"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe." -Carl Sagan (20th century athiest)

Prophecy fulfilled which proves the reliabilty of the bible

This is not an exhaustive list, some have said that Jesus fulfilled 456 prophecies in His life. The likely hood of a person fulfilling just 8 prophecies, is according to mathematicians, like filling the state of Texas two feet deep in dimes, putting an "x" on one of them dimes. Then blindfolding a person and that person picking that dime on the first try. Remember that's just 8 prophecies and Jesus fulfilled possibly 456. There are prophecies about Alexander the Great, Cyrus, and others in the scriptures also that were fulfilled just as they were written. I will not deal with that here due to space, but as you can see where the bible say's something will happen, it will happen just as it says. Now remember the Old Testament was finished at least 400 years before Jesus was born.

Fulfilled Messianic ProphecyOld Testament 
New Testament
Born in BethlehemMicah 5:2Matthew 2:5-6
His pre-existenceMicah 5:2John 1:1, 14
Born of the seed of a womanGenesis 3:15Matthew 1:18
Of the seed of AbrahamGenesis 12:3Matthew 1:1-16
All nations blessed by Abraham's seedGenesis 12:3Matthew 8:5, 10
God would provide Himself a Lamb as an offeringGenesis 22:8John 1:29
From the tribe of JudahGenesis 49:10Matthew 1:1-3
Heir to the throne of DavidIsaiah 9:6-7Matthew 1:1
Called "The mighty God, The everlasting Father"Isaiah 9:6Matthew 1:23
Born of a virginIsaiah 7:14Matthew 1:18
His name called Immanuel, "God with us"Isaiah 7:14Matthew 1:23
Declared to be the Son of GodPsalm 2:7Matthew 3:17
His messenger before Him in spirit of ElijahMalachi 4:5-6Luke 1:17
Preceded by a messenger to prepare His wayMalachi 3:1Matthew 11:7-11
Messenger crying "Prepare ye the way of the Lord"Isaiah 40:3Matthew 3:3
Would be a Prophet of the children of IsraelDeut. 18:15Matthew 2:15
Called out of EgyptHosea 11:1Matthew 2:15
Slaughter of the childrenJeremiah 31:15Matthew2:18
Brought light to Zabulon & Nephthalm, Galilee of the GentilesIsaiah 9:1-2Matthew 4:15
Presented with giftsPsalm 72:10Matthew 2:1, 11
Rejected by His ownIsaiah 53:3Matthew 21:42; Mark 8:31, 12:10; Luke 9:22, 17:25
He is the stone which the builders rejected which became the headstonePsalm 118:22-23; Isaiah 28:16Matthew 21:42; I Peter 2:7
A stone of stumbling to IsraelIsaiah 8:14-15I Peter 2:8
He entered Jerusalem as a king
riding on an ass
Zechariah 9:9Matthew 21:5
Betrayed by a friendPsalms 41:9John 13:21
Sold for 30 pieces of silverZechariah 11:12Matthew 26:15; Luke 22:5
The 30 pieces of silver given for the potter's fieldZechariah 11:12Matthew 27:9-10
The 30 pieces of silver thrown in the templeZechariah 11:13Matthew 27:5
Forsaken by His disciplesZechariah 13:7Matthew 26:56
Accused by false witnessesPsalm 35:11Matthew 26:60
Silent to accusationsIsaiah 53:7Matthew 27:14
Heal blind/deaf/lame/dumbIsaiah 35:5-6; Isaiah 29:18Matthew 11:5
Preached to the poor/brokenhearted/captivesIsaiah 61:1Matthew 11:5
Came to bring a sword, not peaceMicah 7:6Matthew 10:34-35
He bore our sicknessIsaiah 53:4Matthew 8:16-17
Spat upon, smitten and scourgedIsaiah 50:6, 53:5Matthew 27:26, 30
Smitten on the cheekMicah 5:1Matthew 27:30
Hated without a causePsalm 35:19Matthew 27:23
The sacrificial lambIsaiah 53:5John 1:29
Given for a covenantIsaiah 42:6; Jeremiah 31:31-34Romans 11:27/Galatians 3:17, 4:24/Hebrews 8:6, 8, 10; 10:16, 29; 12:24; 13:20
Would not strive or cryIsaiah 42:2-3Mark 7:36
People would hear not and see notIsaiah 6:9-10Matthew 13:14-15
People trust in traditions of menIsaiah 29:13Matthew 15:9
People give God lip serviceIsaiah 29:13Matthew 15:8
God delights in HimIsaiah 42:1Matthew 3:17, 17:5
Wounded for our sinsIsaiah 53:5John 6:51
He bore the sins of manyIsaiah 53:10-12Mark 10:45
Messiah not killed for HimselfDaniel 9:26Matthew 20:28
Gentiles flock to HimIsaiah 55:5, 60:3, 65:1; Malachi 1:11;
II Samuel 22:44-45; Psalm 2:7-8
Matthew 8:10
Crucified with criminalsIsaiah 53:12Matthew 27:35
His body was piercedZechariah 12:10; Ps. 22:16John 20:25, 27
Thirsty during executionPsalm 22:16John 19:28
Given vinegar and gall for thirstPsalm 69:21Matthew 27:34
Soldiers gambled for his garmentPsalm 22:18Matthew 27:35
People mocked, "He trusted in God, let Him deliver him!"Psalm 22:7-8Matthew 27:43
People sat there looking at HimPsalm 22:17Matthew 27:36
Cried, "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?"Psalm 22:1Matthew 27:46
Darkness over the landAmos 8:9Matthew 27:45
No bones brokenPsalm 34:20, Numbers 9:12John 19:33-36
Side piercedZechariah 12:10John 19:34
Buried with the richIsaiah 53:9Matthew 27:57, 60
Resurrected from the deadPsalm 16:10-11; 49:15Mark 16:6
Priest after the order of MelchizedekPsalm 110:4Hebrews 5:5-6; 6:20; 7:15-17
Ascended to right hand of GodPsalm 68:18Luke 24:51
LORD said unto Him, "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstoolPsalm 110:1Matt 22:44; Mark 12:36;, 16:19; Luke 20:42-43; Acts 2:34-35; Hebrews 1:13
His coming gloryMalachi 3:2-3Luke 3:17


