by: C. David Coyle, M.Min. 
 

Introductory Matters

     Having heard all the discussion and disagreements about the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” and
since no two commenters could arrive at the same conclusion, I decided to go and see it for myself. I was
sure it was not going to be worth the price of admission and had thought so ever since I heard Mel Gibson
was making a movie about the last twelve hours of Jesus’earthly life, a year or two ago. This would just be
one more attempt to redefine and revise the New Testament into the gospel according to Hollywood, which
would fall flat at the box office, like all the rest. So, Sunday night, March 14, I paid my $7.75 and went in to
see the film. Notebook in hand, so I could record all the inaccuracies, I took my seat and watched as the
movie, which purported to record the events of the final twelve hours of Jesus’ earthly life, began. I was per-
fectly prepared to hate it and I didn’t. I saw, probably the most correct version of that part of Jesus’ suffer-
ing that has ever come out of Hollywood on celluloid. I figured anything that Mel Gibson had anything to
do with would be gratuitously violent, as well as biblically inaccurate and nothing like the truth. I was
wrong. There is more right with this movie, than wrong, even if it is from a very unlikely source. I am not go-
ing to attempt to discuss the cinematography. That is far out of my league, so, I’ll leave that to those who
know about such things and are far more artistically inclined than I. But, if you should ask me I thought the
cinematic production was excellent. But, as I said, I’m no expert in those matters. However, since I have
earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Bible, a Bachelor of Theology (Th.B.) and a Master of Sacred Ministries
(M.Min.)degrees and have been dealing with people and biblical truth for over thirty years, I feel I am fairly
qualified to deal with issues of Scripture. Fortunately, I haven’t earned a doctorate, so, I don’t know every-
thing there is to know, yet. I’m still able to learn. As Chuck Swindoll has put it, on numerous occasions, “It
takes four years to get through seminary and forty to get over it.” I should be well over the hump. I am using
the King James Version of the Bible for two important reasons; 1. I like it and use it, especially for memoriza-
tion; 2. It is public domain and I don’t have to worry about copy right infringement. This is likewise true of
the ASV (the American Standard Version of 1901) to which I refer once in this treatise.

     The movie, “The Passion of the Christ” is violent and the scene is grotesque, but, not gratuitously so, in
my opinion. There were some images which were fabrications, foreign to the biblical accounts, but we expect
that to be the case in a movie. Some things cannot be easily put into dialogue and not every scene lends it-
self to narration. Sometimes, imagery can be created and inserted, to stimulate the eye and convey the un-
derlying truth. The clever creation of a character to be the personification of Satan, was one such, ever pres-
ent, always manipulating people and events to his own advantage. Though unseen to the crowd, his pres-
ence was sensed as he worked his evil in the crowd, through the willing hands of the Romans, through the
mockery of Caiaphas, the High priest and his servants. Conveying subtleties in the dialogue was out, be-
cause the entire script was written in Aramaic and Latin. Here is one of those small inconsistencies. Aramaic
is a slang form of Hebrew which was spoken in some remote places, like Galilee. Jesus was a Galilean and
spoke Aramaic, as did Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew and many of the others. But not every Jew was
from Galilee and therefore, would not have spoken Aramaic. The residents of Jerusalem and official Jewry,
especially in the priestly class would not have spoken Aramaic. They would have spoken high Hebrew. Ara-
maic was considered an ugly dialect and one who spoke it was not permitted to even pronounce the bene-
diction in the temple. But, that is a small matter, since most people viewing the film cannot speak or under-
stand either one. That includes me, by the way. I know enough Hebrew to help me to do Bible research and
to unlock a few doors of interpretation, but I cannot speak it or understand it when it is spoken, except for a
word, here and there. Aramaic is important to Bible study, in that, about one third of the book of Daniel is
written in Aramaic, instead of Hebrew. And, then, there is a smattering of Aramaic used throughout the New
Testament. To accommodate us, English speaking Americans who do not understand spoken Aramaic and
Latin, the entire movie is subtitled in English. This really does not take anything away from the movie at all,
unless, maybe for a person who may be a poor reader. But the events in the movie speak for themselves,
even without the text, if you are somewhat familiar with the biblical record. Now, that brings us to the vio- 
lence of the movie. 

