KILLING JESUS
Lost in translation — a historical drama that distorts the Gospels.
Should You Watch It?
KILLING JESUS is well shot, flows smoothly, and features excellent performances. It offers a serious dramatization of the political pressures surrounding John the Baptist, Jesus, the Roman authorities, and the Jewish leaders.
But the movie’s central weakness is not merely artistic. It gives viewers a Jesus who is full of doubt, performs no miracles, and only begins proclaiming Himself the Son of God after Peter identifies Him that way. It shows the empty tomb but omits the resurrection appearances that were central to the faith of Jesus’s earliest followers.
The movie also explains the crucifixion mostly as a political effort to maintain order. That is incomplete. If you want a compelling and faithful account of Jesus, skip this movie and read the New Testament Gospels instead.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESThis two-hour television drama adapts Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s bestselling book about the historical background to Jesus Christ, His teachings, and His death.
The story follows the political machinations of Herod, Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, Antipas, and other authorities as they confront John the Baptist and Jesus. It also portrays Jesus’s ministry, His apostles, His teaching, and the growing danger surrounding Him.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means this is a competently made but ultimately unsatisfying television movie. It is shot well, flows smoothly, and contains excellent performances.
However, some viewers may find it difficult to figure out who is who from scene to scene. The movie is also less compelling than the book on which it is based and certainly less compelling than the New Testament Gospels. Its political focus prevents it from displaying the majesty of Jesus’s teaching and the real jeopardy facing Him and His disciples.
The Worldview
KILLING JESUS presents a light pagan worldview and a strongly revisionist history of the New Testament Gospels. It leaves out Jesus’s miracles, minimizes His teaching that He claimed to be the Son of the living God, and focuses on His crucifixion, the empty tomb, and a message of love and forgiveness. It does not refer to the resurrection appearances to Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the other apostles and disciples.
The movie contains snatches of truth about repentance, forgiveness, and love. Those are important parts of Christ’s teaching, but the film reduces His message to those ideas. It does not adequately present salvation, reconciliation with God, or the significance of Jesus’s death and physical resurrection. Its mostly political explanation for the crucifixion is not a complete answer.
The film’s central longing is for truth about who Jesus is and what His death means. Scripture gives the fuller answer: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Light pagan worldview with strong revisionist history of the New Testament Gospels about Jesus Christ, leaving out the miracles of Jesus and focusing on his crucifixion and the empty tomb and his message of love and forgiveness, but leaving out any reference to reports of his resurrection appearances and minimizing the teaching that Jesus claimed to be the Son of the living God, unlike the book on which the movie is based; no foul language; strong violence when Herod the Great sends soldiers to murder newborn boys, when Jesus is whipped, when a crown of thorns is placed on His head, when Jesus is hit, when Jesus is crucified, when an image of John the Baptist’s decapitated head is shown; incestuous implications Herod Antipas licks his daughter’s knee while she dances suggestively so she can get her father to kill John the Baptist, who slams Antipas for marrying his brother’s wife; upper male nudity from time to time; light alcohol use; no smoking or drugs; and, betrayal, persecution, illegal trial, oppression but rebuked.
Talk About It
Four questions for the couch, the commute, or the couple bingeing it together.
What is lost when a story about Jesus focuses on political power but leaves out His miracles and resurrection appearances?
1 Corinthians 15:14–19The movie emphasizes love and forgiveness but minimizes Jesus’s claim to be the Son of God. Why do both His teaching and His identity matter?
Matthew 16:15–17 · John 14:6How does the empty tomb relate to the Christian claim that Jesus physically rose from the dead?
Luke 24:1–8 · Romans 10:9When a historical drama changes important parts of the Gospel accounts, how should you test what you see?
Acts 17:11 · 1 Thessalonians 5:21The Final Word
KILLING JESUS has solid production values and strong performances, but its portrayal of Jesus is too incomplete and misleading to recommend. It minimizes His divinity, miracles, and resurrection. Our answer is SKIP IT. Read the Gospels instead, or consider these family-friendly picks.
