Episode Overview

Episode Title: Splitness
Podcast: Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
Speaker: Tim Keller
Date: December 5, 2025

Tim Keller explores "splitness" in the human heart through Romans 7, using literary, cultural, and biblical examples to analyze why real, lasting change in people is so elusive. Keller identifies the deep dilemma at the core of human existence: a divided self—simultaneously desiring good, yet compelled toward evil. The episode distinguishes between failed approaches (like willpower and moral law) and the Gospel's transformative alternative—the spousal love of Christ, which reconfigures the very motives of the heart.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Understanding the Deep “Splitness” of the Human Heart

• Biblical Basis:

  • Romans 7:18–19: “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
  • The “splitness” is the presence of both good and evil within every person.

• Literary Example:

  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (06:10)—Stevenson's novella is a potent metaphor for this internal division:
    • Dr. Jekyll tries to separate his good and evil sides but discovers his evil “Hyde” is far worse than imagined.
    • Hyde’s acts are described as being “centered on self”—a perfect mirror of biblical teaching that self-absorption fuels evil.

• Self-Deception and Capacity for Evil:

  • Sufjan Stevens’ song “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” is cited; the song ends with the line,

    “But in my best behavior, I am really just like him. Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.” (10:40)

  • Even the best people have a hidden capacity for astounding evil.

2. Why the Moral Law (and Willpower) Can’t Heal the Split

• Universal Appeal to Law:

  • Moral law (Mosaic, Confucian, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.) is similar across cultures.
  • People attempt to overcome their “Hyde” through the law—via willpower and moral improvement.

• Paul’s Staggering Insight (14:09):

  • The law actually arouses sinful passions (“greenhouse effect”), making sin grow more vigorous rather than shriveling it.

    “Paul says the law has a greenhouse effect on what's wrong with us. It doesn't shrivel, it aggravates it, it prospers it, it grows it.” (14:09)

  • Augustine's Pears:
    • Augustine stole pears not because he wanted them, but simply because they were forbidden.

      “There is something about the heart... that says, nobody tells me how to live.” (15:46)

• Self-Righteousness as a Second Way to Be Lost (23:07):

  • There are two ways to be self-centered:
    1. By breaking all the rules
    2. By keeping all the rules and becoming self-righteous
  • Jekyll as Hyde Through His Goodness:
    • Jekyll, feeling morally superior, transforms into Hyde purely through pride, not evil acts.

      “He became Edward Hyde through his goodness, not in spite of his goodness. Why? Because there's two ways to be self centered, you know. One is by being very bad and breaking all the rules. But the other is by being very good and becoming a self-righteous Pharisee.” (23:07)

3. What Actually Works: Transformation by the Love of Christ

• Marriage Metaphor from Romans 7 (26:02):

  • Being “married to the law” means that your whole self-worth and identity is derived from your performance under the law.
  • Only a death (either of yourself or your “spouse”—the law) can free you to “belong to another.”

• The Problem of Fear:

  • Performing for the law (or any law-like system, inside or outside the church) is always driven by fear and self-absorption.

    “The dominant motive in your life is fear... Everybody in this culture, whether it's inside the church or outside the church, gets you to be good through fear.” (28:46)

• The Solution: New Spousal Relationship to Christ (30:30):

  • Through Jesus’s death, you “die to the law” and are “married” to Christ—the one who loved you before you were loveable.

    “You need to become the spiritual spouses. You need to have someone else's love, you need to have someone else's face that you're looking into in order to find out who you are.” (30:39)

• Christ Took Our Hideousness (32:49):

  • Jesus, the beautiful one, became hideous for us (Isaiah 52–53, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

    “God made him sin, treated him as pure evil. Jesus Christ became the hideous one. And he took our judgment day.” (32:49)

• A New Motive: Gratitude, Security, and Love (33:56):

  • Acting out of Jesus’s unconditional love, not fear, produces true transformation:

    “Only Jesus Christ as your new heavenly spouse, who has given himself for you unconditionally when you were hideous, to make you beautiful... Only that will destroy eventually the fear in the heart of your being.” (33:56)

  • The only sustainable motive for obedience is love and gratitude, not fear of condemnation.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Internal Splitness:

  “There’s me and then there’s something in me. And he says, it’s sin... It is at home in us. It dwells in us. It’s deeply rooted in us. And as a result, there’s this deep splitness about us of good and evil.” (05:55)

• On the Inefficacy of Willpower:

  “You can't deal with your hideousness with an act of the will. You need a complete transformation of the very motives of your heart. Or you're dead.” (24:15)

• On Christian Motivation:

  “Tell the truth. Give your money to the poor out of love, out of joy, out of gratitude. And that’s the only motivation that won’t drive you into the ground.” (34:29)

• Call to Lay Down “Deadly Doing”:

  “Lay your deadly doing down, down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in him and him alone, gloriously complete.” (34:46)

• Closing Gospel Assurance:

  “Now there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And we ask that you would help us apply this to our own lives.” (34:55)

Structured Highlights with Timestamps

• [03:05] Introduction—What is real change, and why is it so difficult?
• [06:10] Robert Louis Stevenson’s Jekyll & Hyde—literary image of human splitness
• [10:35] Contemporary mirrors: Sufjan Stevens and the universality of human darkness
• [12:33] The law across cultures and how people attempt to overcome evil by willpower
• [14:09] Paul’s “greenhouse effect” of the law—how moral striving inflames rather than cures
• [15:31] Augustine’s pears—why the forbidden is so attractive
• [18:13] Paul’s personal account—coveting, the law, and inward brokenness
• [22:33] Jekyll becomes Hyde through goodness—self-righteousness as a form of evil
• [26:02] Marriage analogy—being “married to the law” vs. “belonging to Christ”
• [28:46] Fear-based obedience vs. love/gratitude-based transformation
• [30:39] The Gospel—Christ as the true spouse who reconfigures the heart
• [32:49] Christ becomes “hideous” and takes our judgment for us
• [33:56] Living from new motives—gratitude, security, and joy
• [34:46] “Lay your deadly doing down…”
• [34:55] Closing prayer of assurance and transformation

Conclusion

Keller’s sermon compellingly argues that the “splitness” at the heart of every person cannot be healed by moral law, willpower, or self-improvement. Only the sacrificial, unconditional love of Christ—received as a new relational “spouse”—is powerful enough to transform the heart’s deepest motives from fear and self-absorption to gratitude, love, and security. True change happens not by repressing evil through good, but by dying to the need to justify ourselves, and learning to live out of Christ's perfect love.

For further resources or to listen to more sermons by Tim Keller, visit gospelinlife.com.