Baptist Bible Translators Institute
Rex L. Cobb, Director
P.O. Box 1450
Bowie, Texas 76230
To Whom it May Concern:
I began using a Spanish Bible in 1976. I chose to use the Antigua Version of 1909. Somehow I knew it was a more pure Bible than the only other choice I knew of, the Revision of 1960. I did find, however, some textual problems with the 1909 that were troubling to me as a believer in our Authorized English Bible.
As I ministered in Bible translation, evangelism, church building and Bible institute ministry, I also began to study the issue of the purity of Spanish Bible versions. I have spent literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours in this study. I developed a checklist of 1,100 places in the N.T. where there are differences between the Received Text and the Critical Text. (My list is small compared to the list by Mr. Jack Morman. He lists 8,000 differences.) I then compared sixteen different Spanish N.T.s against this list. I discovered that there is a big difference between corrupt Critical Text Bibles and those coming from the Received Text. I would be glad to send a digital copy of this study to anyone who would request it. I did find that beginning about the time that Westcott and Hort were doing their devilment on the English Bible (about 1862), some began making changes in the Reina Valera Bible to move it toward the Critical Text. The Bible I used contained several of these Critical Text changes, but I found that the revisers of the 1960 revision added many more Critical Text readings to the Reina Valera.
Also during those days I began to pray that God would give us a good, faithful revision of the Reina Valera that would be equivalent to my English Bible. Of course, I did not want a literal King James Bible in Spanish. That is not possible. The KJB is an English Bible. A few years ago I learned about the work of Humberto Gómez and became very interested. When I finally received a copy of his initial work, I began to look it over. I liked it, but also found a few things that could use a little work. I only found one small textual problem, and Bro. Gómez promptly corrected that. Over the next few years we communicated from time to time about improvements to his work. He was always happy to listen to any suggestion I had. He didn’t always follow them, but he always gave a good explanation why he couldn’t. During these years Bro. Gómez has been open to suggestions from all the Spanish-speaking brethren. In 2008 I read through completely the RVG Bible. I like the way it reads and believe it to be good Spanish; although, I am not an expert in Spanish language by any means.
I would encourage anyone who cares about Bible purity to seriously consider using this Bible. I would especially encourage local church Bible printing ministries that stand for pure Bibles to print this RVG Spanish Bible. For those who do not want to change from the Bible they currently use, I’m sure the Bible Society will continue to sell the 1960 Revision. I understand that it is difficult to tell people that there are problems in their Bible. The easy thing to do is to pretend that these Critical Text problems do not exist. Personally, I cannot accept a Bible with a considerable number of corruptions. If others can, that is between them and God. I would urge these brethren, however, to be more candid with the pastors in the U.S. who ask about the Spanish Bible that they use. It is going to be very difficult in the days to come to say, “The Bible I use (referring to the 1960) is just like the King James.” The pastors in the States are going to know that simply is not true.
We make a big deal about the English Bible; and I think we should. But are we consistent to be so “strong” on the KJB in English and so weak when it comes to Bibles in other languages, such as Spanish? May God help us to drop our politics and loyalties to friends and fellowships, and to be true to God and His pure word? We must also consider what is best for the Spanish-speaking people to whom God has called us. Are we English speakers better than they? Do we somehow deserve a perfect Bible, but Spanish speakers don’t?
I do not have time to debate or argue with anyone about this issue, but I will try to find time to discuss with an honest person what I have learned about the textual purity of different Spanish Bibles and the textual purity of the Reina Valera Gómez Bible.
Yours for the pure word of God,
Rex L. Cobb Note: See Dr. Cobb's comparison of various versions of the Reina Valera with the TR in the following link.
About the Author: Dr. Rex Cobb is the Director of the Baptist Bible Translators Institute where he and his staff train missionaries in advanced linguistics for the purpose of translating the word of God into foreign languages around the world. Dr. Cobb served for over 20 years as a church planting missionary in Mexico. During his time as a missionary he translated large portions of the Bible into the dialect of the indigenous people of Oaxaca, Mexico. He plans to finish this translation in its entirety soon. No man in the Independent Baptist movement has addressed the matter of advanced linguistics for the purpose of translating foreign Bibles more than Dr. Cobb. No man has done more extensive research and comparison of the different versions of the Reina Valera Bible with the Textus Receptus.