Our Very Own Jefferson Bible
If we truly believe in the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture, we can't pass over the many things the Bible says about our speech
Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, and Founding Father, famously created his own “Jefferson Bible.” He never published it, but it was titled, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. In a letter to John Adams, he explained what he was doing:
In extracting the pure principles which he taught, we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms, as instruments of riches and power to them. We must dismiss the Platonists & Plotinists, the Stagyrites & Gamalielites, the Eclectics the Gnostics & Scholastics, Logos & Demi-urgos, Aeons & Daemons male & female, with a long train of Etc. Etc. Etc. or, shall I say at once, of Nonsense. We must reduce our volume to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus, paring off the Amphibologisms into which they have been led, by forgetting often, or not understanding, what had fallen from him, by giving their own misconceptions as his dicta, and expressing unintelligibly for others what they had not understood themselves. There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill. The result is an 8vo of 46 pages of pure and unsophisticated doctrines
Historian Thomas Kidd, author of the biography, Thomas Jefferson, Biography of Spirit and Flesh, describes what issues Jefferson had with Scripture:
Jefferson reviled beliefs like the Trinity and the virgin birth as irrational and implausible. He said that he looked forward to the time “when we shall have done away the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three.”
Jefferson, who grew up in a Christian home and in a generally Christian environment, nevertheless found parts of Scripture he didn’t like. Christians reading this today would, of course, rightly reject this approach. We affirm what Paul told to Timothy,
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
The authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture is an essential doctrine for Christians. Listen to what The Baptist Faith and Message says:
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
Other conservative evangelical denominations and fellowships have similar affirmations. So, we would reject what Jefferson did with the Bible. We’d also reject similar, though less honest attempts at rewriting Scripture to accommodate cultural sensibilities. Every generation of believers must say no to the whisper of the serpent who asks, “Has God truly said?” Either we take all of Scripture, including the parts that make us uncomfortable or we take none of it.
Most Christians reading this would nod their head and affirm this belief in Scripture. Most of us rightly recoil when progressive Christians try to accommodate the sexual revolution by editing out the clear portions of Scripture’s sexual ethic.
Yet if we are not careful, those of us who reject this might often be guilty of our own Jefferson Bible in the way we are tempted to overlook the Scripture’s many admonitions to obedience in the way we speak and the way we carry ourselves as Christians.
Scripture not only urges us to speak truth in a world of lies, it gives us guidelines for the way we speak. One of my life verses is 1 Peter 3:15-16, which urges God’s people to both “Have an answer for every man for the hope that lies within you,” but also to do this with “gentleness and kindness.” In other words, we should be unflinching and courageous to speak up against false ideologies and we should be committed to speaking in ways that honor God. Now it is true that language is often culturally conditioned. What might have been considered crass in another era might be considered polite today and vice versa.
Yet there is no escaping the overwhelming number of Scriptures that concern themselves with the way we conduct ourselves in public. Consider Paul’s words to the church in Ephesians 4, a chapter that begins with the admonition to “walk worthy.” He describes some of what that looks like:
Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity. Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.
Or consider another of Paul’s admonitions to another church, this time in Colossians:
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts
Notice those traits: kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are not mere suggestions or sort of ala carte virtues. Paul is saying that a sign of the spirit’s work in your life, a sign of spiritual maturity, is the way you speak and carry yourself. This is the fruit of the spirit described in Galatians 5. There should be something distinctly Christian about the way we act and speak.
Now, I often get pushback on this by well-meaning brothers and sisters who will say, “But the stakes are high. The issues are important. The culture is moving against us.” I don’t disagree and I don’t think the Apostles who were inspired by God to write Scripture would, either. Speaking Christianly doesn’t preclude boldness or saying hard things that are unpopular, but true and right. Remember Paul is writing these admonitions from prison, where he was incarcerated for preaching the gospel. Peter was one who was unafraid to defend Jesus. Both were martyred for their faith. And yet, they urge God’s people to speak “with grace (Colossians 4:6).” We in our day, despite “what time it is” are not more courageous than the Apostles.
To be civil, to be Christian, in our speech, is not to be confused with being “nice” or compromising our beliefs in order to gain a favorable audience. Sometimes we can speak with kindness and still, the words of truth will be rejected. Gentleness doesn’t preclude suffering. But Scripture doesn’t put forward kindness as a tactic to be tried and discarded, but a virtue to be put on with the power of the Spirit.
Another pushback I will often hear from well-meaning Christians is the example of Jesus flipping over tables in the temple. It is true that Jesus demonstrated righteous anger at what was taking place in the temple. But there are three things that should give us pause about using this episode in the gospels as a justification for our undisciplined speech and actions. First, we should acknowledge that you and I, in our interactions with others, are not Jesus. He is the Son of God and was fulfilling a divine mission in cleansing the temple. Second, Jesus was always perfect in his demonstration of anger. We cannot be sure that our hearts are always pure and our motives pure. If the above admonition from Ephesians tells us to “be angry and sin not,” clearly there are ways we can sin with our rage. There are sinful lines we can cross, even when our cause is just. Lastly, Jesus’ table-flipping doesn’t overrule or erase the many, many admonitions toward distinctly Christian speech in Scripture. Jesus as Son of God is the author of Scripture. It is Jesus speaking to us through Solomon, through Paul, through Peter, through James. Those passages don’t carry less weight than Jesus’ temple cleansing.
I believe the way we communicate is especially important for Christian leaders. Notice the qualifications Paul outlines in two passages. Titus 1:
An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
Notice: Not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not a bully, sensible, self-controlled
1 Timothy 3:
An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.
Notice: self-controlled, sensible, respectable, not a bully, but gentle, not quarrelsome, good reputation among outsiders
We are aware that a Christian leader can disqualify himself for his moral failures. But do we understand that one sign of a godly leader is also the way he carries himself? The speech he uses? Today, a leader who exhibits these traits might be called weak or “beta.” When someone reprimands someone’s ungodly speech, they might be accused of “tone-policing.” But Scripture says that a leader worth following is a leader who, while imperfect and a sinner in progress, exhibits these virtues. They are not optional or ala carte.
This is underscored in James 3, where the brother of Jesus warns Christian leaders about the sober weight of their calling and the power of their tongues (and today we might say thumbs). Again, to underscore, this doesn’t mean we need leaders who lack boldness and clarity in their preaching and teaching. Remember 1 Peter 3:15 does urge us to “have an answer for every man.” Yet it matters, more than we want to admit, how we say things.
Of course, none of us has arrived when it comes to exhibiting the fruit of the spirit, least of all me. I’ve got a lot of words out there I’d love to take back. I have said things in sinful ways. In an age of communication, where we are sharing a lot of words in public, we are especially vulnerable.
But let’s not do our version of the Jefferson Bible.
I have more to say about this topic in A Way With Words
A reminder that my advent book, The Characters of Christmas is available as is the Children’s version.
Thanks Daniel, for reminding me that being kind doesn't necessarily mean being soft on sin.