Two Witnesses Against One Verse: What Romans 3:22 Reveals About the RV1960

By Brother Carlos Almanza | Bible Text Studies | RVG vs. RV1960

Introduction

Every word of God matters — and that conviction is exactly what drives these Bible text comparisons. Romans 3:22 is one verse, but it contains two distinct and identifiable departures in the Reina-Valera 1960 from the Textus Receptus tradition. One is a textual issue. The other is a translation philosophy issue. Both matter.

This post walks through each observation carefully, with the Greek in hand.

The Texts Side by Side

KJV — Romans 3:22

"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:"

Reina Valera Gómez — Romanos 3:22

"la justicia de Dios que es por la fe de Jesucristo, para todos y sobre todos los que creen; porque no hay diferencia;"

Reina-Valera 1960 — Romanos 3:22

"la justicia de Dios por medio de la fe en Jesucristo, para todos los que creen en él. Porque no hay diferencia,"

Greek Source — Beza 1598 (Textus Receptus)

δικαιοσύνη δὲ Θεοῦ διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰς πάντας καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας· οὐ γάρ ἐστι διαστολή

Observation 1 — A Textual Variant: The Missing Clause

What the Textus Receptus Says

The Beza 1598 / Stephanus 1550 Textus Receptus reads:

εἰς πάντας καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας — "unto all AND upon all"

What the Critical Text Does

The Westcott-Hort / NA critical text drops the second clause entirely:

εἰς πάντας — "unto all" (καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας simply omitted)

How Each Translation Handles It

Bible	Rendering	Source Text Followed
KJV	"unto all and upon all"	Textus Receptus ✓
RVG	"para todos y sobre todos"	Textus Receptus ✓
RV1960	"para todos" (sobre todos absent)	Critical Text ✗

Why It Matters: Two Prepositions, Two Truths

These are not synonyms. Each preposition carries distinct force in Greek:

• εἰς (eis) — directional: moving toward, reaching a destination

• ἐπὶ (epi) — positional: resting upon, settling over, remaining

Together, God's righteousness is both actively directed toward all who believe and dwelling upon them — a dynamic movement and a settled reality at the same time. The critical text's single preposition collapses that double picture into one.

One preposition gives you a vector. Two prepositions give you an arrival.

The RV1960's omission of sobre todos is not a translation choice — it is the result of following a shorter Greek source text. The words are either in your manuscript or they are not.

Observation 2 — A Translation Philosophy Departure: The Genitive Construction

What the Greek Actually Says

The phrase in question is διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

The form is unambiguous: πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ is a genitive — "faith of Jesus Christ."

How Each Translation Handles It

Text	Rendering	Note
Beza 1598 (Greek)	πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ	Genitive case — "of Jesus Christ"
KJV	"by faith of Jesus Christ"	Formal genitive preserved
RVG	"por la fe de Jesucristo"	Formal genitive preserved — "of"
RV1960	"por medio de la fe en Jesucristo…en él"	Genitive interpreted; words added

Two Moves the RV1960 Makes

Move 1 — Changing the genitive: The RV1960 replaces "de Jesucristo" with "en Jesucristo" — converting the objective genitive into a prepositional phrase that locks in one interpretive direction. This is a translation philosophy choice, not a manuscript reading.

Move 2 — Adding words not in the text: The RV1960 closes with "para todos los que creen en él" — but the Beza 1598 closes simply with τοὺς πιστεύοντας ("the ones believing"), with no attached object. The words en él have no warrant in the TR text.

The RVG neither interprets for you nor adds to the text. It trusts you with what is actually written.

Key Words at a Glance

Greek	Transliteration	Strong's	Form	What the RVG Preserves
πίστεως	pisteōs	G4102	Genitive singular	"de" — the genitive
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ	Iēsou Christou	G2424 / G5547	Genitive	"de Jesucristo"
εἰς	eis	G1519	Directional preposition	"para"
ἐπὶ	epi	G1909	Positional preposition	"sobre" — absent in RV1960
τοὺς πιστεύοντας	tous pisteuontas	G4100	Present participle, accusative plural	"los que creen" — no en él added

What the Ancient Commentators Saw

John Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans, Homily 7 — NPNF¹ Vol. 11) Chrysostom comments on this passage with close attention to Paul's use of "all" — stressing that the apostle is deliberately leveling every human distinction before the grace of God. Jew and Gentile stand on exactly the same ground. The TR's double expression captures that pastoral emphasis precisely: righteousness moves toward all and then rests upon all — a reaching and a covering — with no one standing outside its scope.

The Bottom Line

In Romans 3:22 alone, the RV1960 departs from the Textus Receptus tradition in at least two identifiable ways:

1. Textual Departure — It omits καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας, following the critical text's shorter reading. "Sobre todos" simply disappears from the Spanish page.

   
   

2. Translational Departure — It replaces the genitive "fe de Jesucristo" with "fe en Jesucristo," and appends "en él" at the close — words not present in the Beza 1598 Greek.

   
   

The KJV and the RVG preserve what the Textus Receptus actually says — every word of it, in the form it was given.

The KJV is the capstone of the Textus Receptus tradition in English. The RVG is the capstone of the Textus Receptus tradition in Spanish. Both stand faithful to what God has preserved. Bibles built on the critical text — or that drift from formal equivalence without warrant — ask you to trust their editorial judgment over the received words themselves.

"Why read a Bible that changes or omits the very words God commands you to live by?"

With love, Brother Carlos.