Early Christian Beliefs About Josephus and Jewish History
Early Christian writers used Josephus as a respected witness for Jewish antiquity, chronology, and major events like the destruction of Jerusalem. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus of Antioch, Origen, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Methodius, and Julius Africanus all refer to him in that way. Their main point was that Jewish history was old, public, and testable, not made up later.
104 early-church witnesses · 213 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about josephus and Jewish History?
Early Christian writers did speak about Josephus, but mostly as a useful Jewish historian for dating Moses, the Jewish people, and major events in Jewish history. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus of Antioch, Origen, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Methodius, and Julius Africanus all treat Josephus as a real witness to Jewish antiquity or to events like the fall of Jerusalem.
The strongest repeated theme is not a special doctrine about Josephus, but that his histories support the age and public memory of the Jews. The evidence is broad across several authors, but it is indirect because many citations use Josephus to support chronology or Jewish history rather than to state a direct belief about Josephus himself. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Justin Martyr and Origen cite Josephus as a witness to the age of the Jewish people and their history.
- Clement and Theophilus use Josephus for dates and chronology.
- Tertullian, Methodius, and Hippolytus use Josephus to discuss Jerusalem and the temple.
- The main early Christian use of Josephus is historical support, not a doctrine about Josephus himself.
Questions Answered by the Sources
How did early Christians describe Josephus as a historian?
Early Christian writers describe Josephus as a historian of the Jews, a Jew who wrote Jewish history, or a witness to Jewish antiquity. They use him as part of arguments about the age and public record of Jewish history.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
Flavius Josephus, the Jew who wrote the history of the Jews, calculates the time periods and says that from Moses to David was five hundred and eighty-five years. From David to the second year of Vespasian was one thousand one hundred and seventy-nine years. Then from that time to the tenth year of Antoninus was seventy-seven years. So from Moses to the tenth year of Antoninus, there are, altogether, two thousand one hundred and thirty-three years.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
So then let what has been said suffice for the testimony of the Phœnicians and Egyptians, and for the account of our chronology given by the writers Manetho the Egyptian, and Menander the Ephesian, and also Josephus, who wrote the Jewish war, which they waged with the Romans.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
...ng the accounts of these events that are known among Greeks or barbarian nations, we have given our belief to our own Scriptures when speaking of them, he writes as follows: “The belief has spread among them, through a misunderstanding of the accounts of these events, that after long cycles of time, and the returns and conjunctions of planets, conflagrations and floods usually happen. And because after the last flood, which took place in the time of Deucalion, the passing of time, according to the changes of all things, calls for a conflagration, this led them to express the mistaken opinion that God will descend, bringing fire like a torturer.” Now in answer to this we say that I do not understand how Celsus, who has read a great deal and shows that he has gone through many histories, did not have his attention caught by the antiquity of Moses. Certain Greek historians say that Moses lived about the time of Inachus the son of Phoroneus. The Egyptians also recognize him as a man of great antiquity, and so do those who have studied the history of the Phoenicians. And anyone who wishes may read the two books of Flavius Josephus on the antiquities of the Jews, so that he may see ho
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Tertullian, Apology Direct teaching
their successors too, Ptolemy the Mendesian, and Demetrius Phalereus, and King Juba, and Apion, and Thallus, and their critic the Jew Josephus, the native vindicator of the ancient history of his people, who either authenticates or refutes the others.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
For any one who chooses may read what Flavius Josephus has recorded in his two books, On the Antiquity of the Jews, where he brings together a great collection of writers, who bear witness to the antiquity of the Jewish people;
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
and there exists the Discourse to the Greeks of Tatian the younger, in which with very great learning he enumerates those historians who have treated of the antiquity of the Jewish nation and of Moses.
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Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness
In the fifth book of his histories, beginning the (narrative of the) Jewish war with an account of the origin of the nation;
More related quotations from this section 2 shown
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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Supporting witness
Josephus, certainly, desiring to signify even by the title of his work the antiquity and age of the history, wrote thus at the commencement of the history: “The Jewish antiquities of Flavius Josephus,”—signifying the oldness of the history by the word “antiquities.” And your most renowned historian Diodorus, who employed thirty whole years in epitomizing the libraries, and who, as he himself wrote, travelled over both Asia and Europe for the sake of great accuracy, and thus became an eye-witness of very many things, wrote forty entire books of his own history.
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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Supporting witness
...m others, especially from the wise and esteemed who have written about these things, like Philo and Josephus, and many others. If anyone prone to contradiction claims these books don't belong to us but to the Jews, and argues we falsely profess to have learned from them, let them know from what is written in these books that their teachings refer not to them, but to us. It is by Divine Providence for our sake that the books related to our religion are still preserved among the Jews. To avoid accusations of fraud by producing them only from the Church, we demand they also come from the Jewish synagogue, so that it may be evident that the laws written by holy men for instruction pertain to us.
Did early Christians use Josephus to argue that Jewish history was ancient?
