The Biblical Roots of Early A.A.’s Twelve Steps
Part One:
Steps One, Two, and Three
By Terry D.
Recently, I’ve read a few excellent books that revealed the
true Biblical roots of early
A.A.’s Twelve Steps—researched and written by Dick B.—who is
currently the leading
A.A. Historian. The following series, broken up into four
parts, will explain the TRUE
Biblical roots of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I will explain, in detail,
how the A.A. founders utilized Christian-based ideals and
principles to their “Program”
of recovery. I will also answer this extremely important
question: Why did the Pioneer
A.A.’s have a success rate of over 75%, and how did they
utilize early A.A. spiritual
roots, while applying early A.A.’s Twelve Steps?
According to Dick B. in his book, Cured!, he writes, “Wilson
[A.A. Number One] picked
up… some major ideas about deflation in depth, honesty,
confession, life-change,
restitution, prayer and ‘meditation,’ working with others,
and adherence to Christian
principles in daily living.”1 In early A.A., especially
within the Pioneer A.A.’s, alcoholics
utilized and adhered to Christian principles for living. The
Christian ideals and principles
that they followed enabled the 40 Pioneer AAs to have an
extremely high success rate of
over 75%. This important documented fact is the reason why
it is so vital to make the
Biblical roots of early A.A. known, so everyone of today can
apply these life-saving
principles. The following series will provide explanations
and documented facts about
the Biblical roots of each of the Twelve Steps.
[Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—
that our lives had become unmanageable.]
I’ll begin the discussion of Step One with a quote from Bill
Wilson in A.A.’s Big Book:
[W]e have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have
been spiritually sick.
When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out
mentally and
physically.2
Here is an excellent description of A.A.’s First Step from a
spiritual standpoint:
Viewed from a spiritual standpoint, the core of A.A.’s First
Step powerlessness
and unmanageability could possibly be said to rest on
biblical grounds…. The
alcoholic needed to know he or she was powerless over
alcohol because of a
mental obsession, coupled with a physical allergy. And that
life had become
unmanageable. But the alcoholic would never recover, found
Bill and Dr. Bob
[A.A. Number Two], without spiritual wholeness, without
finding God—without
union with God….3
The founders of A.A. knew that, without spiritual wholeness
and finding God, an
alcoholic could not be cured. They called this lack of
spiritual wholeness, “Spiritually
Sick.” From thorough research, Dick B. found the link
located in his book, Turning
Point, when he explains:
Several A.A. spiritual sources also point to the
unmanageability of a spiritually
sick life, focused on self—a life of self-centeredness and
ego-centricity, in which
self constituted God. A common prayer in use at that stage
of the path was “O,
God, manage me, because I cannot manage myself”4
So how did early A.A.’s find the solution to overcome
spiritual sickness? Once again,
Dick B. explains when he writes, “…Early AAs… studied the
Good Book [the Bible];
and they sought the power of God for the solution to their
spiritual misery and despair.”5
As we can see, the Bible and Christian principles were vital
to early A.A. success, which
eventually produced success rates as high as 75%, compared
to numbers as low as 1%
today. And were early A.A.’s cured from applying these
principles? The answer is YES.
Yes, Cured! The following quote provides accurate evidence to
support this claim:
Alcoholics should not be told they cannot be cured. They
should be told they can
be cured. They should be told their founders were cured.
Those founders were
cured by the Creator! Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob, and Bill Dotson
[A.A. Number
Three] all said so—explicitly, many times (See Big Book, 4th
ed., pp.181,191).6
Dick B. and I both believe that “Alcoholics need the simple
truth in the Bible about what
God has done, can do, promises to do, and will do if we obey
His will and believe.”7
Okay, back to Step One. Located in Dick B’s book, The Oxford
Group & Alcoholics
Anonymous, the well-known a, b, c’s are explained…
The foregoing step language is followed by the A.A. Big
Book’s well-known “a,
b, c’s,” which are:
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the
agnostic, and our
personal adventures before and after make clear three
pertinent ideas: (a)
That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That
probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That
God could and would if He were sought.8
Furthermore, “In the Big Book chapter, ‘There is a
Solution,’ Bill Wilson said that willpower
alone would not solve problems.9 He made it clear that the
solution lay in a
relationship with God.”10 Now, lets move ahead to the
Biblical roots of Step Two in early
A.A.
[Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than
ourselves could restore us to sanity.]
According to Dick B. in his book, Turning Point, “Reduced to
its essence, and as
described in A.A.’s Big Book, the Second Step required (1)
“willingness to believe,” (2)
belief in a “Power, which is God,” and (3) “seeking” the
power of God for relief from
alcoholism.”11 Bill Wilson explains the essentials of Step
Two when he writes in the Big
Book:
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. “Do I now
believe, or am I
even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than
myself?” As soon as a
man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe,
we emphatically assure
him that he is on his way.12
The founders of A.A. knew that it was absolutely vital that
members come to believe in a
Power greater than themselves, which was God. From a medical
viewpoint, alcoholism
was an “incurable disease.” However, A.A. founders also came
to understand that
alcoholism could be cured by applying the Christian
principles adopted by the “Pioneer
AAs.” One of the “teachings” that were essential to the
success of early A.A. includes
the following:
The essence of Jesus’s teaching was, that if one obeyed the
known
commandments and doctrines of God by acting upon them, he or
she would learn
about, believe in, and know more about, God and His will…
A.A.’s religious
sources taught that obedience to God’s will is the organ of
spiritual knowledge.13
Furthermore, Hebrews 11:6 states:
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.14
There was another important aspect of early A.A. success
when “…Dr. Bob was very
emphatic that A.A.’s well-known ‘First Things First’ slogan
came from Matthew 6:33.
