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Crucifixion exists

We know crucifixion exists, it was a common form of execution by the Romans. The Roman soldiers felt such hatred towards the Jews that they crucified a multitude of them in various postures. Josephus, Jewish historian writes when describing a persecution of Jewish people

When caught, they resisted and were then tortured and crucified before the walls as a terrible warning to people within. Titus pitied them — some 500 were captured daily — but dismissing those captured by force was dangerous, and guarding such numbers would imprison the guards. Out of rage and hatred, the soldiers nailed their prisoners in different postures and so great was their number that space could not be found for the crosses.

Josephus, Jewish Historian

Crucifixion was used to punish lower class, slaves, soldiers, violent rebels & acts for treason. Cicero calls it a horrendous torture; Tacitus, Roman historian calls it ‘the extreme penalty’.

Jesus was crucified 

We know from the biblical texts that Jesus’ crucifixion is recorded in all four gospels (Matthew 27:32-56; Mark 15:42 – 16:8; Luke 23:26-43; John 19). In addition to these, critical scholars recognise the creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 recording the death of Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus is also referred to in non-Christian sources. 

When Pilate upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified

Josephus, Jewish Historian

Nero fastened the guilt [the burning of Rome] 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 Pilate.

Tacitus, Roman historian

The Christians, you know, worship. A man to this day — the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.

Lucian of Samosata, Greek Satirist

Or [what advantage came to] the Jews by the murder of their wise king, seeing that from that very time their kingdom was driven away from them?”.

Mara Bar-Serapion, writing to his son from prison writes

Mara does not mention Jesus’ crucifixion, but does say he was killed.

on the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged

Jewish Talmud

Yeshu is Joshua in Hebrew. The equivalent in Greek is Iēsous, or Jesus. Being hung on a tree was used to describe crucifixion in antiquity. 

And then there’s The Toledot Yeshu (400-1000AD) is a medieval Jewish retelling of the life of Jesus. It is completely anti-Christian, to be sure. There are many versions of these ‘retellings’, and as part of the transmitted oral and written tradition of the Jews, we can presume their original place in antiquity, dating back to the time of Jesus’ first appearance as an influential leader who was drawing Jews away from their faith in the Law. The Toledot Yeshu contains a determined effort to explain away the miracles of Jesus and to deny the virgin birth. In some places, the text is quite vicious, but it does confirm many elements of the New Testament writings and we’ll focus on Just this reference to Jesus being crucified.

It was taught: On the day before the Passover they hanged Jesus. A herald went before him for forty days (proclaiming), “He will be stoned, because he practiced magic and enticed Israel to go astray. Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward and plead for him.” But nothing was found in his favor, and they hanged him on the day before the Passover. 

Jewish Toledot Yeshu

Principle of dissimilarity (The Jews weren’t expecting it)

This leads me kindly into my next point, as New Testament scholar N. T. Wright notes:

Jews living in the first century AD had no concept of a dying and rising messiah. The Jewish messiah was supposed to crush their enemies, which at the time was the Roman Empire. Jews did not expect him to die humiliatingly on a cross. Deuteronomy 21:22 says quite explicitly that anyone hanged on a tree is cursed. After Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples had every reason to simply go home and start over. Their leader was dead, and according to the Old Testament he was literally a cursed heretic.

N.T. Wright, New Testament Scholar

Moreover, no Jew in that region (neither Pharisee or Sadducee) believed in Resurrection prior to the end of the world. Nor did they believe in the Resurrection of one individual instead of all people. The German New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias put it like this:

Ancient Judaism did not know of an anticipated resurrection as an event within history. Nowhere does one find in the literature anything comparable to the resurrection of Jesus. Certainly resurrections of the dead were known, but these always concerned resuscitations, the return of the earthly life. In no place in the late Judaic literature does it concern a resurrection to Glory as an event of history.

Joachim Jeremias, Scholar of Near Eastern Studies

The Jews thought the story of Jesus was embarrassing, the idea of a Messiah being killed by the Romans was unthinkable, their view of Messiah would defeat the romans and restore Jerusalem. The texts on the suffering servant in the Old Testament had never been viewed through this lense prior.

Principle if dissimilarity (Expectation of the gospel to the surrounding world)

Jesus dying on the cross for our sins may sound loving and warm but to the ancient world which thrived on honour and shame it would be seen as disgusting and horrendous. Honour shame cultures of Islam in the Middle East even today still see Jesus’ death as horrendous if he was God. Theologian Walter Bauer in his work, says

The enemies of Christianity always referred to the disgracefulness of the death of Jesus with great emphasis and malicious displeasure. A god or son of god dying on a cross! That was enough to put paid to the new religion.

Walter Bauer, lexicographer of New Testament Greek &
scholar of the development of Early christianity

David A. deSilva in his works concludes that “Christianity was founded on a premise that should have failed the moment it began in such a culture”. To them, it was like choosing to bathe in dirt over water, it made no sense.

The Christians preached to the gentiles that they worshipped a man that was shamefully executed on a cross. He was a Jewish man, and Rome looked down upon the Jews and a Jewish carpenter, a position was looked down upon. The Roman Cicero on the Christian view called it vulgar and compared it to slavery. They preached a physical resurrection which was detested by pagans who saw the purpose of death as to escape from the evil material universe and make it to the spiritual world. Despite all this, the Christians continued to teach the Jewish idea that heaven would be the restoration and heaven would be here on earth. 

Morality was radically challenged by the Christians and flew in the face of culture David deSilva writes

The message about this Christ was incompatible with the most deeply rooted religious ideology of the gentile world, as well as the more recent message propagated in Roman imperial ideology. This is seen in how Celsus attacked Christianity ..but if [Jesus] was really so great, he ought, in order to display his divinity, to have disappeared suddenly from the cross.

David DeSilva, Professor of New Testament Greek

Justin Martyr had to respond to these types of claims for putting a crucified man next to the eternal God, he wrote:

They say that our madness consists in the fact we put a crucified man in second place after the unchangeable and eternal God, the creator of the world.

Justin Martyr, 2nd century Church Apologist

N.T. Wright sums up the view of the culture perfectly here:

“Christianity was born into a world where its central claim was known to be false.”  

N.T. Wright, New Testament Scholar

If you’re a conspirator, you would certainly not make this your key doctrine, surely it would work to your disadvantage, if it were a conspiracy. Hallucinations cannot explain why the disciples would preach an utterly embarrassing message to win converts in a culture which would reject it also.

Critical Scholars opinion

Highly critical scholar John Dominic Crossan writes about Jesus “

That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be

John Dominic Crossan, New Testament Scholar

Other leading critics like atheist E.P. Sanders says this regarding his crucifixion:

As one of the almost indisputable facts about Jesus’ life. 

E.P. Sanders, New Testament Scholar

Sceptic Bart Ehrman puts it like this when dealing with mythicists:

Despite the enormous range of opinion, there are several points on which virtually all scholars of antiquity agree. Jesus was a Jewish man, known to be a preacher and teacher, who was crucified (a Roman form of execution) in Jerusalem during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea.

Bart Ehrman, Textual Critic

Sources used for ‘Jesus was crucified’

• Roman Crucifixion: 
  • Gerard A. Sloyan, The Crucifixion of Jesus: History, myth, Faith. P18-20
  • Martin Hengel, Crucifixion
• Crucifixion postures:
  • Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.451; quotes from Paul L. Maier, The Essential works p358
• Sloyan, Crucifiction of Jesus, p13, citing M. Tulips Cicero in against Verres 2.5.64 in 2.5.165, Cicero refers to Crucifixion as “that most cruel and disgusting penalty”. Cited Hengel, Crucifixion, p8
• Cicero, Pro Rabirio, p9-17
• Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals, 15.44. (For more on Crucifixion in antiquity, see Cited, Crucifixion)
• Josephus, Antiquities, 18.64; Josephus in 10 Volumes, Vol. 9, Jewish Antiquities
• Tacitus, Annals, 15.44 (c. AD. 115)
• Lucian of Samosata, The Death of Peregrine, p11-13 (c. Mid-second century)
• Mara-Bar-Serapion: This document is currently at the British Museum, Syriac manuscript, additional 14,658 (late 1st – 3rd century). The translation is from Logos Protestant Edition of the Early Church Fathers, A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, and A.C. Coxe, The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325
• Talmud: Sanhedrin 43a (probably late second century. Unless otherwise, all citations are from The Babylonian Talmud, I. Epstein. The Talmud was written too late to provide evidence for Jesus independent of earlier sources. It should be noted that Jewish writings of antiquity never denied the existence, miracles and execution of Jesus. See John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking historical Jesus, 3 vols.
• The Toledot Yeshu (b. Sanhedrin 43a)
• Hung on a tree: Livy 1:26:6ff; Luke 23:39; Galatians 3:13
• Joachim Jeremias “Die Alteste schnitzel dear Osteruberlieferung.” In Resurrexit, ed. Edouard Dani’s ) Rome: Libreria Editrice Vatinica, 1974, p194
• Walter Bauer, Crucifixion, p19
• David A. deSilva, Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture, p51, p63
• Cicero, De Officiis Liber I XI.II
• on Celsus: Origen: Contra Celsum 68
• Justin Martyr: Apology | 13.4 
• N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, p35
• John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, p145,154,196,201
• E.P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, p11