Thomas Jefferson
American Statesman, Enlightenment Thinker, and Editor of the “Jefferson Bible”
1743–1826
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, political philosopher, advocate of religious liberty, and one of the most influential figures of the American Enlightenment. He served as the third president of the United States and was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. For the Berean Bible Study Project, however, Jefferson is especially important because of his unusual approach to Jesus and the Gospels. He admired Jesus as a moral teacher while rejecting central elements of historic Christian belief, including the Trinity, Christ’s divinity, biblical miracles, the atonement, and the bodily resurrection. (Monticello)
Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in colonial Virginia into a prosperous planter family. He studied at the College of William and Mary and trained as a lawyer. His intellectual formation was deeply shaped by Enlightenment thinkers who emphasized reason, natural law, religious toleration, and freedom of conscience. These convictions influenced both his political philosophy and his religious thought.
Jefferson became a leading figure in the movement for American independence. In 1776 he drafted most of the Declaration of Independence, with its famous assertion that human beings possess rights derived from their Creator. He later served as governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state, vice president, and president from 1801 to 1809. He also strongly supported religious liberty. His Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom opposed governmental coercion in matters of faith, and his later correspondence helped popularize the image of a “wall of separation” between church and state. (Monticello)
Jefferson’s personal religious beliefs were much less orthodox than his public references to Providence might suggest. He considered himself a theist and deeply admired the ethical teachings of Jesus, but he rejected many doctrines regarded as essential by historic Christianity. He did not accept the Trinity or the deity of Christ and regarded supernatural biblical events with considerable skepticism. His religion was strongly shaped by the Enlightenment conviction that revelation should be evaluated according to reason. (Monticello)
This approach is most clearly displayed in the work popularly known as the Jefferson Bible. Jefferson actually produced two related compilations from the Gospels. His surviving version, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, was assembled by physically cutting passages from printed New Testaments in English, French, Latin, and Greek and arranging them into a chronological narrative. He retained many of Jesus’ sayings, parables, and moral teachings while excluding passages involving miracles and supernatural claims that he considered contrary to reason. (Monticello)
The resulting narrative ends dramatically differently from the canonical Gospels. Jefferson retained Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and burial but omitted the resurrection. His project therefore illustrates more than a preference for certain teachings of Jesus; it represents a deliberate judgment about which portions of the Gospel accounts should be regarded as credible.
Jefferson’s legacy also contains profound contradictions. The author of words proclaiming human equality owned enslaved people throughout his lifetime. His political advocacy of liberty therefore existed alongside participation in and benefit from slavery. Any responsible account of Jefferson must hold these realities together rather than allowing his achievements to obscure them.
As a conversation partner, Jefferson is valuable precisely because he stands outside orthodox Christian theology. He represents an Enlightenment approach in which human reason becomes the criterion by which Scripture is accepted, rejected, or reconstructed. His admiration for Jesus raises an important question: Can Jesus’ moral teaching be separated from the biblical claims about his identity, miracles, death, and resurrection?
For the Berean Bible Study Project, Jefferson provides a particularly useful contrast. The Berean method certainly employs reason, historical investigation, textual criticism, and careful judgment. But it does not grant the interpreter authority to reconstruct Scripture according to what he or she considers reasonable. Jefferson’s “Bible” therefore illustrates the difference between examining Scripture critically and placing human judgment above Scripture.
His inclusion among our Conversation Partners does not imply theological agreement. Rather, Jefferson helps us confront a recurring modern temptation: to admire those teachings of Jesus that appeal to us while rejecting those portions of the apostolic witness that challenge our assumptions.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
—2 Timothy 3:16