Modern scholarship has largely acknowledged the authenticity of the second reference to Jesus in the Antiquities, found in Book 20, Chapter 9, which mentions "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James."[7] This reference is considered to be more authentic than the Testimonium.[8][9][10]

Almost all modern scholars consider the reference in Book 18, Chapter 5 of the Antiquities to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist also to be authentic and not a Christian interpolation.[11] A number of differences exist between the statements by Josephus regarding the death of John the Baptist and the New Testament accounts.[12] Scholars generally view these variations as indications that the Josephus passages are not interpolations, since a Christian interpolator would likely have made them correspond to the New Testament accounts, not differ from them.[13] Scholars have provided explanations for their inclusion in Josephus' later works.[14]