     It is violent, necessarily, because, crucifixion and scourging are violent and the movie portrays these
events, graphically, but not obscenely. It deserves the “R” rating for violence and parents should exercise
their parental judgments and allow their children to view this movie only if they are emotionally mature
enough to realize what they are seeing, what was happening and why it was taking place. That, of course,
presupposes some biblical knowledge and understanding on the parts of the parents. If the parent cannot
meet that criteria, then, perhaps they should arrange to have their Pastor sit down with them and their child-
ren and explain the details. This movie is not casual entertainment. It is a message, that, in my opinion,  is
long overdue. It graphically illustrates a point of history and faith. But, it will not stand alone. There needs
to be someone who is biblically knowledgeable available to fill in the gaps and to answer honest questions.
Is the violence portrayed scripturally accurate. Yes, it is. Is it overly done, according to the Bible? No, it is
not. Does it show the full extent, with one-hundred percent accuracy, everything Jesus underwent as the re-
sult of His arrest, His torture and His crucifixion? No. He faced far more abuse of every kind than “The Pass-
ion” could even hope to convey. It couldn’t. It would be such a  grizzly and grotesque sight that no one
would want to see it and Mr. Gibson, who put up twenty-three-million of his own dollars to produce it,
would have lost his shirt. And believe me, he isn’t losing his shirt. The weekend I saw it, it had, to date, just
taken in one-quarter of a billion dollars ($250,000,000). I have no idea how all the money will be spent, but,
rest assured, it ain’t goin’ into world missions. Too bad.

     I guarantee that  this movie, “The Passion of the Christ” will cause the viewer to run the whole gamut of 
emotions, from pity, to empathy, to anguish, to anger, to gratitude, to sympathy and maybe a few more than
that. There is nothing wrong with feeling emotion, as long as feelings do not override the facts and good
judgment. Anger is a righteous emotion if it is kept within the parameter God created for it, “Be ye angry and
sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Left unchecked, our emotions will lead us into sin and then, the devil has control of the situation, until we
recognize our dilemma, turn the situation over to the Lord and allow Him to lead in the matter. I felt myself
becoming very agitated about the treatment the movie Jesus was receiving, because it was so realistic. How-
ever, I could temper my emotion with the knowledge that it was my sin, your sin and everyone else’s sin that
inflicted the punishing blows He received at the hands of the Jews and the Gentiles, alike. Anyone who de-
rives any different conclusion from those scenes has the wrong mindset going into it. Kept as a minor play-
er, our emotions can be a valuable asset to our faith. Emotions or feelings, alone are a poor substitute for
understanding the situation without the facts. It is fact, not feeling that should govern our faith and feelings
will, then, make our understanding a personal reality. The single greatest value I see in this production is
that people, who know the facts and can recite them effortlessly, by rote and without emotion, will finally be
moved with compassion, with understanding, with tears in their eyes, with a personal feeling of involvement
when they see, graphically  --  and it is graphic -- what God the Son came into this worlld to do for them, per-
sonally. And He would have done for them, for you if they, or, you were the only person in the world. He set
aside His glory in heaven to become a man and die a sinner’s death, condemned by man and God, becoming
our sin (think about that for a moment), that we might be made the righteousness of God, by imputation.
That, my friend, is love. Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote it like this;

     The apostle Paul, soberly, reminds us to “have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who,
existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emp-
tied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, being obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.  9  Wherefore also
God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, 11 and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11, ASV).