Archaeological evidence for the reliability of the Bible

This is not an exhaustive list of archaeological digs that verify the bible but I believe this will do. Remember there has never been an archeological dig that proved the bible wrong.

  1. Arad
    1. Num. 21:1, "When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, then he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive."
    2. Num. 33:40, "Now the Canaanite, the king of Arad who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel."
      1. "Arad 30 km NE of Beersheba, excavated from 1962 to 1974 by Y. Aharoni and R. B. K. Amiran."1
      2. "The site consists of an upper mound or acropolis, where excavation has revealed an Iron Age (post thirteenth century B.C.)."2
      3. The remains of a Hebrew temple were uncovered at Arad.3
  2. Bethel
    1. Amos 7:12-13, "Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah, and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! 13 "But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence."
      1. "W. F. Albright made a trial excavation at Bethel in 1927. Albright then mounted a full excavation in 1934. His assistant that year, J. L. Kelso, continued the excavation in 1954, 1957, and 1960."4
  3. Capernaum
    1. Matt. 17:24, "And when they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter, and said, "Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?"
      1. "Identified since 1856 with Tell Hum, Capernaum has been sporadically excavated for the past 130 years."5
  4. Chorazin
    1. Matt. 11:21, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."
      1. "Excavations of the now deserted town indicate that it once covered an area of twelve acres and was built on a series of terraces with the basalt stone local to this mountainous region."6
  5. Dan
    1. Judges 18:29, "And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish."
      1. "The excavation of Dan began in 1966 under the direction fo Avraham Biran."7
      2. "Formerly called Laish, it is mentioned in the execration texts, the eighteenth-century b.c. Mari tablets, and the records of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III. It is identified with Tel Dan (modern Tell el-Qadi) covering about 50 acres in the center of a fertile valley near one of the principal springs feeding the Jordan River...Tel Dan has been excavated by A. Biran since 1966. The earliest occupation, probably the full extent of the tell, goes back to about the middle of the third millennium B.C."8
  6. Ephesus
    1. Eph. 1:1, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus."
      1. "Austrian archaeologists in this century [2oth] have excavated the 24,000-seat theater and the commercial agora, as well as many other public buildings and streets of the first and second centuries a.d., so that the modern visitor can gain some impression of the city as known by Paul.9
  7. Gaza
    1. Acts 8:26, "But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Arise and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza."
      1. Gaza was was excavated by W. J. Phythian-Adams in 1922.10
  8. Gezer
    1. Joshua 16:10, "But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer..."
      1. R.A.S. MacAlister "directed the Palestine Exploration Fund for many years and conducted extensive excavations at Gezer (1902–1909)."11
  9. Hazor
    1. Joshua 11:1, "Then it came about, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of Shimron and to the king of Achshaph."
    2. Jer. 49:28, "Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the Lord, "Arise, go up to Kedar and devastate the men of the east."
      1. "This large Canaanite and Israelite city in upper Galilee was excavated under Yigael Yadin's direction from 1955 to 1958 and from 1968 to 1970."12
  10. Hesbon
    1. Josh. 12:2, "Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon..."
      1. Excavations were undertaken by Andrews University from 1968 to 1976.13
  11. Jericho
    1. Num. 22:1, "Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho."
      1. "Jericho was the oldest inhabited and fortified city ever excavated."14
      2. "The city of OT times is represented today by a mound 70 feet high and 10 acres in area...The ancient city was excavated by C. Warren (1867), E. Sellin and C. Watzinger (1907-09), J. Garstang (1930-36), and K. Kenyon (1952-58)."15
      3. "The first scientific excavation there (1907-9) was by Sellin and Watzinger (Jericho, 1913)."16
  12. Joppa
    1. Acts 9:38,"And since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, entreating him, "Do not delay to come to us."
      1. "During excavations of the site of ancient Joppa a thirteenth-century b.c. citadel gate was uncovered...."17
  13. Nineveh
    1. 2 Kings 19:36, "So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh."
    2. Jonah 1:1-2, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me."
      1. Excavated in from 1845 to 1857 by Austen H. Layard.18
  14. Shechem
    1. Gen. 12:6, "And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land."
    2. Gen. 33:18, "Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city."
      1. "Excavations were carried out at Shechem, first by Austrian-German expeditions in 1913 and 1914, and again from 1926 to 1934, under several directors, and then by an American expedition from 1956 to 1972....Excavation of the sacred area revealed a courtyard sanctuary and a later fortress temple dedicated to El-berith "the god of the covenant." This temple, which was destroyed by Abimelech, the son of the judge Gideon (Judges 9) has provided us with a date of the judges period."19
      2. Most recently a structure identified as an Israelite altar has been excavated on the northeastern slope of Mt. Ebal. Dating to the 13th to 12th centuries B.C., considered to be the time of Joshua, the altar suggest the possibility that it may be the altar built by Joshua and described in Deuteronomy 27, 28."20
  15. Susa
    1. Neh. 1:1, "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol,
    2. Esther 1:1-2, "Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was in Susa the capital,
      1. Escavations were conducted by Marcel Dieulafoy from 1884 to 1886.21
  1. 1.The New Bible Dictionary, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1962.
  2. 2.Achtemeier, Paul J., Harper’s Bible Dictionary, San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1985.
  3. 3.Horn, Siegfried H., Biblical Archaeology: A Generation of Discovery, Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University, 1985, p.45-46.
  4. 4.Achtemeier, 1985.
  5. 5.Ibid.
  6. 6.Ibid.
  7. 7.Horn, p. 42.
  8. 8.Achtemeier, 1985.
  9. 9.Ibid.
  10. 10.Ibid.
  11. 11.Douglas, J. D., Philip W. Comfort, and Donald Mitchell, editors, Who’s Who in Christian History, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992.
  12. 12.Horn, p. 40.
  13. 13.Achtemeier, 1985.
  14. 14.Horn, p. 37.
  15. 15.Achtemeier, 1985.
  16. 16.The New Bible Dictionary, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1962.
  17. 17.Achtemeier, 1985.
  18. 18.Douglas, Comfort, and Mitchell, 1992.
  19. 19.Horn, p. 40.
  20. 20.Ibid.
  21. 21.Douglas, Comfort, and Mitchell, 1992.
Manuscript Evidence for the reliability of the New Testament

