Christ and the DaVinci Code

In less than two week’s time, a new movie will be released to the viewing public. This movie is based upon a best-selling novel that is full of Biblical imagery, tells a fast-paced, exciting story, and shows us much about our faith. No, it’s not the second installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, it’s not The Purpose-Driven Movie, it is, of course, The DaVinci Code.
This book has generated an amazing amount of discussion! The jacket of the book claims it is a “#1 worldwide bestseller”, and that it is “now a major motion picture.” The movie stars the mega-star Tom Hanks. Churches everywhere are having month-long sermon series just on this book! Lutheran Church of the Lakes just up the road has dedicated seven weeks of Monday night open discussion groups about this book! What in the world causes all this fus about a little novel? What is all the talk about?
Have any of you read The DaVinci Code? I figured I’d better check it out, so I bought this little paperback for a few bucks at Meijer. And you know what? It’s a real page-turner. For the first couple hundred pages or so it moves right along, drawing you into the story. The occasional references to the Church and its history helped make it even more interesting for me—considering my education and profession.
For our purposes, there are three main characters in Brown’s book. The leading man is Robert Langdon, professor of Religious Symobology at Harvard. His forte is identifying and understanding the religious symbolism we see in history and even surrounding us in popular culture. But his particular area of expertise is what he calls the sacred feminine. In other words, Robert Langdon is an expert on the symbolism associated with goddess worship. Professor Langdon is wanted for the murder of the curator of the world-famous Louvre art museum in Paris, but he is innocent.
The leading lady, now, is a French cryptographer by the name of Sophie Neveu. She is an expert at deciphering codes, and very quickly gets wrapped up in protecting Langdon from the false charges against him. The murdered man was her grandfather.
The third main character doesn’t appear until about mid-way through the story, but his appearance marks the serious development of the plot. Leigh Teabing is a British national who has made the search for the Holy Grail his life’s work.
The basic story of The DaVinci Code revolves around these three people as they simultaneously try to avoid being captured by the French police for the supposed involvement in the murder of Sophie’s grandfather (they’re innocent, remember) while at the same time frantically pursuing a set of intriguing, complex clues left that he left just moments before his death. Those clues, the book promises, will lead them to an astounding discovery that will give absolute proof that Christianity as we know it is full of half-truths and outright lies and that the ancient church deliberately concealed the real truth in an effort to gain power for themselves.
So what’s the big deal? What’s the fuss? It’s just fiction, it’s just a story, after all. Sure, it’s a fun little read, sure, it says some stuff that doesn’t agree with the Bible, but so do a lot of other things! So why have a sermon on this book? What’s the fuss about?
Well, there wouldn’t be much fuss at all, if the author had let the book stay in the realm of fiction. We could dismiss all the claims against the one, true faith with a wave, saying, “Well, that’s a cute little book . . . but we have the truth.” But Dan Brown, the author, couldn’t let it just be a work of fiction. He had to claim something more. This is how the book opens up—before the story even begins, Brown himself says on the first page, “FACT: All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”
Brown claims everything in this book is accurate, it’s just that he has made up some characters to bring the story to life. In other words, Brown believes—and wants you to believe—that everything else he has to say about the church covering up the truth and feeding you a life is the absolute truth. In fact, Brown has said on national television that if he were to write this same story as a non-fiction book that he doesn’t think there would be any difference.
The DaVinci Code doesn’t break any new ground. The heresies it promotes are centuries old. No new ground, just a new package. Sure, it’s a fun little read . . . but hardly a new revelation---except for the people who know very little (if any at all) of the true Jesus Christ. Those people are in danger of seeing this and swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. We need to be prepared to give those people some good answers for the hope that we have—and will continue to have—in the true, risen, Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I personally hate spoilers—I don’t like to be told the ending of a book or movie before I get a chance to see it for myself. So I’m not going to tell you everything about this book. Without giving away everything, we’re going to hit the major points that Brown proposes and give some good answers to them. Let’s dig right in.
Has the Church throughout the ages been involved in a major cover-up of the truth? At one point and exasperated Teabing blurts out, “ . . . almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” Is the story of Jesus Christ the greatest story ever told . . . or the greatest story ever sold? And what is The DaVinci Code’s proof?
Constantine was the Emperor of the Roman Empire from 306–337 A.D. He is the man who is responsible for making Christianity a legalized religion—as a matter of fact, the official religion of the Roman Empire. Dan Brown claims that Constantine is responsible for creating the Bible as we know it and, in the process, inventing our understanding of Jesus Christ. Teabing says, “Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man. To rewrite the history books, Constantine knew he would need a bold stroke. . . . Constantine commissioned and funded a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned.” Is this true?
No, no it’s not. The “earlier gospels” that Brown is referring to—the ones that were outlawed and burned—those are what we call the Gnostic gospels. Gnosticism was a twist on Biblical Christianity, a heresy that involved involved occult lore, magic watchwords, and secret names. The “gospels” that Brown refers to—the gospels of Phillip, Mary Magdalene, and Peter—they were all written in the 2nd century. They were written over 100 years—or more—after the death of Jesus!
Now take that and compare it to 2 Peter 1:16. There Peter says, “16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” The New Testament was written by eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry. Either eyewitnesses or close co-workers of eyewitnesses.
