The Description Of Jesus Letter Is A Hoax

Many years ago, I received a letter that contained a description of Jesus Christ from a church. I remember reading it with great interest. In fact, it contained two descriptions of Jesus. One was a letter from Pontius Pilate, and the other was a letter from Publius Lentulus.

Yet, I was left wondering, where did these descriptions of Christ originate?

The letter from the church provided no source, that left me suspicious.

So I started researching the origin of the letters myself.

This led to dead end after dead end. There were no legitimate sources. The internet certainly turned up many similar letters. However, since the letters are supposed to be a historical record, they should be nearly exact, but they were not. So that sent up another red flag.

Most of the websites that had “The Description of Jesus” letters did cite a source.

“Copies are in the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C.”

However, after reaching out to the Library of Congress, they explained they had no such letter in their collection.

I thought to myself, “Unbelievable!”

Since the church provided no proof for the authenticity of “The Description of Jesus” letters, and other sources I followed up on did not check out. It became an obvious hoax in my mind. However, I would later confirm these letters are a hoax.

Publius Lentulus Description Of Jesus

A few years ago, I decided to revisit this subject. That’s when I discovered Christian scholar Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed had long ago debunked, “The Description of Jesus” letter.

It was an “I wish I knew then, what I know now moment.” I was quite shocked actually, since the church knew who Dr. Goodspeed was, as they cited his other works, just not this one.

In 1956, Dr. Goodspeed penned a book titled, “Modern Apocrypha.” Within this book are 16 famous Biblical hoaxes that he uncovers to clear the mind of Christians. You will find “The Description of Jesus” letters in chapter 11.

There Dr. Goodspeed begins,

“A document known as “The Description of Christ” has of late reappeared in religious papers and books in various parts of the United States. In recent years I have received copies of it from all parts of the country.

In a well-known berry ranch near Los Angeles the document is on display, together with a portrait of Christ. Because it is presented as an ancient and presumably authentic document, it is worthwhile to state the tacts about it.”

Dr. Goodspeed goes on to state, the letter “Probably originated in Italy in the thirteenth century.” There are no records of the letter’s existence before that time frame.

Goodspeed continues,

“In a number of medieval manuscripts, the description appears in the longer form of a letter from Publius Lentulus, Governor of Judea, to the Roman Senate.”

Two important notes here.

These letters are always a little different. However, if they were a true historical account, then they should be nearly an exact match. Moreover, Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Judea, not “Publius Lentulus,” which history has no record of during the time of Jesus.

Nevertheless, the letter I received from the church explained, Publius Lentulus was “a resident of Judea.” That’s simply not true, as Dr. Goodspeed and history explain, (see: chapter 11 which I compiled for you). Apparently, the letter I received had been altered once again.

Dr. Goodspeed shares a version of the Publius Lentulus letter, as recorded by Montague R. James in his “Apocryphal New Testament” (1924). It reads.

There has appeared in these times, and still is, a man of great power named Jesus Christ, who is called by the Gentiles the prophet of truth, whom his disciples call the Son of God: raising the dead and healing diseases, a man in stature middling tall, and comely, having a reverend countenance, which they that look upon may love and fear; having hair of the hue of an unripe hazel-nut and smooth almost down to his ears, but from the ears in curling locks somewhat darker and more shining, waving over his shoulders; having a parting at the middle of the head according to the fashion of the Nazareans; a brow smooth and very calm, with a face without wrinkle or any blemish, which a moderate color makes beautiful; with the nose and mouth no fault at all can be found; having a full beard of the color of his hair, not long, but a little forked at the chin; having an expression simple and mature, the eyes grey, glancing, and clear; in rebuke terrible, in admonition kind and lovable, cheerful yet keeping gravity; sometimes he has wept, but never laughed; in stature of body tall and straight, with hands and arms fair to look upon; in talk grave, reserved and modest (so that he was rightly called by the prophet) fairer than the children of men.”

Interestingly enough, the letter I received describing the physical appearance of Jesus had many varying details.

The most obvious to me was the church’s version which said, “His cheeks without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a lovely red.” Then, instead of “grey eyes” as Montague’s letter explains, the church letter says, “His eyes bright blue.”

To date, the only exact match copies of the church letter I received are found on a few websites. Some of which share hallmarks of the church that sent me the letter I possess. This greatly disturbed me.

Dr. Goodspeed went on to highlight other versions of the letter. He concluded his discussion of the letter by saying.

