This episode summarizes the major conclusions of the previous week, noting that the deity of Christ the Messiah was affirmed in the Old Testament. This episode addresses the incarnation of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, as well as His full deity. He is described as "mighty God" and "everlasting Father." Christ Himself told Phillip that He was of the same substance as the Father, declaring "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) And while the Messiah was born in time 2,000 years ago, He nevertheless preexisted "from the days of eternity" as the second person of the Trinity (Micah 5:2) While the average Jew prior to Christ did not grasp the Trinitarian nature of the one God or the deity of Christ, he was nevertheless expected to affirm the oneness of God (see the shema), rejecting all other so-called gods. The answer to the question "do Jews and Christians believe in the same God?" largely depends on a Jew's placement in time vis-a-vis Christ. Once Christ comes, legitimate belief in the Father requires acknowledgment of the Son. This is the inescapable conclusion of 1 John 2:23, "whoever denies the Son does not have the Father."
Who was the God of Jesus?
"This initial episode sets the stage for the question by asking ""who was the God of Jesus?"" All Jews were monotheists, daily reciting the shema, ""Here o Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is One."" Christ, a good Jew, affirmed this core belief of Judaism, but identified this God as His own Father, even claiming that He was the God of the Old Testament, citing the Name of God made known to Moses, ""I am that I am."" [YHWH} (Exodus 3:14, John 8:58) So, while the New Testament affirms that Jesus' God was Yahweh, it also describes the Trinitarian nature of the One God, Jesus being God the Son. Both God the Father and God the Son are one is essence, but distinct persons of the Godhead. John 1:1 consequently affirms the oneness of God described in the shema, but notes distinctions within the godhead, ""In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."" Jews prior to Christ only had glimpses of this Trinitarian God in the Old Testament, for the explicit revelation of the godhead only came with the incarnate Christ, who ""explained"" the Father. (John 1:18)
“An Ounce of Evidence is Worth more than a Pound of Presumption”
This episode, originally called "conspiracy Monday," shows how early manuscripts of the book of John refute conspiracy theories and affirm the deity and incarnation of Christ. The previous episode highlighted doubt among translators over the precise translation of very few texts in the KJV, none central doctrines of the Christian faith. This episode applies the two-edge sword of the "embarrassment of riches," the over 5,800 copies of the New Testament, against twentieth century skepticism and conspiracy theories based on Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and the supposed influence of Gnosticism on early Christianity. Dan Brown contends that the deity of Christ was an invention of the Church around the time of Constantine. The easiest way to test this hypothesis is to compare pre-Constantinian manuscripts of the gospel of John with 4th century manuscripts. P-66, dated 150-200 contains John 1 to John 14 and the manuscript completely agrees with later manuscripts, affirming the deity of Christ in John 1:1, John 1:14, and John 8:58-59. The thesis of The Da Vinci code is therefore invalid. The episode also debunks the claim that the gnostic Gospel of Thomas was a contemporary competitor with the 4 gospels. Simple comparative dating disproves this claim: all the gospels were completed in the first century, but the Gospel of Thomas was written in the late second century. And the Christian faith unambiguously affirms the incarnation (John 1:14, 1 John 4:2), a doctrine repulsive to "matter-hating" gnostics. The episode also chronicles the discrediting of date assumptions over the book of John, leading William Lane to conclude that "an ounce of evidence is worth more than a pound of presumption."