The very beginning of the series introduced the importance of Jesus’ miracles to his moral precepts. The supernatural elements in the gospels are so well-known, it is difficult for many to imagine the gospel message without them. However, ‘many’ does not include Thomas Jefferson. After his stint as president, Jefferson made a version of the New Testament that removed Jesus’ miracles almost entirely. The Jefferson Bible (JB) is an intriguing read, and highlights how miracles change the message of the gospels.



In 1820[1], the former president undertook creating a version of the gospels that extracted “the pure principles which he[Jesus] taught…by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book.”[2] Jefferson’s reference to cutting verses was literal, and he actually used a blade and glue to produce what he originally called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth [3,4]. He started with all four gospel accounts and chose different passages to compose a composite work. This work excludes almost all records of the supernatural, so most of the passages referenced in this series cannot be found in the JB. There are also cases when a miracle happens in a moral teaching, and Jefferson decided to remove those specific verses, while attempting to maintain the philosophical ideas. The finished product is quite fascinating.



Even Christians who object strongly to Jefferson’s work can recognize that it reads generally quite well. This is true for a number of reasons. First, there are many passages in the gospels that do not include miracles, so these are indistinguishable from the originals. Excerpts of the New Testament that purely record and discuss Jesus’ morals are elementary inclusions. Secondly, where multiple accounts record the same event, Jefferson chooses the version that is without any supernatural content*. Finally, some portions of the New Testament do read smoothly when a miracle is removed. For example, see Jefferson’s rendition of passage where Jesus heals a blind man from John 9:1-3:



12 And as he passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his

Birth. 13 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 14 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” 15 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. From The Jefferson Bible, Chapter 8

When no miracle is involved in this portion of the narrative, the meaning shifts “the works of God” from an external source, Jesus, to the actions of the blind man himself. The naturalistic interpretation makes sense, and it is easy to see why Jefferson included the passage. Immediately following this is an example of discordancy.

The text then jumps to the beginning of John 10 (JB 8:15 above), where Jesus talks about the “Good Shepherd and The Sheep”. It ignores the ensuing drama and religious discussion brought about by the man’s sight restoration. This topical jump breaks up the flow of the passage, and occurs without any textual forewarning of contextual change**. In other places, Jefferson’s removals leave behind strange ‘ghosts’ in the narrative.

One snippet from the JB contains not only an obvious excision, but the wording makes it extremely clear that a supernatural event was expected. Jefferson allows a suggestion of healing to remain in the text, which states:

55 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him[Jesus], saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

From the Jefferson Bible, Chapter 1

It is quite apparent from the text that Jesus is talking about the possibility of healing this man. The only real mystery to the reader*** is what happened after the conversation. One might think this was a minor error on Jefferson’s part, but further reading suggests the opposite. Another instance of a similar conversation occurs later in the work, but in reference to healing dropsy. Once again, a healing is discussed, but is not portrayed. Such consistency indicates that Jefferson did not mistakenly include these verses, but felt they were either ‘genuine’ components of the narrative, and/or necessary context for the ensuing discussion. This presents a contradiction with Jefferson’s thought process in formulating this composite gospel.



Jefferson believed Jesus’ actual life was “easily distinguished by it’s lustre from the dross of his biographers, and as separable from that as the diamond from the dung hill.”[2] The aforementioned ‘ghosts’ in the narrative are very curious artifacts of Jefferson’s editing, because they shouldn’t exist, given the foundational philosophy. Jefferson makes the gospels’ miracles out to be simple insertions in a historical narrative [5]. If this were true, it should be much easier to analytically read his finished work. Instead, we find that the miracles of Jesus are deeply rooted in the writing process of the gospel narrative. The writers treated these as ‘real’ and as seriously as they did the philosophical concepts.



The Jefferson Bible provides an excellent opportunity for a cursory reading of the gospels. However, a closer reading brings its methodology into question. Jefferson’s approach to removing miracles from the gospels is mostly polished, but not pristine. His attempt not only permits heavy suggestions of the supernatural, but also raises critical questions about why such elements should be removed.



Notes

* Compare Luke 22:50-51 to Mark 14:47 account of Jesus’ arrest. See also JB 15:13-20.

** Originally, Thomas Jefferson intended his work for personal use.

*** In the original work[4], this change is more obvious due to the cut and pasted passages.

Sources

Smithsonian Institute. (n.d.). History. Retrieved August 18, 2019, from https://americanhistory.si.edu/JeffersonBible/history/ Jefferson, T. (n.d.). Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 12 October 1813. Retrieved August 18, 2019, from https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0431 Jefferson, T. (n.d.). The Jefferson Bible (C. M. Province, Ed.). Retrieved from http://pattonhq.com/links/uccministry/jeffbible.pdf

Text only version of Jefferson Bible. Jefferson, T. (n.d.). The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. Retrieved August 18, 2019, from https://americanhistory.si.edu/JeffersonBible/the-book/?page=5&view=scan

Scan of original Jefferson Bible. Jefferson, T. (n.d.). Founders Online: From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 13 April 1820. Retrieved August 18, 2019, from https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-1218