Professor Sung Jin Lim
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way sermons are prepared. In the past, preachers had to spend considerable time consulting lexicons, commentaries, and biblical background resources. Today, however, AI can quickly provide information on the original languages, historical and cultural contexts, parallel passages, and a wide range of interpretive resources. In this sense, AI can serve as an extremely valuable research assistant for the preacher.
Nevertheless, biblical exegesis is far more than gathering information. While AI can supply resources about a passage, it cannot discern what that passage is saying to the church and congregation today. It can explain the original languages, but it cannot wrestle with the text before God. It can analyze historical backgrounds, but it cannot hear the voice of God.
Therefore, the preacher must use AI-generated resources only as a starting point and then return to the biblical text itself. By reading the passage repeatedly, praying, and meditating on it, the preacher must continually ask, “What is God saying to our church through this Word?” The life-giving power of preaching does not come from an abundance of information, but from the transforming work of God’s Word in the preacher’s own life.
In the age of AI, spiritual discipline becomes even more essential. As access to information becomes easier, the temptation is to spend less time wrestling with the biblical text. As a result, sermons may be rich in accurate information yet lack spiritual power and conviction. Such preaching is like a body that retains its outward form but has lost its soul.
Ultimately, AI should not replace the preacher but serve the preacher. AI can assist with gathering and organizing information, but discovering the central message of the text, discerning God’s will, and proclaiming a living message to the congregation remain the responsibility of the preacher. AI may support biblical study, but only the work of the Holy Spirit, together with the prayerful obedience of the preacher who stands before God’s Word, can bring a sermon to life.
