Get Used to Different? Why I Can’t Recommend The Chosen

The Chosen is well made, but is it right? A warm, honest look at the second commandment, plausible fiction, and whether Christians should watch the show.

Millions of people will sit down in just a few weeks and watch an actor hang on a cross.

The sixth season of The Chosen premieres on Prime Video on November 15. It covers the last 24 hours before Jesus’ crucifixion, and its finale goes to theaters next spring. Churches are already planning watch parties. I know some of you reading this love the show; some of you have cried through it; and some of you have told me it helped you “see Jesus” in a new way.

So let me say this up front: I’m not writing to mock you, and I’m not writing to win an argument. I’m writing this because I genuinely care about you, and I care even more about the Jesus you’re hoping to see.

The question isn’t whether The Chosen is well made because it is. The question is whether God is pleased with it. And to me, that question is much harder, and it matters more.

Let’s Be Fair & Honest About Why People Love It

The show has some real strengths, like the acting is good. What a concept, right? The disciples feel like real people, not stained-glass statues. Many people say it sent them back to the Gospels, and I’m genuinely glad anyone opens a Bible.

But good intentions and good results don’t get to decide whether something is right or wrong. Saul had good intentions when he spared the best of the livestock “for the Lord.” Samuel’s answer still stands: “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). Uzzah meant well when he reached out to steady the ark (2 Samuel 6:6–7).

God doesn’t only care that we reach for Him; He also cares how we do it.

The Elephant on the Screen: The Second Commandment

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above…” (Exodus 20:4).

We usually read that as a rule against bowing down to statues. But Moses is very clear and explains why God gave this commandment:

“Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves.” (Deuteronomy 4:15–16)

God showed up at Sinai and deliberately did not show a face. He gave his people words, and that was the whole point. God has chosen to make himself known through His Word, not through the images we make.

Reformed churches have always taken this very seriously.

The Westminster Larger Catechism (Q. 109) says the second commandment forbids “the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image.”

The Heidelberg Catechism (Q. 96–98) says God may not be portrayed at all, and that images are not allowed even as teaching tools, because God wants his people taught by the living preaching of his Word.

Notice the phrase “of all or of any of the three persons.” Yes, that includes the Son.

This isn’t just a Presbyterian thing, either. The 1689 London Baptist Confession (22.1) says God “may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men… under any visible representations.” Keach’s Catechism, the Baptist companion to the 1689, says the second commandment forbids “the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word.”

Even the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles (Article 22) call the worship of images “a fond thing vainly invented” and “repugnant to the Word of God.” Its Book of Homilies goes further, warning against making images of Christ at all, because his divine nature can never be pictured.

John Wesley, who was no Calvinist, wrote the Methodist Articles of Religion; he kept that same condemnation of image worship (Article XIV).

Presbyterians, Baptists (reformed), Anglicans, and Methodists (historical) don’t agree on everything, but, historically, stood together on this issue.

“But Jesus had a real face.”

Yes, He certainly had a real face. The Son of God took on a true human body. He had a face, a voice, and calloused hands. Oh my, that’s glorious!

But Jesus isn’t just a man with a divine side. He is one person, the eternal Son of God, who is fully God and fully man. “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

So any created image of “Jesus,” whether it be statues, drawings, or digital creations, has a major problem. Why is it a problem? Because it either claims to picture the person of the Son, which makes it an image of God, or it pictures a man who is not God, which makes it a false Christ. You can’t film half of Jesus. It is literally an "all or nothing" situation.

Think about this too: The Holy Spirit gave us four Gospels, and none of them tell us what Jesus looked like. Isaiah even says, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him” (Isaiah 53:2). I assure you, that silence isn't an accident because there are no unintentional or "throwaway" lines in Scripture. God didn’t leave out a description of Jesus' face just so Hollywood could fill in the gaps.

And let's not kid ourselves: a TV show goes much further than any painting. An actor speaks lines Jesus never spoke, makes facial expressions a writer imagined, and reacts in ways a director chose. Before long, that actor’s face is the face people picture when they pray. That’s exactly what the catechism means by an image made “inwardly in our mind.”

