Jesus in the Talmud

Jesus in the Talmud 103powers, that he is God. Before him (in the middle of the second century)it is again Justin Martyr, who gives a full description, clearly inspired bythe New Testament, of Jesus’ magical deceit:As I said before, you [Jews] chose certain men by vote and sent themthroughout the whole civilized world, proclaiming that a godless andlawless sect (hairesis) has been started by a deceiver (apo...planou), one Jesus of Galilee, whom we nailed to the cross, butwhose body, after it was taken from the cross, was stolen at nightfrom the tomb by his disciples, who now try to deceive men (planōsi)by affirming that he has risen from the dead and has ascended intoheaven. 26Here we have the full thrust of the accusation of magic: a hairesis, literallya “school” or a “sect” that deviates from a common origin, caused by a “deceiver.”The Greek word for “deceiver” or “impostor” (planos) is closelyassociated with magic, as becomes clear from the following quotation fromJustin’s Dialogue:The fountain of living water 27 which gushed forth from God upon aland devoid of the knowledge of God (that is, the land of the Gentiles)was our Christ, who made his appearance on earth in the midstof your people, and healed those who from birth were blind and deafand lame. He cured them by his word, causing them to walk, tohear, and to see. By restoring the dead to life, he compelled the menof that day to recognize him. Yet though they [the Jews] witnessedthese miraculous deeds with their own eyes, they attributed them tomagical art; indeed they dared to call him a magician (magos), a deceiverof the people (laoplanos). 28The true Jesus, as Justin sees him, is the healer, who heals the cripplesand revives the dead—but the incredulous Jews pervert his authentichealing power into deceiving magic. They claim—when he was crucified,died on the cross, and was put in a grave—that his followers (the deceiversof the deceiver) clandestinely stole his body from the tomb and assertedthat he had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. This is