On Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson is a Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist, most famously known for books like, Treasure Island, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The latter book's impact on my understanding of the human condition helped me to understand how it relates to the controversy over Deeds and Creeds. That is, theology is often blamed for the strife and disunity found within church bodies. The idea is that disagreement over creeds causes unresolved arguments and eventually leads to the splitting of the greater Christian body into factions of denominations. Denominationalism, it is argued, exists primarily on the fact that there are irreconcilable differences between groups of people's theology. Therefore, in an attempt to reunite the greater Christian body, an emphasis is put on good deeds rather than sound creeds. The pastor Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life) once embodied this idea when he said the church of today needs a reformation of Deeds vs. Creeds. The problem is it creates a false dichotomy--you cannot pit one against the other.



I used to joke that if you walked into the middle of some sort of seminarian convention and yell out the word "predestination" a huge fight would ensue between Calvinists and Arminians. Predestination is one of those doctrines that seem to easily spark heated debates. It's not just predestination, of course. There's  infra or supralapsarian; Egalitarian or complementarian; or something simple like the worship wars. Any number of topics can often bring about the most uncivilized behaviour from otherwise calm and level-headed people. So much so, that important debates are often avoided, even discouraged.

Debates about such things often mark the divide between different denominations of the Christian church. Baptists, for example, believe that baptism is reserved for adults who openly confess their faith after a conversion, while Reformed and Presbyterians believe that children of believing parents ought to baptize their children as a sign of being part of the covenant family. Protestants believe that Scripture alone is our authority for revelation about God, while Catholics believe that the Church itself and its tradition take precedence.

In any case, while there are those who enjoy playing the contrarian, the devil's advocate as it were, most people would rather see more unity in the Christian body. To some, the uncivilized bickering and divisive behaviour around controversial doctrines demonstrate a great problem. The "H" word get tossed around, people are labeled as heretics, and those on the outside looking in want nothing to do with Christianity. And so, in an attempt to find greater unity, an appeal is often made to good Christian behaviour over and against a focus on having the right doctrine. Put simply, it's more important to be  good followers of Jesus than it is to have right doctrine.

But, unlike any other religion, Christianity is more about its propositional Truth statements than it is about a certain ethical code people need to follow. That's not to say it doesn't have Law. We have the 10 commandments, and we have Jesus's teachings to his disciples, among other things. Great advances in ethics credit their influence to the moral code of the Bible. But the Bible isn't just a book of instructions. The Gospel literally means good news. News isn't something you live by, it's something you react to. Christianity is fundamentally about belief in propositional Truth rather than a system of ethics, codes, and rituals to live by.

In fact the apostle Paul, when writing to the various churches, always appealed to the Gospel as a basis for all his exhortations. Everything that Paul implores his people to do is predicated on the death and resurrection of Jesus. It's simple logic that begins with an indicative followed by an imperative. Imperatives alone cannot unite. Only The Gospel serves as his basis for unity. But that's a whole other topic in and of itself for another time.

The real irony of attempting unity through good deeds, civility, and social justice, is that in the end it results in greater divisiveness and strife. Not only is pitting good deeds over creeds logically incoherent, it's inherently moralistic, and that will lead you in one of two directions: Great despair, or great pride...

Even if we haven't read the book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I imagine most of us at least know the concept. Dr. Jekyll is a scientist, a chemist more specifically, who develops a potion that separates the good and evil in him into two distinct characters. Mr. Hyde is the character that results from the separated evil. He is dark, sinister, even grotesque. Meanwhile his good character, Dr. Jekyll, is not only ashamed of Mr. Hyde, but is astounded by the fact that he's far worse than he'd imagined possible. In the end, Mr. Hyde ends up getting the best of him.

The part of the story I want to emphasize goes as follows: The reason Dr. Jekyll developed his potion was not out of some diabolical plan with evil intentions. Rather, he wanted to find a way to become a good person. He believed that the potion would fulfill his wish but, as we know, it instead yielded terrifying results.

Since the potion was not doing what he intended, he later reverted back to simply using sheer force of will to be a good person. With great amounts of discipline, Dr. Jekyll would eventually become that person. Or so he thought. Reflecting on his moral fortitude, he looked at the people around him, and realized with a certain arrogance that he'd become a far better a person than any of them. In that moment he had just become Mr. Hyde again. Permanently.

My telling of the story is obviously quite truncated, but the point is this: We usually associate evil with characters like Mr. Hyde. However, good works and upstanding moral behaviour outside of a context of faith and gratitude to God result in the same thing. This is the whole point of the story of the Prodigal sons. (Luke 15:11-32) The older son did everything his father asked him to, but when the younger son was restored to the family, the older son was indignant. He could not partake in the celebratory feast because he had far too much pride in his own accomplishments. In spite of his righteousness, the older son was just like Dr. Jekyll becoming Mr. Hyde.


There is nothing wrong with the intentions of those who encourage good behaviour in the midst of fierce debate. But fierce debate isn't necessarily a bad thing, nor does judging one another's opinions mean you're being judgemental. Important questions demand our attention, and they help sharpen our understanding of what we believe and why we believe it. In the end our beliefs necessarily shape our actions. The more our understanding is shaped by Jesus, the better followers we can be. We cannot have the former without the latter. Great zeal without knowledge is a dangerous thing, not only in our actions, but in our pride.

Unity among Christians occurs when we understand who we are in front of a Great God and when our identity is found in Christ rather than our own personal moral accomplishments. In fact, this is why we have adopted the use of creeds going back to the very earliest church. It's how Christianity can spread through all generations and cross all cultures, and still find fellow beings (who even disagree with each other) sharing the same cup and the same loaf at Jesus' table in unity.