Lampe on Church History: Concerning Christ Acting on Earth

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I.  That salutary year, in which the Redeemer of mankind came in the flesh, is most advantageously learned from the year of the death of Herod the Great, whom the nativity of Christ preceded by a few weeks.  Now, Herod the Great died, as Josephus testifies, Antiquities, book XVII, section 10, and The Jewish War, book I, section 21, on the fifth day after he had killed his son Antipater; when he had reigned thirty-four years, after he removed Antigonus, but thirty-seven, after he obtained the Kingdom from the Romans.  This year agrees with the forty-second (at the end) or forty-third (at the beginning) year of the Julian calendar and the common era of Dionysius, which sets forth that Christ was born in the forty-six Julian year; and it anticipates it by almost four years.  Concerning the month and the day, the matter is uncertain, although antiquity assigned it to the twenty-fifth of December.

II.  Therefore, the Savior of the world was born under the reign of Augustus, when by his command the whole Roman world was registered,[1] whence afterwards a book was composed by him, in which the public resources were contained.  Now, this registration was made before Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was put in charge of Syria.[2]  Reason fails those maintaining that at that time the Roman Empire enjoyed a general peace, and so the temple of Janus was closed.[3]

III.  His genealogy, ascending both through Joseph, and through Mary, to David and Abraham, did the Evangelists except out of public records.  It is an ancient tradition, that the Virgin Mary gave birth in a cave.

IV.  Soon after His birth, Christ is worshipped by the Magi coming from the East, probably Arabia; but is sought by Herod for death, who, having been eluded, pours out his fury on the infants of Beth-lehem,[4] which example of his terrifyingly savage inhumanity is adduced by Macrobius in Saturnalia,[5] book II, chapter 4; it is strange that Josephus passes by it in silence.

V.  The history of the childhood and adolescence of Christ is summarily narrated from the sacred authors, a supplement to which is sought in vain out of obscure traditions.  During it, a massive change of affairs happens in Judea.  The Kingdom of Herod was divided by Augustus in such a way that a half part of it, including Judea, Idumea, and Samaria, was given to Archelaus with the title of Ethnarch;[6] the other half was divided between his brothers, Herod Antipas[7] and Philip.[8]  But, when Archelaus exercised intolerable tyranny over the Jews, he, having been accused by the same to Rome, was condemned by Augustus, and, after nine years of rule, was banished to Vienne.[9]  With which accomplished, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, having been sent into Syria, reduced Judea, Samaria, and Idumea into the form of a Province, and assigned it to Syria; but with a Procurator imposed, who would depend upon the Governor of Syria.  This Quirinius sold the house of Archelaus, and took a census of all Syria and Judea, to impose tribute according to means.  This matter gave occasion for the revolt of Judas of Galilee, or the Gaulonite, who, with Zadok the Pharisee joined with him, was attempting to persuade the people to shake off the yoke of the Romans.[10]

VI.  When the time in which our Lord was obliged to undertake the public office of Doctor was drawing near, John the Baptist arrived on the public scene, the Forerunner of Christ, a very extraordinary Man, not only for the preaching of repentance and baptism, but also for his testimony concerning Jesus, and also for the sanctity of his blameless life.  Singular rigor was added, in dress from the hair of camels, and food of honey of the forest and ἀκρίδων/locusts,[11] which perhaps he drew from the Essenes.  Beheaded by the barbarity of Herod Antipas,[12] he was in such estimation among the Jews themselves,[13] that the most honorific mention of him occurs in Josephus and the Rabbis.

VII.  Our Savior, having been baptized by this illustrious Man, and inaugurated by the Holy Spirit, undertook the office of Doctor in Israel,[14] at the proper age, when He had already ostensibly completed His thirtieth year,[15] and administered it to the fourth year.  In which time by His doctrine, miracles, and His whole life He abundantly demonstrated Himself to be the long awaited Messiah.  Finally, He, by the rage of the Jews crucified through Pontius Pilate on the evening of the Passover as the Lamb of God, bearing the sins of the world, expired.  This year was the nineteenth of the Rule of Tiberias,[16] to which year also admirably squares the eclipse of the Sun,[17] which Phlegon, freedman of Hadrian,[18] observed to have happened in the fourth year of the one hundred and second Olympiad.  Jesus, rising again on the third day after His death, after forty days returned to heaven, the history of which momentous events one may learn from the records of the Evangelists.  What may have happened to Mary, the mother of Christ thereafter, concerning this by the singular providence of God there is a profound silence among the approved authors.  No other history is more blemished with portentous and ridiculous fables.

VIII.  But, since it did not escape the notice of the Jews, that the time of redemption foretold by the Prophets was drawing nigh, Theudas, a certain Galilean, appears to have seized this opportunity to offer himself to the people as the destined Prophet and Redeemer.  But he, having been arrested by Pilate and beheaded, paid the price for his imposture.[19]  Whether the Herodians nourished a similar monster, setting Herod forth as Messiah, is doubtful.

IX.  Meanwhile, the face of the Jewish Church was afflicted.  The High Priests were installed and removed at the will of the Governor of Syria or Procurators of Judea, without any regard to the legal succession, dignity, and qualities necessary for this office.  Nevertheless, the family of Ananos or Annas, devoted to the Sadducees, was especially illustrious for this honor.  But the sacred rites of the Jews had been exposed to much contempt.  But the internal state of the Jews was much fouler, which reached a great height of corruption, as the Evangelical history teaches.

