There are thousands accounts of christians being martryed, but today we are addressing the disciples.
On the early preaching 50 days later, all we have for that exact time is the comment in Acts. But nothing turns on that exact time. Critical scholars acknowledge that the preaching began in Jerusalem pretty quickly. For example, James D. G. Dunn recently wrote in his book Remembering Jesus (p. 855) that the 1 Corinthians 15 creed was formalized and taught within months of Jesus’ death
We have strong data on at least the martyrdoms of Peter, Paul, and James, the brother of Jesus, recorded by Josephus and Clement of Rome, both before the close of the First Century. Josephus, of course, was not a Christian, so we cannot argue that he wanted to make the Christians look good. Further, Roman historians like Tacitus and Suetonius, along with Roman governor Pliny the Younger also tell us that early Christians were persecuted and even killed. These were also non-Christian authors who were trying to disparage Christianity, not brag about believers. Then, just a few years later, others died for their faith, like Ignatius and Polycarp. Willing deaths show that the martyrs sincerely believed their own reports. So, just to preach Jesus in the early church context would expose the preacher to at least the possibility of death. Virtually no scholars would deny that this occurred. But please note that I generally base these points on the disciples’ willingness to die, because this keeps me from having to prove the actual point and their being willing is all you need to show they were sincere.
Let’s take a look at one specific disciple; James. James the brother of Jesus of Nazareth, he was a very skeptical person of Jesus and his claims to being the Son of God. He wasn’t a christian until he witnessed Jesus after his resurrection (which we will be addressing evidence for later) After Jesus’ resurrection, he eventually became the head of the church. He spent the remainder of his life preaching the gospel.
Now that you have a little background on James lets look at his death:
Clement of Alexandria relates that “James was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club”. Hegesippus cites that “the Scribes and Pharisees placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and threw down the just man, and they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall.
Second-century historian, Hegesippus, states the event this way:
“…They went up and threw down the just man [from the temple height] and said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just.’ And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall, but he knelt down and said, ‘I entreat thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ One of them, who was a fuller [launderer], took the club with which he beat the clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martrydom.”
Thank you for reading, I hope you found this helpful
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Battleground Apologetics 