Several writers cite Josephus in arguments that Jewish history is ancient and can be dated alongside Greek and Roman records. The Bible cards here are background Bible passages for record-keeping and chronology, not direct claims about Josephus.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
...erbus was reigning at Rome. Therefore, since the whole order of times can be gathered both from the Jewish histories and from those of the Greeks and Romans, the times of each of the prophets can also be gathered. The last of them was Zechariah, and it is agreed that he prophesied in the time of King Darius, in the second year of his reign, and in the eighth month. Thus, the prophets are found to be much more ancient than the Greek writers. And I present all these things so that those who try to refute Holy Scripture may see their error, since they think it is new and recently written, not knowing from what fountain the origin of our holy religion flowed. But if anyone, after putting together and examining the times, properly lays the foundation of learning and fully discovers the truth, he will also put aside his error when he has come to know the truth.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
Wherefore, since the whole series of times may be collected both from the Jewish histories and from those of the Greeks and Romans, the times of the prophets individually may also be collected;
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Julius Africanus, Extant Writings Supporting witness
Up to the time of the Olympiads, the Greeks have no reliable history. Everything before that time is confused and does not agree with itself. But many people examined the Olympiads carefully, because the Greeks arranged the records of their history, not by long stretches of time, but by periods of four years. For that reason, I will choose the most important mythical stories from before the time of the first Olympiad and go through them quickly. But for the events after that time, at least the notable ones, I will present them together, connecting Hebrew events with Greek events according to their dates. I will examine the affairs of the Hebrews carefully, and touch more briefly on those of the Greeks. My plan will be this: I will take one event in Hebrew history that happened at the same time as another event in Greek history, and keep to that as the main subject. Then, as the account seems to need it, I will take away or add details in the narrative. I will note what Greek or Persian of importance, or what remarkable person of any other nation, was flourishing at the time of that event in Hebrew history. In this way, I may perhaps reach the goal that I have set for myself.
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Julius Africanus, Extant Writings Supporting witness
...also record that Moses lived at that same time. For example, Polemo, in the first book of his Greek History, says: "In the time of Apis, son of Phoroneus, a part of the army of the Egyptians left Egypt and settled in the part of Palestine called Syrian, not far from Arabia. These are clearly the people who were with Moses." And Apion, son of Poseidonius, the most hard-working of grammarians, says in his book Against the Jews, and in the fourth book of his History, that in the time of Inachus king of Argos, when Amosis was reigning over Egypt, the Jews rebelled under the leadership of Moses. And Herodotus also mentions this revolt, and Amosis, in his second book. In a certain way, he also mentions the Jews themselves, counting them among the circumcised and calling them the Assyrians of Palestine, perhaps because of Abraham. And Ptolemy the Mendesian, who tells the history of the Egyptians from the earliest times, gives the same account of all these things. So among them generally there is no difference in the chronology worth noticing.
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Julius Africanus, Extant Writings Supporting witness
7. It should be observed, further, that all the legendary accounts which are deemed specially remarkable by the Greeks by reason of their antiquity, are found to belong to a period posterior to Moses;
Did early Christians quote Josephus about the destruction of Jerusalem?
Some early Christian texts quote Josephus on Jerusalem being taken and destroyed under Vespasian, and on the city’s earlier destructions. These are direct historical uses of Josephus rather than theological arguments.
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Methodius, From the Discourse on the Resurrection Direct teaching
...r stirred up by the Romans against the Jews, Jerusalem was overthrown six times by its enemies. And Josephus records this, saying, ‘Jerusalem was taken in the second year of the reign of Vespasian. It had been taken five times before, but now for the second time it was destroyed. For Asochaeus king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, then Pompey, and after these Sosius with Herod, took the city and burned it; but before these, the king of Babylon conquered and destroyed it.’”
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Peter of Alexandria, The Genuine Acts of Peter Supporting witness
...r stirred up by the Romans against the Jews, Jerusalem was overthrown by its enemies six times. And Josephus records this, saying, "Jerusalem was taken in the second year of the reign of Vespasian. It had been taken five times before, but now for the second time it was destroyed. For Asochaeus king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, then Pompey, and after these Sosius with Herod, took the city and burned it; but before these, the king of Babylon conquered and destroyed it."
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Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness
...lso calls Dabir. So the holy place was forty cubits, and the Holy of Holies was another twenty. And Josephus says that the temple had two stories, and that the total height was one hundred and twenty cubits. For the book of Chronicles also indicates this, saying, “And Solomon began to build the house of God. Its first measure in length was sixty cubits, and its width twenty cubits, and its height one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it inside with pure gold.”
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Methodius, From the Discourse on the Resurrection Supporting witness
And this is recorded by Josephus, who says: Jerusalem was taken in the second year of the reign of Vespasian.
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Peter of Alexandria, The Genuine Acts of Peter Supporting witness
And this is recorded by Josephus, who says: Jerusalem was taken in the second year of the reign of Vespasian.
Common Questions
Why did early Christians quote Josephus?
They quoted Josephus as a Jewish historian who helped confirm the age, chronology, and major events of Jewish history.
Did early Christians think Josephus was reliable?
Yes, many of them treated him as a useful witness for Jewish history, dates, and the fall of Jerusalem.
Did early Christians use Josephus to teach doctrine?
Usually no. They used him mostly for history, dates, and support when talking about the Jews and their past.
Source Index for Josephus and Jewish History
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 213 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 104
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 109
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.