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Author Dan Brown has written a best selling, murder mystery called The Da Vinci Code

which is now a major motion picture.

The book makes certain claims about the identity of Christ and the legitimacy of the

Christian Church (typically Catholicism) and its origins. It is a work of fiction that is supposedly

based on “fact”.

The premise of the book is that the identity of Jesus Christ is not what the church has

been teaching. His true identity has been covered up to prevent the Church from losing

its power.

It is told that Leonardo Da Vinci, amongst other famous figures in history, like Sir Isaac

Newton, was a part of a secret organization that knew the “truth”. Leonardo hid

clues through-out his artwork that pointed to this supposed truth.

Some of the claims of this book are that Jesus was not crucified, He was married to

Mary Magdalene, and a secret organization has been guarding the information for centuries.

The documents which contain these “more reliable” teachings and other information about Christ are called the Gnostic Gospels. These actual writings do exist, but are they reliable?

These manuscripts have been found near an Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi; a peasant was digging and happened upon a jar. Inside he found thirteen papyrus books written in Coptic, an Afro-Asiatic language. Some of the writings were burned and unreadable but many were still intact. These texts contained mysticism, poems, and what some scholars call “secret gospels”.

Some that are included are The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Mary, and The Testimony of Truth. These writings have been inappropriately named “gospels” because of the very late dating. These writers were not eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus but they do hold some of the teachings of the Gnostics.

The word gnosis comes from the Greek meaning “knowledge”. The Gnostics were a group of individuals who believed that you have to have this knowledge to achieve salvation. They believed that man would have to find his own path to salvation which was achieved through spiritual knowledge.

The writings date from 150 A.D. all the way to the fourth and fifth century, much later than the dating of the New Testament Gospels. The location where these gospels were written and the date attest that the author whose name was assigned to a certain manuscript was not that person at all.

Like the Gospel of Thomas for example; by the time it was written the actual Thomas of the Bible, had already been dead for many years. These names of the authors were purposely attached to the writings make it appear as if they actually wrote them.

This type of forgery had already been happening even in the earliest days of Christianity. Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Thessalonians explaining,

“Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us...” (Thess. 2:1).

The Gnostic writings were not written within the generation of those who lived during the time of the crucifixion as the New Testament gospels were. These were not eyewitness accounts, and the authors never walked with or talked to Jesus. Erwin W. Lutzer Writes,

“If you had a choice, whose descriptions 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?” 1

The picture of Jesus painted in the Gnostic gospels is quite different than the Jesus described in the Bible. They claim that Jesus was sent by God to deliver that “secret knowledge” that would bring us to salvation. This knowledge is that we as human beings are divine.

Some Gnostic Gospels say that Jesus was not the Son of God and did not die on the cross; someone else was substituted instead. In The Second Treatise of the Great Seth (56:6-19) we read,

“It was…another who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me not with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height…over their error…And I was laughing at their ignorance.” 2

In the “Acts of John”, another Gnostic writing, we read,

“I will tell you another glory, brothers, sometimes when I meant to touch him I encountered a material, solid body; but at other times again when I felt him, his substance was immaterial and incorporeal…as if it did not exist at all.” 3

What the Da Vinci Code says about Jesus is in direct contrast. Dan Brown’s book claims that He was fully human and not divine at all.

The Da Vinci Code says that the Christian Church is oppressive to women. If this were true why didn’t the church take out the scriptures that exalt women? There are many great women that are recognized in the Bible, some of these whom we are told about are Ruth, Esther, Deborah, Mary (sister of Martha and Lazarus), and Mary (Mother of Jesus). When Jesus first announced that he was the Messiah, it was to a woman,

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming’ (Who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.’ (John 4:25-26).

Brown’s book claims that the Gnostic Gospels are pro feminist. On the contrary, these Johnny come lately gospels report a Jesus that says women must be turned male to go to heaven. In The Gospel of Thomas 114, we read,

“Simon Peter said to them: ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.’” 4

The Jesus of the Bible came for men, women, and children of every race and color.

The best seller also claims that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had

children with her. This is mere speculation and there is no evidence whatsoever in the

Gnostic Gospels that proves it. So where then does this idea originate?

The Gospel of Phillip says,

“The companion is Mary of Magdala. Jesus loved her more than his students. He

kissed her often on her face, more than all his students, and they said, ‘Why do you love

her more than us?’” 5

If Jesus was married to Mary Magdaline why would the diciples have to ask Jesus if

He loved her more? Of course He would if she was His wife.

Some translations say that Jesus kissed her on the mouth, in actuality, due to poor

quality of the material it was written on, we read, “Jesus kissed her on the (blank)…” The scholars then fill in the blank with “mouth”, or “face” or whatever they like.

For all they know the text could have originally read “hand” or “forehead”. Yet some scholars will continuously assert that the kiss was something more romantic in nature. Nothing about marriage is ever mentioned. Keep in mind that this scripture has been dated to near the third century, around two hundred years after Christ.

To make things more interesting, The Da Vinci Code says, “As any Aramaic scholar will tell you, the word companion, in those days, literally meant spouse.” 6 Let us not forget the manuscript was actually written in Coptic, not Aramaic.

It has been proven that Dan Brown’s assertions about Christ and the Christian church have been based on fiction and imagination and not that of history. Yet many people are buying into Dan Brown’s fiction and are being taken for a ride.

Despite the current popularity of the Gnostic Gospels, when one researches further it is evident that they are not trustworthy accounts of the historical Jesus Christ.