By Oyewole Sarumi
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the defining innovations of the twenty-first century. It is revolutionising healthcare, education, finance, agriculture, manufacturing, governance, security, research, and even ministry.
Reports from leading global institutions such as McKinsey & Company, PwC, the World Economic Forum, Stanford University’s AI Index, and Goldman Sachs consistently project that AI will fundamentally reshape the global economy, productivity, employment, and the way people think and work over the coming decades.
We are undoubtedly living through one of the greatest technological revolutions since the Industrial Revolution.
Yet, while humanity celebrates the extraordinary capabilities of artificial intelligence, Christians must pause to ask a deeper question. Is intelligence merely computational? Is wisdom simply the ability to process information?
Can machines ever replace the deepest dimensions of human understanding? More importantly, where does God fit into this unfolding technological age?
As exciting as AI is, Scripture reminds us that it is only one expression of intelligence. Long before algorithms, machine learning, neural networks, and quantum computing emerged, God had already revealed multiple dimensions of intelligence operating within His universe. Artificial intelligence is the product of human intelligence. Human intelligence itself is a gift from the Creator.
Beyond both lies another realm often ignored in modern discourse, the operation of spiritual intelligence, where supernatural realities influence human affairs. Above all these stands Divine Intelligence, the infinite wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and counsel of Almighty God.
The tragedy of contemporary Christianity is not merely that believers are fascinated by AI; it is that many have become disconnected from Divine Intelligence while remaining deeply religious.
Even more disturbing is the widespread distortion of what it means to “work for God.” Across many church settings today, sincere believers are persuaded that endless unpaid labour for church organisations is equivalent to serving God.
While service within the local church is biblical and necessary, Scripture carefully distinguishes between serving an institution and doing the work of God. These are not always identical. Confusing the two has unfortunately opened the door to manipulation, exploitation, burnout, guilt-driven volunteerism, and spiritual abuse.
A biblical recovery of Divine Intelligence demands that Christians rethink both technology and ministry through the lens of Scripture.
Intelligence Begins with God
The Bible opens not with human achievement but with divine wisdom.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
Creation itself is presented as an expression of God’s infinite intelligence.
Proverbs 3:19 declares, “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens.”
Also, Jeremiah similarly proclaims, “He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His discretion” (Jeremiah 10:12).
These passages remind us that intelligence did not originate in humanity. God is the source of all wisdom, creativity, mathematics, science, engineering, music, language, and discovery. Every scientific breakthrough ultimately rests upon laws that God Himself established.
Artificial Intelligence therefore should never be viewed as humanity replacing God. Rather, it is humanity discovering and applying principles already embedded within creation by its Creator.
Johannes Kepler, one of history’s greatest astronomers, beautifully expressed this conviction when he wrote, “Science is thinking God’s thoughts after Him.”
This statement reflects the biblical worldview that scientific discovery is possible because the universe is orderly, rational, and governed by the wisdom of God.
Artificial Intelligence: A Product of Human Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence has become remarkably sophisticated. Large Language Models can generate essays, computer code, legal drafts, business strategies, sermons, images, and even scientific hypotheses. AI systems now diagnose diseases, predict weather patterns, optimise logistics, and accelerate pharmaceutical discoveries.
Yet AI possesses no soul. It has no conscience. It has no moral accountability. It has no eternal destiny. Its intelligence remains derivative rather than original.
Genesis 1:27 teaches that humanity alone is created in the image of God. This divine image includes moral awareness, relational capacity, spiritual sensitivity, creativity, self-consciousness, and responsibility before God.
Human intelligence differs fundamentally from artificial intelligence because human beings possess personhood.
Let’s be factual: No algorithm has ever repented. No machine has ever worshipped. No computer has ever loved sacrificially. No robot has ever experienced conviction of sin.
Human intelligence therefore remains qualitatively different from machine intelligence.
The Forgotten Reality of Spiritual Intelligence
Modern society often divides reality into only two categories: the natural and the technological.
Scripture introduces another dimension altogether. The spiritual realm is real.
The Bible repeatedly demonstrates that invisible spiritual forces influence visible human history.
Acts 16:16-18 records that a slave girl possessed by “a spirit of divination” followed Paul and Silas.
Remarkably, her words sounded accurate. “These men are servants of the Most High God” she says, and her statement was factually correct. But, Its source, however, was demonic because Paul discerned the spirit behind the message and cast it out.
This passage teaches one of Christianity’s most neglected truths. Accuracy alone does not prove divine origin.
Many believers today assume that every supernatural manifestation comes from God but Scripture repeatedly warns otherwise.
The Apostle John commands, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1).
Brethren, Discernment has never been more necessary than in our digital age, where misinformation, deception, counterfeit spirituality, and algorithmic influence increasingly shape public perception.
Spiritual intelligence without submission to God can become deeply dangerous. (This will be expantiated upon in Part 2).
Jannes and Jambres: Counterfeit Supernatural Power
One of the clearest biblical examples appears during Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh.
When Moses threw down his staff, it became a serpent. Pharaoh’s magicians performed the same feat.
When Moses turned water into blood, they replicated it. When frogs covered Egypt, they duplicated the miracle.
Only later did they reach the limits of their power.
Paul identifies these magicians in 2 Timothy 3:8 as Jannes and Jambres. Their abilities remind believers that supernatural manifestations are not automatically divine.