Here is a list to compare the number of New Testament manuscripts to other ancient writings. The sheer volume of the manuscripts and the accuracy of the copies is overwhelming evidence that what we have today is what was written.
                                
                                   Date written              Earliest copy  Time span between          #              Accuracy
                                                                                                original and copy       of copies     of copies
Lucretius                  died 55 or 53 B.C.                                                1100 yrs              2                    ----
Pliny                           61-113 A.D.                      850 A.D.                       750 yrs              7                    ----
Plato                          427-347 B.C.                     900 A.D.                    1200 yrs               7                    ----
Demosthenes          4th Cent. B.C.                  1100 A.D.                      800 yrs               8                    ----
Herodotus                480-425 B.C.                     900 A.D.                    1300 yrs               8                    ----
Suetonius                 75-160 A.D.                       950 A.D.                      800 yrs               8                    ----
Thucydides              460-400 B.C                      .900 A.D.                    1300 yrs               8                    ----
Euripides                 480-406 B.C.                    1100 A.D.                     1300 yrs              9                    ----
Aristophanes           450-385 B.C.                      900 A.D.                     1200 yrs            10                    ----
Caesar                      100-44 B.C.                        900 A.D.                     1000 yrs            10                    ----
Livy                            59 BC-AD 17                      ----                              ???                   20                    ----
Tacitus                       56-117 A.D.                   1100 A.D.                    1000 yrs           20                     ----
Aristotle                     384-322 B.C.                    1100 A.D.                    1400 yrs           49                     ----
Sophocles                 496-406 B.C.                    1000 A.D                     1400 yrs          193                    ----
Homer (Iliad)              900 B.C.                            400 B.C.                      500 yrs          643                   95%
New Testament         1st Cent. A.D.            
2nd Cent. A.D.                   
less than        
5600                
99.5%
                                    (50-100 A.D.)                  (
130 A.D.)                   
100 years


After viewing this graph you can see the New Testament just simply blows out of the water any other ancient writing. So if anyone wants to do away with the New Testament they must also throw out all these other writers.

Extra biblical evidence that shows the reliability of the New Testament

Here is a graph of early church fathers and the amount of times they quoted from the New Testament in their writings.

Writer           Gospels          Acts           Pauline          General         Revelation        Total
                                                          Epistles          Epistles
Justin 
Marty              268              10              43                   6                 3 (266            330
(133 A.D.)                                                                                    allusions)

Irenaeus         1038            194            499                 23                   65              1819
(115-202 A.D.)

Clement         1107             44             1127               207                  11              2406 
(150-212 A.D.)
 
Origen            9231            349            7778               399                 165            17992
(185-253 A.D.)

Tertullian       3822            502            2609               120                 205             7258
(160-220 A.D.)

Hippolytus      734               42             387                 27                  188             1378
(170-235 A.D.)

Eusebius         3258            211            1592                88                   27              5176
(263-339 A.D.)

Grand            19368          1352           14035              870                 664            36289
Totals

This is very important for there are some that claim the documents were edited or corrupted by "The Church" around the time of Constantine at the council of Nicea. The council of Nicea happened in the year 325 A.D. Almost 32,000 of these citations took place before the council of Nicea ever took place.

