Video: Impact of The Da Vinci Code
[Title Slide]
Described by Christian Science Monitor as “equal parts thriller, mystery, and religious speculation,” The Da Vinci Code follows Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of religious symbology, and Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist for the French version of the FBI, as they investigate the mysterious murder of Sophie’s grandfather. The duo find themselves in the middle of the ancient quest for the Holy Grail and in league with a secret society known as the Priory of Sion—a group dedicated to the pagan practice of goddess worship.
Langdon and Neveu piece together an alternate version of history—one that says the Church covered up Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene and the birth of their daughter. According to the theory, Jesus wanted Mary to lead His church, but the Church and the apostle Peter launched a smear campaign and labeled Mary a prostitute, forcing her to flee with her child.
The fast-paced story also asserts that the divinity of Jesus was a political invention of Emperor Constantine and that the Canon of Scripture was merely established by men with dubious personal motives. In a nail-biting adventure, Langdon and Neveu follow clues that painter Leonardo Da Vinci, a former grand master of the Priory of Sion, has crafted into his works, creating the Da Vinci Code. As Langdon and Neveu are told, “Behold…the greatest cover-up in human history” (from Outreach magazine, “The Da Vinci Code Intrigue,” p. 48).
You might be thinking, “Why make such a big deal out of this? It’s just a fictional novel.” True, The Da Vinci Code is a fictional novel, but its author Dan Brown maintains that what he has written is real.
[Novel Picture]
While being interviewed on NBC’s Today Show, Brown was asked, “How much of this is based on reality? He replied, “Absolutely all of it. Obviously, Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies—all of that is historical fact” (James L. Garlow & Peter Jones, Cracking Da Vinci’s Code, p. 24). The first page of the novel makes the same claim.
[Movie Poster Picture]
CLAIM #1: Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
A. The Truth about Mary Magdalene
1. Seven demons were cast out of her by Jesus (Luke 8:2).
2. She followed Jesus and helped Him (Luke 8:1-3).
3. She witnessed the horror of the crucifixion (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25).
4. She was present at the burial of Jesus (Matthew 27:57-61).
5. She, along with other women, went to anoint the body of Jesus (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; John 20:1).
6. She was the first person to see Jesus in His resurrected body (John 20:10-18).
In defense of The Da Vinci Code, some argue that taboos about a woman touching a man existed in those days, so this account implies that she and Jesus were married (“Do not hold on to me,” v. 17). But undoubtedly this was a spontaneous act of devotion. Later when the women left the tomb, He met them and we read, “And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him” (Matt. 28:9 NASB).
7. She was not a prostitute (as some have wrongly assumed).
One thing that Dan Brown does get right is that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute. In A.D. 591, Pope Gregory the Great gave an Easter sermon in which he declared that the prostitute of Luke 7 was Mary Magdalene who is mentioned in Luke 8. But there really is no reason to make such a connection (Erwin Lutzer, The Da Vinci Deception, pp. 59-60). The same connection is made in The Passion of the Christ.
B. The Truth about the Gospel of Philip
And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her 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?” (the Gospel of Philip, as quoted in The Da Vinci Code, p. 246).
1. It was written much later than the NT Gospels.
“The Gnostic writings are not eyewitness accounts of the events of the New Testament. Even scholars who want to give these documents credibility say that the very earliest date is about A.D. 150, at least one hundred or, more likely, one hundred and fifty years after the time of Jesus’ crucifixion” (Lutzer, TDVD, p. 36).
“It is always more likely that those sources that come for eyewitnesses or those who were in contact with eyewitnesses will provide us with the best data about an ancient person than documents that were composed several centuries later, as were the Gnostic Gospels” (Ben Witherington III, The Gospel Code, p. 32).
If you had a choice, whose description of Abraham Lincoln would you believe? Those of his contemporaries or those of people speculating about his private life or political philosophy one hundred and fifty years after his death—especially if these speculators were determined to put their own political theories into Lincoln’s mouth?
2. It was not written by Philip of the NT.
“Not even the most radical liberal scholar seriously believes that the Gospel of Philip was written by Philip of the New Testament” (Lutzer, TDVD, p. 33). Philip’s name was used to give the writing credibility.
3. It is a Gnostic writing.
The word Gnostic comes from the Greek gnosis, which means “knowledge.” The word is used to refer to hidden knowledge that is available only to the enlightened.
“The Gnostics were a group of thinkers who were highly influenced by Plato. They differed among themselves about many issues, making it difficult to summarize in a few sentences what exactly they believed. Suffice it to say that most of them denied the idea of God becoming flesh, because matter was regarded as evil and hence God could not have become man. They speculated about the origin of evil and its relationship to creation. Man must find his own way to salvation, they claimed, and his problem is not sin but rather the need for self-knowledge” (Lutzer, TDVD, p. 31).
