Tacitus, Josephus, and Suetonius' Silence on Resurrection
The silence of Roman historians like Tacitus and Suetonius, and Jewish historian Josephus, regarding the resurrection of Jesus is often noted in discussions about the historical evidence for this central Christian doctrine. However, this silence does not necessarily negate the Christian claim of resurrection, which is primarily attested in biblical texts.
The New Testament consistently presents the resurrection of Jesus as a foundational element of the Christian faith [5]. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, emphasizes that if Christ has not been raised, then Christian preaching is empty and faith is futile, and believers remain in their sins [6]. one tradition argues that Christ's resurrection confirms the reality of a future resurrection for believers [2]. This belief was sometimes met with skepticism, particularly among those influenced by Greek thought, which often preferred the notion of the immortality of the soul over a bodily resurrection [2]. Paul addresses these doubts directly, explaining that believers will receive resurrection bodies, transformed to be like Christ's heavenly body [3].
The concept of resurrection was not universally accepted even within Judaism; the Sadducees, for instance, explicitly denied the resurrection of the dead [8]. The Christian understanding of resurrection, particularly a bodily resurrection, was a distinct and sometimes controversial claim in the ancient world. The New Testament itself records that the resurrection was a "secret" revealed through the Gospel [7].
While non-biblical historical sources from the period mention Jesus and early Christians, their primary focus was not on theological debates or the internal beliefs of this new religious movement. Their accounts often touch on political and social aspects rather than detailed theological tenets like the resurrection. The New Testament writers, on the other hand, present the resurrection as a historical event, attested by eyewitnesses, and crucial to the identity and mission of Jesus [4, 5]. The Old Testament is also understood by some to foreshadow the resurrection, with passages like Psalm 16:10 and Hosea 6:2 being interpreted as prophecies of Christ's rising from the dead [1]. Therefore, the absence of explicit mention of the resurrection in external historical accounts does not invalidate the internal testimony of the Christian scriptures, which consistently affirm it as a core tenet.
Sources
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 15:4: 15:4 just as the Scriptures said: See Ps 16:10; Hos 6:2; Jon 1:17; Matt 12:40; Acts 2:24-32.”
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 15:12: 15:12-34 Paul now makes the case for a future resurrection. 15:12-20 Christ’s resurrection confirms the reality of the future resurrection. 15:12 Some believers in Corinth apparently had a difficult time accepting the Jewish notion of a bodily resurrection of the dead, preferring instead the Greek notion of the immortality of the soul (cp. Acts 17:18, 32).”
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 15:49: 15:49 Like the earthly man, Adam, we have physical bodies in this life. But we will someday be like Christ, the heavenly man, experiencing the Kingdom of God in resurrection bodies (cp. Rom 6:4-14).”
- 2 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 2 Corinthians 5:7: 5:7 Our hope for future resurrection can only be known by faith (see Heb 11:1, 3, 27), yet we do have Jesus’ own resurrection and the presence of the Holy Spirit as evidence of what is to come (1 Cor 15:1-9; Eph 1:14).”
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 15:1: 15:1-58 Some people in the church had doubts about a future resurrection of the dead. Paul reassures them and, perhaps in response to their skeptical questions, discusses the nature of a resurrection body. 15:1-11 Paul summarizes the Good News that he preached. 15:1 At the heart of the Good News stands the message of the atoning death and resurrection of Christ (see 15:3-4; Rom 5:8-10; 6:5-11).”
- 1 Corinthians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Corinthians 15:17: vain--Ye are, by the very fact (supposing the case to be as the skeptics maintained), frustrated of all which "your faith" appropriates: Ye are still under the everlasting condemnation of your sins (even in the disembodied state which is here referred to), from which Christ's resurrection is our justification (Rom 4:25): "saved by his life" (Rom 5:10).”
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 15:51: 15:51 The Good News reveals the previously unknown secret of resurrection. • We will not all die: Paul might have expected the future resurrection in his own lifetime (cp. 15:52; 1 Thes 4:15, 17).”
- Mark (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Mark 12:16: Then came unto him the Sadducees,.... The same day, immediately after he had silenced the Pharisees and Herodians: these were a set of men distinct from the former, in some of their sentiments, especially in their religions ones, and particularly in the following: which say there is no resurrection: of the dead, in a literal sense, either general or particular; See Gill on Mat 22:23; and they asked him, saying; as in the next verse.”