This episode expounds on the testimony of the personhood of the Holy Spirit from the New Testament. While Jews affirm the deity of the Holy Spirit, they deny that the Spirit is a distinct person of the godhead, mostly claiming that references to the Holy Spirit are simply manifestations of God. But this "manifestation" rubric doesn't adequately do justice to the clear personal qualities attributed to the Holy Spirit, who can be lied to (Acts 5:3), tested (Acts 5:9), resisted (Acts 7:51), insulted (Hebrews 10:29), grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and blasphemed (Matthew 12:32). Rejection of the distinct personhood of the Holy Spirit therefore means that Jews do not believe in the same God as Christians.
Worship that Reverses the Great Exchange
This episode focuses on the high bar of true worship articulated by Christ in John 4:22-23, "An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth." The statement naturally begs the question, "Were Jews previously worshiping the Father in the flesh and a lie?" This would be the natural conclusion of Christ's insistence that one MUST be born again and Paul's description of the great exchange in Rom 1, where men exchange the truth of God for a lie. Importantly, God had revealed His truth perfectly, highlighted by Christ's acknowledgment that "salvation is from the Jews." The Jews were nevertheless no exception to the great exchange, indicating that even though they were the blessed recipients of God's Word, the rampant idolatry of their hearts constantly produced fleshly worship more disposed to self-worship than the worship of the one true God. Idolatrous worship reigns among the unregenerate, those Jews who are "uncircumcised of heart and ears." (Acts 7:51) Regeneration, being born of the Spirit, is therefore the necessary precondition to worshipping God in Spirit and truth. With respect to the question about the possibility of good works for unbelievers, the logic is inescapable. If Jews prior to Christ couldn't escape their fleshly worship of the lie, even though they were entrusted with God's perfect Truth, how can unbelievers do good works when their idolatry is not remotely tempered by the Word of God?