There is better historical evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ than there is for Plato, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great. If you doubt the existence of Jesus because "the New Testament was written decades after he existed," you also have to doubt the other three.
The best biographical source for Plato comes from Diogenes Laërtius' "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers," written over 500 years after Plato’s death. The oldest extant copy dates from the late 11th century. Historians consider it a crucial source of history.
As for Julius Caesar: Two of the most important historical documents telling us about his life come from Suetonius and Plutarch, both of which were written more than 100 years after his death in 44 B.C. But the extant copies possessed today are even farther removed.
According to New Testament scholar Darrel Bock: 
Alexander the Great lived from 356-323 B.C., but historians get all their information about him from sources beginning in the first century B.C. The most valuable of these is (once again) "Plutarch’s Lives," written almost four centuries after Alexander.
So there you have three figures, considered indisputable parts of history, whose existence, based on the available sources, no one would—or should—ever doubt. Now, how do Jesus and the Gospels compare?
The four Gospels were all written within 100 years of Christ’s death. St. Mark's is generally dated to within 40 years of the Crucifixion, with St. Matthew's and St. Luke's not long after. St. John's is usually dated to around A.D. 100.
Several of St. Paul’s letters—even more impressively—are often dated earlier than St. Mark’s gospel; and within these, at least one recorded creed of the early Christians has been traced back to within five years of Christ’s death (see 1 Cor. 15:3-4).
The extremely early dating of this creed is incredibly significant because, first, it's recorded well within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses who could correct and critique it if necessary, and second, because it provides direct evidence of early belief in the resurrection of Jesus.
Thus, we shouldn't dismiss the historical value of the New Testament because it was written a few decades after Christ existed—unless we’re ready to jettison some of history’s best known philosophers, emperors, and conquerors along with him.
Postscript: This thread is adapted from this article written for us by @matt_nelson773, in which you can find cited sources and more details: catholic.com/magazine/onlin…
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