In order to get the flavor of some of these books, consider these sayings of Jesus found in the most famous of the Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel of Thomas:
Jesus [Yeshu] said, “Blessings on the lion if a human eats it, making the lion human. Foul is the human if a lion eats it, making the lion human.”
Jesus [Yeshu] said unto them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make the male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be the male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in the place of an eye, a hand in the place of a hand, a foot in the place of a foot, an image in the place of an image, then you will enter the Kingdom.”
Jesus [Yeshu] said, “Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever had discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy.”
Read this gospel [the Gospel of Philip] and you will find it to be a rambling and disjointed work with abrupt changes in subject matter. It includes such teachings as “there are many animals that exist in the world which are in human form.” It also says “Winter is the world, summer the other realm. It is wrong to pray in winter” (Lutzer, TDVD, p. 67).
4. It is badly damaged.
5. Remember 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2.
“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.”
C. The Truth about the Gospel of Philip Passage
“As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion, in those days, literally means spouse.” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 246).
1. The Gospel of Philip was written in Coptic, not Aramaic.
2. It’s much more likely that companion means “sister” in the spiritual sense.
3. The actual manuscript doesn’t tell us where Mary was kissed.
The actual manuscript looks like this: “And the companion of the […] Mary Magdalene. […loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often] on her […].” (The text that is damaged and the bracketed portions reflect gaps in the manuscript, into which scholars have inserted various conjectures.)
It’s possible to fill in the actual gap in the manuscript—“kiss her […] on her […]”—with head or hand or cheek or mouth. In The Da Vinci Code, the word mouth is added to the translation of the Gospel of Philip passage. But in fact we don’t know for sure what word belongs there. It could be speaking of a holy kiss or kiss of fellowship between believers. The NT often talks about greeting one another with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).
4. If Jesus were married to Mary Magdalene, why would the disciples be offended by him kissing her?
D. The Truth about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene Passage
And Peter said, “Did the Savior really speak with a woman without our knowledge? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?”
And Levi answered, “Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like an adversary. If the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us” (the Gospel of Mary Magdalane, as quoted in The Da Vinci Code, p. 247)
If Jesus really was married to Mary, why would Peter be jealous of Jesus’ love for her?
“…the very character of these documents [Gnostic gospels] make it quite unlikely that they affirm [that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene], for Gnosticism was strongly ascetic, meaning, in part, that it would have discouraged marriage” (Witherington, TGC, p. 33).
E. The Truth about Jewish Culture and Singleness
“…the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 245)
1. Matthew 19:12
Early Jews seem to have believed that the command in Genesis to “be fruitful and multiply” was a requirement for all able-bodied persons. Thus there needed to be a special reasons for not doing so. Jesus provides a reason in Matthew 19:12. “…some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven.”
2. 1 Corinthians 7:8
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:8 that he was single and, before his conversion, was highly regarded in the Jewish community (Philippians 3:4-6).
3. Josephus and Philo
The two most prominent non-Christian Jewish writers from the New Testament era, Josephus and Philo, both refer to celibate Jews during this time.
4. 1 Corinthians 9:5
In 1 Corinthians 9:5, Paul defends the right to be married. He mentions the apostles, Peter, and even the brothers of Christ as being married, but he doesn’t mention Christ Himself. The crowning piece of evidence for his argument would have been to say, “just as the Lord Himself was married.”
5. John 19:25
When Jesus was crucified, John 19:25 says that Jesus’ mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were all standing by the cross. Why did Jesus express concern for his mother, but not for Mary Magdalene, his alleged wife?
6. John 20:14-17
In John 20:14-17, when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection, she exclaimed, “My teacher!” She does not say “my dear” or “my husband.”
F. The Truth about Leonardo Da Vinci and The Last Supper
“It’s a matter of historical record…and Da Vinci was certainly aware of that fact. The Last Supper practically shouts at the viewer that Jesus and Magdalene were a pair” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 244).
“How about the one seated in the place of honor, at the right hand of the Lord?.… The individual had flowing red hair, delicate folded hands, and the hint of a bosom. It was, without a doubt…female” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 243).
[Last Supper Original]
[Last Supper Copy]
When you look at the picture, you might agree that John, sitting to the right of Jesus, looks effeminate, but such a description was consistent with other portraits of him in Florence. “St. John was invariably represented as a beautiful young man” (Bruce Boucher, curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago).
