Step 1 Bible Verses: Scripture for Admitting Defeat
The main Bible verse for Step 1 is Romans 7:18, where Paul admits he wants to do right but can’t carry it out on his own. The verses below follow the same line: honest about weakness, and honest that God is the one who rescues. Read one a day while you work the step, and ask what it says about your own drinking.
Romans 7:18 — the Step 1 verse
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
This is the verse the app pairs with Step 1. Paul isn’t describing a drunk. He’s describing himself, a mature believer, finding that knowing what’s right and doing it are two different things. If you have ever promised yourself “not tonight” and then found a glass in your hand, you know exactly what he means.
Romans 7:24-25 — the cry for rescue
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Paul doesn’t end in despair. He asks who will rescue him, and answers right away: God, through Jesus. Step 1 is the first half of that sentence. The rest of the steps live in the second half.
2 Corinthians 12:9 — power in weakness
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Paul begged God three times to take away something that troubled him. God’s answer was grace, not a quick fix. Admitting you are powerless isn’t the end of strength. It’s where a different kind of strength starts.
Psalm 34:18 — God is close to the broken
“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”
If Step 1 leaves you feeling crushed, this verse is for that day. God doesn’t keep his distance from people who have hit bottom. He comes near.
Psalm 32:3-5 — what silence costs
“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
David describes what happened to him while he kept quiet about his sin: it wore him down, body and spirit. Then he stopped hiding, and the weight came off. Drinkers know the exhaustion of managing a secret. Step 1 is where you stop managing it.
John 15:5 — the vine and the branches
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus says this to his closest friends. It’s a plain statement of fact about everyone, not a rebuke aimed at the weak. A branch that has come loose from the vine can’t produce anything, however hard it tries.
Matthew 5:3 — the first blessing
““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
The first thing Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount is a blessing on people who know they have nothing to bring. That describes someone at Step 1 well.
How to use these verses
- Pick one verse for the week. Write it on a card and keep it where you used to keep a bottle.
- Read Romans 7:14–25 in one sitting, then read pp. 30–43 of the Big Book (4th edition) in your own copy. Notice how often the two sound alike.
- Pray the verse back to God in your own words. “I want to do right and I can’t” is a perfectly good prayer.
For the full walk-through of the step, go to the Step 1 page. To pray it, see the Step 1 prayer.
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