Bible Basics

Did Christ Die

Having considered both Old and New Testament internal evidence of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, let’s now turn our attention to some external evidence. To begin with, in an attempt to explain away the resurrection of Jesus, some have tried to say that Jesus never really died. But secular history confirms that Christ died. The Jewish historian Josephus refers to the death of Jesus (Antiquities 18.3.3). The Roman writer, Tacitus, clearly states that Jesus was “executed” by Pilate (Annuls 15.44). Even early enemies of Christianity such as Celsus and Lucian conceded that Jesus was put to death. We must remember that the Romans were experts in administering death by crucifixion. While they knew how to prolong the agony of the victim to incredible heights and lengths, death was certain. On some occasions death would be hastened by breaking the legs of the victim so that he could not push upward in order to breathe and avoid final suffocation. Evidence of this procedure is seen in the archaeological discovery of V. Tzaferis in 1968 who found the bones of a first century crucified man who had both shins intentionally fractured. This was done to the two men crucified with Jesus, but was not done to Christ, for “they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead” (John 19:33).

                                                                                                               -- Clark Dugger

Bible Basics