MennoNet.com

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. For he appeared to them alive again on the third day, the divine prophets having foretold these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.

About this time there was Jesus, a wise man. He performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of people who gladly accept the truth. He won over many Jews and also many Greeks. When Pilate, upon an accusation by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him from the beginning did not cease. And to this day the tribe of Christians named after him has not disappeared.

And to so great a reputation among the people for righteousness did this James rise, that Flavius Josephus, who wrote the “Antiquities of the Jews” in twenty books, when wishing to exhibit the cause why the people suffered so great misfortunes that even the temple was razed to the ground, said, that these things happened to them in accordance with the wrath of God in consequence of the things which they had dared to do against James the brother of Jesus who is called Christ. And the wonderful thing is, that, though he did not accept Jesus as Christ, he yet gave testimony that the righteousness of James was so great; and he says that the people thought that they had suffered these things because of James.

James had such a strong reputation among the people for righteousness that Flavius Josephus—who wrote The Antiquities of the Jews in twenty books—when he tried to explain why the people suffered such terrible disasters, even to the point that the Temple was destroyed, said that these things happened to them as God’s judgment because of what they dared to do to James, the brother of Jesus who is called Christ.

And the remarkable thing is this: even though Josephus did not accept Jesus as the Christ, he still testified that James was extraordinarily righteous, and he says that the people themselves believed they suffered these calamities because of James.

Insider Connections

When I interviewed Schmidt for the Undeceptions podcast, he told me he’d initially planned to leave the book as simply a fresh way to read the manuscripts and language of the Testimonium Flavianum. Yet, he told me, one day he ventured down a rabbit hole. He started to ask, What relationships did Josephus personally have with the “first men amongst us” in Judea in the AD 40s, 50s, and 60s when he was in Judea and Galilee? The results might be the most significant part of the book.

I’ve often cautioned my students that, while Josephus probably wrote a neutral or skeptical sentence or two about Jesus, we could never know where he got his information—public rumor, Christian sources, or some official non-Christian channel. Schmidt may have found the most plausible answer. He has mapped Josephus’s remarkable network of relationships with the very Jerusalem elites present at both Jesus’s trial (around AD 30) and the later execution of his half-brother James (in AD 62, an event Josephus records in Antiquities 20).

As Schmidt argues, it turns out Josephus moved within the priestly dynasty directly connected to both deaths. His wartime commander was Ananus II (Ananus the Younger), the high priest who ordered James’s execution. Ananus II was the son of Ananus I, Ananus the Elder, the former high priest who presided over Jesus’s interrogation (known as Annas in John 18:13). Ananus the Elder’s daughter married Caiaphas, the high priest named in the Gospels. Ananus II was therefore Caiaphas’s brother-in-law. Luke 3:2 and John 18:13 place Ananus and Caiaphas together at the apex of the priestly establishment.

Josephus twice calls Ananus II “the oldest of the chief priests” and notes his death in AD 68–69. Ananus II was likely in his 70s or 80s when he died, making him in his 30s or 40s around AD 30, fully adult and influential at the time of Jesus’s trial.

Therefore, Schmidt plausibly speculates that Ananus II (the Younger) might even have been a member of the Sanhedrin that handed Jesus over to Pilate. Whatever we make of that suggestion, Schmidt is right to note that Jewish law required families to keep the Passover meal in the patriarch’s house. This means Ananus II would have been at his father’s house on the night Jesus was brought there for questioning (John 18:13). Therefore, Schmidt writes, “Ananus II surely would have observed the portion of the proceedings held in his family’s patriarchal residence” (192). That seems solid to me.

The upshot of this complicated discussion of priestly family connections is that when Josephus wrote in the Testimonium Flavianum that Jesus had been accused by “the first men among us,” he was plausibly drawing not on Christian rumor but on the recollections of Jerusalem leaders he knew personally.

Bootstrap wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 5:30 pm FWIW, there is also an interesting Wikipedia article on this question:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_on_Jesus

Wikipedia wrote:The earliest secure reference to this passage is found in the writings of the fourth-century Christian apologist and historian Eusebius, who used Josephus' works extensively as a source for his own Ecclesiastical History. Writing no later than 324,[53] Eusebius quotes the passage[54] in essentially the same form as that preserved in extant manuscripts. It has therefore been suggested by a minority of scholars that part or all of the passage may have been Eusebius' own invention, in order to provide an outside Jewish authority for the life of Christ.[55][56] Some argue that the wording in the Testimonium differs from Josephus' usual writing style, and that a traditional Jew would not have proclaimed ὁ χριστὸς οὗτος ἦν ('he was the Christ', at Josephus' time simply meaning 'Messiah'.)[57]

mike wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 8:00 pm Bootstrap, I'm curious what you think of the Grokipedia article.

Bootstrap wrote: ↑Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:25 pm

mike wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 8:00 pm Bootstrap, I'm curious what you think of the Grokipedia article.

In general, I like it. It is more in-depth than the equivalent Wikipedia article. I suspect AI has been used to construct it, at least in some sections, FWIW.

mike wrote: ↑Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:33 pm

Bootstrap wrote: ↑Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:25 pm

mike wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 8:00 pm Bootstrap, I'm curious what you think of the Grokipedia article.

In general, I like it. It is more in-depth than the equivalent Wikipedia article. I suspect AI has been used to construct it, at least in some sections, FWIW.

'Grokipedia' is 100% AI. The article looks like summaries of scholarly articles on the topic. One has to wonder which is more reliable - human written open encyclopedias editable by anyone or AI generated encyclopedias.