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New Testament (NT) scholarship has not produced any clear answers to the questions of who authored the Gospels or what was the basis for their story of Jesus Christ. One fringe strand of modern NT scholarship has attempted to answer these questions by positing that the story of Jesus began as a myth that somehow developed into a history. While this theory can point to other myths that became history, absent a archeological miracle, it can never rise above logic and speculation because there is no physical evidence of a proto-Christian religious community, or of any literature that could have evolved into the Gospels.
Moreover, mythicism has no advantage over the premise that Jesus was historical in its explanatory power. If Jesus was a myth that became historical, this would not answer the Synoptic problem or explain the anti-semitic flavor in a literature purportedly written to worship a Jew. Nether would a mythical origin for Jesus explain why the Gospels writers were so focused on the 66-71CE Roman/Jewish war or why they seemed to favor the Romans.
Unlike mythicism, however, the theory of a Roman origin of the Gospels has strong explanatory power. For example the seemingly unsolvable ‘Synoptic problem’ becomes nonexistent within a Roman provenance. When a single editorial board controls the literature, the verbatim passages the three Gospels share do not need to be explained by some impossible to define ‘borrowing’ process between three different authors. They are simply the result of first century word-processing. The Gospels – a word often used to mean the good news of military victory – focused on Rome’s war with the Jews because it was a triumph of the authors.
I maintain that while Jesus was fictional he was not mythical. In other words, the Flavians, the family of Caesars that has conquered Judea in the first century, created the Gospels for two purposes. The first was straight forward; simply to promote a more pro-Roman version of the messianic Judaism that constantly rebelled against Rome. The second reason was hidden and intended to create a messianic legacy for themselves.
Having waged a costly war with a militaristic sect of messianic Jews, the political motivation for the Flavians to create a peaceful, pro-Roman version of Judaism is self evident. The messianic legacy the Flavians were establishing for themselves with the Gospels, however, was entirely cryptic. As shown below, they used a specific system of prefiguration typology to first connect Moses to Jesus and to link Jesus onto Titus Flavius, thereby identifying Titus as the Son of Man predicted in the Gospels.
This identification is at least historically logical in that Titus came to Jerusalem within the predicted time period of forty years and brought about the terrible events Jesus predicted would occur with the coming of the Son of Man. For some reason Jesus speaks of this individual in third person and he can not be referring to himself as he indicates the temple will be razed during the Son of Man’s visitation, an event which occurred in 70CE.
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Mark 13:1-2
“For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” Matthew 24:27-28
Though many will see the theory that Jesus envisioned Titus as the Son of Man as far-fetched, the Flavian court, at the very least, should receive scrutiny as the potential creators of the Gospels. It is simply the case that the Flavians had more than just the motivation to have produced them. They had the capacity to do so. Traits no other group from the era is known to have possessed.
The capacity to have produced them came from the circle of Jews around the Flavians. Both Titus’ mistress Bernice and his primary general during the war, Tiberius Alexander, nephew of the Jewish intellectual Philo, were from Jewish families that were financially dependent on Rome and therefore opposed to the messianic rebellion. The Jewish priest and historian Josephus actually became an adopted member of the Flavian family. All of these individuals would have familiar with the style of typology used in the Hebrew bible that is also found in the Gospels.
Hebrew scripture used typology to transfer meaning from one story to another. In general, such parallels were created to show that the hand of God was at work in the history of the Jews. For example, the Book of Esther used type scenes from the story of Joseph to inform the alert reader that Esther and Mordecai were repeating the role of Joseph as an agent of God.
As is well known, the authors of the Christian Gospels used overt typology to create the impression that events from the lives of prior Hebrew prophets were types for events in Jesus’s life. Jesus’s miracle of feeding the multitude with loaves and fish is a recreation of the prophet Elisha’s feeding a crowd in 2 Kings 4:42. Such linkages were intended to convince the naive reader that Jesus was divinely connected to the prior Jewish prophets.
