Mara bar Serapion on Jesus

[4][5] Scholars such as Robert Van Voorst see little doubt that the reference to the execution of the "king of the Jews" is about the death of Jesus.

"[4] The key passage is as follows: What else can we say, when the wise are forcibly dragged off by tyrants, their wisdom is captured by insults, and their minds are oppressed and without defense?

God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea and the Jews, desolate and driven from their own kingdom, live in complete dispersion.

[5] The letter has been claimed to include no Christian themes and a number of leading scholars such as Sebastian Brock consider Mara a pagan.

[4][5] Another viewpoint is that he could be referring to the resurrection recorded in Jesus's teachings which say he lived on, thus establishing his "new law" (possibly paralleling the "New Covenant").

[4] Theologian Robert Van Voorst sees little doubt that the reference to the execution of the "king of the Jews" is about the death of Jesus.

[5] Van Voorst states that possible reasons for Bar-Serapion to suppress the name of Jesus from the letter include the ongoing persecutions of Christians at the time and his desire not to offend his Roman captors who also destroyed Jerusalem.

[8] Bruce Chilton states that Bar-Serapion reference to the "king of Jews" may be related to the INRI inscription on the cross of Jesus' crucifixion, as in the Gospel of Mark (15:26 paragraph 1).

[5] Evans, however, argues that unlike the references to Socrates and Pythagoras, bar Serapion does not explicitly mention Jesus by name, thereby rendering the actual identity of the "wise king" in the letter less than certain.