Biblical Epics and adaptations of Scripture are either a cause for joy or dread. They can inspire us and reveal to us nuggets of insight we never noticed or knew, or they can commit offense and even be sacreligious, leaving a false impression and distorting God’s truths. I tend to prefer Biblical Epics like “Ben-Hur” which are about a fictional albeit possibly existing person in the middle of Biblical events. Films like Ben-Hur and “The Robe” please me more because when it takes license and steps outside of the parameters of Scripture it does so with approval because it is not centered on a Biblical person, but a protagonist surrounded by Biblical people. Adaptations of Scripture and the persons within can be to quote Sean Connery, “be very effective or very dangerous.” (Finding Forrester). Paul Apostle of Christ falls into the former, albeit with some cons.
The Apostle Paul wrote two thirds of the New Testament, approximately seventy percent (70%). He is the most prolific of the apostles, giving us a wealth of words from Christ and helping us understand what it means to be a Christian. There have been many adaptations of Paul’s life, the most holistic being “Peter and Paul” with Anthony Hopkins playing Paul, the shortest with the ending being the Damascus road in “Saul of Tarsus” and five episode stint featuring Paul prominently in Roma Downey’s “A.D. The Bible Continues”. Aside from Hopkin’s Peter and Paul, there has been no film highlighting Paul’s sufferings, and even Peter and Paul the movie did not go into the depths of Paul’s sufferings. This film, Paul Apostle of Christ, acts as a Mel Gibsonian “Passion of the Christ”, highlighting Paul’s last moments before execution while flushing out his past with flashbacks. At the same time the film is also The Great Persecution of the Church under Nero, painting a bleak world under the mad Emperor with Christians being used as torches to light streets and being fed to lions. However, Paul The Apostle of Christ does not imitate Mel Gibson’s realism and gore, much of the persecutions are seen briefly and without great detail. So children may watch without the worry of their parents.
Paul The Apostle of Christ succeeds in many ways. For the first time we see Paul grappling with his former role as the persecutor of the church, and being haunted by visions of the women, men, and child he killed with his own hands. The Apostle does relate this in an epistle, “I am the chief of sinners, I once persecuted the church.” (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul battles phantoms of those he slayed and prays “His grace is sufficient.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). At the end of the film we discover the people Paul killed as persectutor welcome him as protector of the church with loving arms.
Priscilla and Aquila, two titans of the early church and friends of Paul (see Romans 16:3-4) are a married couple on fire for the gospel and trying to be a light in Nero’s nightmare known as Rome: I enjoyed Priscilla’ fervor to care for the Romans and the actress who plays her alps played Claudia, Pontus Pilate’s wife in A.D. The Bible Continues. The Apostle Luke, played by Jim Caviezel, was my favorite. Jim having last played a biblical person in The Passion of the Christ, portraying Christ Himself, does a fantastic job of bring The Physician Luke to life and in a way that does not make you think Jim is simply playing a tempered down version of his famous portrayal of Jesus, on the contrary, Luke wrestles with the teachings of Christianity and is chastised by Paul when he doubts The Way because of Roman persecution of the Saints. Peter Faulkner brings Paul to life, making his performance the best I have seen. There is a touching moment when Paul and Luke are laying down in prison and Paul reminisces about their mission work on the road. The banter is great and it moves you as two men of God remember hard times ministering as joyful and how little things like Peter’s snoring bounded them.
There are a few elements of the film to take issue with. The main one is the Cassius crusaders, a band of young men who take up arms and fight the Romans. Firstly, this is a fallacy that never happened and secondly it undermines the reason Rome followed in Paul’s footsteps, moving from great persecutor to great protector, from enemy of the church to a church protected by Emperor Theodosius I and Constantine. Rome became Christian and ceased persecutions because it was moved by the pacifism and devotion to Christ of Christians who did not fear death.
Aside from the pseudo-history of Cassius Crusaders, the other issue I had was this film was touted as being almost one hundred percent from Scripture which Is not true but actually adds apocryphal statements. I wish it had the disclaimer “Inspired by the Life of Paul and Scripture” as Cecile B. DeMille did with The Ten Commandments. The truth is this would not have been a con had the filmmakers not touted the film as an almost completely Scriptural word for word adaptation akin to perhaps “The Gospel of John” film. Another theological critique I have is that Jesus is called The Messiah, and The Father part of the Trinity is referenced much, but sadly the divinity of Jesus (John 1:1-17, Colossians 1:16-19, Colossians 2:9, 2 Peter 1:1, Titus 2:13) is not directly referenced save for Lord Jesus, but few know now that Lord means God of Israel or Jehovah; I would have liked a clearer profession that Jesus is God, because such a confession is essential to being a Christian, “The most crucial truth of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ though He came to earth as a man, was in fact God”(The Book of Hope, Who is Jesus, page 7, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1998, ISBN 0-8423-3366-5). It would have been easy in a Pauline film to have Faulkner quote the words of Paul to Titus, “we await the coming of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13). It is a lost opportunity to share the gospel and Jesus with a nonbeliever who watches the film. It could have been inserted at when Cassius is confronted by Paul, “No! Jesus our Lord and God said make disciples of all nations and to preach the gospel of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for all sin.” Many of the younger generations need it spelled out in front of them with no confusion. Saying the truth that Jesus is God is easy to understand.
There is much to inspire our faith in Paul Apostle of Christ. Chiefly the teaching of “love your enemy,” (Matthew 5:44), for Paul was an enemy of Christ and persecutor of the Church and then became pastor and Apostle of Jesus Christ and His church. Rome tried to ride the world of Christians but through witnessing (seeing) the love of God in Christians became a Christian Empire. This reminds us to not be quick and judge our enemies for any day and they could become like Paul, or Rome! We must love our enemies, even nations because while now they may be enemies of Christ and His church they could become His people. For we were all enemies of God, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11).
I recommend Paul Apostle of Christ to Christians mainly. Only we, the saints of God are going to fully appreciate it and reap the harvest in this film. I especially think this film is very timely and pertinent for the times we Christians live in. Christianity is the most persecuted faith in the world and our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing a persecution that is worse than under the emperors Caligula, Nero and Diocletian. As for Nonbelievers and seekers it would do better to see another film like The Passion of the Christ or a film that is full gospel rather than an emphasis on persecution. Then after converting they could see Paul Apostle of Christ.
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