There is a video making rounds on social media of an older gentleman pulling a large book off a shelf, claiming it is a "first printing" or "first edition" of Josephus. He begins to read a passage:
"At the same time there appeared in Judea an extraordinary person called Jesus, if it be lawful to call him a man. He was a famous worker of miracles, a teacher of those who were desirous of receiving the truth in simplicity and brought over to him many disciples both Jews and gentiles. This was the Christ. …"
This is NOT a "first printing" or "first edition." It is not even a facsimile of a "first printing" or "first edition." It is a modernized, somewhat paraphrased English version. The actual first printing in English was in 1602 by Thomas Lodge, and this is how it reads:
"At which time also was Iesus, a wise man, if so be it is lawful to call him a man: for he was the author of wonderful works, a teacher of men which receive the truth with pleasure. He drew unto him many of the Jews, and also many of the Grecians. He was Christ. And when Pilate at the accusation of the principal men of our nation, had condemned him to the cross, they which loved him at the first ceased not: for he appeared unto them the third day again alive, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things of him. And unto this day the tribe of Christians named after him is not extinct."
Josephus was a Jewish historian. He was not a Christian. The phrase "He was the Christ" (i.e., Messiah) would not have been stated by him. This was added by earlier copyists. The same goes for the talk about the resurrection. The majority of Christian, Jewish, and secular scholars all agree that this is not authentic to Josephus. Early Christian copyists may have been well-intentioned, but altering what someone wrote to provide greater strength to your argument is deceptive. Sadly, many professing Christians do the same thing today. In fact, either the publisher Banner of Truth or Monergism (I forget which) does the same thing when reprinting the works of the Reformers, attempting to make some of their writings better align with their particular theological beliefs. Manipulating things or lying in order to "strengthen" your position only ends up weakening it. When you are exposed, it makes all of us look bad. Christians do not need to lie or manipulate data in order to be convincing, prove their case, or win an argument. That is the methodology of weak cowards!
A more acceptable reconstruction of Josephus’ original wording would be something like:
“About this time there was Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Gentile origin. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the principal men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him in the beginning did not cease [to do so]. And the tribe of the Christians, named after him, has not died out to this day.”
Just because a video may sound convincing (like the video claiming that the Gospel is contained in the very first word of the book of Genesis in Hebrew, despite their failure to provide the Strong's code for two of the words, which also cannot be found in any Lexicon), does not mean that it is legit. Blind and ignorant Christians will often latch onto many things they know nothing about and attempt to run with it like it is some grand proof. We saw this with the video about Laminin, which they attempted to tie to Colossians 1:17, despite the limitation of where it is found. A better correlation with Colossians 1:17 would be the nucleus, which has the properties of expulsion (it pushes outward) yet everything in creation is held together.