"Sir David Dalrymple was wondering about the preponderance of Scripture in early writing when someone asked him, "Suppose that the New Testament had been destroyed, and every last copy of it by the end of the third century, could it have been collected together again from the writings of the Fathers of the second and third centuries?" After a great deal of investigation Dalrymple concluded: "Look at those books. You remember the question about the New Testament and the Fathers? That question roused my curiosity, and as I possessed all the existing works of the Fathers of the second and third centuries, I commenced to search, and up to this time I have found the entire New Testament, except eleven verses." (Dalrymple, as cited in Leach, OBHWGI, 35,36) Quote taken from "The New Evidence that demands a Verdict" by Josh Mcdowell

All but ELEVEN VERSES just from early church father quotes. What we have today is definitely what the New Testament writers wrote!

Manuscript evidence for the reliability of the Old Testament

Here, briefly are a few of the reasons that we can have absolute confidence in the accuracy of today's Old Testament:

  • Exacting Jewish Scribes

    • The OT was written and meticulously preserved in the original Hebrew language from the beginning through today. It was

      always considered sacred and therefore was very seriously guarded and copied with the utmost care.

    • The sole responsibility of the Jewish Scribes was to know, maintain, protect, and, exactly preserve the books of the OT. The levels of care that they went through is astounding:

      • The skin, ink, document size, and lines on the document were all clearly defined. The number, size, spacing, and length of lines and columns per skin were specified. The spacing of the letters, words, sections, and books and the point of ending books were to be exact.

      • The dress and cleanliness of the scribe, condition of the book being copied, and the manner in which the name for God (YWHW) was written was all specifically ordered.

      • When each book or section had been copied, the scribes would count and check the number of every verse, word, and letter of the manuscript. They even counted the times each letter occurred in each book, calculated the middle word and middle letter and checked the new with the old. Such detail seems extreme to us, but with this level of detail, we can know we have reliable manuscripts today.
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls
    • An amazing event occurred in 1947 with the beginning of the discovery of 931 ancient documents found in caves near the town of Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls:
      • Prove the OT Accurate
        The manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls date to as old as 400 BC. The OT manuscripts found are 900 to 1100 years olderthan the most reliable available Hebrew OT manuscripts. When the Scrolls are compared to the newer manuscripts, they prove to be amazingly accurate, nearly identical. The few differences were mostly slips of the pen, spelling changes or word substitutions (over vs. above e.g.). The extreme accuracy of the newer documents puts to death the questions of the OT reliability based on time.
      • Prove the cannon of the OT
        The Dead Sea Scrolls contained 223 OT manuscripts! Those 223 manuscripts include 38 of the 39 books of the OT! The one book missing is Esther, but other documents there refer to the story, so we know it was part of their culture.
  • Non-Hebrew & Other Jewish Evidences
    The following ancient documents give tremendous support for the accuracy of the OT.
    • The Septuagint (250 BC) is the translation of the OT into Greek. An important and powerful document, it not only gave the Jews their scriptures in the common language of the entire region, but gave non-Jews easier access to God's Word (Just in time to understand the context of Jesus' Ministry.).
    • The Hexapla (240 AD) is a comparative Greek/Hebrew OT with versions in 6 columns created by the Christian elder Origen.
    • The Samaritan Pentateuch (200 BC) is the Samaritan copy of the OT's first five books.
    • Aramaic Targums (200 AD) are paraphrases of the scriptures kept by Jewish communities to aid in understanding the OT.
    • The Mishna (200 AD) was the Law of Moses retold and explained.
    • The Gemara (200 AD) was an Aramaic commentary on the Law of Moses.
    • The Midrash (100 BC - 300 AD) are doctrinal studies of the Hebrew OT.
  • Evidence from History and Archeology
    Substantial proof for the accuracy of the OT text comes through Archeology.
    Kingdoms, Cities, Countries, Personal Names, Battles, Kings, Languages, Writings, Laws, Religious Practices, and even the use of words have proven to be correctly described in the OT. Time and again historians have thought that the OT was wrong concerning an event (etc.) only to have the Bible prove right when the facts were known.
  • Prophecy in the OT has proven correct in every case expected. Hundreds of predictions have literally come true including those regarding: Edom, Tyre, Babylon, Persia, Nineveh, Israel, Greece, Jesus Christ, and many others.
  • Conclusion: The evidence is overwhelming (And this is far from all the evidence.). You do not have to guess or hope, you can KNOW that the Old Testament we have is true & accurate