The verse declares:
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things
shall be added unto you.15
Finally, for Part One of this series, we move on to the
Biblical roots of early A.A.’s Third
Step.
[Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood Him.]
In early A.A., Step Three emphasized the importance that
members make the decision to
surrender to God. Completion of Step Three is extremely
critical to recover from
alcoholism. The founders knew and understood this important
fact, so they emphasized
the Christian principles needed in order to successfully
“complete” this vital Step. In
Turning Point, Dick B. explains…
Such a decision is mandated in the following Bible verse
discussed by two of
A.A.’s sources:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved
(Romans 10:9).16
In my opinion, honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness are
the first steps to a
successful recovery. Surrender is the next crucial step that
will lead us on a journey of
self-discovery and enlightenment that will truly set us
free. By having the courage to step
forward in faith, we will be greatly rewarded with a life
that’s full of serenity and hope.
No longer do we have to be bound by the deadly grips of
alcoholism. For us to achieve
this strength, it was vital that early A.A.’s learned the
principle of surrender. Dick B.
explains:
The Third Step’s actual surrender phraseology can be found
in A.A. sources
which used such language as “turned over to Him her life for
His direction” and a
“decision to cast my will and my life on God.”17
Biblical sources associated with a decision to surrender
include the following:
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and
my judgment is just;
because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me
(John 5:30).
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord
(Acts 3:19).18
Another important element of early A.A. success was the
integration of the “Third Step
Prayer.” According to Dick B. in his book, The Oxford Group
& Alcoholics
Anonymous, he writes…
The Big Book’s “Third Step Prayer” and discussion reads in
part:
God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with
me as thou
wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better
do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear
witness to
those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of
life. I do
Thy will always (p.63).19
To summarize the preceding discussion, I will explain the
Twelve Step ideas early AAs
borrowed from the Bible, provided by Dick B’s, Utilizing
Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots
for Recovery Today, when he begins with Step One:
Step One
“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 7:24-25).
Step Two
[Willingness] “If any man do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of
God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17).
[Belief] “but without faith, it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him” (Hebrews
11:6).
[Seeking] “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
Step Three
[Surrender] “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved” (Romans
10:9). “’Give in,’ he cries, ‘admit that I am God, high over
nations, high over the world’”
(Mufatt’s translation of Psalm 46:10); “Thy will be done”
(Matthew 6:10).20
By utilizing early A.A.s spiritual roots, Bill Wilson
compiled the real 12 Steps and their
main roots of early A.A. found in Dick B’s book, Cured! Here
are Steps One, Two, and
Three therein:
One: We admitted we were licked. Alcohol was our master. We
prayed: “O,
God, manage me because I can’t manage myself.”
Two: We became “willing to believe” that God could cure us;
to “act as if” He
would; and to take the action that proves God really can and
does cure.
Three: We “made a decision” to “rely on the Creator” for
help and to “do His
will.”21
As we can see, there are primary sources and documented
accounts that early A.A.
Twelve Steps had Biblical roots. While utilizing early A.A.
spiritual roots for recovery,
the Pioneer A.A.’s fully recovered, finally being cured of
alcoholism. Yes, the watered
down version of today’s “A.A. Principles” seem to have
forgotten the important Christian
principles that produced early A.A.’s high success rates.
From the documented facts
herein, you can now see how and why the Biblical roots
positively impacted the high
success rates. By studying true A.A. history, we can finally
learn how to get cured of
alcoholism. Part Two of this four part series will include
Step’s Four, Five, and Six.
Until next time, my friends. Good luck to all, and to all a
good recovery. God Bless.
Appendix
1 B., Dick, Cured! Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts,
p.54.
2 Alcoholics Anonymous 4th ed., p.64.
3 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.245.
4 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.247.
5 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.248.
6 B., Dick, Cured! Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts,
pp.181, 191.
7 B., Dick, Cured! Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts,
p.99.
8 B., Dick, The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous,
p.301.
9 Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 22, 44.
10 B., Dick, The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous,
p.302.
11 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.249.
12 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.249.
13 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.250.
14 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.251
15 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.251.
16 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.251.
17 B., Dick, Turning Point, p.253.
18 B., Dick, Turning Point, pp.253, 254.
19 B., Dick, The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous,
p.307.
20 B., Dick, Utilizing Early A.A.’s Spiritual Roots for
Recovery Today, pp.15,16.
21 B., Dick, Cured! Proven Help for Alcoholics and Addicts,
p.55.
*A special thanks to Dick B. and his great research on the
early Biblical
roots of A.A
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