Why "The Passion of the Christ" and not "The Passion of Christ"?
The short answer
Probably because "Christ" is a title, not a personal name: it means "the Anointed One." "The Passion of the Christ" keeps that sense; "The Passion of Christ" would read the title as if it were a name.
A title, not a name
"Christ" means "the Anointed One." Mel Gibson likely chose his film's title to reflect that, so it can be read as The Passion of the Anointed One.
What would be lost
The Passion of Christ would lose the sense that "the Christ" is a title. Rendered literally, it would become "The Passion of Anointed One," which is grammatically wrong.
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