At the beginning of the Gospels, the author of Matthew created an occulted typological relationship between Jesus and Moses by using names, locations, concepts and sequence taken from the Old Testament to create the story of Jesus’s pre-ministry. The sequence begins at Matthew 2:13 where Joseph is described as bringing Jesus, who represents the ‘new Israel’ down to Egypt. The authors of the Gospels associated their Joseph with the one described in Genesis by more than just a shared name and a journey to Egypt. The NT Joseph is described like his counterpart in the Hebrew Bible as a dream of dreams and as having an encounters with a star and a wise man.
Both stories regarding the journey of a Joseph to Egypt are immediately followed by a description of a massacre of innocents. Note that the stories concerning the massacre of he innocents are not completely parallel. Jesus, is not, for example, saved by being put in a boat on the river Jordon and then adopted by Herod’s daughter. The typology used in Judaic literature and the NT does not require verbatim quotations or descriptions, rather the author takes only enough information from the event being used as the type to allow the reader to recognize that the prior event relates to the one being described. In this case, each massacre of the innocents story depicts young children being slaughtered by a fearful tyrant, but with the future savior of Israel being saved.
The authors of the NT then continue mirroring Exodus by having an angel tell Joseph “They are dead which sought the young child’s life.” (Matt 2:20) The statement is a clear parallel to the statement made to Moses in Exodus 4:19 “All the men are dead which sought thy life.” The sequence then continue with a harder to recognize parallel of Jesus receiving a baptism in Mathew 3:13 which uses the type of the Israelites passing through water in Exodus 14. Next Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness which parallels the forty years the Israelites spent in the wilderness. Both sojourn in her desert involve three sets of temptations. In Exodus it is God who is tempted, in the Gospels, it is Jesus the son of god.
In Exodus the Israelites first tempt God by asking for bread, at which time they learn that man does not live by bread alone. In the next episode they are told to not ‘tempt the lord’. On the third occasion, when they make the golden calf at Mount Sinai, they learn to “fear the Lord thy god and serve him alone”. Exodus 32
Jesus three temptations are by the devil and are based upon the temptations of God by the Israelites. To his first temptation Jesus replies “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Mathew4:4). To his second he replies “Thou shalt not tempt there Lord thy God”.Mathew4:7) And to his third he replies “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and only him shall you serve.” Matthew 4:10
Of the four typological elements linking Jesus to Moses sequence has been the least investigated. This is an analytic oversight in that it is the element most able to make occulted parallels coherent, as with the case of the baptisms above, which are only visible as part of the typological system when seen within the sequence.
As shown below, the most important explanatory power of Roman provenance is that concerning sequence. In Caesar’s Messiah I presented analysis demonstrating that, when viewed by an alert reader, the entire ministry of Jesus can be understood as having been based upon the Flavians’ campaign through Judea.
In the a chapter I named the Flavian Signature I compared a block of text taken primarily from from the Gospel of Luke to a section of Josephus’ description of the Flavian military campaign. I showed that there are over fifty recognizable parallels between the texts and that they occur in the same sequence. This article will present several of them to show how the obvious parallels between Jesus ministry and the Flavians military campaign were used to establish a sequence and how the sequence permits the more occulted parallels to become visible. The collection was assembled based upon the elements’ brevity and simplicity. To present the more complex parallels, such as the one concerning the two human Passover lambs, would require pages of analysis.
In brief, the authors of the Gospels simply extended the system that generated the Moses/Jesus typology to look, not to the past, but to the future and thereby connect Jesus to Titus.
Location: Galilee
1) Fishing for men at the sea of Galilee
Josephus and Luke each record a catching of men at the Sea of Galilee at the start of the two ‘campaigns’. The typological linkage is obvious.
“From now on you will catch men.”Luke 5:10
Titus followers then fished for men on the Sea of Galilee.
“And for such as were drowning in the sea, if they lifted their heads up above the water, they were either killed by darts or caught by the vessels.”
