Step 5 – Admitted to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact nature

of our wrongs.

If we have completed a thorough inventory of ourselves, we have written down a lot. We have examined ourselves in the light of God’s Word and admitted where we have fallen short or been disobedient. We have examined our hearts to find any resentment and fear that stands in the way of God’s healing power in our lives. We understand God’s ideal for our sex lives, and have looked at the times we have used sex for reasons other than what He intended. If we have honestly and thoroughly taken our inventory, then we have begun to swallow and digest some big chunks of truth about ourselves and the way in which we have been living.

Chapter 6 in the book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Into Action, begins like this:

“Having made our personal inventory, what shall we do about it? We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our Creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path. We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects.”

To avoid any confusion: When Bill Wilson wrote the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, he used the three words: wrongs, defects, and shortcomings, and he intended them all to mean the same thing. In Sinner’s Anonymous, our wrongs, defects, and shortcomings are called sin. We can identify “defects of character” with the particular areas in our lives where our sin nature is not being controlled by the Holy Spirit, and we are walking in disobedience and falling short of what God requires of us.

Admitting to God – Confession

Step 5 begins with going through our entire inventory with God. The Bible says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us for our sins. We are also required to repent, change, and turn away from our sins, and we will examine that subject more in Step 6 and Step 7.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

As we discussed in Step 2, Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins –God’s abundant provision for our wretched human condition.

1 John 2:1-2 – My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Psalms 51 is the confession prayer of David. King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband, Uriah, murdered in hopes that he could conceal his sin. It is important to understand that God still used David mightily even though he was a wretched human being.

Psalm 51:1-17 – Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love;

according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,

so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts;

You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will turn back to You.

Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Admitting to Another Human Being

When I first read Step 5, every part of my being (which was full of pride) revolted against such an idea. “Why do I have to share my deep, dark secrets with another human being. Isn’t it enough that I confess them to God?” The answer they gave me in A.A. was, “No, you need to share them with another human being as well.”

Let’s look at the reasons why we need to share our inventory with another human being.

It will cause us to exercise humility and bring our hidden sins out into the light

John 3:19-21 – This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

1 John 1:7-10 – But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word has no place in our lives.

The person we choose to share our inventory with can help us see things about ourselves that we have failed to see, or sin that we have rationalized, justified, or simply lied to ourselves about.

Proverbs 27:17 – As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

The person that we share our inventory with will be able to pray for us more effectively

James 5:16 – Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

The person we share our inventory with can hold us accountable and encourage us daily to walk in the Spirit.

Hebrews 3:12-13 – See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

To complete Step 5, we will need to choose someone to share our inventory with. We should give much thought about whom we will take this intimate and confidential step with, but we don’t want to use this as an excuse to postpone. We are looking for:

A closed-mouthed friend that we can trust to keep everything that we share confidential.
Someone who knows us well enough to recognize when we are lying to ourselves, or lying to them.
Someone who is not afraid to hold us accountable.
Someone who will continue to pray for us diligently.
Someone who will encourage us to seek righteousness above everything else.

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