In Front | The Jefferson Bible, Part 2

Jefferson believed that the New Testament complicated and distorted the historical person Jesus of Nazareth by adding miracles and supernatural elements to his story.

Jesus did not mean to impose himself on mankind as the son of God . . . [though] he might [have believed] himself inspired from above. 

The Life and Morals consisted of versions of the four Gospels with all supernatural claims and elements removed. “We must reduce our volume,” Jefferson wrote:

. . . to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus . . . 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.

Jefferson meant this last statement literally. The book was made with a razor and glue, as preferred selections were cut from the text of a King James Version and pasted together on blank pages, later assembled into a volume. This Bible is still in print today; it represents a view of the Bible typical of the Enlightenment and the attempt to apply objective and materialistic standards to sacred literature. 

Sources: Thomas Jefferson, The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, 1989, p. 17; Mark A. Beliles and Jerry Newcombe, Doubting Thomas? The Religious Life and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson, 2014, p. 158.