The New Testament requires multiple qualifications of those who serve as elders-pastors of Christ’s church (see 1 Tim 3:1-8; Titus 1:5-9). Every qualification but one (the ability to teach and defend the truth) is a character quality. God is not ultimately concerned with a man’s business prowess or whether he has an “outgoing” personality. God’s main concern is that godly men with the requisite spiritual gifts fill the ranks of overseers in local congregations.
In this article, I want to focus on a character qualification found in Paul’s letter to Titus, namely, the call for the pastor to be holy (Titus 1:8; ESV). Alexander Strauch describes a holy elder this way:
Such [holy] elders do not steal church funds, lie to people, watch pornography, plagiarize, get drunk, manipulate people, or compromise with sin and the world. They are examples of authentic, Christlike living. (Biblical Eldership, 23)
As we consider holiness in relation to a man’s labor in preaching and teaching, we need address the issue of sermon plagiarism. It should be obvious to all Christians that a holy pastor is not someone who steals sermons or lessons from other pastors, yet it happens a fair amount today.
Consider the following contemporary examples:
- About five years ago, a young pastor in Tennessee was found to have plagiarized 200 sermons from other preachers.
- Only four years ago a pastor and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention was found to have plagiarized nearly word-for-word another pastor’s sermons as he preached through the book of Romans.
- Back in 2024, a pastor in Indianapolis was found to have copied many portions of a sermon from another pastor in his messages on politics.
- About twelve years ago a pastor here in the Bay Area was found to be printing and preaching John MacArthur sermons verbatim during the worship service.
These examples were not merely an instance of the preacher inadvertently using of a phrase without proper citation. These men were lifting large portions or preaching entire messages without attribution. In each case, the plagiarism was obviously intentional.
Along with plagiarism, it is tempting today to simply ask AI to write you a 40-minute sermon on any text in the Bible. To see how easily this can be done, I recently submitted the following prompt to a popular AI platform: “Write me a 40-minute sermon on Psalm 1:1-6.”
I was amazed at what AI was able to produce: a high-quality manuscript with exposition, illustrations, and application. Fifteen hours of work completed in three seconds of writing the prompt and pushing enter.
But, concerning the use of AI, someone might argue, “Why dismiss such a useful tool. Busy pastors would be greatly helped if they didn’t have to spend so much time on their sermons each week.” One could make a similar argument for plagiarism. But neither AI usage nor plagiarism are matters of efficiency.
When a pastor plagiarizes a sermon, taps AI to write his sermon, or uses any other method to create the bulk of his message, we are given a window directly into his heart. These shortcuts can reveal several possible realities about a man’s motivations for and understanding of pastoral ministry, all of which are red-flags regarding his fitness for the work of elder.
I will offer five possible spiritual deficiencies that plagiarism and AI usage (for sermon writing) reveal about a man’s heart.
(1) He doesn’t understand that authentic preaching and teaching only come from a man who is experiencing the sanctifying power of the Word of God for himself. When a man plagiarizes his sermons or uses AI to write them, he may do it because he thinks that merely repeating what another has taught will be sufficient to build up Christ’s church. But this is a mistaken view of preaching. Yes, God can and does use the truth to build up his people, even when it is taught by hypocrites (Matt 23:1). But preaching that leaves an indelible and lasting mark on a people is preaching that comes from a man who has mined and discovered the truth for himself and then given it to the people.
Paul spoke of preaching in the power of the Spirit (1 Cor 2:1-5; 1 Thess 1:5). But such powerful preaching can only come through a vessel who is himself experiencing the power of that truth: “We believed, therefore we spoke,” Paul reminded the Corinthians (2 Cor 4:13). John Owen said it like this,
If the Word does not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.
