Plagiarism and the Pulpit

Plagiarism in preaching isn’t a new issue. Jeremiah 23:30 speaks of false prophets who, as the Lord says, “steal my words from one another.” These prophets lied, delivering messages from others or their imaginations, devoid of God’s truth. Such words were mere straws compared to wheat, worthless to God’s people.

Does this mean plagiarizing preachers today are like these false prophets? Sometimes, yes. The core problem with plagiarism in preaching goes beyond stealing sermons. To accurately diagnose the difficulty and suggest a treatment, we need a valid definition of plagiarism in preaching.

Definition:

Plagiarism in preaching is using sermonic material that is not your own as if it were your own. It uses someone else’s sermon outline, illustrations, or other features of a preached, written, or AI-generated sermon without attributing or crediting that content to its true author (human or artificial). This plagiarism in preaching includes not only flagrant, verbatim recitation of an entire sermon, but also substantial copying where the bulk of the sermon or key parts of it come without credit or attribution from someone else and is tweaked, personalized, or camouflaged by adding, adjusting, or subtracting elements.

What is not plagiarism?

It is not plagiarism to use systematic and biblical theologies, commentaries, and other tools to research the biblical text when the results of this study are ideas that we, the preachers, then shape the biblical and theological data thus gleaned into a sermon based on our own informed observation of the biblical passage we are expounding. This is not plagiarism because we are not using someone else’s sermon to create the one we plan to preach.

Any informed congregation expects its pastor to study the Bible and the world and to use any and all tools appropriate to that task. (More controversially, perhaps, in my judgment, this research may or may not include studying how others have preached this passage, provided this is done very late in the sermonizing process. Note carefully, that including sermonic sources in your research has the inherent risk of inclining you toward that preacher’s interpretation and exposition.)

How do you test for plagiarism?

You have plagiarized if your sermon, compared with another sermon, reveals significant overlap. It is fuzzy whenever a listener to your sermon gets the impression that the sermon is entirely the fruit of your labor in the study when it is not, or that you are a careful student of the Word when you are not, or that you are widely read and can therefore illustrate from literature you know when that is not the case, or that you are a powerful preacher when you are not.

What about using a docent, i.e., a trained, experienced, paid researcher who digs for relevant material for you and is compensated to do so? In my judgment, this is not intrinsically wrong or unethical unless this practice is unacknowledged.

Are you guilty of pulpit plagiarism?

Do you use sermons as sources first instead of studying Scripture directly?

Do you routinely feel you don’t have enough time to prepare sermons?

Do you use the word “borrowing” for mining not merely ideas for sermons from your reading, but structure or illustrations that you do not intend to attribute to the originator? (Romans 2:21 seems especially relevant here: “While you preach against stealing, do you steal?” See Exodus 20:15, 17.)

Here are some inadequate excuses for pulpit plagiarism that I have read or heard:

I am or was too busy. Thomas Long writes, “Yes, there are some weeks when a cascade of pastoral crises sends the minister to the pulpit with a scrap of a sermon saying, ‘gold and silver have I none, but what I have I give you.’ But to plead lack of time week after week is disingenuous.”

The congregation expects a home-run sermon each week and killer illustrations.

I bought and paid for this sermon. There are websites whose advertising material reveals an awareness that at least some of their customers will feel guilty using their services. So they offer excuses or claim that AI-generated sermons are, by definition, “never preached before.”

Celebrity preachers like Rick Warren invite people to preach their sermons. It must therefore be OK. If Rick Warren does not impress you, recall that John Wesley wrote “approved sermons” for young Methodist preachers to preach. So, you might argue, “If it was good enough for Wesley, it is good enough for me.”

These are excuses. Now, what, in my judgment, are the real reasons preachers plagiarize?

I offer these in the hope that one or more of them will be used by the Spirit to unearth a problem that needs exposure to the light of day so it can be repented of.

Laziness: Study of the biblical text in context and prayerfully sermonizing are hard work.

