Would you Die for a Lie?

Did Jesus’ Original Disciples Die as Martyrs? What is the Historical Evidence?

Justin W. Bass, Ph.D.

“A dead Christ? Then there would have been a dead Gospel! What had we to preach to you if Jesus had not risen?...But testimony does not lose certainty by the lapse of years. If what they witnessed was true when they witnessed it, it is true now. They saw the Lord Jesus alive after His Resurrection and that settles the question. If hundreds of persons saw the Lord Jesus after He was risen, then He did certainly rise! Hallelujah! Here is a stone to build upon which the Goths and Vandals of modern doubt cannot tear from its place. The Resurrection is as certain as any fact recorded in history! Jesus of Nazareth, though He was killed, did rise from the dead and we rejoice therein!” C.H. Spurgeon The Prince of Life #2139

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also”

"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurator, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired” (Tacitus, Annals 15.44, AD 117)

“After the great fire at Rome…punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief” (Seutonius, Nero, 16) (AD 119)

“It is also very likely that both Peter and Paul were among the Neronian martyrs” Justo Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Vol 1, 35 We have the “highest probability” that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome very soon after one another.

Oscar Culmann, Peter, 109

“I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” 2 Peter 1:13-15

 “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” John 21:18-19  “It is almost universally recognized that these words are intended as a prediction of the martyrdom of Peter…” Oscar Culmann, Peter, 87

 “There was Peter, who, because of unrighteous jealousy, endured not one but two but many trials, and thus having given his testimony went to his appointed place of glory” (1 Clement 5:2-4 AD 90)   "After their departure [of Peter and Paul from earth], Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3.1.1 AD 180)

“But now it is time for thee, Peter, to deliver up thy body unto them that take it. Receive it then, ye unto whom it belongs. I beseech you the executioners, crucify me thus, with the head downward and not otherwise: and the reason wherefore, I will tell unto them that hear.” Acts of Peter 37 “Finally he came to Rome and was crucified, head downward at his own request.” Eusebius, Church History 3.1

“I have a last appeal. Yonder I see instruments of torture, not indeed of a single kind, but differently contrived by different peoples; some hang their victims with head toward the ground, some impale their private parts, others stretch out their arms on a fork-shaped gibbet; I see cords, I see scourges, and for each separate limb and each joint there is a separate engine of torture!” Seneca Consolations to Marcia 20

 “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Tim 4:6-8

 “Finally, when he had given his testimony before the rulers, he thus departed from the world and went to the holy place, having become an outstanding example of patient endurance” (1 Clement 5:5-7)  We have the “highest probability” that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome very soon after one another (Oscar Culmann, Peter, 109)  “The most that can safely be said is that Clement bears witness to Paul’s death at Rome under Nero” (F.F. Bruce, Paul, 448)

 “It is related that in his reign Paul was beheaded in Rome itself and that Peter was also crucified, and the cemeteries there still called by the names of Peter and Paul confirm the record” (Eusebius, Church History, 2.25)

“Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:20-21  “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:31-35

 “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” John 7:1-5  “When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Acts 1:13-14

“Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others 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; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified.” Josephus, Ant. 20.200-201 “Few have doubted the genuineness of this passage on James. If it had been a Christian interpolation it would, in all probability, have been more laudatory of James” Harvard Loeb Series on Josephus, Antiquities 496 fn. a

 “Now there were two James’: one, James the Just, who was thrown down from the parapet of the temple and beaten to death with a fuller’s club…” (Eusebius citing Clement of Alexandria in Church History 2.1)  “So they went up and threw down the righteous one. Then they said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just,” and they began to stone him, since the fall had not killed him. But he turned and knelt down, saying, ‘I implore you, O Lord, God and Father, forgive them: they do not know what they are doing.’” Eusebius citing Hegesippus in Church History 2.23

 “Four cubits from the stoning-place the criminal is stripped…The drop from the stoning-place was twice the height of a man. One of the witnesses pushes the criminal from behind, so that he falls face downward. He is then turned over on his back. If he dies from this fall, that is sufficient. If not, the second witness takes the stone and drops it on his heart. If this cause death, that is sufficient; if not, he is stoned by the whole congregation of Israel (m. Sanhedrin 6, 3)

 “The Apostles were either deceived or deceivers if Jesus didn’t really rise. Either supposition is difficult, for it is not possible to imagine that a man has risen from the dead. While Jesus was with them he could sustain them, but afterwards, if he did not appear to them, who did make them act?” Blaise Pascal, Pensées no. 322  “For this would be the greatest of miracles, that without any miracles, the whole world should have eagerly come to be taken in the nets of twelve poor and illiterate men.” John Chrysostom Hom. Acts 1:1-2

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