If we are merely plagiarizing sermons or using AI to write them, we will not experience the sanctifying power of God’s Word upon our hearts precisely because we have not spent time in the Scripture for ourselves, wrestled with God in prayer, and come to clear-headed convictions about what the text teaches. Thus, the truth will not pass with power from us, as Owen notes, and our people will not be deeply affected by our preaching. Owen continues,
The want of this experience of the power of gospel truth on their own souls is that which gives us so many lifeless, sapless orations, quaint in words and dead as to power, instead of preaching the gospel in the demonstration of the Spirit (Works, Vol 16: 76)
While some in a congregation may admire a pastor’s profound use of language and rhetorical flourishes for a season, they will not likely experience much spiritual edification from this kind of preaching. And the true saints in the congregation will soon be able to tell that the preacher, though good with words, doesn’t really have the Spirit upon his ministry. If a man believes sermon plagiarism will build up the church, he clearly doesn’t understand what true edification is.
(2) He no longer has a taste for communion with God. One of the great joys of pastoral ministry is spending a lot of time in the Bible. This should be a great pleasure for the pastor, not a drudgery. A pastor who is content with plagiarizing his sermons or having AI write them indicates that he does not find spiritual satisfaction in his study.
Yes, I will admit that it is challenging at times to study for one’s own soul when you are studying to teach. But it can be done—it must be done—and a legitimate pastor will make this the aim of his preparation. A man may not enjoy preparing for sermons and lessons because he is enmeshed in sin, and that constant exposure to the Scripture is so convicting that he tries to avoid it. Such a man is not fit for pastoral ministry.
(3) He is lazy. Plagiarism is a symptom of laziness. Sermon preparation is hard work. The ESV translates the Greek word copiao in 1 Tim 5:17 as “labor”—”those who labor in preaching and teaching.” This is a good translation. The word copiao is where we get the word “copious.” It takes many hours, and it requires a man to think hard for long periods of time, engage in much reading, to write until he is clear. If you are not up for the task, you will be tempted to plagiarize because that is much easier (cf. 2 Tim 2:15).
(4) He is not gifted in teaching. If a man is not gifted in teaching and preaching, he must supplement his deficiencies with the work of other gifted pastors. His bent toward plagiarism may be an indication that he is in the pastoral ministry for the wrong reasons. He doesn’t love the work. Rather, he is using the work to get something else—money, fame, recognition, or personal satisfaction. So, while not gifted in teaching, he sees the pastoral ministry as a means to achieve such goals, and therefore finds ways—even if illegitimate—to supplement his deficiencies.
(5) He craves other people’s approval and outward signs of personal success. If you crave your congregation’s approval instead of laboring for their good, you will be tempted to steal from other successful preachers in order to garner the admiration of the people at your church. If you crave a certain kind of outward success instead of aiming to be faithful, you will be tempted to steal from other preachers whose teaching ministry has been outwardly blessed by God.
I once listened to one man’s reflections he gave in an interview a few years after he had been charged with plagiarism. In the interview, he said that through the process, he learned something important about his own heart; namely, that “there was a part of me that was longing for acceptance.” He continued by likening himself to a famous author who said that every time she got up to speak, it was like she had a tin can in her hand, begging people to give her approval.
I appreciate this man’s candor, but his confession reveals that there was something desperately wrong with this man’s motivations for preaching and pastoral ministry, and that he was probably never qualified for ministry in the first place. Plagiarism was simply a symptom of deeper heart issues.
Yes, all struggle and wrestle with sin and our motivations at times. I get that. But pastors must repent of craving other people’s approval. The desire for people’s acceptance cannot be the driving motivation of one’s pastoral ministry. If it is, then it is time to step down from pastoral ministry. A holy pastor is not dominated by a craving for other people’s acceptance or approval (Gal 1:10).
Conclusion
The work of preaching preparation is, as one author has called it, “A glorious exegetical grind.” It is hard work, but it is worth it. Men who resort to plagiarism or A.I. to do this work not only disqualify themselves from the ministry; they rob themselves of the joys of pastoral labor. If you have been plagiarize your sermons or using A.I. to create the bulk of your messages, I would encourage you to confess these things to your fellow elders and your congregation. And may God be gracious to us to guard us from the temptation to find ways around the work he has called us to do.