Indiscipline: Failure to prioritize, budget time, and cut out timewasters, including the pastorally approved ones.

Underequipped and overcommitted: These two categories of preachers are those cited by my colleague Heather Zimmerman. The over-commitment part might come from a defective job description that needs addressing by both the preacher and the elders or whoever devised it.

Rusty tools: Such preachers have neglected the original languages, have stopped buying commentaries, and aren’t reading theology. One can look at their shelves and discern when they stopped growing intellectually.

Insecurity: We think we will be rejected or disdained if we fall short of someone’s standard in the pulpit.

Comparison: Instead of doing the best work we can do, we compare our abilities with others and simply give up our efforts when the comparison is unfavorable to us.

Hunger for affirmation: The companion of insecurity.

Fear of failure: The mirror image of hunger for affirmation.

Man pleasing: Stated another way, the fear of man. Recall Galatians 1:10b: “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Pride: Probably the underlying sin of all these reasons.

Misplaced identity: In one’s performance and not in Christ.

Sloppiness: When we copy some helpful words but fail to use quotation marks carefully enough and then forget the words originated with someone else.

Desire for promotion: Or to keep a position. Presidential candidates, Ivy League presidents, and other well-known people have plagiarized and probably got their positions, at least partly by doing so.

Plagiarism is breathtakingly easy. This plays into all the reasons I have just recounted. Recently, in preparation to preach, I meditated on the assigned text, wrote a sermon, and put notes on cards as is my custom. After having done that, I asked my son Gordon, who is a digital native, to see what sort of sermon ChatGPT might generate on that text. We were at a restaurant. He pulled out his phone, and within 90 seconds he showed me the text of an AI-generated sermon that was surprisingly good. Embarrassingly good. Quick and easy. AI is still in its comparative infancy. Who knows what capacities will soon become available? As it becomes easier to do, the temptation will be greater for some.

So, what is wrong with pulpit plagiarism? Here are just a few of the problems.

It is disobedient not merely to Exodus 20:15 (you shall not steal), but also to verse 16 (you shall not bear false witness) and usually to verse 17 (you shall not covet.) [ I am indebted to Pastor Doug Graham for this insight.]

It is dishonest whenever it leaves the impression that the material in the sermon is either original with the preacher or is the product of his own reading and study.

It is a shortcut that shortchanges both the preacher and the listeners, depriving the preacher of precious “time in the kitchen,” and depriving the listeners of freshly baked bread.

It seriously erodes credibility and is therefore contradictory to our calling and message, both of which are rooted in and dependent upon faith in the truth.

It can easily become a habit.

It can readily cost you your position and everything that goes with it.

Here is the deeper reality. It misunderstands the fundamental nature of preaching as both audio and visual. See Colossians 1:24-2:1. In true preaching, both life and doctrine are part of the message as was indeed the case with the Lord Jesus. Plagiarism, especially as achieved by AI, also misunderstands that preaching is interpersonal; it is a person speaking to persons, not a computer speaking to people. Pulpit plagiarism misunderstands that preaching involves divinely commissioned messengers as 1 Thessalonians 2:13 says.

A plagiarized sermon is often short-sighted. It may not spend adequate time considering either the text of Scripture, its context, or the actual listeners to this sermon. It probably fails in all these respects. This is also true of “recycled” sermons that we have written and preached earlier. Good sermons consider both the text of Scripture in its contexts—literary, historical, theological—and the listeners present in their contexts. It is also short-sighted in that it starves you of one of the great benefits of pastoral ministry: compensated time in Scripture!

Ethically and practically, plagiarism is unworthy of the gospel of God.

If these reasons don’t help you resist the temptation to plagiarize, here is one that should: it is easy to get caught! Practicing pulpit plagiarism is like viewing porn on your computer knowing that your screen is being simultaneously broadcast to every device of every parishioner in the congregation you serve. Not everyone will notice, but someone will!

Strategies that may help you resist the temptation.

