The Gospel According to Jefferson

by Travis L. Quertermous

From The Reminder, August 29, 2010

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most famous Americans in history. His face is on Mt. Rushmore, he was the author of the Declaration of Independence, a Founding Father, and our third president among many other noteworthy accomplishments. But despite his brilliance in other fields, Jefferson once did something that wasn’t very smart. He took it upon himself to publish his own version of the New Testament, with all the miracles of Jesus Christ edited out. Now Jefferson described himself as a Christian, so why would he do such a thing?

Copies of the Jefferson Bible are still in print. The dust jacket explains, “Jefferson was convinced that the authentic message of Jesus could be found only by extracting from the Gospels Jesus’ message of absolute love and service, rather than the miracle of the Annunciation, Virgin Birth, or even the Resurrection.” But no matter how noble Jefferson’s motives may have seemed to him, it was still a foolish thing to do because the miracles of Jesus are just as important to the gospel as the Sermon on the Mount.

In fact, Christianity is meaningless without the resurrection of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Cor. 15:17). So the gospel according to Jefferson is worthless. Friends, I’ll stick with Jesus and Paul—what about you?