Question
Can AI Glorify God?
AI is a tool, and tools can be turned to God’s glory — but the question is more complicated than it sounds. AI does not glorify God by default, and Christians who use AI without discernment may find themselves serving its embedded assumptions rather than the other way around.
The straightforward answer is yes: any tool, well used, can serve God’s purposes. AI can summarize research, accelerate good writing, support translation, expand access, and free human time for higher-order work. Christians should not be reflexively suspicious of AI any more than they are reflexively suspicious of word processors or printing presses. The technology itself is not the problem.
The complication is that AI is not just a tool. It is a tool with embedded assumptions about knowledge, authorship, value, and human work. When Christians use AI without examining those assumptions — the implicit anthropology, the data sources, the optimization targets — they risk being shaped by the technology even as they appear to be using it. AI can glorify God when it is used by Christians whose discernment is robust enough to resist its formative pressures. It does not glorify God automatically by virtue of being deployed by a Christian.
Key Takeaways: AI Use Requires Active Discernment
Core Concept: AI is a tool, but not a neutral one — it carries embedded assumptions.
Diagnostic Questions: What does this tool teach me to value? Whose work does it displace? What does it teach me about authorship and truth?
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:31 (whatever you do, do all to the glory of God).
The “So What”: AI can serve God’s glory when used by Christians whose discernment is strong enough to resist its formative pressures.
About the Author
James Spencer, PhD, is a theologian, author, and host of the Thinking Christian podcast, where he writes and speaks on Christian formation, political theology, and technology. He holds a PhD in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and completed the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He serves as President of the D.L. Moody Center in Northfield, Massachusetts, as adjunct faculty in Wheaton College’s MA in Leadership program, and as an Associate Research Fellow at the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Christianity.com, and Sojourners. His forthcoming book is Discipleship and Discernment in the Digital Age (InterVarsity Press, Fall 2026). Learn more at jamesgspencer.com.