Josephus, Jewish Wars (Wars) Book 3, chapter 10, line 527, Whiston
2) On to Jerusalem – The messengers are sent ahead.
Luke recorded that at the end of his Galilean campaign Jesus marched out to Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead.
“Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, that he came steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face.” Luke 9, 51
Josephus recored that following his Galilean campaign Titus marched on to Jerusalem and like his typological forerunner sent ‘messengers’ – part of his army – before him.
“Titus when he had gotten together part of his forces about him and ordered he rest to meet him Jerusalem marched out of Caesarea.” Wars 5, 1, 40
Location: Outside of Jerusalem
The Gospels record a series of stories located on the outskirts of Jerusalem. These stories are full of conflict between Jesus and the Jews and many have martial imagery. The stories parallel the battles between Titis and the Jewish rebels that occurred before his triumphal entrance into there city.
3) The Crowds increase.
Josephus and Luke each record the Jews massing around the ‘son of god.
“As the crowds were increasing.” Luke 11:29
“The Jews became still more in number,” Wars 5, 2, 78
4) Lying in Wait
Luke then describes Jesus being assailed by Jews lying in wait for him and seeking to catch him before his triumphant entrance.
“The scribes began to assail him vehemently,, lying in wait for Him and seeking too catch him in something he might say that they might accuse him.” Luke 11:53
Titus, standing in front of the very walls Jesus stood, also faced Jews trying to catch him.
“These Jews do everything with care and circumspection, they contrive stratagems and lay ambushes.” Wars 5,3,121
5) Divide the Group three for two
The next parallel is important in that not only is it obvious but created with a unique concept. The parallel would be unlikely to have occurred accidentally under any circumstances but could have accidentally occurred within a sequence. Luke underscores the linked concept ‘division by reducing 3 to 2’ by repeating it.
“Do you suppose I came to give peace on earth. I tell you not at all but rather division. For from now on five in one hour will be divided:three against two and two against three” Luke 12,51
Titus also came not to bring peace but division – three for two,
And thus the sedition which had been divided into three factions was now reduced to two. Wars 5, 3, 104
6) Cut down the fruit Tree
Again the parallel is obvious Jesus envisions a fruit tree outside Jerusalem will be cut down, a prophecy which Titus then brought about.
“And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” Luke 13:6-9
Titus then fulfills the prophecy.
“Titus cut down all the fruit trees that lay between them and the walls of the city .” Wars 5, 3, 106
7) How to build a Tower
Jesus commented on the issues someone would consider before building a tower.
“ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit not down first, and count the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” Luke 14:28
Titus also considered carefully before starting to build a tower.
“Titus went round the wall looking for the best place to build a tower.” Wars 5, 6, 258
8) A delegation seeks terms of peace
Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. Luke 14 31-32
“Josephus attempted to discourse to those that were upon the wall about terms of peace. Wars 5, 6, 261
9) The Son Cometh
During Jesus’s ‘Triumphant entrance’ Luke recorded the odd metaphor of stones that cried out. He then describes mysterious things that bring peace but are for some reason hidden from the Jews’ eyes.
Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Luke 19: 38-41
Josephus links to Luke’s triumphant entrance with witty wordplay. Using the uncertainty in Greek grammar he slyly describes stones that cry out and the hiding of them from the Jews’ eyes. Understanding the linkage resolves a mystery of Josephus’ history, his seeming error in having the watchman cry our ‘The Son Cometh’ rather than the obvious ‘The Stone Cometh’. Scholars have puzzled over the error endlessly but Josephus did not make mistakes and the statement is an occulted but witty connection to Luke’s story,
Now the stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent; and were carried two furlongs, and farther. The blow they gave was no way to be sustained; not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those that were beyond them, for a great space. As for the Jews, they at first watched the coming of the stone: for it was of a white colour; and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise it made, but could be seen also before it came by its brightness. Accordingly the watchmen that sat upon the towers gave them notice when the engine was let go, and t he stone came from it; and cried out aloud, in their own country language, t he Son Cometh. So those that were in its way stood off, and threw themselves down upon the ground. By which means, and by their thus guarding themselves, the stone fell down, and did them no harm. But the Romans contrived how to prevent that, by blacking the stone: who then could aim at them with success, when the stone was not discerned beforehand, as it had been till then: and so they destroyed many of them at one blow. Yet did not the Jews, under all this distress, permit the Romans to raise their banks in quiet. But they shrewdly and boldly exerted themselves, and repelled them, both by night, and by day. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Wars 5, 12, 34-36
10) Jerusalem Encircled with a wall
Luke then describes Jesus envisioning the encircling of Jerusalem with a wall. Thus the overall pattern connects to another parallel that cannot be disputed as historians have always recognized that the prophecy envisioned the event Josephus recorded below.
