The 12 Steps and Their Biblical Comparisons

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.

1. • I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:18)

Step 2: We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

1. • For it is God who is at work in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

1. • Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

1. • Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. (Lamentations 3:40)

Step 5: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.

1. • Therefore, confess your sins to each other, and pray for each other, so that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

Step 6: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

1. • Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)

Step 7: We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

1. • If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make. amends to them all.

1. • Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)

Step 9: We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

1. • Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)

Step 10: We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

1. • So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Step 11: We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

1. • Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. (Colossians 3:16)

Step 12: Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

1. • Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)