1. Study your own soul and know your fallenness. James S. Stewart: “Be yourself and forget yourself.” I was coaching a preacher who, though I did not know it at the time, was a plagiarizer. I worked with him reviewing posted sermons over a period of some weeks, but could not figure out why he was not making progress. A parishioner caught him plagiarizing and informed me and the elders of the church he served. They suggested he be terminated and since it was a second offense—the first being in a church he previously served— the congregation agreed. Our denomination put his credential in trust, under discipline. He humbly accepted the discipline and after a couple of years, his credential was restored. Some years later I asked him if he gained any insight from the counseling that our denomination required. He replied that the roots of his plagiarism were insecurity and the desire to please. If your identity as a person rests on anything other than who you are in Christ, you are vulnerable.

2. Budget adequate time for thorough sermon preparation. Start early, work hard. Don’t waste time looking for a killer illustration or the perfect film clip. Spend that time prayerfully looking at the biblical text and letting the biblical text search you.

3. Recruit readers from the congregation and make it plain to all your listeners that you do so. This says to them that you welcome help and brings your search for illustrative and supportive sermonic material out into the light. This is an additional benefit to expounding biblical books sequentially. You can invite parishioners to read along with you and ahead of you and to share anything in their lives of reading that comes to mind when they do so. (Don’t promise to use everything they contribute or report!)

4. Speak openly about your study habits. Acknowledge and explain how you use extra-biblical resources, especially if you have someone who routinely does (paid or unpaid) research for you, such as a docent, or a “study assistant” as John Stott had.

5. Admit your limitations. Be realistic about your schedule and your personal limitations. It’s okay to admit having a tough week. The late Eugene Ongna when he was my pastor at the Arlington Heights EFC asked one Sunday morning as he began his message, “Does anyone remember what I preached on such and such a date? [silence] Good!” [congregation laughs] Sessions of The Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts seminars filled a week and Pastor Ongna had to go to his sermon barrel.  He did not use someone else’s material but openly acknowledged reusing his own earlier sermon.

6. Attribute illustrations with special diligence since they are the most memorable part of any sermon and mis- or non-attributed illustrations can quickly erode your credibility. For example, who said, “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?” This aphorism has been multiply-attributed. Try to find the earliest. If this fails, report what is the case. Express uncertainty of provenance if that is warranted. Credibility along with confidence and competence are precious commodities that must be safeguarded.

7. Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of God. No need to keep looking for the “killer” illustration, or, for that matter the perfect film clip, or an AI version of an exposition. I recently heard from mature Christian friends, who heard a sermon while on vacation at a church known for good preaching. The pastor read a relatively dry message from a manuscript. He then put it down and announced to the congregation that the sermon he had just read was AI-generated. He then proceeded to expound the same text in the power of the Holy Spirit. The difference was obvious and significant.

8. Recall a biblical view of success as a preacher: faithfulness, clarity, relevance of the sermon; holiness in life, and accuracy in your bedrock convictions. Let God’s word have its say in its way. Say what the text says for reasons in keeping with its built-in purpose. We often create mischief for ourselves and our listeners when we try to get a biblical passage to do what it was never intended to do. Come to the text with empty hands. Let it set the agenda for your sermon.

9. Start or join a preaching team that offers guidance, accountability, and feedback. Will Willimon said, “No preacher can afford to work alone.” I am blessed in my current church to have been invited by the lead pastor to meet with him and the rest of the ordained preachers every Monday afternoon to discuss the previous day’s sermon and to think ahead about next week’s exposition.

10. Preach in the sight of God for his glory and his approval. Galatians 1:10b

Here’s a radical and crazy suggestion in light of the growing capacity of AI, which might be like God’s gracious rulings allowing things he does not like, as in the case of divorce. It is this: Get your preached sermons out there in cyberspace so that AI will have more quality sermons that are worth “learning”!

Ultimately, let’s listen to God. Hear afresh God’s lament over the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day. “For who among them [the false prophets] has stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?” (Jeremiah 23:18). “But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds” (Jeremiah 23:22). Only those who hear and heed God’s word can expect our listeners to do the same.