“The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.” Luke 19:43-44
“That therefore his opinion was, that if they aimed at quickness, joined with security, they must build a wall round about the whole city. Which was, he thought, the only way to prevent the Jews from coming out any way.” Wars 5, 12, 499
11) Three Crucified, One Survives
Josephus did not record his parallel to the crucifixion in Wars of the Jews as this would have made the parallel sequence too visible. Rather he placed it in his autobiography. He did, of course, make it possible to recognize that it occurred at the correct location within the sequence his storyline shares with the Gospels’.
Notice that it is not only the facts that in Josephus’ story three are crucified and one survives or that the Roman commander is begged to take the survivor down from he cross that links to the Gospels’ crucifixion story. There is something unwritten that once recognized makes the linkage impossible to miss. Josephus’ full name was Joseph bar Matthias and can be understood as a pun on the name of the character in the Gospels who performs the same act – Joseph of Arimathea.
Thus, after reading the following passage, I would hope readers try and answer the following questions:
How many possible puns on Joseph of Arimathea are there in literature?
What are the chances that one could occur by chance in a passage that also describes a group of three being crucified with one survivor?
“And when I was sent by Titus Cesar, with Cerealius, and a thousand horsemen, to a certain village called Thecoa, in order to know whether it were a place fit for a camp; as I came back I saw many captives crucified: and remembred three of them, as my former acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my mind; and went with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told him of them. So he immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the greatest care taken of them in order to their recovery. Yet two of them died under the physicians hands while the third recovered.” Life 75
12) Simon Condemned, John Spared
The Gospels conclude with Jesus predicting that after being bound and taken where he doesn’t want to go i.e. Rome, Simon would receive a martyr’s death but he envisions a long life for John.
“Very truly I tell you, 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.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die.” John, 21, 18-22
Josephus recorded the actual events Jesus ‘predicted’ above. Simon, a leader of the messianic movement, was captured, bound, taken to Rome and given a martyrs death. His compatriot John, was given life imprisonment.
“But for Simon, he struggled hard with the distress he was in, till he was forced to surrender himself, as we shall relate hereafter. So he was reserved for the triumph: and to be then slain. As was John condemned to perpetual imprisonment. And now the Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down, and entirely demolished its walls.” Wars 6, 9
“But for Simon, he was brought to Caesar in bonds, when he was come back to that Cesarea which was on the sea side. Who gave order that he should be kept against that triumph which he was to celebrate at Rome upon this occasion.” Wars 7, 2
To conclude I would note that if the Gospels are fiction, then questions arise about the storyline. Why and how did the authors select the names, locations, concepts and sequence that they used?
The most powerful religious and cultural force in the world at the time the Gospels are believed to have been written was the Caesars’ Imperial Cult, an organization that enforced the worship of them as gods. The organization produced propaganda for the ‘divine’ Caesars using Greek terms denoting divinity like Kyrios, Sōtēr, and Basileus, terms that also ended up in the Gospels.
These facts suggests an answer to the questions above. The names, locations, concepts and sequence of the story of Jesus were chosen by individuals involved with the Imperial Cult. They created the storyline to not only pacify Jews with a peaceful Messiah but as a typological legacy to one day reveal to posterity the identity of the Son of Man.
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