JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

Due to the obscurity of Judea in the Roman Empire and the contempt in which Roman
society held the Jews, it is not surprising that much testimony of Jesus' person is lacking. Yet
there is some that give us insight to Jesus' authenticity.
45
GENTILE EVIDENCE
The earliest piece of historical evidence concerning Jesus from nonbiblical sources can be
dated with certainty between A.D. 40 and 50. It consists of two inscriptions on caskets
containing bones of the dead which were found in a burial chamber in Talpioth, a suburb of
Jerusalem, in 1945 by Professor E. L. Sukenik, a Jewish archeologist with the inscription of two
Greek words which mean "Jesus woe!" or "Jesus, help!"1 This was probably a short prayer
addressed to Jesus.
Another inscription found was the Greek words which mean "Jesus, let him (who rests
here) arise!"2 These two inscriptions give indication that even at this early date people were
praying to Jesus. This, of course, is based on the presumption that the Jesus referred to is Jesus of
Nazareth and that the followers of Jesus were looking forward to a future resurrection.
There is the record of an edict of either Emperor Tiberius (A.D. 14-37) or Emperor
Claudius (A.D. 41-54) found in Nazareth which addresses the issue of the robbing of graves:
"Ordinance of Caesar. It is my pleasure that graves and tombs remained undisturbed
in perpetuity for those who have made them for the cult of their ancestors of their
house. If however any man lay information that another has either demolished them,
or has in any other way extracted the buried, or has maliciously transferred them to
other places in order to wrong them, or has displaced the sealing of other stones,
against such a one I order that a trial be instituted, as in respect of the gods, so in
regard to the cult of mortals. For it shall be much more obligatory to honour the
buried. Let it be absolutely forbidden for anyone to disturb them. In case of contra-
vention I desire that the offender be sentenced to capital punishment on charge of
violation of sepulchre."3
It must be admitted that we cannot be certain that there is any connection between this
inscription and the disappearance of the body of Jesus from the tomb. It does point out, however,
that reports had reached the emperor about bodies being removed from tombs, perhaps in
Palestine itself. It is possible, therefore, that this edict may represent the official reaction of such
reports.
Julius Africanus writes concerning Thallus the Samaritan:
"Thallus, in the third book of his history, calls this darkness an eclipse of the sun,
but in my opinion he is wrong."4