One can understand Roman Catholics being drawn to the film, “The Passion of the Christ.” Mel Gibson, who still insists on worshipping at a Latin mass, perpetuates in his film the medieval catholic emphasis on the physical sufferings of Christ. The flesh, the pain, the gore are portrayed as the only sufferings of our Lord, whereas Isaiah 53:10 states, “When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin.” To think otherwise from this statement by this Scripture, is to think after the natural man. 

Large sections of Protestantism and Evangelicalism are also attracted to this Romanist position, and even in the U.K. provide free tickets to the show as a means of evangelism. They also position teams outside the cinemas to counsel the people coming out who have questions or who are upset. 

The serious error is, that Christ is viewed not by faith, but by sight. It is a comprehending of Christ after the flesh. But in our levelled criticisms, we have to realise that even reformed Christians commit the same mistake. We do that by considering in Revelation 5:6, “A Lamb as it had been slain,” as actually bearing the crucifixion wounds, and that He bears them in Heaven now. This is also to think of Christ after the flesh. In the same verse the Lamb has seven eyes and seven horns, but are we to see Christ like that? No mention is made of wounds, but these figurative images are to be spiritually discerned and understood. “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more,” (2 Cor.5:16).