Friends, be it known to you that Satan can imitate. Demons can empower deception. Even our Lord Jesus Himself warned, “False Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
The greatest protection against deception is not fascination with miracles but intimacy with God. Over 90% of today’s church goers are enamoured through fascination with miracles even when their so called leaders is in deviation from the true Gospel.
Divine Intelligence: The Highest Dimension of Knowledge
This is an incontrovertible declaration: Above artificial intelligence… Above human intelligence…Above spiritual intelligence… stands Divine Intelligence.
Divine Intelligence is God’s perfect knowledge operating without limitation.
God never learns. He never researches. He never guesses. He never updates His understanding.
Isaiah 40:28 declares, “His understanding is unsearchable.”
Romans 11:33 exclaims, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”
In Christ, Paul writes, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).
Christ is not merely wise. He is wisdom personified. Apostle Paul further declares, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
This means genuine wisdom is ultimately relational rather than informational. Hence, one does not merely acquire Divine Intelligence. One walks with Christ.
Accessing Divine Intelligence Through the Holy Spirit
Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth (John 16:13).
Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 that spiritual realities are revealed through the Spirit of God.
Beloved, its obvious that natural intelligence reaches limits. Academic degrees reach limits. Experience reaches limits, and technology reaches limits.
On the other hand, the Holy Spirit searches “the deep things of God.” Throughout Scripture, Divine Intelligence repeatedly distinguished God’s servants.
Joseph interpreted dreams that baffled Egypt’s experts. Daniel solved mysteries beyond Babylon’s wise men. Bezalel designed the Tabernacle under divine inspiration. Solomon governed Israel with supernatural wisdom.
These individuals certainly possessed natural abilities, yet their greatest advantage came from God’s Spirit.
The Fear of the Lord: The Foundation of Intelligence
Modern education celebrates knowledge while often ignoring wisdom.
The Bible reverses the order by saying that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).
Knowledge answers questions. Wisdom asks the right ones. Information fills the mind. Wisdom shapes character.
Artificial Intelligence accumulates information. Only God imparts wisdom that transforms life.
Divine Intelligence in an AI Age
Current interdisciplinary research in cognitive science, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and theology continues to debate the nature of consciousness.
Despite rapid advances in AI, there remains no consensus that consciousness, moral agency, subjective experience, or genuine self-awareness can simply be engineered through computational complexity.
Many scholars argue that intelligence alone does not account for personhood, intentionality, or moral responsibility.
This conversation resonates with biblical anthropology. Scripture portrays humanity not merely as biological or computational beings but as embodied souls created for relationship with God.
While AI can simulate reasoning, it cannot replicate spiritual regeneration, repentance, worship, or communion with the Holy Spirit.
For this reason, the Church must resist two extremes. The first is technophobia, treating every technological advance as inherently evil. The second is techno-idolatry, imagining that technological progress can solve humanity’s deepest problems. Sin, alienation from God, and the need for redemption cannot be addressed by algorithms.
Divine Intelligence remains indispensable because it deals with ultimate questions: Who is God? Why are we here? What is truth? How should we live? What is righteousness? What happens after death? These are questions no machine can answer with divine authority.
Living Under Divine Intelligence
The believer’s calling in this generation is not to reject AI but to subordinate every human innovation to the Lordship of Christ. Artificial Intelligence can assist research, education, medicine, business, administration, and even aspects of ministry preparation. Yet it must never replace prayer, biblical meditation, spiritual discernment, obedience, or dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
The Christian who cultivates Divine Intelligence will not merely become more informed but more transformed. Such a believer learns to evaluate every idea, every opportunity, every spiritual experience, and every technological innovation through the lens of Scripture.
Divine Intelligence produces wisdom that is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits” (James 3:17). It equips the believer to navigate an increasingly complex world without losing sight of eternal realities.
Conclusion
We are entering an era unlike any in human history. Artificial Intelligence will continue to transform civilisation, redefine industries, and challenge traditional assumptions about work, education, and creativity. Christians should neither fear these developments nor idolise them. Instead, they should engage them thoughtfully, recognising that all human intelligence is ultimately a gift from God.
However, we must remember the biblical hierarchy of intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is created by Human Intelligence. Human Intelligence itself is accountable to God. Spiritual Intelligence reminds us that unseen supernatural realities exist and that not every manifestation is from the Holy Spirit.
Above them all stands Divine Intelligence, the infinite wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the Triune God, perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ and made accessible to believers through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
This same Divine Intelligence also corrects our understanding of what it truly means to “work for God.” Scripture does not equate God’s work with endless, guilt-driven labour for church institutions.
The work of God begins with faith in Christ, grows through obedience, manifests in holy living, and expresses itself in every legitimate sphere of human vocation. The Church exists to equip believers for this comprehensive Kingdom mission, not to exploit them through religious manipulation or reduce discipleship to institutional maintenance.
As the world races to develop ever more powerful artificial intelligence, the greatest need of our generation is not smarter machines but wiser people, men and women who walk in the fear of the Lord, are filled with the Holy Spirit, discern truth from deception, and live daily under the guidance of Divine Intelligence. Only then can we harness every human innovation for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom while remaining faithful to the One “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).
In the part 2, we’ll explore the fourth intelligence that is in competition with the soul of men, and examine how we can be assisted not to be swayed off our feet in the slippery ground of algorithm Age.
Maranatha!!!
Prof. Sarumi, a pastor and teacher of the Word, write from Lagos. Tel. 234 803 304 1421 Email: oyewolethecoach@gmail.com