[John in Another Painting]
CLAIM #2: If Jesus were married, He would not be divine.
“…a child of Jesus would undermine the crucial notion of Christ’s divinity and therefore the Christian church” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 254).
Jesus is fully God and fully man. Because He is fully man, Jesus could have been married. Jesus never taught that sex is defiling. However…
“Jesus had a singular focus on preaching the Kingdom of God, and his choice to be single underscored that calling” (Darrell Bock, Breaking The Da Vinci Code).
He also realized that He was facing a premature death. In Mark 8-10, He predicts His death four times.
CLAIM #3: Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail.
“…legend tells us the Holy Grail is a chalice—a cup. But the Grail’s description as a chalice is actually an allegory to protect the true nature of the Holy Grail. That is to say, the legend uses the chalice as a metaphor for something far more important. ‘A woman’” (The Da Vinci Code, pp. 237-238).
“Not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father. My dear, Mary Magdalene was the Holy Vessel. She was the chalice that bore the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. She was the womb that bore the lineage, and the vine from which the sacred fruit sprang forth!” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 249).
“When Grail legend speaks of ‘the chalice that held the blood of Christ’…it speaks, in fact, of Mary Magdalene—the female womb that carried Jesus’ royal bloodline” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 249).
One of the final lines of the novel is “The quest for the Holy Grail is the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene. A journey to pray at the feet of the outcast one.”
Jesus drank from a cup the night He instituted the Lord’s Supper, but no one knows what happened to it. What we do know is that in the twelfth century, stories circulated about the cup, which was dubbed the Holy Grail and believed to have magical power.
In about the fifteenth century the idea developed that the Grail is not an object, but rather a family tree. Specifically, in The Da Vinci Code, the Grail is said to be the Sang Real—the royal bloodline of Jesus. (Lutzer, TDVD, p. 57)
“…the Sangreal documents…contain proof that Jesus had a royal bloodline” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 249).
The Priory of Sion, according to The Da Vinci Code, is one of the oldest secret societies still in existence. It is the Priory that has been charged with guarding the secret of the true Holy Grail, starting in 1099 when the Knights of Templar discovered long-lost documents beneath the ruins of Solomon’s Temple. Leonardo Da Vinci was Grand Master of this society, says Robert Langdon, from 1510 to 1519. The only problem is this: It is all a hoax.
Brown relies on a 1982 publication, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, for his information on the Priory of Sion. The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail relied on documents provided them by Pierre Plantard, an anti-Semitic Frenchman who spent time in jail for fraud in 1953. Plantard and three other men started a small social club in 1954 called the Priory of Sion, taking the name from a nearby mountain. Their club’s “cause” was the call for more low-cost housing in France. The club dissolved in 1957, but Plantard held on to the name.
Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, Plantard created a series of documents “proving” the existence of a bloodline descending from Mary Magdalene, through the kings of France, down to the present day to include (surprise!) Pierre Plantard.
In 1993, Plantard’s name came up in light of a political scandal involving a close friend of the French president. When called before the court to testify, Plantard, under oath, admitted he had made up the whole Priory scheme. The court ordered a search of Plantard’s house, which revealed further documents that proclaimed Plantard to be the true king of France. The judge gave Plantard a stern warning and dismissed him as a harmless crank.
While there are numerous books and articles revealing Plantard’s hoax, they do not prove as exciting as a conspiracy thriller. Thus, millions of readers are being introduced to Plantard’s fantasies through the writings of Dan Brown in the fictional The Da Vinci Code (Barlow & Jones, CDVC, pp. 112-113).
The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail unknowingly hit on a truth in the legend of the Grail. They write that the Grail is “the receptacle or vessel that received and contained Jesus’ blood.” They are absolutely correct, but they are looking for this vessel in all the wrong places. In fact, this Grail can be seen clearly in Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Listen to Jesus’ words during that meal: “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink for it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28).
The Holy Grail is the receptacle of Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross by a sinless man to provide forgiveness for sinful men and women. But this Holy Grail is not a limited biological or ethnic reality (the physical seed of Jesus, as Brown contends); rather, it’s a multi-ethnic, global, spiritual fellowship made up of all kinds of forgiven sinners. In other words, those who receive forgiveness through the blood of Jesus are the Holy Grail (Garlow & Jones, CDVC, pp. 121-122).
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Resources used:
Cracking Da Vinci’s Code by James L. Garlow & Peter Jones
Josh McDowell’s personal Da Vinci Code research notes (offered on SermonCentral.com)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin W. Lutzer
“The Da Vinci Intrigue” in Outreach magazine, March/April 2006
The Gospel Code by Ben Witherington III