I also want to be fair and honest: I know not every Christian sees it this way. There are some sincere believers, including some Reformed folks, who draw this line differently. But I am convinced the historic Reformed reading is the biblical one, and I’d ask you to at least wrestle with it before brushing it off.

Plausible Fiction Is Still Fiction

One of the biggest issues I have with The Chosen is that the show openly admits to inventing material. Its opening disclaimer says it adds backstory and artistic imagination. The creators call it “plausible,” not “historical.”

It all sounds harmless until you see what it means in practice. In Season 2, Jesus prepares the Sermon on the Mount ahead of time, working through it with Matthew’s help. Yes, it’s a sweet scene. But it’s also not the Jesus of the Bible. When Jesus actually preached it, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority” (Matthew 7:28–29). Jesus didn’t need a writing partner; He is the Word.

Scripture warns us plainly and sternly: “Every word of God proves true… Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5–6).

When a show puts words in Jesus’ mouth, it isn’t adding color to the story. It’s adding to God’s testimony about his Beloved Son. The danger is that after a few seasons, most viewers can’t tell which lines came from Scripture and which came from the script. I’ve heard people quote the show as if it were the Bible.

John tells us why the Gospels were written: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). What God wrote is enough (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Beloved, we don’t need a better Jesus. We need the real one.

Who’s Shaping the Story?

I want to be careful and fair here. Dallas Jenkins, the show’s creator, professes to be an evangelical Christian. And I’m not claiming The Chosen teaches Mormonism.

But it’s public record that since Season 2, the show has filmed much of its footage on a Jerusalem set owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Goshen, Utah, with permission from LDS leadership. Some of its executive producers are Latter-day Saints. Jenkins himself has publicly downplayed the gap between the Mormon Jesus and the Jesus of Scripture.

And that gap is not small. LDS teaching denies the Trinity and presents Jesus as a created spirit child of Heavenly Father, the spirit brother of Lucifer. Paul warned about people who preach “another Jesus than the one we proclaimed” (2 Corinthians 11:4).

Here’s my concern: A show built so evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons can all nod along in agreement will tend to forget exactly what divides them. And what divides them is who Jesus is. A Jesus everybody can agree on is usually a Jesus that's vague enough not to offend anybody.

The real Jesus offends. Christ crucified is “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23). If the Jesus on your screen never makes anyone uncomfortable about who he claims to be, something has been edited out.

So, Should Christians Watch It?

My simplest and honest answer is "no."

I don’t say that because I think you’re a bad Christian if you’ve watched it. Watching The Chosen doesn’t undo the gospel, and grace covers sincere mistakes. Lord knows I've made more than my fair share and continue to do so on a daily basis.

But I also can’t call this a gray area. Romans 14 gives us freedom in things God hasn’t addressed, like food, days, alcohol, etc. But the second commandment isn’t one of those things. God has spoken, and He has spoken clearly and directly.

A few practical words:

• Pastors and church leaders. Please don’t show it in worship, Sunday school or small groups. Don’t host the watch party. Your people trust what you put in front of them.

• Parents. If your kids are watching it at friends’ houses or church events, talk with them. Ask, “How do we know what Jesus said?” and point them back to the Gospels.

• If you love the show. I’m not asking you to feel guilty. I’m simply asking you to open Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 4 and honestly ask what God is saying.

A Better Way to See Jesus

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a screen to see Christ clearly.

Paul told the Galatians, “Before your eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Galatians 3:1). How did he do that? He preached. God puts Christ before your eyes through a sermon, not a show.

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Peter wrote to people who had never laid eyes on Jesus: “Though you have not seen him, you love him” (1 Peter 1:8). And Jesus himself said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

So while the rest of the world is watching Season 6, try this instead:

• Read the passion accounts aloud with your family. Matthew 26–27 and John 18–19 are short and don't take long to read.

• Read one Gospel straight through in the next month. Mark is a great place to start.

• Sit under faithful preaching this Lord’s Day. Christ is set before your eyes there.

• Come to the Table. In the Lord’s Supper, God gives you a picture of Christ, designed by himself: bread and wine, not an actor.

Beloved, one day we will see his face: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4). “We shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

I assure you that face won’t belong to an actor, and it is worth waiting for that day.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV.