Ancient Manuscript May Contain Early Account of Jesus' Resurrection, Researcher Claims

A researcher has identified wording within a nearly 2,000-year-old manuscript that he argues may represent a first-century written account of Jesus rising from the dead, an event described in the Bible as occurring on the third day after his crucifixion.

The passage in question, known as the Testimonium Flavianum, is found in "Jewish Antiquities," a history of the Jewish people written by the historian Flavius Josephus around AD 93-94. Independent researcher Jesús Fernández-Pedrera Correa of Spain analyzed Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Syriac versions of the text to determine which elements might have originated from Josephus's original account.

Correa's analysis, released in August, suggests that differences among these later versions offer clues to the passage's earlier form. While the surviving Greek account states that Jesus appeared alive on the third day and links this to biblical prophecy, the Latin version states, 'he appeared to them the third day alive.' The Arabic account specifically presents the appearance as something reported by the disciples.

Correa suggests that such wording could preserve an earlier passage where Josephus recorded what Jesus's followers claimed to have witnessed. This aligns with Josephus's known practice of reporting the beliefs and experiences of various Jewish religious groups without necessarily endorsing them himself. The researcher posits that later Christian copyists may have altered the passage, expanding an earlier report into a direct affirmation of Christian belief.

Scholars have long scrutinized parts of the Testimonium Flavianum that seem to express Christian beliefs, leading to suspicions that they were added after Josephus's time. For example, the declaration that Jesus 'was the Christ' is softened in the Latin, Arabic, and Syriac versions to suggest he was believed to be the Messiah. Correa points to early Christian writer Origen, who stated that Josephus did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, as evidence that this declaration may not have been in the original text.

Another disputed phrase, questioning whether Jesus should be called a man, implying a more than human nature, is absent from the Arabic account but present in the Latin and Syriac versions. Correa argues that its omission in the Arabic version could indicate it was a later addition. However, the researcher expresses more confidence in the closing statement of the passage, which notes that Jesus's followers continued to exist in Josephus's own time, finding its wording and subject matter consistent with Josephus's writing style and showing no comparable discrepancies across the versions.

Correa acknowledges that his reconstruction remains unproven and that the surviving versions do not allow for a definitive determination of exactly how much of the resurrection reference Josephus originally wrote.