     An emotional stimulus (like this movie), which supports factual evidence, i.e., the Word of God, can be a
very helpful tool in developing true, heartfelt convictions, of the biblical kind. When you can read the facts,
believe them in your heart and feel them deeply in your soul, you have a treasure of tremendous value -- the
kind of wealth money cannot buy. When I was an undergraduate student at the Washington Bible College, I
had a Scottish Professor for a few of my classes, Dr. Will Miller (D.O.), who seemed to have a sack full of
Scottish proverbs  that would crop up in his lectures, from time to time. One of them deftly makes the point I
have been constructing, above. “Some things”, said Dr. Miller, “are better felt than tell’t.” In other words,
feeling something on an emotional level, may very well be of more and greater impact than a lecture on the
subject, alone. This vie provides colossal imagery to accompany and illustrate the preaching of the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ. And what exactly is the message of the gospel? Paul, the apostle has stated
It for us, in germ, in a nice, tight little package in First Corinthians 15: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto
you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which
also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And
that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at
once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen
of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (1
Corinthians 15:1-8).

     The Roman torturers enjoyed their work and reveled in their ability to inflict horrible and heinous pain and
hardship upon the accused and the condemned, especially among the conquered peoples over whom Rome
held supreme authority. Jesus knew exactly what was coming for, what He was about to do and why. This is
obvious in the following account; “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised again the third day. 22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from
thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan:
thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men”
(Matthew 16:21-23). Yet Jesus willingly relented to the will of the kangaroo-court trials and allowed Himself 
to be scourged and abused by cruel and wicked hands, so that, in His resurrection all who believe would be
saved from their sin’s consequences. “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approv-
ed of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye
yourselves also know: 23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” (Acts 2:22-24). Remember, Jesus
was not a victim in this act, for, it was by the “foreknowledge of God” planned “before the foundation of the
world” that God the Son would undergo such treatment. “For he (God) hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be
sin for us, (He) who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5: 
21). God did not cause these men to do anything here. He simply did not restrain wicked men from carrying
out their own desires, energized by Satan. Jesus’ Life was not forfeited, either. He dismissed it at the approp-
riate time. He, alone, has the power to do just that. He addressed just that issue among His disciples;
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it
from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This com-
mandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18).

     Isaiah records, in prophetic utterance, this event; “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them
that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 53:6). We know about the
scourging and the spitting from the New Testament accounts. Isaiah records that they also “plucked” the
hairs from His cheeks. This is not plucking as a woman would do in removing unwanted eyebrow hairs, or,
like pulling a single hair from one’s head with relatively no pain. The idea here is to roughly and brutally rub
their hands into His face, tearing and ripping away the hairs of His beard and skin in tangles or clumps. No
wonder Isaiah testified further “As many were astonied at thee; his visage (His face) was so marred more
than any man, and his form more than the sons of men…” (Isaiah 52:14). This abuse, would be another op-
portunity for showing patent violence, if the producers had desired, was not depicted in the movie. He used
enough to drive the message home that Jesus was treated in a brutal and malicious way, without tipping the
scales toward “too much”. Jesus suffered this much and more. Why was all this done to One Who did no
wrong, ever? He was God’s lamb of sacrifice, a plan devised by the whole Trinity before the world ever was,
to take away the sin of all who would come to Him in faith and trust Him for eternal salvation. He is “the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8); “The next day John (the baptist) seeth
Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John
1:29). He died as the sacrifice for sin for the whole world, as the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, readily
attest. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an
offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper
in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righte-
ous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the
great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the trans-
gressors ” (Isaiah 53:10-12); “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation (the
satisfaction) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2, em-
phasis added). The word “world” here is not the earth (gæ [gÁ]), but the world of humankind, the world of
humanity, the habitation of the earth or the entire cosmos (Ólou toà kÒsmou). The little conjunction “but”
(allá [¢ll£]) is the emphatic form and is actually pivotal in this verse. strong word that shows an absolute
and complete contrast. It literally screams for the inclusion of every ethnicity or nation, every language and
people group. Jesus is available to save all who will receive Him and His message, throughout mankind, not
just for the few. He offered and offers Himself to the Jew and the Gentile alike; “For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and
also to the Greek (“the Greek” demonstrates the epitome of Gentile paganism and philosophy). 17 For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans
1:16-17). Both groups, the Jews and the Gentiles may be profoundly religious, but, not right with God. The
just or righteous may not follow a set system of orthodoxy but they have trusted Jesus Christ to take over
their lives and bring His righteousness to them. All the sin of all mankind (all who live, all who have ever
lived and all who ever will live) was imputed to Him. So that we could see Him dying as sin for us and believe
and His inherent righteousness would be imputed to us. All are equally guilty for His death and all are equal-
ly welcomed to the availability of His mercy and His grace. No amount of religious effort will ever accomplish
that. They are the after fact, after trusting in His grace for salvation. “Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by
his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7); “For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should
boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before or-
dained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