X.  Such was the fame of the wonders accomplished by Jesus, that the very Jews, although deadly enemies, were not able to conceal them.  Whether to this is to be referred that πολυθρύλλητον/well-known testimony of Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book XVIII, chapter 4, Critics controvert, and hitherto the matter is still being adjudicated.  In the Talmud evident mention is made, not only of His disciples, but also of His miracles, yet not without the blasphemous accusation of the crime of sorcery, which is evidence of the terrible case of the Jews.  Also extant, besides those mentioned, are the testimonies of the Gentiles, of Numenius,[20] and of Celsus[21] himself in Origen,[22] and of others.  By some Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue[23] is called into the reckoning gratis.  To these are joined, but likewise with little confidence, the Acts of Pilate[24] and the Tiberiana Apotheosis Christi, which Tertullian mentions.  But, since the Gentiles were only envying the glory of our Savior, which the sacred pages commemorate concerning His miracles, they dared to deflect it unto Æsculapius[25] and Apollonius Tyana.[26]

XI.  It is to be lamented, that this holiest of all histories has been interpolated with so many old wives’ tales by Writers professing Christianity; among which fables are those that sometimes took on a certain plausibility by an exceedingly incautious credulity, not only of the Fathers of the primitive church, often furnishing overly ready ears to pious frauds, but also of Men excelling in doctrine.  To this we refer the disappearance of oracles, especially the pretended utterance of the Delphic Oracle:  Παῖς Ἑβραῖος κέλεταί με, etc., a Hebrew child constrains me, etc., related by Suidas:[27]  the unexpected toppling of the idols, with Christ fleeing into Egypt:  the legation of Thaddeus to Abgar and the epistles of Christ exchanged with the same, and the image sent to the same:[28]  the statue of the Bleeding:  the voice heard from the island of Paxi by Thamus concerning the death of the great Pan:[29]  the image of Christ captured in the linen shroud:  the prints of His feet ascending a certain rock impressed on mount Olivet, etc.

[1] Luke 2:1.

[2] Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC-21 AD) was a Roman aristocrat.  He was made governor of Syria in 6 AD.

[3] The ancient Temple of Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings, transitions, and doorways, was located in the Roman Forum.  During times of peace, the doors were closed; but open in times of war.

[4] Matthew 2:1-18.

[5] Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius’ (395-423) wrote Saturnalia, an account of a discussion held at the house of Vettius Agorius Prætextatus during the festival of Saturnalia about Roman festivals and worship, etc.

[6] Archelaus (23 BC-c. 18 AD) was a son of Herod the Great.  He ruled from 4 BC to 6 AD.

[7] Herod Antipas (c. 20 BC-c. 39 AD) was a son of Herod the Great.  He ruled Galilee and Perea from c. 5 BC to 39 AD.

[8] Philip (c. 26 BC-33 AD) was a son of Herod the Great.  He ruled as Tetrarch over Iturea, Gaulanitis, Batanea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis from c. 5 BC to 33 AD.  He is remembered for his role in the execution of John the Baptist.

[9] In southeastern France.

[10] Judas of Galilee and Zadok the Pharisee are remembered as the founders of the sect of the Zealots.

[11] Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6.

[12] Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9.

[13] Matthew 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33; Luke 7:18-29; 20:1-8.

[14] See John 3:10.

[15] Luke 3:23.

[16] Tiberias was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD.

[17] See Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44.

[18] Phlegon of Tralles was a second century Greek historian.  His Olympiads covered the period from 776 BC to 137 AD, but it survives only in fragments.  Hadrian was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138.

[19] Theudas’ revolt took place circa 46 AD.

[20] Numenius was a second century Platonist and Neopythagorean.  Although his work survives only in fragments, it appears that he was trying to demonstrate a continuity of thought between Plato and the Pythagoreans before him, and also to harmonize Plato’s doctrine with religious thought, including Judaism.

[21] Celsus was a second century Greek philosopher and opponent of Christianity.  Excerpts from his The True Word are found in Origen’s Contra Celsum.

[22] Origen (c. 185-c. 254) succeeded Clement of Alexandria as the head of the catechetical school in Alexandria.  He was perhaps the greatest scholar of his age.

[23] Virgil’s Eclogue 4, written around 40 BC, predicts the birth of a boy, who will grow to become a divine savior and ruler of the world.

[24] Although the component parts of the Acts of Pilate, also known as the Gospel of Nicodemus, are older, this work appears to have reached its final form in the fourth or fifth century.

[25] Æsculapius was the son of Apollo and Coronis, celebrated for his skill in medicine.  He was worshipped in the form of a living serpent at his temple in Pergamos.

[26] Apollonius of Tyana (first century AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from Tyana, in the province of Cappadocia.  He was known for practicing divination, alchemy, and magic, and working miracles.

[27] Suidas was the compiler of the Suda, an encyclopedia containing more than thirty thousand entries concerning the ancient Mediterranean world.  It was probably composed in tenth-century Byzantium.

[28] There is an ancient tradition preserved among Eusebius and others, that Christ and Abgar, King of Edessa, exchanged letters through the ambassage of the Apostle Thaddeus.

[29] Pseudo-Plutarch’s de Defectu Oraculorum.  The death of Pan is said to have taken place during the reign of Tiberias; Christians understood it as the judgment of demons and the silencing of pagan oracles at the death of Christ.