Excerpts from Sonny Hernandez's book, "Gospel Defense."

​

            The sufficient, inerrant, and infallible Word of God contains the true gospel, which is Trinitarian. Men who think the gospel is not Trinitarian, admittedly or not, don't know God or the gospel because the one true God is Triune, and the true gospel is grounded in the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.

 

a. The Trinity 

 

           The gospel must start with the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. The Bible teaches that the one true God exists in a plurality of co-eternal, co-equal, and co-glorious persons, i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:7).

 

           The Father, the Son, and the Spirit do not refer to the same person. Believing in one God in three persons does not mean Christians worship three different gods. And affirming one true God does not mean the God of the Bible is unipersonal.

 

           The persons of the Godhead are consubstantial and distinct, not derived or divided, and God is Tri-personal, not unipersonal. Thus, one God in three persons means the hypostases share the same undivided ousia, nature, essence, or substance (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6).

 

           In Scripture, the Father is the head of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3), He is greater than the Son (John 14:28), and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (John 14:16, 26). These texts refer to the distinct roles of the persons in the Godhead as it pertains to redemption, consummation, etc. (oikonomia), and not the nature of God (theologia). 

 

           In the ontological Trinity, each person is in every way God because they share the same divine essence. Therefore, in the immanent relationality of the Godhead, there is no hierarchy, superiority, subordination, begetting, processions, or derivation.

 

           There is no discord but perfect unity in the operation of the Godhead. The Father chose the elect, not the reprobate, and He gave them to the Son. Christ died for the sheep and not the goats. The Spirit seals the invisible church and not those outside of it.

 

b. Supralapsarianism

 

           Many infralapsarians [infra (after) + lapsarian (fall)] believe God decreed creation and the fall and subsequently determined the salvation of His people. But this view undermines the exegesis of Colossians 1:16, which indicates that Christ conceived, created, and controlled all things for His glory.

 

           Moreover, per Romans 9, "...the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth" (v. 11). God loved Jacob, but hated Esau (v. 13).

 

           Thus, in the logical order, the decree starts with Christ, followed by the predestination of the elect and the reprobate, and then creation and the fall. This order refers to supralapsarianism [supra (before) + lapsarian (fall)], which gives God all the glory. 

 

c. Sovereign election

 

           Before creation, the Father actively and unconditionally chose the elect for heaven, and He actively and unconditionally reprobated the wicked for hell, i.e., everlasting conscious torment. God loves the elect but has an unremitting hatred towards the reprobate (Romans 9:10-13).

 

           No one can thwart God's sovereign will (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 55:11; Daniel 4:35). The Father is the author of the doctrine of election. Those whom He foreknew will inevitably be glorified, not based on foreseen faith, but on the ground of His immutable and eternal will (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:4-6). 

 

           God is the ultimate and prime agent or the sole ultimate cause of everything (Isaiah 46:10). God ordained, determined, or decreed all things that shall come to pass, nothing excluded (Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 45:7). So the notion of free will is a myth.  

 

           God's grace is salvific, and it's a reflection of His character. The grace of God is applied to the elect [source of justification (Romans 3:24), and post-conversion (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)], and never to the reprobate. Thus, the grace of God is irresistible, particular, immutable, free, discriminative, and absolute, but it is not common or universal.

 

d. Creation/Fall

 

           After the Triune God created the world, He commanded Adam not to eat from the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:16-17). But Adam and Eve disobeyed the law of God, and they hearkened unto the voice of the serpent (Genesis 3).

 

           Since the law reflects the one true God's unchanging and divine character, Adam's rebellion against God resulted in condemnation and death. Romans 5:12 states, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

 

           As a result, all men—without exception—are born into this world desperately wicked as can be (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9) and are thus unable and unwilling to save themselves (Romans 3:10-12). But God loves the elect and did not leave His particular people in their fallen state. The Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16).

 

e. Christology

 

           According to John 1:1-3, the preexistent Christ predates time and is eternal. He is self-existent and uncaused. He shared glory with the Father in eternity. He is in every way God but distinct from the Father. And He is the ultimate agent of creation.

 

           But the gospel of John (1:14) also teaches that the Word became flesh (assumed a human nature) and took upon Himself a rational soul (Matthew 26:38) per His humanity.

 

           During the incarnation, the body of the Son did not descend from heaven, and it was not an illusion. The body of Christ was a real and true body, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin (Luke 1).

 

           The hypostatic union refers to the two distinct, unmingled, and inseparable natures (divinity and humanity), indissolubly united in one person, Christ Jesus. Thus, Christ has two natures, not one (Monophysitism), and He has two wills, not one (Monothelitism), yet He is one person, not two (Nestorianism).

 

           The person of the Son is simultaneously wholly God (per His divinity) and fully man (per His humanity). Put another way, the person of Christ is in every way God but distinct from the Father, and He is wholly man but without sin.

 

           According to Scripture, the incarnate Christ, God the Logos, did not veil His glory, He did not lay aside His deity, and He did not have restricted access to the divine attributes during the incarnation.

 

           The Bible teaches that the saints beheld the "glory" of the incarnate Logos (John 1:14), and the fullness of deity permanently dwells in the Savior (Colossians 2:9). These truths mean Christ exercised and possessed the plentitude of the Godhead (before, during, and after the incarnation). 

 

           During the Savior's incarnate ministry, Christ did not make men savable, redeemable, or reconcilable, and His blood is not sufficient for all men. These views teach that salvation is conditional upon the sinner and not the Savior, which is blasphemous and not biblical.

