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Talk about a holy mystery.
An ancient passage about Jesus’ reported resurrection may have gotten a theological makeover, according to a new analysis of a Roman-era historian’s writings.
Jesús Fernández-Pedrera Correa, an independent researcher from Spain, has reexamined a controversial passage in “Jewish Antiquities,” a history written around AD 93 to 94 by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who was not Christian, originally reported on by the Daily Mail.
Known as the “Testimonium Flavianum,” the passage recounts Jesus’ life, crucifixion and reported resurrection — but scholars have long debated how much of it Josephus actually wrote.
In a preprint published Aug. 15, Fernández-Pedrera Correa compared Greek, Latin, Arabic and Syriac versions of the passage, looking for clues to what Josephus may have written before later Christian writers altered the text.
The Greek version makes a miraculous claim: Jesus appeared alive on the third day after his crucifixion, as divine prophets supposedly foretold.
But Fernández-Pedrera Correa suspects this wording may reflect later Christian influence rather than Josephus’ original account.
The other language traditions offer clues. The Latin version dates to around AD 392, while the Arabic and Syriac versions survive in works from the 10th and 12th centuries, respectively.
In the Arabic version, Jesus’ reported return from the dead is framed as something his disciples said they witnessed, rather than a fact.
The researcher describes the disciples as having “reported that he appeared to them” alive three days after the crucifixion.
That distinction is central to his argument: Josephus may have been reporting what Jesus’ followers claimed, rather than affirming the Resurrection himself.
Another clue lies in three deceptively small words: “was the Christ.”
The Greek version states it outright. The Latin, Arabic and Syriac traditions are more cautious, describing Jesus as someone who was believed or thought to be the Messiah.
The Arabic version hedges even further, suggesting that perhaps he was the Messiah.
There’s a world of difference between reporting a belief and preaching it.
Fernández-Pedrera Correa argues that these variations suggest the passage was modified over time, particularly its declaration of Jesus’ messianic status.
Although the surviving Greek manuscripts are remarkably consistent, that doesn’t mean every word is original.
The researcher also points to Origen, an early Christian writer who said in the third century that Josephus did not accept Jesus as the Christ.
That statement lends support to the argument that the Greek passage’s emphatic declaration may not be Josephus’ original wording.
Another passage in Jewish Antiquities refers to James as the brother of Jesus “who was called Christ.”
That reference is generally considered authentic and identifies Jesus without endorsing Christian beliefs — supporting the possibility that Josephus wrote about him in similarly neutral terms elsewhere.
What can the ancient text actually tell us? The researcher considers the declaration that Jesus “was the Christ” the clearest example of a likely alteration.
The resurrection wording is less certain. The Arabic version supports the possibility that Josephus originally described what Jesus’ followers reported, rather than stating that the Resurrection happened as fact.
But the surviving texts cannot establish exactly how much of the account came from the first-century historian.
Nor can the researcher reconstruct the precise original wording or conclusively identify who made the changes.
For now, the analysis offers a glimpse of how one of history’s most consequential stories may have been transmitted and reshaped over generations — without settling whether Josephus himself wrote about Jesus rising from the dead.
That mystery, it seems, is still very much alive.
In other Bible-related news, the hunt for Noah’s Ark may have hit another intriguing — if unconfirmed — milestone.
As previously reported by The Post, researchers say they’ve recovered pieces of charred and uncharred wood nearly 30 feet beneath Turkey’s Durupınar Formation, a roughly 538-foot-long, boat-shaped geological structure near Mount Ararat.
The material is now undergoing testing, but researchers have yet to establish its age or whether it has any connection to the biblical vessel.
First identified in 1959, it has captivated Ark hunters for years thanks to its ship-like shape and proximity to Mount Ararat, where the Bible says Noah’s legendary vessel came to rest after a catastrophic flood some 4,300 years ago.
The team believes its latest findings could bolster the case that the formation is more than a geological oddity.
But until the lab results are in, the search for the Ark — much like the mystery surrounding Josephus’ account of Jesus — remains a work in progress.
