This episode addresses some of the "positive" attributes of the Holy Spirit, all of which presume the personhood of the Spirit. As stated in previous episodes, Jews and Christians disagree over the Spirit as a distinct person in the godhead. The last program emphasized that salvation depends on the personal attributes of the Spirit. Fellowship of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14) is the natural bond that develops among all believers who are born of the Spirit and placed into the body of Christ by that very same Spirit. They connect based on the Spirit's work of conforming them into the image of Christ, and consequently genuine fellowship of the Spirit is possible: "one body and one Spirit..one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:4-5) This mutual partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and the "fellowship of the Spirit" makes possible the "mind of Christ" that eagerly and unselfishly gives based on this overflowing Spirit. (Philippians 2:1-2) The fellowship of the Spirit connects the millions of Holy Spirit-dwelt temples as they aim for the mind of Christ. John similarly concludes in 1 John 1:7: "as we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another.." The "fellowship of the Spirit' then is clearly a manifestation of the personality of the Holy Spirit.
“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."