The Spanish Bible that reads like the beloved English King James Version
RVG
Reina Valera Gomez
The reason Victory Baptist Press
prints, distributes and recommends
the RVG Spanish Bible.
1st in a series:
For several years Victory Baptist Press has been printing the Reina Valera Gomez (RVG) Spanish Bible. Until now, we
have not given much explanation as to why we don’t print or recommend some of the other Spanish versions, but the time has come for
us to make our position known and to give our reasons. Please understand that these articles are not written to criticize or to deal
with the missionaries who use the other versions. Neither are they written with any consideration of what they will do to our financial
support. Money is not the issue. Truth is! No ministerial politics are involved, and we are not bowing to peer pressure.
The
RVG is the work of Brother Humberto Gomez, with many Spanish speaking missionaries and national pastors assisting as proofreaders
and advisors. Brother Gomez is a Bible-believing, Baptist missionary to his own country, who has very successfully brought the Reina
Valera Spanish Bible in line with the King James Bible.
Thank you, and God bless your labor for Him,
Jim Fellure
VBP Director
#3
In Psalm 12;6&7 in the KJV there is a wonderful promise that the Lord would preserve His pefect Word for ever. It says, "The
words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times...Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou
shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."
The Reina Valera 1960 in these same verses has God preserving the poor and needy,
rather than His Word. A good brother who works as a professional translator said this, “In Psalm 12:7 in the RVR 1960 the pronoun
‘them’ is masculine...’los’…while the word ‘words’ from verse 6 is feminine: ‘palabras’. Therefore, the promise of preservation here
is not applied to ‘the words of the LORD’ but rather the pronoun ‘los’ is probably referring back to one or all of the following:
the godly (los piadosos) and the faithful (los fieles) in verse 1 or the poor (los pobres) and the needy (los menesterosos) in verse
5.”
The Spanish RVG Bible is in complete agreement with the KJV on Psalm 12:6&7.
#2
In the New Testament of the KJV "hell" is found twenty-three times. The Spanish word for "hell" is "infierno." The Reina Valera
1960 Spanish Bible uses the greek word "hades", rather than "infierno" in Matthew 11:23 &16:18; Luke 10:15 & 16:23; Acts 2:27
& 2:31; Revelation 1:18, 6:8, 20:13 & 14.
One dear Mexican Pastor who uses the 1960 said, "We know there are discrepencies,
but when we come to them we just preach the message." I have personally heard that practised many times. I have preached in Englsih
to a Spanish speaking congregation and had one of the spanish speaking brethren interpret for me. At the invitation the interpreter
will always invite people to trust Chist and not go to "infierno." I have never heard one use "hades" when talking about hell.
The
Spanish RVG Bible is in complete agreement with the KJV on the subject of hell.
#1.
We use the English King James Bible for our standard, so, naturally, we want to print foreign language Bibles that are the closest
to the KJV. The first Spanish Bible we considered was the Reina Valera of 1960. When we discovered that the 1960 is copyrighted by
the American Bible Society, whose board of ecumenical directors varies from Anglican to Roman Catholic, with their President and CEO
being Dr. Lamar Vest (he also serves as one of the executive leaders of the Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee, which is a staunch
charismatic school), a red flag went up.
The first error we were shown in the 1960 text is in Daniel 3:25. When Nebucchadnezar
had the three Hebrew children thrown into the fiery furnace, the KJV says, “He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking
in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
The Old Scofield Reference
Bible, first published in 1909 with the study notes revised in 1917, was probably used by more Bible-believing preachers than any
Bible ever printed. In 1967, the notes were revised again, only this time many of the text verses were also changed, Daniel 3:25 being
one of them. The editors changed “the Son of God to a son of the gods,” and the fundamental Baptist preachers refused to use it. They
believed, as do I, that the fourth man in the fire was a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, and they would not use a Bible that
reduced our wonderful Lord to “a son of the gods.” When we found that the 1960 Spanish Bible did the same thing (rather than using
Dios (God), it uses dioses, gods), we decided not to print or recommend it, especially since there is a much better choice.
#4.
In Esther chapter three, wicked Haman had a letter written and sealed with the king’s ring giving permission to kill all the Jews
in the 127 provinces of Persia. In Chapter 8, Esther got the letter reversed so her people did not have to die, but the letter of
life needed to be delievered to every province. In their urgency, the letter was sent by “...posts on horseback, and riders on mules,
camels, and young dromedaries” (Esther 8:10).
There is a mission message here that compares the letter of life to the Gospel
of Christ. The posts and riders are the missionaries that carry the message, and they use the four different animals to go to the
different areas, or types of people, they want to reach. The animal they use will be the one that carries the message the fastest
and most effectively. For example: A horse is very beneficial, but sometimes he is just a show horse, and there are some places a
show horse cannot go. It will take mule to get the Gospel through the rough, rocky terrain or to the top of a mountain. You might
need a camel to get the Gospel across the hot, dry, burning desert and a young dromedary to get it there in a hurry.
The Reina
Valera 1960 only lists one of these animals in this verse (Esther 8:10), and that is the horse. The same is true in the English NIV.
On the other hand, the Reina Valera Gomez is in complete agreement with the King James Version in this passage.
#5
"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever
shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell
fire" (Matthew 5:22).
The Reina Valera 1960 omits the words "without a cause".The English NIV also omits these words.
The Spanish
RVG Bible is in complete agreement with the KJV on this verse.
#6
"As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee...The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (Mark 1:2&3).
The KJV has "prophets"
because Isaih 40:3 and Malichi 3:1 are both quoted in these verses.
The Reina Valera 1960 changed "prophets" to “Isaiah the prophet”.
The English NIV makes the same change.
The Spanish RVG is in complete agreement with the KJV on these verses.
#7
Luke 23:42 referring to one of the malefactors which were hanged with Jesus says, "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom".
The Reina Valera 1960 omits the word "Lord". The English NIV makes the same ommission.
The
Spanish RVG has the word "Lord", just like the KJV.
#8
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16).
The Reina Valera 1960 omits "of Christ". So does the English NIV.
The Spanish RVG
agrees with the KJV in this verse.
#9
"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who
created all things by Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:9).
The Reina Valera 1960 omitts "by Jesus Christ". So does the English NIV.
The
Spanish RVG is in agreement with the KJV.
#10
"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it" (Psalm 68:11)
The Reina Valera 1960 would read, a great
host of women published it.
Th Spanish RVG Agrees with the KJV.
#11
"And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother
of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam" (2 Samuel 21:19).
The Reina Valera 1960 omits "the
brother of". So does the English NIV.