Jesus died around 33 A.D. Now how long could an eyewitness have lived after Jesus’ death? Or let me put it another way: Good estimates for the for Gospel of Mark, for example, place it from 55 A.D. to 65 A.D. That’s just 20-30 years after Jesus’ death. Which is earlier? The Gnostic gospels . . . or the real ones?
But let’s go even further. Did Constantine “commission and fund a new Bible,” as Brown claims? Yes! He certainly did! Fifty new Bibles, as a matter of fact! Constantine personally ordered and paid for fifty Bibles to be hand copied (the only way Bibles were done in those days) so that they could be placed in each of the churches in Constantinople. . . . but that’s not what Brown meant, is it?
Brown is referring to the Council of Nicaea, which Constantine called in 325 A.D. Constantine determined the place and time, summoned the bishops, he paid for all the expenses, and gave the decisions of the bishops binding force.
The main purpose of the Council was to debate the rise of a particular heresy, called Arianism, which claimed that Jesus Christ was not co-equal with the Father. It was NOT to decide if Jesus was truly Divine or not, but just whether He was truly co-equal with the Father! An off-shoot of that discussion was the church deciding which books could be considered reliable, which books could rightly be considered inspired by God. And yes, at that Council, it was decided that the sixty-six books we know and recognize as the Old and New Testaments was finally decided.
But what Brown doesn’t tell you is that while the books of the Bible were certainly finalized at the Council of Nicaea, the issue was in fact pretty much settled by that point! s largely decided much before then. We have piece of evidence called the Muratorian Fragment that clearly shows we had a virtually complete collection of acknowledged Scriptures by the middle of the 2nd century. Brown says that Constantine decided upon what books made up the Scriptures in 325 A.D.? Ha! That issue was decided upon by 150 A.D., nearly two centuries earlier! I think the proper word to use at this point would be Boo yah!
So if Gospels that we have are, in fact, the earlier gospels and if the Council of Nicaea wasn’t the sole deciding factor on what constituted the Scriptures, is it fair to say that Constantine “upgraded Jesus’ status” to being God?
No. Jesus Himself claimed to be God. Remember the story where the paralyzed man’s friends let him down through the roof, and Jesus said to him, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” And the scribes were sitting nearby, and they wondered, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And Jesus, in effect, said, “That’s right . . . that’s the point!” and healed the man and sent him on his way.
The Apostles claimed Jesus is God. After the resurrection, the disciples were gathered together, and Thomas was with them this time. And although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!””
But even the early church fathers of the 1st and second century—the ones who learned the faith from the Apostles and passed it on to others—they claimed Jesus was God, as well! Barnabas, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus . . . they all claimed Jesus to be true God! From the moment Christ’s ministry began to the time of Constantine, true, faithful believers confessed Jesus Christ as true God and true man. And yet Dan Brown says that Constantine was the one that upgraded Jesus’ status. Brown claims that Constatine’s Council of Nicaea decided by a vote—and a close one at that—that Jesus was Divine.
A brief word about that vote. Remember that the purpose of the Council wasn’t to decide if Jesus was Divine or not, it was to decide if He was truly co-equal with the Father. In other words, whether Jesus’ in His Divinity shared all the majesty, glory, and honor that was rightly due the Father. There was a vote on that. The “close vote” that Brown mentions? It was 300 to 2.
One last point from The DaVinci Code. Brown claims that the church’s big cover-up is that Jesus . . . was . . . married! To Mary Magdalene! Where in the world does he get this idea? Well, in terms of heresies, it’s a fairly recent one. Whereas Brown claims this was the truth that was covered up at Nicaea, in reality the first mention we ever hear of this notion doesn’t occur until the ninth century. It’s an idea that’s based, in part, upon one of those later Gnostic gospels, the Gospel of Phillip, which is an actual ancient document discovered in the 1940’s.
Teabing has Sophie read a portion of this “gospel.” Now, other than the fact that Brown mistakenly says it’s written in Aramaic instead of Greek, and despite the fact that somehow Sophie, who isn’t trained in ancient languages, can read a photocopy of the ancient text, she somehow flawlessly reads this passage: “And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on the mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, “Why do you love her more than all of us?”
Well, that’s pretty impressive, huh? But it’s not really in there! What typically happens with ancient documents is that the parchment is crumbled and the ink has faded. Reading them becomes very, very difficult because entire words and lines are missing. The actual reading of that passage from this supposed “gospel” goes like this: “And the companion of . . . Mary Magdalene . . . her more than the disciples . . . . . . . . kiss her . . . .” and so on.
But even if the places where Brown fills in the missing words are correct, and even if any of the events in the gospel of Phillip were accurate (which scholars say they aren’t), it still never mentions—not once—that Jesus and Mary were married.
In the end Dan Brown and The DaVinci Code leave us with a Jesus that never did miracles, that was never the Son of God, that died a pointless death that He never rose from. That’s not the kind of Jesus that I need . . . that’s not the kind of Jesus that you need . . . and that’s not the kind of Jesus that our friends need. What we need is the real Jesus.
The real Jesus is found in the Bible, not in The DaVinci Code. In the Scriptures we find a Jesus who loves and laughs, who hurts and heals. He never fails to show how great His love is for us, and yet He never holds back the awful truth that our sin is killing us. The things He has to say aren’t just secrets for a select few, but they are God’s truths for all of mankind. It’s the truth that the Church hasn’t covered up at all, but in fact has proclaimed it faithfully for centuries: John 3:16 “16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
And that is something that doesn’t need to be decoded in order to be understood.