In addition to the multiple eyewitness accounts found in the New Testament of the Bible, there are several historical ancient references outside of the Bible that provide solid evidence for Christ's existence. It can be ascertained from these references that Jesus existed, He worked miracles, and He was resurrected after being put to death by Pontius Pilate. In addition, this documentation presents solid evidence that Jesus was already accepted to be God from at least the first century on. These unbiased historical references are important because they validate the New Testament as a reliable chronology of the life and mission of Jesus Christ and His early followers.
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats….He was (the) Christ…he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him." (Josephus, Antiquities 18:3)
Referred to James as "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ." (Josephus, Antiquities 20:9:1)
"They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food - but food of an ordinary and innocent kind." (Pliny, Letters, transl. by William Welmouth, rev. by W.M.L., Hutchinson (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1935), vol. II, X:96)
"Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from the city." (Suetonius, Claudius,25)
"After the great fire at Rome….Punishments were also inflicted on the Christians, a sect professing a new and mischievous religious belief." (Suetonius, Nero,)
"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 procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, 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." (Tacitus, The Annals circa 115 AD)
"The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account….You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all times, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property." (Lucian, The Death of Peregrine,11-13, in The Works of Lucian Samosata, transl. by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler, 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1949), vol. 4)
Source: Gary R. Habermas - The Historical Jesus (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 1996), p. 188, 191, 192, 198, 206.