 

           Per Scripture, Christ died for the sheep (John 10:11), not the goats (John 10:26), and He died for the elect, not the reprobate. The Savior died for the invisible church, not those outside of it, and He died for the wheat, not the tares. Christ accomplished redemption, justification, reconciliation, and propitiation on behalf of the elect.

 

           Christ redeemed the elect from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13), the power of Satan, sin, and death (Hebrews 2:14). Christ accomplished justification for the invisible church (Romans 5:9). Christ reconciled (Romans 5:10) and appeased the Father's wrath on behalf of His particular people (1 John 4:10). Thus, Christ's blood is sufficient for the sheep, not the goats.

 

f. Imputed Righteousness

 

           It's imperative to contrast Adam's rebellion and the Savior's righteousness. The law demands perfection, but Adam transgressed the law, and the penalty for his rebellion resulted in death.

 

           But Christ—also known as the second Adam—did what the first Adam could not do. Christ lived a perfect life, having never sinned or transgressed the law, and He died for the elect. 

 

           The righteousness of Christ refers to His preceptive obedience to the law (active obedience) and His penal obedience, i.e., substitutionary and propitiatory death (passive obedience). This righteousness is the whole work of Christ in its compact unity. Put another way, the perfect righteousness of the Savior encompasses His entire life.

 

           There are three imputations in Scripture: Adam's sin imputed to all men without exception (Romans 5:12), the sins of the elect imputed to Christ, and the righteousness of Christ imputed to the elect (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

           The perfect righteousness of Christ alone (Solus Christus), excluding works or law-keeping, is the only ground for justification. The Savior's finished work alone gives assurance of salvation to the elect of God.  

 

           Obedience, law-keeping, and faith are not synonymous with the righteousness required for salvation. Papists and semi-Pelagians would disagree, but God's particular people believe in what the Bible principally teaches and not what blasphemers posit.

 

           Righteousness is imputed and not infused. Roman Catholics believe in infused righteousness plus works, whereas the Bible teaches imputed righteousness because of Christ alone. Put another way, Bible-believing Christians embrace Solus Christus, but papists will criticize it.

 

           The Roman Catholic view of infused righteousness requires men's cooperation to merit or obtain righteousness, which means Catholics reject Solus Christus. But the Bible teaches that righteousness is imputed, credited, or reckoned unto the account of God's elect because of what Christ accomplished, excluding works (Solus Christus).

 

           Since the Bible says, "…There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10), the elect of God for whom Christ died do not have personal righteousness but perfect righteousness credited to their account.  

 

           God's particular people know they are not inherently righteous and must always look to the perfect righteousness of another (Christ alone). This belief is why the work of Christ is called "alien righteousness," meaning it belongs to the Savior and not to sinners. When God imputes righteousness to the elect, it becomes theirs only by imputation. 

 

           As a disclaimer, since it's an alien sin, it is attributed to sinners, not the Savior to whom it is imputed. And because it is alien righteousness, it is attributed to the Savior (Master), not to sinners (men) to whom it is imputed. Thus, sin is inherently ours (God's elect), even though it is imputed to Christ, and righteousness is inherently Christ's, even though it is imputed to the elect.

 

           2 Corinthians 5:21 ("For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin…") doesn't teach that Christ's human nature became sinful or that He sinned. To put it simply, "...made him to be sin" points to imputation, "sin" is attributed to the sheep, not the Savior ("…who knew no sin"), and the prep. uper ("for") + pronoun ēmōn ("us") indicates substitution.  

 

           Therefore, God imputed the alien sins of the elect to the substitute and Savior, and He imputed the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ to the elect. This view is commonly called the great exchange. 

 

           When the elect are justified based on the saving work of Christ alone, they are not subjectively changed; they are legally and forensically declared righteous because of the righteousness of Christ alone.

 

           The righteousness of Christ is perfect because He is in every way God but distinct from the Father. So the elect of God for whom Christ died will be sealed by the Spirit because the Triune God infallibly secured the salvation of the sheep.  

 

g. Resurrection/Second Coming

 

           After Christ died for the sheep per His humanity, He resurrected (per His divinity) for the justification of the saints, which is essential to the Christian faith. Men who deny the resurrection are not Christians.

 

           Revelation 19:11-16 reveals that Christ is the apocalyptic judge who will return to tread the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God (second coming). Thus, the resurrected, ascended, exalted, and glorified Christ reigns as King.

 

h. Sola Fide

 

           To reiterate, the source of justification is grace alone, and the ground is Christ alone, excluding works. But it's also essential to address the sole instrument of justification, Sola Fide or faith alone, excluding deeds. 

 

           Catholics and Arminians deny Sola Fide, but it's a biblical doctrine. Faith was procured by the completed and saving work of Christ on behalf of the elect. So the biblical doctrine of faith alone or Sola Fide in Christ alone is essential to the Christian faith. 

 

           Faith is not the ground of justification and does not precede regeneration. The Word of God teaches that faith is a gift of God, not of works, and faith is a work of God, not man (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

 

           Faith is not meritorious but is the alone instrument or means of justification. Faith alone unites the children of God or the elect to their vicarious Savior, Christ Jesus, and God's particular people are given faith after regeneration.

 

           Faith alone always looks to Christ alone. The alien righteousness of Christ gives the elect of God assurance of salvation. Thus, the object of saving faith is Christ alone (Hebrews 11:1), excluding works or law-keeping. 

​

Closing

 

           The Father's purpose of election, the Son's perfect righteousness, and the Spirit's irresistible and efficacious work had infallibly secured the salvation of the elect (perseverance of the saints).

 

           Therefore, the elect of God for whom Christ died "...were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13), and they will give glory to God alone because He took their sinful rebellion and gave them the Savior's righteousness.

​

​

​