The Matrix and The Bible research paper

Josmeile Paniagua

ENG101/103

Dr. McCormick

5/17/12

Topic: The Matrix and The Bible

Thesis: How the characters in the movie The Matrix relate to the characters of the bible and how the movie The Matrix connects to the Bible.

Gnostic Christianity the belief that finding God through knowledge is more important than just believing in him; seems to relate quite a lot with the movie The Matrix, in fact some of the characters in the matrix represent some biblical characters.

In the movie The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo the main character of the movie that he is “the one” that would stop the matrix and set all the people free from it. The matrix is a computer dream world that everybody is living in. As Jesus explained, "The shadows of this world are perceived by mortals, and they think they know the Truth, but the Reality which casts the shadows is hidden from them, and they do not perceive the Light." (Sayings 2:2) this relates to how in the matrix people think that real world is earth but it isn’t because the machines control it, the real world is where the machines are. “Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is? The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” These two quotes one from the bible and the other from the movie script explains how the matrix works to make believe that their dream world is reality. Neo’s name Thomas Anderson relates to the Gnostic Gospel The Gospel of Thomas, this gospel is about how Thomas didn't believe he was the one, just as how Neo at first didn’t believe he was “the one” as well.“Neo: I'm not the One, Trinity. The Oracle told me.” Neo at the beginning of the movie was living two lives one as Anderson a computer software worker and the other as a computer hacker that goes by Neo. “Agent Smith: Mr. Anderson. It seems that you've been living two lives.” This is one of the many ways in which Neo represents Christ, because it can be said that Christ was living to lives one as in a full man and the other as being a fully god. Moving on, both Neo and Jesus Christ, although they did it differently, through their resurrection they freed the human race. Jesus does it by dying and being resurrected from the death, through this he frees humanity from all sin; Neo does it towards the end of the movie, where he learns the truth and frees humans from the matrix by passing it to others.

         Morpheus can be said that relates to two biblical characters, which would be Joseph and God. He is like Joseph in how he guides Neo throughout the whole movie, and in the bible Joseph was like a father to Christ and also guided him out of Jerusalem because they wanted to kill Jesus Christ. “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.”(Mat 2:14)This can relate how in the movie the matrix and Agent Smith were trying to kill Neo, and Morpheus guides Neo all the times. But Morpheus can also be related to God because in the movie it is said that Neo has been searching for Morpheus and so has Morpheus but his entire life, you can connect this to the relation that God wants to have with us since we are born. Another strong connection Morpheus has to God will be the way he contacts Neo, he didn’t contact him through himself but rather sends Trinity to contact him for him, God as well does this to. God contacts us first through the Holy Spirit.

Trinity connects to the Holy Spirit by the way she works throughout the movie. One example would be how Neo resurrected from her just as how Jesus resurrected through the Holy Spirit. The meaning to Trinity’s name has also to do with her role as the Holy spirit, her name means the number three and as we all know that in the bible it’s always “The father”, “The son”, and the “Holy Spirit” just how its Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity that fight the machines; its always 3 people in both the movie and the bible.

The Oracle can be seen as a Prophet in the way that she can predict future events. Like how she predicted that Neo wasn’t the one, “Same as the bad news, you're not the one.” that’s in a way in which a prophet works delivering god’s message and at times predicting future events.

         Furthermore, Cypher also as Morpheus connects to two biblical characters. One of the biblical characters that he relates to would be Judas the man that betrayed Christ in exchange of money. “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.”(Mar 14:10) As you seen in the movie Cypher is seen talking to Smith about returning to the matrix world, and he tells Smith that when he returns to the matrix world he wants to be rich, somebody important like a famous person and that he wanted to live a luxurious life. Cypher also can relate to the Devil as you may have noticed Cypher in the beginning of the movie wears all red this following feature relates to the Devil’s image that we all have of him. He also relates to the Devil in how he was part of Morpheus team and didn't believe the prophecy that there was a chosen one and therefore he betrays them, just how the Devil betrayed God, he was once one of God's angels and betrayed him because he didn't agree with him. Cypher's definition of his name refers to a math symbol, which means zero, meaning someone that has no value, as everybody knows the man with no value would be Satan.

Lastly, Agent Smith relates to two biblical characters as well, Agent Smith would be King Herod the king that was afraid of the chosen one Jesus of changing his laws and his ways. “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”(Mat 2:13) As the king he decided to find Jesus and kill him. He also relates to the devil because it is said that the devil has 7 different heads and Smith and the other agents are always changing from body to body and when they move fast you can see multiple faces moving. Also how throughout the whole movie Smith's purpose was to destroy Morpheus and Neo, “curse God, and die.” just as the devil wants to destroy god and Christ. 

 In conclusion, the characters from The Matrix, through their actions throughout the movie and their purpose in the movie show how they relate to some biblical characters and also to Gnostic Christianity.