability are the year of Christ's nativity, of the beginning of His public life, and of His death. St. Matthew (ii, 1) relates that Jesus was born "in the days of king Herod". Josephus (Ant., XVII, viii, 1) reports that Herod died after ruling thirty-four years de facto, thirty-seven years de jure. Now Herod was made rightful King of Judea AUC 714, while he began his actual rule after taking Jerusalem AUC 717. Josephus relates that an eclipse of the moon occurred not long before Herod's death; such an eclipse occurred from 12 to 13 March, AUC 750. Jesus may have been born AUC 747, 748, or 749. Jesus was supposed to be not more than two years old when Herod ordered the slaughter of the innocents. However, Herod died before April 12, 4 BC. This has led some Christians to date the birth of Jesus in 4 BC.
The history of the infancy is recorded only in the First Gospel and in the Third. Each Evangelist contents himself with five pictures: St. Matthew describes the birth of Jesus, the adoration of the Magi, the flight into Egypt, the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, and the return to Nazareth. St. Luke gives a sketch of the birth, of the adoration of the shepherds, of the circumcision, of the purification of the V irgin, and of the return to Nazareth. The two Evangelists agree in the first and the last of these two series of incidents (moreover, all scholars place the birth, the adoration of the shepherds, and the circumcision before the Magi), but it is not possible to correlate the intervening three events related by St. Matthew with the order of St. Luke.
It was in the seclusion of Nazareth that Jesus spent the greatest part of His earthly life. The inspired records tiro very reticent about this period: Luke, ii, 40-52; Mark, vi, 3; John, vi, 42; vii, 15, are about the only passages which refer to the hidden life. Some of them give a general view of Christ's life: "The child grew, and waxed strong, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in him" is the brief summary of the years following the return of the Holy Family after the ceremonial purification in the Temple. "Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men".
The date of the beginning of the ministry of Jesus may be calculated from three different data found respectively in Luke, iii, 23; Josephus, "Bel. Jud.", I, xxi, 1; or "Ant.", XV, ii, 1; and Luke, iii, 1. The first of these passages reads: "And Jesus himself was beginning about the age of thirty years." The phrase "was beginning" does not qualify the following expression "about the age of thirty years," but rather indicates the commencement of the public life. As the birth of Jesus falls within the period 747-749 AUC, His public life must begin about 777-779 AUC. The Gospel of St. Luke (iii, 1) assigns the beginning of St. John the Baptist's mission to the "fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar". Augustus, the predecessor of Tiberius, died 19 Aug., 767 AUC, so that the fifteenth year of Tiberius's independent reign is 782 AUC; but then Tiberius began to be the associate of Augustus in AUC 764, so that the fifteenth year reckoned from this date falls in AUC 778. The public life of Jesus began a few months later, i.e. about AUC 779.
Everything tends to favor the view of those patristic writers and more recent commentators who extend the period of the ministry of Jesus a little over two years. The journeys Jesus made during His public life may be grouped under nine heads: the first six were muinly performed in Galilee and had Capharnaum for their central point; the last three bring Jesus into Judea without any pronounced central point. There are disputed questions connected with the single incidents of the various groups.
According to the Evangelists, Jesus suffered under the high-priest Caiphas (AUC 772-90, or AD 18-36), during the governorship of Pontius Pilate (AUC 780-90). But this leaves the time rather indefinite. The ecclesiastical trial includes Christ's appearance before Annas, before Caiphas, and again before Caiphas, who appears to have acted in each case as head of the Sanhedrim The Jewish court found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, and condemned Him to death, though its proceedings were illegal from more than one point of view. The civil trial, too, comprised three sessions, the first before Pilate, the second before Herod, and the third again l>efore Pilate. Jesus is not charged with blasphemy before the court of Pilate, but with stirring up the people, forbidding to five tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ the king. Pilate ignores the first two charges; the third he finds harmless when he sees that Jesus does not claim royalty in the Roman sense of the word. The Roman procurator declares the prisoner innocent for the second time, but, instead of setting Him free, gives the people the alternative to choose either Jesus or Barabbas for their paschal freedman; he condemned Jesus to be crucified.
Tradition, the patristic testimonies for which have been collected by Patrizi (De Evangeliis), places the death of Jesus in the fifteenth (or sixteenth) year of Tiberius, in the consulship of the Gemini, forty-two years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and twelve years before the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. The fifteenth year of Tiberius is either 778 or 782, according to its computation from the beginning of Tiberius's associate or sole reign; the consulship of the Gemini (Fufius and Rubellius) fell in AUC 782; the forty-second year before the destruction of Jerusalem is AD 29, or again AUC 782; twelve years before the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles brings the same year, AD 29, or AUC 782, since the conversion of Cornelius, which marks the opening of the Gentile missions, fell probably in AD 40 or 41.
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