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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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)
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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
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“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)
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“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
1042 Lead Pastor
214-460-5872
justin@1042church.com