On 11th November 2025 the online Bible app YouVersion passed a significant milestone. Life.Church, its creator, celebrated the app being downloaded one billion times since its invention in 2007 and they aim to hit two billion installs by 2030. It has made the Bible available in 2,300 languages and has been installed over 17 million times in the UK alone.
The success of an app like YouVersion, along with the rapid pace of technological development, raises an important question: what does God’s word say about technology? You are not going to find commandments about ChatGPT, Google searches or smartphone screen time in the Scriptures. But you will find godly principles to guide our use of technology, even for the most cutting-edge of inventions.
What is technology?
We have to begin by being clear about what we mean when we talk about ‘technology’. The word itself comes from two Greek words which have their roots in learning and creating things. At its core, technology can be seen to be about the learning and development of craftsmanship. It is about extending human ingenuity for creativity. This broad definition can cover innovations from the suspension bridge to the steam engine, from the microchip to the smartphone and AI chatbot.
When it comes to considering what the Bible says about technology, however, we run into a problem. Much of what we think of as ‘technology’ didn’t exist at the time of the Bible’s writing. Nevertheless, if technology covers any tool that extends or enhances human skill and ingenuity, then the Bible has a great deal to say about the development, and use, of technology.
As we allow the Bible to shape our view of technology, we can form a more comprehensive definition. Technology is:
Any tool that is created by human beings, which can be used for both good and sinful purposes, and which can be redeemed for God’s glory.
Created by human beings
Each technological step is an exercise in creativity. As humanity is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and God is a creator, it follows that human beings are also made to create. Technological development is as much an act of craft and creativity as a painting or piece of music.
God gives humanity the ‘creation mandate’ to ““Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Technological tools allow us to fulfil this mandate more effectively, working with creation and subduing it for the glory of God.
We may not have computers, television or the internet mentioned explicitly in Scripture, but technology in its broadest sense certainly does appear. After the drama of creation and fall in the first three chapters of Genesis, we find humanity going about the task of developing technology:
Cain was then building a city… Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.
We might be tempted to skim over such a passage, but contained within it are several technological breakthroughs: cities, tents, farming, and musical instruments all feature, as well as the forging of tools out of bronze and iron. Each one of these items represents a step forward in technology and an extension of human skill.
Technology is created by humans, and technology should be used for humans. While technological tools allow us to subdue and even modify creation, technology doesn’t exist on its own. Technology exists as a function of human action and ingenuity, and works to extend human skill.
Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan said in an interview with the BBC in 1965: “If the wheel is an extension of feet, and tools of hands, backs, and arms, then electromagnetism seems to be in its technological manifestations an extension of our nerves, and becomes mainly an information system.” Technology has changed rapidly since the 1960s but the idea is still true: technology extends our abilities and our reach as human beings.
Technology, therefore, is not neutral. It is always for something, it has an aim and a purpose. The Christian ethicist and theologian, Oliver O’Donovan, says: “A tool of communication is a tool for communicating something.”
He goes on to say that technological breakthroughs don’t “just lie around passively, waiting for us to come along and find them useful for some project we have in mind. They tell us what to do and, more significantly, what to want to do. There is a current in the stream, and if we don’t know how to swim, we shall be carried by it.”
The Bible tells us that technology is a tool, created by humans for humans do to something with.
Used for good purposes
Much about technology is good, and has been used for good and positive ends.
We can probably think of many ways in which technology has enhanced human life and been used for the good of others. Medical technology in particular has enabled cures to be found for diseases and diagnostic tools have allowed problems to be identified quickly. Transport technology, from the steam train to the motor car to the airplane, have connected the world in innumerable ways. Communications have allowed people to keep in touch across vast distances. If technology is the development of tools to extend human skills, then those skills can be applied to the help and benefit of others.
In the Bible we see technology applied for good purposes in various different ways. Joseph utilised grain storage to stockpile food during the famine in Egypt, Simon and his brother Andrew were fisherman depending on boats and nets for their work, Paul wrote his letters in the New Testament using pen and ink.
One particular application of technology for good – and godly – purposes is the building of the Tabernacle, and then later the Temple. God had given very specific instructions about building the place where people gathered to meet with him, and technology is applied to make this possible.
As they prepare to build the Tabernacle, Moses tells the people: “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded” (Exodus 35:10). God chose Bezalel in particular to look after the crafting of the Tabernacle, and “filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills” (Exodus 35:30-31).
When it came to the building of the Temple under King Solomon, Huram was chosen to lead the craftspeople, “a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work.” (1 Kings 7:13-14)
Technological tools are created by humans and can be used for good purposes.
Used for sinful purposes
The impetus for technological development is found in creation and the image of God given to human beings in Genesis chapters one and two. However, our use of technology is also marred by the fall and human rebellion that we see in Genesis chapter three.
If technology is a tool used to extend human purposes, those purposes are distorted by human sin. While technology can be used for good, it can also be used for sinful and wicked goals.
