Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ – also known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene – is a mythological character popularized in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. The proper name of the character is simply Jesus, while the term "christ" is in fact a title, meaning "anointed one" or "redeemer."

The first written reference to the character of Jesus appeared in an open letter written by Saul of Tarsus to "the church of the Thessalonians in 51. Further references appeared in letters by Saul to Colossian church leader Philemon in 52, the church at Philippi in 53, the church at Corinth in Greece in 54, the church at Galatia in 55, a second letter to the church at Corinth in 56, and a letter to the church at Rome in 57.

Later letters written by anonymous authors under Saul's name that refer to the character of Jesus include a letter to the Hebrews (written around 65), a letter to the Emperor Titus written around 80, a letter to the church at Colossae (written around 85), a second letter to the church at Thessalonica (written aroudn 90), two letters to Timothy (one written around 130 and the second written around 133), and a letter to the church at Ephesus (written around 140)

The first written reference to the character of Jesus by a non-Christian writer appeared in a disputed passage of Titus Flavius Josephus's 93/94 work Antiquities of the Jews. The passage in question may not have been written by Josephus, a devout Jew, at all, but rather inserted by a later Christian writer, as suggested by Christian scholar Origen just a century later in a commentary on Matthew where he admitted that Josephus did not accept Jesus as a Christ. Even if the passage is legitimate, it is evidence only that, by the year 94 of the Common Era, a belief in the character of Jesus had emerged.

The next written reference by a non-Christian writer appeared in a passage of Publius Cornelius Tacitus's 116 work Annals, which described the persecution of those who believed in the character of Jesus, again providing evidence only that, by the year 116 of the Common Era, this belief had emerged, and was being actively suppressed by the government.