Demythifying God: Was Josephus the Historical Jesus and Paul?

Flavius Josephus (Whiston, 1737 [1851 edition]):

Abide With Me by Simon Dewey:

St. Paul the Apostle (19th-20th century A.D.) by Friedrich Stummel and Karl Wenzel (Encyclopaedia Britannica. Saint Paul’s Contributions to the New Testament):

I have already written a post trying to find the historical Jesus. However, I made this new post to focus on one person who seems to have been the main historical template for Jesus: Flavius Josephus. Not only was Josephus the historical template for Jesus, but he was also Saul/Paul. Check out my "Was Jesus Christ Real?" post for more information, but I will add more info. to this post over time.

Links:
Whiston (1737 [1851 edition]):
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Complete_Works_of_Flavius_Josephus_T/Z1eDk09sNoIC?hl=en&gbpv=1
Altus. Abide With Me by Simon Dewey:
https://altusfineart.com/products/simon-dewey-abide-with-me-jesus-with-open-arms
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Saint Paul’s Contributions to the New Testament:
https://www.britannica.com/list/st-pauls-contributions-to-the-new-testament
-Pic:
https://images.app.goo.gl/yqTyWMGvVm3mogG88
Was Jesus Christ Real?
https://demythifyinggod.blogspot.com/2019/07/jesus-christ-wasis-real.html

After reading Josephus' works, and reading and watching other stuff regarding Josephus, an idea formed in my head: was Josephus the historical template for Jesus and Paul? I've already seen that Jesus and Paul were composite characters, but I was hoping that there could've been one historical person who was the inspiration for Jesus. It turns out that Josephus could've been that person. Not only that, he could've been the inspiration for the Paul character as well.

In his autobiography, The Life of Flavius Josephus, Josephus said that he descended from the Jewish priesthood. His mother was of royal blood, and is descended from the family of Asamoneus. His popular father, and his brother, were named Matthias (Matthew). Josephus had three sons, and curiously enough, they seem to have had Hasmonean and Herodian names: Hyrcanus, Justus, and Agrippa ([Whiston, 1737 translation] Verses 1-2). Josephus was a smart child. At around 14, he received accolades from “High Priests and principle men of the city.” He said that they even came to him to properly understand “the law.” At 16, Josephus joined the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. He was also a student of a man named Banus, a desert teacher, for three years. Finally, at 19 years of age, Josephus joined the Pharisees again (Verse 2). From what I can tell, "Asamoneus" seems to be Asamonaius, a version of the name Hasmonean (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hasmonean dynasty, para. 1). Therefore, Josephus descended from the Jewish priesthood and the Hasmoneans. The Herodians interbred with the Hasmoneans, so Josephus would've been related to the Herodians.

Let's compare this information to Jesus' story. I'll stick with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke mainly, since I believe those two gospels were the earliest ones (originally Gospel according to the Hebrews, and Gospel of the Lord):

1.) The Talmud Jesus has been stated to have been a Hasmonean, as stated previously. Josephus was Hasmonean.
2.) At the age of 12, Jesus amazed the Jewish teachers at the Jerusalem Temple (Luke 2:41-51). At 14, Josephus was well-renowned for his knowledge by the Jewish teachers.
3.) Banus sounds similar to John the Baptist, as I've mentioned before. Jesus was also baptized by John.
4.) Jesus was called "Rabbi" (Matthew 26:25 and 49). This word was used to describe the Pharisees (Got Questions, What is a Jewish rabbi, para. 2) (Hamman, 2018, The Pharisees, para. 2), which means that Jesus was probably a Pharisee. Josephus was a Pharisee.
5.) Jesus taught Essene-like beliefs, wore similar clothing, and his followers used terminology found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as we already know. Josephus joined the Essenes, and wrote about them.

Now, we'll turn to Saul/Paul:

1.) Paul was a Pharisee, just like Josephus.
2.) Paul had Herodian family members. Josephus, being a Hasmonean, would've been related to the Herodians.

Josephus later stated that, while on his way to Rome to help some Jewish priest he knew that were arrested by the Romans, Josephus’ boat “drowned in the Adriatick sea.” A Cyrenian ship rescued him, and a few others that managed to survive. There were 600 originally, but only 80 survived the shipwreck (The Life of Flavius Josephus [Whiston, 1737 translation], Verse 3).

