Large language models (LLMs) have been making big waves for years. Their use has been embraced with open arms and promoted to the tune of billions of dollars.
For Christians who are convinced that Bible intake is good and healthy, the promises of AI agents are loud and potentially persuasive. If LLMs can make work and correspondence easier, why not Bible study? It would be the work of seconds to query an AI chatbot and ask for help studying the Bible.
As the headline to this article (hopefully) makes clear, I urge you to reconsider. If you’re leaning on an LLM for Bible study, you might have forgotten why we study the Bible.
Personal Study
If Bible study were just about information, this website would not exist. Instead, we could recommend good Bible commentaries and call it a day.
Many picture the outcome of Bible study as a tidy summary of a chapter or passage of Scripture. They primarily think of understanding as the goal. And while understanding is essential to Bible study, stopping at this stage is like heading off to work in your underwear—a good start, yes, but far from complete.
The goal of Bible study is to glorify God by loving him and our neighbors. In other words, we study the Bible so that we might be transformed (Hebrews 4:12, Romans 12:1-2).
In OIA Bible study, the O (observation) and I (interpretation) steps are primarily intellectual. The A (application) step is often the hardest because it is personal. It requires repentance, faith, and change.
The Holy Spirit changes Christians. One of the major ways this happens is by studying and applying the Scriptures (Psalm 19:7-11).
LLMs may do a passable job summarizing a Bible passage. But they are unlikely to get at the main point, and they cannot, by definition, help us any further.
Let’s be clear. Artificial intelligence cannot transform you into the image of Christ.
Bible study should produce new and renewed people, not merely people who are smarter or more informed. This happens in application, but observation and interpretation are not incidental. The Scriptures will land on us with their proper weight and force when our hands are dirty. We are far better equipped to apply a passage after studying it ourselves instead of reading a summary. What is more nutritious to body and soul, a warmed-up Italian frozen dinner or a lasagna prepared with love in the kitchen?
The process of studying the Bible is the entire point of studying the Bible. When we advocate for ordinary Christians to study the Bible, we are not claiming the world needs more summaries or commentaries on Scripture. Instead, we insist that the world needs more people who have studied and been changed by the Bible.
Leading Bible Studies
My co-blogger Peter has written about his concern with the presence of AI in Logos Bible software. I am also troubled by this development.
Moving from personal Bible study to leading a Bible study is challenging, and writing good questions is especially hard. I understand the impulse to offload this task.
However, just like with personal study, the process is part of the point. The skills of asking questions and mapping the logical steps toward the main point of a passage are crucial for leaders. We miss out on this development when we look to an LLM for direction. (The same is true when we consult other pre-packaged Bible study curricula.)
There’s another danger when using AI for Bible study group preparation. Small groups need their leaders to blaze the trail of change and give a preview of the terrain. Transformed people point the way to transformation.
Not that everyone will have the same applications! But a leader who is being transformed shows group members that change is desirable, possible, and a natural outcome of Bible study. The specific applications a leader shares will prompt others to apply the text specifically.
Further, no Bible study aid knows your group members like you do. Ideally, our questions and comments will be specific to the people in our group. LLMs are just next-word prediction engines; they don’t know any humans, much less the ones you are called to love.
A Place for AI
I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I suspect there may be responsible, wise uses of artificial intelligence that emerge over the next months and years. For now, I will approach AI with what I hope is healthy skepticism. I fear that as a people we are handing too many character-shaping, skill-building tasks over to LLMs in the name of efficiency.
Christians are not called primarily to be efficient. We are called to be holy and to point others toward the One who can make them holy. When this involves studying God’s word, we lean on artificial intelligence agents to the detriment of our souls and the souls of our neighbors and friends.