One of the clearest places we see this is with the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11. Creativity and human ingenuity have expanded and by this point in the Bible story humanity has developed new building techniques:
They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
The technological innovations of brick and tar are used to build a city and a great tower. The goal of this enterprise, however, is human pride. Their aim is to make a name for themselves, to display their own glory instead of glorifying the God who gave them these skills.
In the book of 2 Chronicles we read how King Uzziah built towers and irrigation systems for the people of Judah. He also developed new military technologies:
Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armour, bows and slingstones for the entire army. In Jerusalem he made devices invented for use on the towers and on the corner defenses so that soldiers could shoot arrows and hurl large stones from the walls. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.
These armaments seem to be primarily defensive, but the inventiveness of Uzziah and his teams still lead to corruption. In the next verse we read: “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.“ (2 Chronicles 26:16)
Technology always exists for a purpose. There are many examples of human beings using technological progress to pursue sinful, destructive ends. We could think of the gas chambers in Nazi Germany, atomic weapons, and the development of more powerful and addictive drugs.
Since technology enhances human activity, and human actions are distorted by sin, it follows that technology can enhance human capability for sin. As Mike Dover, author of Dante’s Infinite Monkeys: Technology Meets The Seven Deadly Sins, notes, “the Internet, and technology in general, have provided new ways for wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, and greed to insert themselves into our lives.”
One specific example of this tendency is pornography. Sexually explicit material has existed from the very beginnings of human civilisation. However, technological advances of print, video, and the internet have allowed more and more people to access more and more graphic material. The advent of artificial intelligence gives even greater options for developing new pornographic content. Technology provides a pathway for humanity’s capacity for sin to grow.
Technology, by itself, is neither inherently good nor inherently evil. Technology is a tool and, like any tool, can be used for good purposes or sinful ones. It is not the technology but the human heart that determines the end result (see Jesus’ words in Luke 6:45). Technology enhances and extends what flows out of our inner being.
Redeemed for God’s glory
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
So writes Paul to the Ephesian church. Being careful how we live as followers of Jesus includes being careful how we use technology. We know that the days are evil and things that can be used for good can also be used for evil. Therefore we are to be wise in the way we approach everything, including technology.
As Christians we don’t need to be technophobes, nor should we be technophiles, but instead we should be those who use technology thoughtfully. Jon Dyer, in his book From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology, writes:
“Christians who live God-honoring lives in the digital world are those who can discern the tendencies built into all technology and then decide when those tendencies are in line with godly values, and when those tendencies are damaging to the soul.”
The more that we train our heart, mind and soul in godliness, the more we will discern the best way to use technology to glorify God in our lives and communities. We must refuse to use technology unthinkingly, but we need not refuse to use technology at all. We discern how and what to use, not by conforming to the world around us, but by working out what God’s will is (Romans 12:2).
In particular, when it comes to technology, we want to ensure that we are using the tools, rather than the tools using us. Paul tells the Corinthians:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
As Christians we have the freedom to use technology, from something as simple as a pen or bicycle, to the most complex of computers and smartphones. At the same time, we need to acknowledge that not everything is beneficial. We do not want to be mastered by anything, because we have one Master, Jesus Christ.
Technology is a helpful tool but a very poor master. Frequently technology acts as our master, dictating our behaviour and directing our attention. If you have a smartphone, just think of the last time you checked your notification, email or social media. It’s likely that you did so automatically and without thinking, even while your attention ought to have been elsewhere. Technology offers many potentially positive effects but we need to resist being mastered by it.
Remember Oliver O’Donovan’s words: “A tool of communication is a tool for communicating something.” One application of wisdom to technology is being careful and wise about what we are communicating and consuming with technology. From the prevalence of online pornography to the ease of stoking hatred on social media, modern digital technology especially has the potential for communicating the wrong things. Paul’s words to the Philippians are just as relevant in a smartphone, AI era as it was when it was first written:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Are we using technology – any technology – to pursue these things? Or are our minds being filled with things that are far from God and the gospel?
Ultimately, we need to remember that technology is a tool. It can help us pursue particular ends, whether good, sinful or glorifying to God. But technology is still a tool and not the end in itself.
John Piper likens technology like smartphones to a mule or donkey. He writes:
If you rejoice in the hope of the glory of God because your sins are forgiven through Jesus, then your smartphone becomes a friendly pack mule on the way to heaven. Mules are not kept for their good looks. They just get the job done. The job is not to impress anybody. The job is to make much of Christ and love people. That is why we were created. So don’t waste your life grooming your mule. Make him bear the weight of a thousand works of love. Make him tread the heights with you in the mountains of worship.
We must not waste our lives grooming the mule. Technology is useful when it allows us to better pursue Jesus and follow him. Where technology allows that, like a billion Bibles downloaded onto smartphones, we should rejoice. Where it doesn’t, then we can remove that technology from our lives without feeling as if we are missing out. After all, it’s just a donkey.