Thomas Jefferson once wrote to his friend Benjamin Rush, “I am a Christian, in the only sense he [Jesus] wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other.” Was Jefferson’s claim to be a Christian trustworthy?
Jefferson highly esteemed the ethics of Jesus Christ, and yet he didn’t believe Jesus Christ was God. How should we think about someone’s confession of Christ when they reject essential truths about Christ? Would you treat someone as a brother or sister who denied the deity of Christ? Is someone’s confession of Christ entirely personal or is there a corporate component to it?
I read that “Jefferson believed that the New Testament was written by unlearned apostles who often misunderstood Jesus and misrepresented his teaching.” [1] Can a brother and sister in Christ think this way about Christ’s apostles and the New Testament? PBS reported that Jefferson was a Deist—one who elevates reason over revelation—who rejected essential Biblical doctrines like the virgin birth, original sin, and the resurrection of Christ. [2] How are we to regard someone’s confession of Christ who rejects core doctrines of the gospel? You would treat him or her kindly, I hope, but would you treat him or her as a brother or a sister? And does someone truly know Christ if, like Jefferson, they put the law or morality or ethics at the center of the Christian faith instead of the gospel of a crucified and risen Christ for the forgiveness of sins?
Have you heard about the “Jefferson Bible”? Thomas Jefferson wrote a book titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s commonly referred to as the “Jefferson Bible.” Jefferson took copies of the Bible, cut out portions with a razor, and pasted them together to suit his own ideas of what Christianity is. He removed Christ’s miracles, most references to the supernatural, and content affirming the divinity of Christ. [3] Considering what Jefferson believed and perhaps the way he lived, what do you make of his statement, “I am a Christian”?
It is easy to confess to be a Christian, especially when there are so many different definitions of what a Christian is. Years ago, my wife went to grad school with a guy who assumed he was a Christian because he was an American. Should Kristina have accepted that guy’s confession? How should we begin to discern what a true Christian is? What signs would clue us in on whether someone’s confession of Christ is sincere? Good trees are known by their good fruit (Lk. 6:43-45). Right? The opposite is true as well.
Amalgamating various Scriptures, Article 29 of The Belgic Confession presents several essential Biblical marks of true Christians. When a person doesn’t bear these marks, their confession of Christ is undone, is invalidated. When an unrepentant man continues to beat his wife and kids but confesses his undying love for Christ and his family, it is loving and wise to doubt his confession and to intervene for the wellbeing of his wife and kids. True love is shown in patience, kindness, tenderness, gentleness. Similarly, what marks confirm a true confession of Christ?
Article 29 states, “Those who are of the church may be recognized by the marks of Christians.” This statement assumes that true Christians bearing the marks are inside the visible church and those who are truly the church are bearing the marks. Article 29 then gives five distinguishing marks. True Christians:
- “Believe in Jesus Christ the only Savior”
- “Flee from sin”
- “Pursue righteousness.”
- “Love the true God and their neighbor”
- “Crucify their flesh and its works.”
In summary, true Christians trust in Christ alone for salvation and life. They possess Christ’s grace, righteousness, and salvation by true faith. They depend on him as their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). He alone is their boast (1 Cor. 1:31). Not only does God’s law inform their definition of sin, but the gospel also compels them to hate and run from sin. As they daily sprint away from sin, they daily sprint towards righteousness. Striving to obey their heavenly Father is their passion. God’s law is their divine guide in how to truly love; the Holy Spirit is their power. We could say that true Christians bear the mark of true love as defined by God’s law. True Christians also crucify their flesh and its works; they mortify and vivify; they put off and put on. By faith alone and the Holy Spirit’s strength, they walk the hard road of repentance.
So, the confession of true Christians is accompanied by evidence or fruit, by confession-confirming marks. The adage is right, “Talk is cheap.” Confessing Christ is essential (Rom. 10:9), but it’s also easy, and the confession is disingenuous if not accompanied by the marks of true Christians. James said, “Faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). He meant that the kind of faith that is not accompanied by works is a dead faith that cannot save anyone. True and alive faith is expressed in and through true love of God, Christ’s church, and the worst of enemies.
So, true Christians never sin, then? Careful! Article 29 continues:
Although great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their life. They appeal constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of Jesus Christ, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins through faith in him.
This side of heaven, Christians deeply struggle against their sinful nature. They know their sin and spiritual weakness, and as they “appeal constantly to the [gospel]” and trust they possess the forgiveness of sins, “they fight [like crazy] against [the great remaining weakness in themselves] by the Spirit all the days of their life.” With confidence in the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, they humbly and dependently fight with zeal to overcome temptation, sin, and spiritual apathy and to walk in obedience to all the good commands of their heavenly Father.
Many people who confess Christ today are like Jefferson. They don’t take a literal razor to their Bibles, but they cut up the Bible nonetheless by ignoring or dismissing parts of it. One big way we see this Jeffersonian cutting today is how professing Christians dismiss clear commands relating to membership in a local church. They either don’t know the commands—ignorance—or they don’t care about them—apathy. Both reasons are bad, but when they hear the Word preached and continue to dismiss clear truths, shouldn’t we assume they’re taking a razor to the Scriptures?
Consider Hebrews 10:25. Unless providentially prevented, poor church attendance is sinful. What would persisting in this sin imply about someone’s confession of Christ? Consider Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2-3, 1 Timothy 3:1ff, and Hebrews 13:7 and 17. Refusing to come under the spiritual care and oversight of a group of godly shepherd-elders and refusing to submit yourself to them is sinful. What would persisting in this sin imply about someone’s confession of Christ? Consider John 13:34, 15:12 and 17, Romans 12, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Peter 1:22, and 1 John 4:7. How can a person obey any of these explicit commands from Jesus, commands to love the church, when they willfully and stubbornly refuse to commit themselves to a church? In fact, how can anyone obey Ephesians 5:21 apart from church membership? What would persisting in these obvious sins imply about someone’s confession of Christ? Maybe they’re ignorant. They should be instructed, which proves even more their great need for membership and shepherding oversight and care. Perhaps they’re just taking a razor to Scripture and proving they don’t really know and love Christ. They take their razors into churches that leave them alone.
Sometimes our sins are more obvious to those around us, to those who truly love us. It’s easier for others to see into our blind spots, and that’s one huge reason we need the church. Membership in a local church is a grace, a blessing, and a safeguard. To confess Christ while avoiding his church is a serious sin that hurts those who continue in it. We should pray that God opens their eyes and brings them to true repentance so they can receive the limitless grace and blessing God has for them inside the visible church. Our appeal is sincere: If you truly love Christ, please, we beseech you, join yourself to us and walk this pilgrim journey in partnership with Christ and his beloved church . . . us.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible
Quotes from the Belgic Confession are taken from Guido de Brès & Jonathan Shirk, The Belgic Confession: Truth Worth Dying For (Manheim: Small Town Theologian, 2024). Purchase at: https://shorturl.at/aqZDk
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one-half of any book of the ESV Bible.
