What are the Jesus Papers?

from the old testament

• The Jesus Papers are more impacted by the New Testament.

from the new testament

• The Jesus Papers claims that Pilate conspired with Jesus so that Jesus would not die on the cross. But a look at the actual evidence in Scripture shows that Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified (Matthew 27:24-26); he would have nothing to gain from helping Jesus escape death. The Jewish leaders certainly wanted Him dead.
• John 19:33-34 says, “But when they [Roman soldiers] came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” As this was their regular duty, they would know who was dead and who was alive.
• The Roman guards and the Jews never denied that Jesus had died or that the tomb was empty (John 19:31-37; Matthew 28:11-15).
• If Jesus were still alive, the chief priests would have had no logical reason for asking Jesus’ tomb to be guarded because they wanted to ensure His body wasn’t stolen (Matthew 27:64-65). In fact, the chief priests paid the guards to propagate an argument that His body was stolen (Matthew 28:11-15). They didn’t pay them to say that Jesus never died.
• Fifty days later, the apostles preached in the same city where Jesus was crucified, and thousands believed that He was, indeed, the resurrected Messiah (Acts 2:41). The disciples had seen Jesus alive, as had more than five hundred eyewitnesses at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). If Jesus had merely escaped death and not been resurrected, His body would have been severely marred, so His disciples would have known it was a ruse (Matthew 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 23:33). Yet all but one of the apostles died for belief in Jesus as the crucified and resurrected Messiah. Wouldn't one of these men confess a conspiracy at the point of death?

implications for today

Fact is stranger than fiction—at least that’s what people say. But sometimes fiction claims to be fact. This is the case with Michael Baigent’s The Jesus Papers. The book alleges that Jesus and Pilate made a secret deal that Jesus would just appear to have died on the cross. According to the book, Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus down from the cross when He was still alive. At night, Joseph helped Jesus and his wife Mary Magdalene to escape into hiding. Then, the book claims, the couple moved to Southern France and raised a family. The problem? There is absolutely no biblical or historical support for any of these claims.

The author's supposed source of information are two Aramaic papers he claimed to have seen in Jerusalem in the 1960s that “proved” Jesus was still alive in AD 45. A supposed conspiracy involving the pope and Israel has since allegedly caused these documents to disappear. Critics have been quick to point out Baigent's lack of Aramaic training and the absence of documents and eyewitnesses (both archaeologists cited are no longer living).

Not only does Scripture refute Baigent’s claims, but so does common sense: The rapid growth of the early Christian church despite intense persecution reveals that something special had taken place. Though completely voluntary, Christianity flourished across the known world within a short period of time. The evidence much more favors the traditional biblical account than the sensationalistic, unsupported conspiracy theory of an author two thousand years removed from the events.