“It is probably as old as the thirteenth century; but it was unknown to Christian antiquity, and has no claims to serious attention as throwing any light upon the personal appearance of Jesus.”

That means, prior to the 1400s, Christians had never heard of any such letter, as there is no historical record of it. Dr. Goodspeed made these statements in his book from 1956. Yet, Christians and a church continue to pass around letters that supposedly describe Jesus with no basis.

Why are Christians and a church distributing such letters without proof of their legitimacy?

That does not build our faith. Instead, it keeps Christians in the dark and makes a mockery out of our faith.

Pontius Pilate Description Of Jesus

I mentioned the letter I received had two descriptions of Jesus. The second description was purportedly by Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Cesar. Yet, there is not an ounce of proof this letter is genuine.

Instead, you find the same sources cited,

“Copies are in the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C.”

The Library of Congress has no such letters, so where did they come from?

Unfortunately, the fact is, only more recent history has a record of these letters, as they have been fabricated. Fabricated from the minds of men to deceive people into believing in Jesus.

Are those the acts of true Christians?

Another Letter From Pontius Pilate To Tiberius

Unfortunately, there are many more hoaxes.

Like another purported letter from Pilate to Tiberius, which is also a forgery.

In 1928, W.P. Crozier penned a novel (fiction) titled, “Letters of Pontius Pilate,” (online copy). Many Christians have extracted passages from this book and cited them as historical records of Christ’s existence.

In 1931, Dr. Goodspeed wrote a book titled, “Strange New Gospels” that explains.

“Of still another sort is a little volume of “Letters of Pontius Pilate,” recently published (1928) by W. P. Crozier. These thirty-three short letters are represented as written by Pilate to Seneca between the years 26 and 30. While the editor represents them as genuine, it is soon clear that this is simply a thin disguise for a purely imaginative sketch of Pilate’s experiences and moods during the opening years of his government of Judea. This is so manifest that no serious attention has been paid to them.”

Unfortunately, good Christians still fall for these hoaxes.

None of these letters have any factual basis. Instead, they have been fabricated or stolen from fictitious material. The same goes for the “Archko Volume” that came into existence in the late 19th century, (notes).

Summary

It’s utterly astounding to learn the lengths some people will go to in order to add credence to the Bible. As if Scripture needed their help.

It’s greatly disturbing to find Christians, and a church sharing such fictitious letters with its congregation in order to build trust and faith, when the information is built on a lie. They are pious frauds, and we Christians believe in such letters, as we want to believe.

Regretfully, we rarely fact-check the work ourselves.

Let this article be a warning to you. Always fact-check the information you are presented with. Never stop being a Berean with everything in life, (Acts 17:11).

/* *** Print tooltip */ #printfriendly .underline.web-tooltip.web-tooltip-top:after { content: ' (' attr(data-tooltip)')'; font-size: 70%; font-style: italic; color: #777; } /* *** Font body of document */ #printfriendly #pf-body, ol, ul, dl, li { font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; font-size: 14pt; } #printfriendly #pf-title { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } /*dev*/ #printfriendly #pf-author { font-size: 9pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; font-weight: bold; color: #888; text-align: center; } /* *** Style Table of Contents */ #printfriendly .elementor-toc__header, .elementor-toc__body { background-color:#f1f1f1; border-radius: 5px; padding: 15px; width: 75%; margin:auto; margin-bottom: 10px; display:none; } #printfriendly .elementor-toc__header-title { font-weight: bold; text-align: center; } #printfriendly h2 { font-size: 16pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } #printfriendly h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; text-align: center; } /*print link color, does not affect pdf*/ #printfriendly a, #printfriendly a:visited { color: blue; } /*remove reftagger link attributes, does not affect pdf*/ #printfriendly a.rtBibleRef, #printfriendly a.rtBibleRef a:visited { font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; color:#333; text-decoration: underline; text-decoration-color: transparent; } #printfriendly p, ul { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Georgia, Arial, Tahoma; } /*style blockquote font size*/ #printfriendly blockquote { font-size: 14pt; } #printfriendly img { border-radius: 3px; } /*favicon*/ #printfriendly #pf-src-url img { border-radius: 0px; } /*print in footer*/ #printfriendly #pf-print-area:after { content: 'Visit: worldeventsandthebible.com, © World Events and the Bible'; font-size: 10pt; color: #777; display: block; text-align: center; }