The Jefferson Bible
By: Dustin Chapters
Tags: Thomas Jefferson, First Amendment, Bible Study, Bible, American History

While serving as the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson author of the Declaration of Independence, sat down with a razor blade and a few Bibles intending to rid the New Testament gospel message of those aspects that appeared “contrary to reason” leaving behind only the “authentic” story of Jesus. He completed the first version of what came to be known as the “Jefferson Bible” over the course of 2–3 March nights in Washington D.C. in 1804 “after getting thro’ the evening task of reading the letters and papers of the day.” The final version of his work included cuttings in Latin, Greek, French, and English he completed 16 years later in 1820 at the age of 77. In a letter to John Adams in 1814, he described the process as extracting “diamonds from dunghills.” Jefferson had his book professionally bound by Frederick A. Mayo, a Richmond bookbinder, in red leather with gold tooling entitled “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.”

For someone who did so much for articulating the American ideals of liberty, speech, press, and conscience, this exercise by Jefferson to separate morality from religion should come as no surprise. Jefferson considered organized and established clergy prone to what he called “priestcraft”, which distorted the Bible’s true teachings. Religion was everywhere in Jefferson’s world, and it was often used to further corruption and support tyrannical regimes. In Virginia, he witnessed the government used to suppress the gatherings of Presbyterians, Baptists, and others. Likewise, he saw respected professors at the College of William and Mary forced into silence due to their “rational” beliefs. He saw firsthand the necessity of the separation of Church and State and sought to further establish it into the fabric of our Nation.

In his 1785 Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson wrote: “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket or breaks my leg.” He advocated that neither unorthodoxy nor outright disbelief posed any threat to society. A student of the Enlightenment and influenced by philosophers such as John Locke, Thomas Paine, and Joseph Priestly, his experience led him to what Jefferson himself considered one of his greatest accomplishments: The 1786 Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom which was the precursor to the First Amendment.

On August 4, 1820, Jefferson wrote to Willam Short about his book:

“Among the sayings & discourses imputed to Him by His biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence: and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth; charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate therefore the gold from the dross; restore to him the former, & leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that His part composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been given to us by man.”

Despite his irreverence towards the New Testament and the Church, Jefferson considered himself a Christian, declaring being “of a sect by myself.”

“To the corruptions of Christianity, I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.”

~ Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803.

“Denying the divinity of Jesus, Jefferson credited him with bringing the highest moral wisdom to the world. No divinity was necessary, either for the reformer of Jewish beliefs or for any other human being. Morality arose not from revelation or inspiration, but rather from the dictates of nature and reason.”

~ pg. 25–26 of the Smithsonian Edition

Jefferson rarely spoke about his personal beliefs in public. His Bible seems to have been created primarily for his private use during his lifetime. It did not fall into public hands till 1895, over a half-century after Jefferson’s death.

In 1901, Congress considered the work of such great value that it authorized the printing of nine thousand copies. It became customary for copies to be distributed to newly-elected members of Congress on the day they were sworn into office. This practice lasted well into the 50's.

A private organization, the Libertarian Press, revived the practice in 1997, and in 2011, the American Humanist Society published a new edition, distributing a free copy to every member of Congress and President Obama.

The copy seen here is a 2011 replica of Jefferson’s book at the Smithsonian. It is scanned from the original pages and completed with hand-pasted clippings to match Jefferson’s work. It is a beautiful work of art and preserved history.