As for Paul:

3.) After his trial for causing a disturbance in Jerusalem, Paul was led prisoner to Rome. When the prison boat reached the Adriatic Sea, the ship struck a reef and sank. Paul, and a few others, survived (Acts 27:1, 27, and 41).

Josephus described himself a pacifist who tried to get the Jews to not fight the Romans. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. In fact, he and his fellow Pharisees pretended to side with the Jewish "robbers" (rebels) in order to not suffer their wrath (The Life of Flavius Josephus [Whiston, 1737 translation], Verses 4-5). Josephus, and a few other priests, were sent to Galilee to get the Jewish rebels to surrender (Verses 7-8, and 12). After some time there, Josephus got on the bad side of some Jewish men from Dabaritta. They raided the carriages of Ptolemy's wife, and took the spoils back to Josephus. Now, Josephus tried to convince the men to not disperse the plunder, but this is not what the robbers wanted. In return, they spread a rumor that Josephus was going to make the Galileans surrender to the Romans (Verse 26). As a result, Jesus son of Sapphias led a group of Galileans against Josephus (Verse 27). Josephus explained himself, and seems to have pacified some of the hostility (Verse 29). However, not all of the Galileans were swayed and continued to try and attack him (Verses 30-31). Encyclopaedia Britannica paints a slightly different picture of Josephus. It seems that Josephus' depiction of himself during this time might be untrustworthy, and Josephus was actually a soldier who fought against the Romans (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Poole, 2025, Flavius Josephus, Military career).

Compared to Jesus:

4.) Jesus was rejected by Capernaum and Nazareth, cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:23) (Luke 4:14-30).
5.) Jesus was depicted as a pacifist (Matthew 26:51-54).
6.) However, Jesus also had Zealot-like characteristics (Matthew 21:12-13) (Matthew 26:55-56). Even his own disciples had weapons, and zealous-like behavior (Matthew 26:51).

As for Paul:

4.) Paul, as Saul, persecuted the Christians while working for the Jewish authorities. Later on, he joined the Christians. The Romans protected Paul from the Jews.
5.) Long after his conversion, Paul was assaulted by the Jews at the Jerusalem Temple. Paul tried to pacify them (Acts 21:27-40) (Acts 22:1-22).

In The Jewish War, it seems that Vespasian sent Josephus’ friend, Nicanor, to Josephus to force him to surrender. Josephus' allies tried to commit suicide, but Josephus stopped them from doing so. He also tried to get his compatriots to disarm themselves. On the other hand, Josephus seems to have made the idea to cast lots. This would make one person kill the other, instead of committing suicide. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to go through with the deed. Afterwards, Nicanor sent Josephus to Vespasian. While in his presence, Josephus proclaimed that Vespasian will be emperor ([Whiston, 1737 translation], Book 3 Ch. 8. Verses 2, 6-9). Josephus is described here as "a prophet" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Poole, 2025, Flavius Josephus, Military career, para. 3).

In comparison to Jesus:

7.) Jesus' disciple, Judas Iscariot, betrayed him to the Jewish and Roman authorities (Matthew 26:47-56).
8.) Jesus was called a prophet.

Compared to Paul:
6.) Paul had a vision of Jesus on his way to Damascus.

Josephus was a prisoner for a while. After Vespasian was made emperor, Josephus was released. He became a Flavian, and worked with the Romans to end the war. He was "hated by the Jews," yet "distrusted by the Romans" for being a Jew." (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Poole, 2025, Flavius Josephus, Military career, para. 3). He later obtained a Roman citizenship (Josephus as historian, para. 2).

Compared to Jesus:

9.) Jesus was taken prisoner.

Compared to Paul:

7.) Paul was taken prisoner by the Romans.
8.) He had a Roman citizenship. This is why the Romans protected Paul.

In summation, Josephus bears many similarities to Jesus and Paul. As far as I'm concerned, the historical persona for Jesus and Paul is Josephus. We know that the New Testament used Josephus' works as sources, so it's not hard for me to hypothesize that the authors used Josephus himself as a historical template for Jesus Christ.

Monday, December 15, 2025

Was Josephus the Historical Jesus and Paul?