Other evidence outside the bible that shows the reliability of the bible


Flavius Josephus was a Romano-Jewish historian and a contemporary to the Apostles. He was not a Christian, he was a Roman historian (of Jewish descent) writing what he knew to be historical events and people. He is believed by some to be a Pharisee and most people know how the Pharisees looked at Jesus. In being from the Jewish background you would expect him to hide the identity of Jesus, yet in number 6 below he even calls Him the Christ.
  1. Antipas mentioned
    1. 17:8:1, "And now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind; for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left the kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Berea, and granted the kingdom to Archelaus."
      1. Rev. 2:13, "‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells."
  2. Herod is mentioned numerous times
    1. 17:8:1, "And now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind..."
    2. 18.5.3, "Whereupon he ordered the army to march along the Great Plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch, and his friends, went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an ancient festival of the Jews being then just approaching."
    3. See also, 18:2:1,2,3; 18:4:3,5,6; 18:5:1,2,3; 18:7:2, etc.
      1. Luke 3:1, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene."
  3. The Galatians are mentioned
    1. 17:8:3, "First of all went his guards, then the band of Thracians, and after them the Germans; and next the band of Galatians, every one in their habiliments of war."
    2. 12:10:6, "And when he was dead, the people bestowed the high priesthood on Judas; who, hearing of the power of the Romans, d and that they had conquered in war Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and Lybia."
      1. Gal. 1:2, "and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia."
  4. Jericho mentioned
    1. 17:8:2, "...when Salome and Alexas gathered the soldiery together in the amphitheater at Jericho..."
      1. Num. 22:1, "And the children of Israel journeyed, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho."
  5. Jerusalem is mentioned
    1. 20:9:2, "Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem..."
      1. Matt. 21:10-11, "And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" 11 And the multitudes were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."
  6. Jesus is mentioned
    1. 18:3:3, "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 receive the truth with pleasure. 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 amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
    2. 20:9:1, "Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done;"1
    3. Judea is mentioned
      1. 20:9:1, "AND now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procurator."
      2. See also, 20:1:1; 20:5:1,2,3; 20:6:1,2; 20:7:1,2; 20:8:5,10; 20:11:1; etc.
        1. Matt. 2:1, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem..."
    4. John the Baptist is mentioned
      1. 18.5.2 Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and was a very just punishment for what he did against John called the Baptist [the dipper]. For Herod had him killed, although he was a good man and had urged the Jews to exert themselves to virtue, both as to justice toward one another and reverence towards
        1. Matt. 3:1-2, "Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
    5. Pontius Pilate is mentioned
      1. 18:3:1, "But now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Cesarea to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there, in order to abolish the Jewish laws."
      2. See also, 18:3:1,2,3; 18:4:1,2,5, etc.
        1. Luke 3:1, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene."
    6. Sadducees mentioned
      1. 20:9:1, "But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees."
        1. Matt. 16:1, "And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven."
    7. The Samaritans are mentioned
      1. 18:4:1, "But the nation of the Samaritans did not escape without tumults."
        1. Luke 10:33,
        2. "But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion."
    8. Tiberius Ceasar is mentioned
      1. 18.6.4, "And now Agrippa was come to Puteoli, whence he wrote a letter to Tiberius Caesar, who then lived at Capreae, and told him that he was come so far in order to wait on him, and to pay him a visit; and desired that he would give him leave to come over to Caprein."
        1. Luke 3:1, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene."