Who was the Real Father of Jesus of Nazareth?
The Holy Spirit, Joseph, or a Roman soldier serving in 1st Century Palestine? And how can such a question enhance our understanding of Christmas?
Origin Story
I’m fascinated by the stories of the Bible and how they first came together. I’m driven to understand what aspects of the stories are true, whether that’s an historic truth or a metaphoric truth, and how this understanding can impact their meaning in our lives.
One such example is the story of Jesus’s birth.
This origin story is a crucial tenet of faith for millions around the world. Tremendous amounts of scholarship have gone into discovering who Jesus was, where he emerged from, and the circumstances that shaped who he became.
And this process of discovery would not be complete without asking what might be a difficult question for many: Who was the real father of Jesus of Nazareth?
I was intrigued to learn we have evidence of controversy surrounding Jesus’s paternity going all the way back to antiquity, with some evidence potentially coming from the Gospels themselves.
And while topics like these can be unsettling for some, freedom and hope can arise from new perspectives. In this post we’ll see how asking this difficult question can expand our understanding and appreciation of not only Jesus, but also the mother who raised him.
Divine Conception & Joseph’s Absence
Christian tradition says Jesus had no biological father, that he was divinely conceived.
But interestingly the earliest biography we have of Jesus says nothing of a virgin birth. It also makes no mention of Joseph, the man believed to have married Jesus’s mother Mary.
This earliest biography of Jesus, the Gospel of Mark, written about 40 years after the crucifixion, refers to Jesus as ‘The son of Mary.” This omission of Jesus’s father’s name is quite interesting, especially for the time and place. It’s only in Matthew and Luke, written ten to twenty years later, or 50-60 years after the crucifixion, that we first see mention of Joseph, and even then only briefly. And as most will recall, while Mary remains a presence in Jesus’s life throughout the gospels, even in his adult life, Joseph does not. The common conclusion has generally been Joseph must’ve been older, and so he likely died by the time Jesus was active in his ministry.
And regarding the virgin birth itself, which is also absent in Mark (our earliest Gospel) and only appears in the later Gospels of Matthew and Luke, scholarship suggests that it may be based upon a mistranslation. The Hebrew word “Almah” that the Gospel writers drew upon from the Old Testament book of Isaiah actually meant “young woman” rather than “virgin.”
So how did this happen?
The authors of our two nativity stories found in Matthew and Luke1 were likely poring over Old Testament texts to try and tie in as many prophecies as possible, many of which came from Isaiah, including what they thought was a prophecy of a virgin birth. The only problem is these authors2 likely spoke, read, and wrote in Greek rather than Hebrew, and therefore would likely not be able to access the original Hebrew Scriptures. Rather they would be reading from the Septuagint, which was a Greek translation of the Old Testament, as was common in the 1st century CE. The Septuagint uses a word meaning "virgin," however the original Hebrew texts use a word for “young woman,” so “virgin” was likely a mistranslation.
Even the Apostle Paul, writing in the 50s CE, well before any of our Gospels existed, says nothing of either Joseph or a virgin birth.
And finally Jesus himself, at least from the evidence we have, makes no claim to be born of a virgin.
Once we take all this evidence into account it seems perhaps Joseph, and certainly the virgin birth3, were later additions to the traditions surrounding Jesus’s origin story. So if we allow ourselves to set aside both these possibilities as the source of Jesus’s paternity then what other historical evidence and options for Jesus’s father do we have?
Enter Pantera
When I first heard the name Pantera I immediately thought of the ‘80’s heavy metal band. The word also means panther in several languages. But the Pantera we’ll be discussing here was a Roman soldier proposed by some to be the father of Jesus of Nazareth.
This idea of a Roman soldier named Pantera (or Panthera) as being the father of Jesus first appears in the writing of the 2nd Century Greek philosopher Celsus in his work titled On the True Doctrine. Celsus wrote about Jesus as follows…
He was born in a Jewish village, of a poor woman who earned her bread by spinning. Convicted of adultery with one Panthera, a soldier, she was thrust out by her husband, and wandering about secretly gave birth to Jesus.
Where Celsus4 sourced his material is unknown, but it seems we have evidence there were others making similar claims during roughly the same period.
One such example from the Jerusalem Talmud, dating to around the same time as Celsus, is particularly interesting:
There was a case with Rabbi Elazar ben Dama, who was bitten by a snake, and Jacob of Kefar Sama came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pantera…
The mention of healing “in the name of Jesus” during the 2nd Century certainly captures our attention, as does “son of Pantera.” This scene also takes place in the Galilean town of Sepphoris, located only about three miles from Nazareth.
The figure of Yeshu ben Pantera, or Jesus son of Pantera, is mentioned multiple times in various Rabbinical texts in the centuries that follow, although these later stories seem to have originated as attempts to discredit Jesus of Nazareth during the period when Christianity was gaining followers and perceived to be undermining Judaism. None of these stories detail the specific nature of Mary’s alleged relationship with Pantera, whether it was a brief encounter or ongoing, and there has long been debate among scholars if any of the Yeshu (Jesus) figures mentioned in this literature actually refer to Jesus of Nazareth. The conclusions seem mixed.
It would make sense that those who felt threatened by Christianity would seek to undermine the origins of Jesus. However some have argued that even the Gospels themselves include residual evidence that Jesus’s birth may have been considered scandalous in his day.
New Testament Evidence of Something Amiss?
The genealogy of Jesus listed in Matthew includes four women who would’ve been seen as having questionable backgrounds: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. There is also a verse in John where Jesus’s detractors seem to suggest he may have been born of outside of a traditional marriage.5
This is truly fascinating and certainly something we never heard on a Sunday morning.
Nevertheless, the story of Pantera as Jesus’s father was largely ignored, or dismissed as gossip and legend. Until about 160 years ago.
Pantera Unearthed
In the fall of 1859 a construction crew working in Germany, while building a railroad, unearthed the tombstones of several Roman soldiers. Among them was a near life-size sculpture bearing the name Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera. The tombstone’s epitaph states in Latin that Pantera was an archer, originally from the Mediterranean city of Sidon, serving the Roman Army for 40 years. He would’ve been born roughly around 22 BCE and died circa 40 CE at the age of 62.
The Gospels record Jesus mentioning, and also visiting, Sidon, which was a coastal city located in present day Lebanon. And given Pantera’s birthplace and his surname Abdes, there is some possibility he could have been of Jewish descent. Whether or not Pantera’s regiment ever served in the region of Galilee has been hotly debated, with more recent scholarship casting doubt on this likelihood. If Pantera’s unit was located elsewhere he would’ve had to have known Mary prior to his military service.
As fascinating and sensational as this story is, the general view of scholarship today seems to dismiss that Pantera (or at least this Pantera) was the father of Jesus of Nazareth. Scholars have argued that both the names Jesus and Pantera were common in the region during the 1st Century. It would also make sense that Jesus and his later followers would have enemies who would want to discredit his official origin story.
There’s some evidence that might suggest Pantera could have been a family name of Joseph, thus restoring confidence in his paternity, although casting further doubt on a virgin birth. Other evidence suggests it could’ve been a family name on Mary’s side.
We’ll likely never know for sure.
But what really matters here is not necessarily a definitive answer, but rather how do we react to the question of who was Jesus’s father?
What Really Matters?
For many Christians an idea such as Jesus being fathered by a Roman soldier could be not only shocking, but potentially devastating to their faith. I was certainly in that camp for years. I’m guessing the reason we never heard this story on Sunday morning or in Bible study is because most pastors and Christian leaders would be terrified to touch the subject, not only for their congregations but also for themselves.
I understand the position they’re in.
Years ago had I been confronted with the information and suggestions presented above it would’ve likely been quite challenging to my faith. To even question the virgin birth, much less to suggest Mary’s involvement with someone other than Joseph, would’ve been too much for me. In fact much of my own faith was reliant on the idea that the Bible was the inerrant word of God. (The inerrancy of the Bible is a relatively recent concept which we’ll explore in another post so be sure to subscribe.)
But whoever you think Jesus was, Supreme Being, or just a highly influential teacher of higher consciousness ideals, could the story above make his life even more redemptive? Could the potential of scandal make Mary seem even more courageous?
I think so.
I’d argue that even if you believe Jesus was a divine figure, whether that means he somehow tapped into the divine, or that he was the full-on preexistent son of God, then a scandal surrounding his paternity and birth has the potential to make his story even more powerful. And as we saw earlier the genealogy of Matthew lists no less than four Old Testament women who were tied to scandal.
A Powerful Redemption Story
What better example of redemption could we imagine than the story of a young woman, disgraced because of her time, place, and circumstances, raising a son who would come to forever impact the world with his teachings of love, forgiveness, and acceptance. This scandal suddenly begins to sound like a story right out of Jesus’s own teachings.
Jesus’s life was messy. His message was messy. So why should we expect (or need) his birth to be so neat and clean?
That’s not real life and it’s not relatable to most people. So it seems unlikely that it was the reality two thousand years ago.
As I mentioned above I can understand that many have a need for the Bible to be the inerrant word of God, and once that foundation cracks all else is in jeopardy. For those of you in that camp let me again acknowledge that I’m able to relate to this need, and the fear associated with it, as I shared it for much of my life.
But let me offer you a consolation, that on the other side of this fear is a freedom that I could’ve never imagined, along with a new richness that comes with understanding the Bible for what it is and what it isn’t. There can be freedom in setting aside rigidity and certainty for the openness of possibility and the unknown. It can be scary, yes, but I believe many are doing this6.
And we can do this together and discover something new.
Freedom & Hope
Christmas has always been about hope. About the birth of something new that has the potential to bring bring freedom and peace to those who need it most. My wish for you this Christmas is to be free. Free to ask questions. Free to explore. And free to understand these stories and ideas in unexpected ways as we enter a new year.
Light will someday split you open
Even if your life is now a cage
Little by little, You will turn into stars.
Little by little, You will turn into
The whole sweet, amorous Universe
Love will surely burst you wide open
Into an unfettered, booming new galaxy
You will become so free…
-Hafiz
Acknowledgements: much of the research for this post came from the writings of Marcus J Borg & John Dominic Crossan, James D Tabor, and Christopher B Zeichmann.
Even though the Gospels have titles such as Matthew, Mark, and Luke, nowhere in the texts is there mention of who the actual authors were. Scholars believe these attributions and titles came many years later, as a way to give greater authority. Also note that literacy in Roman Palestine is estimated to have only been around 3%. Most, if not all, of the original disciples were likely poor fishermen and peasants (think of all the fishing and farming parables) who would have been unable to read or write, again making authorship unlikely. This subject is worthy of its own post which we’ll cover it at some point in the future.
It’s also important to note that Matthew and Luke, where we first see mentions of Joseph and the virgin birth, were likely not authored by original followers of Jesus, but were instead written by second or third generation followers. These two Gospels were written some 50-60 years after Jesus's ministry had ended, around 80-90 CE, making it unlikely they were penned by eyewitnesses to his life and teachings.
Why was a virgin birth important? It’s been suggested there are many examples of miraculous, even virgin, births among the figures of antiquity including Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. Therefore the authors of Matthew and Luke were simply carrying on such traditions.
Celsus is an interesting read, giving fascinating commentary about the ancient world and its peoples. While some of his arguments against Christianity are stronger than others, with the weaker ones seemingly based more on emotion than reasoning, there are other aspects of his writing that are quite intriguing, including arguments against the idea that humans are inherently bad and that God is angry at humanity, thoughts on the sanctity of the animal kingdom, and ideas about each culture having its own name and interpretation of the same God “whether you call the Highest Zeus, or Zen, or Adonai, or Sabaoth, or Ammoun, like the Egyptians, or Pappaeus, like the Scythians.” To be fair it’s also important to note that Celsus had a real disdain for the poor and uneducated classes.
John 8:41
Another resource for those new to Deconstruction is The Sophia Society, which provides support, resources, and encouragement.
Thanks for this! I picked up your link on Diana's page and found this fascinating!
Thank you, Norma Lee. We hope to continue to produce content you'll love:)