Seeing the Real Jesus in Scripture

The hit streaming series The Chosen has been described as the most successful crowdfunded TV series of all time. Tens of millions of dollars from thousands of donors helped to launch the series in 2018, and it is currently on its third season, having been watched at least in part by over three hundred million viewers.

At the outset (and here is where I want to offer some perspective as a former Seventh-day Adventist), what is striking to me is how former Mormons and counter-cult Christian apologists are among the most concerned individuals about this show. Hardly anyone is claiming that the Jesus presented in The Chosen is a “Mormon” Jesus or that watching the show will lead one to adopt LDS beliefs. Rather, what is concerning is the way that Dallas Jenkins has confused (instead of clarifying) his stance on Mormonism in his numerous interviews (especially his interviews with Mormons). 

Especially interesting to me as a former Adventist was Jenkins’ criticisms of certain former LDS countercult apologists. From his perspective, sometimes former Mormons actually misrepresent the beliefs about Jesus that he has come to see in his LDS friends. Furthermore, even when they accurately portray those beliefs, Jenkins claims that his friends would still dismiss them since those teachings often come from an older leader or era in the church and are apparently no longer mainstream views in contemporary Mormonism. If that doesn’t qualify as déjà vu for former Adventists, I don’t know what would.

Just what sort of Jesus is portrayed in The Chosen? It concerns me not because I detect blatantly obvious heresy in its content, but because the show presents a Jesus to the world that is very clearly a distortion of the biblical Jesus. The Jesus of The Chosen is a distortion because of what it omits and also because of what it adds with regard to Scripture’s claims about God’s Son. 

Undoubtedly some will find my critique unfair or overwrought. After all, the show is very popular, not just among the wider public, but especially among American Christians, who are its primary target market. Others will say that even if there are inaccuracies in the show, it could still be used as a catalyst to drive people to read God’s Word. Some will counter that criticism of The Chosen smacks of a narrow-minded, fundamentalist attitude toward anything with theological content that doesn’t line up exactly with one’s own theological commitments. I’m not here to simply dismiss those arguments out of hand, and yet I hope to explain why I find then unpersuasive.

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the reality that different competing portraits and ideas about who Jesus is can and do exist in the world. It is not mere “semantics,” as Dallas Jenkins argues in the interview, to acknowledge that there is a Mormon Jesus, and an Adventist Jesus, and a Muslim Jesus, which are all contradictory to the real Jesus of the Bible. Whenever additional material is added to Scripture, or parts of the Bible are removed, or rearranged, the Jesus that emerges really is a different Jesus. 

More importantly, it is not as though the life of Christ can be portrayed through any medium in a neutral manner (“Just the facts, Ma’am!”). Derral Eves, an executive producer of The Chosen who is a Mormon, argues that “[t]he show focuses more on the stories and life of Christ, rather than the theology that came after. The whole cast and crew are working together to accurately depict the life of Christ as best they can, in a way that anyone, regardless of faith background, would enjoy watching.” This producer misses the fact that the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life are highly theological writings, shaped in a deliberate way in order to make very specific claims about God’s Son. It is simply not possible to present the life of Jesus Christ in a theologically neutral way. 

Quite to the contrary, it’s no accident that the artwork of Mormon artists, as well as that of Seventh-day Adventist Arthur Maxwell’s The Bible Story look a little “off” to perceptive Christians. While the Jesus portrayed in that artwork might be doing things that are recognizable to Christians, it is ultimately the theology of the Jesus behind that artwork which shapes and influences the portrait being painted. So also in filmmaking, the Jesus that audiences see and perceive is a composite of all of the theology that the filmmakers bring with them and intend to present. It’s why movies or theatre productions about Jesus Christ––the eternal Son of God––are almost guaranteed to distort or misrepresent him to some degree.

To take but one example from the show [consider] the scene from John 3, namely Jesus’ famous encounter with Nicodemus at night. If any scene should be representative of how the show portrays the Son of God and communicates (or fails to communicate) biblical doctrine, it should be this one. Dallas Jenkins himself describes it as “the scene, the most impactful and famous chapter in the Bible, John chapter three.”

The dialogue of the scene, large parts of it invented, significantly alters how John portrays both Nicodemus and Jesus. In The Chosen, Jesus nonchalantly, almost rhetorically asks Nicodemus, “Ah. A teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things, hm?” Nicodemus then replies, “I’m trying, Rabbi.” To this, Roumie’s Jesus responds, in an understanding manner, “I know. I know.” From this small scene, one can already tell that the filmmakers are trying to create a more sympathetic Jesus and Nicodemus. The weighty gospel matters that the Jesus of the Bible presses before Nicodemus are watered down in favor of a more likable Jesus in The Chosen. As the scene winds down, Jesus tells Nicodemus that “the invitation still stands [for him to come and follow].” Nicodemus wistfully remarks, “Is this…is the kingdom of God really coming?” At this, Roumie’s Jesus replies, “What does your heart tell you?” 

That line looks more like something a Disney Jesus would say than anything the Son of God––who knew what was in the heart of man (John:2:25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
See All...)––would ever say. 

But while such things may have the appearance of being spiritual, one wonders whether these individuals are truly being moved by biblical truth, that is, by the truth of the gospel. Are they responding to a gospel that calls them to repent and believe upon the Son of God, or are they instead finding in The Chosen, a Jesus that they can more easily relate to? I don’t mean to impugn the motives of Dallas Jenkins….Rather, I’m trying to show how extra-biblical depictions of the life of Christ are inevitably imperfect, and potentially dangerous, substitutions for the actual gospels. This is all the more certain in our modern-day American evangelicalism, which has sadly shifted quite dramatically away from the biblical gospel.

In our visual, media-saturated culture, we would do well to remember what it means to have true spiritual eyesight. Peter wrote to believers who had never seen the Lord Jesus Christ in person, much less seen a movie series about him. And yet: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter:1:8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
See All...). It is through the Word of God that believers feed upon Christ. It is through the Word of God that formerly blind enemies of God come to see the real Jesus Christ and are forever born again. Well did John Newton, the former slave trader, proclaim: “A bleeding Savior I have viewed, and now I hate my sins!”

https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/2023/03/16/seeing-the-real-jesus-in-scripture/

[TBC: For those who may yet be enamored with The Chosen, the series is introducing mega-millions to a false Christ who can save no one. It is produced by a cult. Close enough may make a person feel good, but it won’t won’t keep them from being separated from God forever. What then of Christians who have become infatuated (which hundreds of thousands have) with the actor imitating Jesus. For all the value of the article, one mistake rears its ugly head: The article declares, "It’s why movies or theatre productions about Jesus Christ––the eternal Son of God––are almost guaranteed to distort or misrepresent him to some degree.” “almost guaranteed”?? “misrepresent Him to some degree”?? The medium can only present a false Christ. Close can save no one.]