Jefferson created two collections of excerpts from the scriptures that have been called "versions" of the Bible. His purpose for each has been misinterpreted and maligned. 

Jefferson wrote letters explaining the reasoning behind the "Bibles" he created. Sadly, his writings are seldom used to explain his works. Instead, we often hear that his personal views on the Bible cast doubts on it's legitimacy as the word of God. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

The first "Bible" of Jefferson's was a shortened version of the gospels for use in simplifying the presentation of the gospel to native Americans. This work focused on the life of Jesus with the intended purpose of influencing native Americans to become disciples of Jesus. Rather than eliminating the miracles of Jesus, as many claim today, this document focuses on them. 

This work accomplished least two things. #1) It simplified the gospel story so that it could be efficiently communicated to native peoples, and #2) It provided missionaries with a document that was much less expensive to reproduce and proliferate among those he intended to see evangelized. Available documents even show that Jefferson arranged for federal funds to be used to print and distribute these abridged gospel messages. 

The second "Bible" was also borne of a noble cause. Believing that many of the nation's troubles could be solved simply by citizens adopting a higher standard of moral practices, Jefferson produced a document that was wholly, and simply a collection of the moral teachings of Jesus. He first studied the moral teachings of 30 historical religious leaders and philosophers such as Pythagoras, Seneca, Plutarch, Aristotle, Plato and others. He concluded that the moral teachings of Jesus were superior to the rest, and so put a collection of 50 excerpts from the gospels into a single document which he titled, "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth". His sole purpose was to provide a "quick-reference" if you will, to the life and teachings of Jesus as a tool to educate America's citizens to these higher ideals and encourage their adoption and practice. 

The United States Congress would eventually begin publishing this volume around 1902 in order to provide every member of congress with a copy, which they did for about 50 years. 

If Jefferson doubted the legitimacy of the Bible as the word of God as many now claim, he had a funny way of showing it. He was the impetus behind two major attempts to fulfill Jesus' great commission. The first, to put God's word into the hearts of native Americans, and the second, to put that same word into the minds and practices of America's leaders.