7/31/2019 (Hindley, David) Josephus John Jesus James
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TEXT
Nero, in order to stifle the rumour [as if he himself had set
Rome on fire,] ascribed it to
those people who were hated for their wicked practices, and
called by the vulgar,
Christians: These he punished exquisitely. The author of this
name was Christ, who, in the
reign of Tiberius, was brought to punishment by Pontius pilate
the procurator.
You [Jews] knew that Jesus was risen from the dead, and ascended
into heaven, as theprophesies did fortel was to happen.
The same Josephus also, although he did not believe in Jesus as
Christ, when he was
inquiring after the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem and of
the demolition of the
temple, and ought to have said, that their machinations against
Jesus were the cause of
those miseries coming on the people, because they had slain that
Christ who was foretold
by the prophets, he, though as it were unwillingly, and yet as
one not remote from the truth,
says, These miseries befell the Jews by way of revenge for James
the Just, who was the
brother of Jesus, that was called Christ, because they had slain
him who was the most
righteous person. Now this James was he whom that genuine
disciple of Jesus, Paul, said
he had seen as the Lords brother; [Gal. i. 19.] which relation
implies not so much nearness
of blood, or the sameness of education, as it does the agreement
of manners and
preaching. If therefore he says the desolation of Jerusalem
befell the Jews for the sake ofJames, with how much greater reason
might he have said, that it happened for the sake of
Jesus, &c.
Certainly the attestation of those I have already produced
concerning our Saviour may be
sufficient. However, it may not be amiss, if, over and above, we
make use of Josephus the
Jew for further witness; who, in the eighteenth book of his
Antiquities, when he was writing
the history of what happened under Pilate, makes mention of our
Saviour in these words:
Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful
to call him a man, for he
was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as had a
veneration for truth; he
drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the
Gentiles: He was the Christ. And
when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us,
had condemned him to the
cross, those that loved him at first did not forsake him; for he
appeared unto them alive
again the third day, as the divine prophets had spoken of these
and ten thousand other
wonderful things concerning him; whence the tribe of Christians,
so named from him, are
not extinct at this day. If, therefore, we have this historians
testimony, that he not only
brought over to himself the twelve apostles, with the seventy
disciples, but many of the
Jews, and many of the Gentiles also, he must manifestly have had
somewhat in him
7/31/2019 (Hindley, David) Josephus John Jesus James
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TEXT
This James was of so shining a character among the people, on
account of his
righteousness, that Flavius Josephus, when, in his twentieth
book of the Jewish Antiquities,
he had a mind to set down what was the cause why the people
suffered such miseries, till
the very holy house was demolished, he said, that these things
befell them by the anger of
God, on account of what they dared do to James, the brother of
Jesus, who was calledChrist, and wonderful it is, that while he did
not receive Jesus for Christ, he did
nevertheless bear witness that James was so righteous a man. He
says farther, that the
people thought they had suffered these things for the sake of
James.
The same Josephus also, although he did not believe in Jesus as
Christ, when he was
inquiring after the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem and of
the demolition of the
temple, and ought to have said, that their machinations against
Jesus were the cause of
those miseries coming on the people, because they had slain that
Christ who was foretold
by the prophets, he, though as it were unwillingly, and yet as
one not remote from the truth,
says, These miseries befell the Jews by way of revenge for James
the Just, who was the
brother of Jesus, that was called Christ, because they had slain
him who was the most
righteous person. Now this James was he whom that genuine
disciple of Jesus, Paul, saidhe had seen as the Lords brother;
[Gal. i. 19.] which relation implies not so much nearness
of blood, or the sameness of education, as it does the agreement
of manners and
preaching. If therefore he says the desolation of Jerusalem
befell the Jews for the sake of
James, with how much greater reason might he have said, that it
happened for the sake of
Jesus, &c.