     There are those who have suggested that this movie is somehow anti-Semitic. They must have seen a
different film than I saw. Let me say, further, showing how the High Priest and the religious machine hated
and condemned the One Who fulfilled more than three-hundred messianic prophecies does not make the
movie anti-Semitic, any more than showing the vile and revolting actions of Rome and the cowardice of the
Roman Procurator, Pilate makes it an anti-Roman or anti-Gentile movie. It simply records historical facts as
they happened. The simple fact is that Jesus’ coming and dying the ignominy of the cross was in answer to
the promises to Israel in prophecy. And remember, almost the whole early church, even following Pentecost,
was Jewish. The Scriptures, Old and New Testaments were delivered to the Jews and most of the New Testa-
ment writers were Jews or born of at least one Jewish parent. True Christianity is not a Gentile religion and
it is not anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. This movie is a true representation of history and prophecy in its hand-
ling of the Jewish officials and the Gentile officials alike, and fairly, so. Not showing the biases of the offic-
ials in-charge at the time and their self-serving actions would be inconsistent with God’s revealed account
and would be revisionist, at best and blasphemy, at worst. It would be calling God’s account a lie, which
cannot happen for one very good reason. God is not a man and is not is prone to lie; “…let God be true, but
every man a liar… ” (Romans 3:4). The movie is not anti-Semitic, nor should it ever be used by anyone as a
basis for anti-Jewish bigotry or sentiment, either. God loves the Jew and Israel and has protected the tiny
nation like no other land in the world. He set a hedge about it to protect it from all danger, annihilation and
encroachment. Even though He sent Israel into various captivities to deal with their waywardness, He pro-
tected them and brought them back to the land of promise, time and time, again. He warned the world not
to deal lightly with Israel, because; “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto
the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” (Zechariah 2:8). God
sent His prophets to the people of Israel and named it as the  repository for His revealed Word and abode in
their presence in the tabernacle. He did the same when the temple was constructed in Jerusalem, by means of
the Shekinah, the abiding glory, upon  the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. He sent His only begotten Son
into the world, through the uterus of a pure, virtuous, spotless Jewish virgin girl. Salvation was first offered
to the Jew. God’s plans for the future are replete with benefits that are meant for Israel as a nation, continu- 
ing into the eternal Kingdom. It is because Israel rejected her Messiah that we Gentiles were even afforded
an opportunity to receive the gospel and salvation. We owe them a debt of gratitude and we owe them the
truth about who and what Jesus is -- He is not just a prophet, but Yeshua HaMeshiyah, Jesus the Messiah,
promised to Israel through the prophets. The movie espouses no political dogma. It is what it was intended
to be, an honest portrayal of the facts that embodied the final hours of Jesus’ life on earth and three of those
were on the cross. Sin put Jesus on the cross and every man, woman and child born into this world is a sinner.
Every person who ever lived, who presently lives, or, who ever will live, regardless of race or nationality, put
Jesus on the cross. It is in not recognizing that fact and accepting His substitution for us that condemns a
person to a Godless and Christless eternity in hell. Jesus said; “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my
words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should
say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak
therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (John 12:48-50).

     He was rejected by the whole world of men, with the exception of a few, by the whole Jewish world and
the whole Gentile world. All are equally guilty before a righteous and holy God and  all need to be saved
from their sins, which none of us is without. “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we
have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They
are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not
one” (Romans 3:9-12, emphasis added);  “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ 
Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righte-
ousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this
time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of  him which believeth in Jesus. 27 Where is
boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith” (Romans 3:21-27, em-
phasis added). Jesus was not executed. He paid a willing sacrifice to cut off sin in the lives of those who
trust Him.“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13, emphasis
added).