Satan in ‘The Passion of the Christ’

In The Passion of the Christ, Satan is portrayed repeatedly. This is not only speculative and unrealistic, but above all unbiblical. First of all, he appears in the film in a way reminiscent of a horror movie. Wrongly so. Scripture says that Satan is “transfiguring himself into a messenger of light.”

In Gethsemane, there is a scene in which Satan keeps whispering words to Jesus. Nowhere do we read this in Scripture. What is written is that an angel from heaven appeared to Him, to strengthen Him. Moreover, the idea that Satan would have tried to dissuade Jesus from being crucified is just as incorrect. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:8:

“…which not one of the chiefs of this eon knows (= the hidden wisdom of God; verse 7), for if they know, they would not crucify the Lord of glory.”

The chief ruler of this eon, above all, is Satan—and of him (not her, as in the film) we read NOT that he tried to prevent the crucifixion, but rather that he was active in it! He was the one who entered into Judas to hand Jesus over (John 13:27).

It is therefore absolutely not the case that Satan screamed in defeat when Jesus died. That is the depiction given in the film. But the opposite is true. When Jesus died, Satan’s offensive had, up to that point, been running successfully—or so he thought…

Until the third day, when the stone was rolled away and his weapon (death) was rendered powerless once and for all.

Yes, if he had known that, he would not have crucified the Lord of glory…

Delen: