How I was Introduced to the Spanish Bible Issue

Buy the truth, and sell it not; Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. - Proverbs 23:23

God called me to preach when I was seventeen and then to be a missionary when I was eighteen. Before God called me to missions, I never had any interest in the Spanish language. I never took Spanish in high school, and Spanish was the only elective that I did not take while in Bible School! Shortly after God called me to be a missionary, I became burdened for the souls of the Spanish speaking people. At first, I thought I would be a missionary to Mexico, then Peru, and finally God began to draw my heart towards Colombia.

I remember the first time that I ever tried to learn Spanish shortly after God called me to missions. I went to a used bookstore in Nampa, ID and found a set of CDs from the language audio program “Pimsler Spanish.” I popped the CD into my car’s CD player and started the first lesson. The first thing they taught me was how to order a beer at a restaurant. Needless to say, that information has not been useful to me!

I would listen to these Spanish lessons in my car on my way to and from work every day and I slowly began to learn. Over time, I looked for more resources to learn Spanish and eventually purchased several books and a computer program called “Rosetta Stone.” This program helped me more than anything and I quickly became capable of holding short conversations in Spanish. At this time, I was working as an agent for State Farm Insurance. My boss encouraged me use my new skills in Spanish to sell policies to Hispanics who could not speak English. He even let me study Spanish at the office when I wasn’t busy with other work. Before long, I could bumble my way through an insurance sale in another language.

Selling insurance was not why I wanted to learn Spanish, I wanted to lead people to Christ. A Mexican friend of mine offered to take me to a Spanish-speaking neighborhood and try to share the gospel in Spanish. I bought a bilingual Bible from Local Church Publishers that had both the KJV and the Valera 1865 (the one with the corrections). I did my best to try to witness in Spanish, although I have no idea if I was being understood or not. The antiquated Spanish of the Bible I was using did not help.

After I graduated from Bible school, I had the opportunity to serve for two years as a pastoral intern in North Carolina. While there, I tried to start a Spanish ministry. After buying some Spanish discipleship books from a well-known Independent Baptist publisher, I noticed that the version being used was the Reina Valera 1960. I figured that this must be the best Spanish Bible available since the big ministries were using it and so I went to a bookstore and purchased a KJV/RV1960 bilingual Bible and went to work inviting people to the new Spanish ministry.

Unfortunately, few people ever came to the study, but even so, I worked hard to promote it throughout the town. One day I received a call from a man who ran a Spanish radio ministry in a nearby Hickory, NC. He told me that he had seen the flyers for the Spanish ministry and wanted to invite me to come preach live on the Spanish radio station! I was honored and terrified at the same time. My Spanish was very basic, and I struggled to speak and understand others. Despite my fears, I accepted the invitation and went to work preparing a message for the radio.

I wrote my message out completely in Spanish and then had it corrected by a Spanish speaker. The text for my first radio message was Daniel chapter 3, the three Hebrew children and the flaming furnace. As I read the text from the RV1960 live on air, I was shocked when I arrived at Daniel 3:25. My Spanish may not have been that good, but it was good enough to realize that Daniel 3:25 in the RV1960 said “hijo de los dioses” (son of the gods). I felt sick inside. I felt ashamed to be reading from a Bible that messed up Daniel 3:25 exactly like the NIV and other corrupt English versions. This blatant error caused me to realize something was desperately wrong with the Spanish Bible situation. Why were King James Bible churches and colleges and publishing ministries promoting the RV1960 and the “son of the gods” reading in Daniel 3:25? I did not know the answer yet, but I was determined to find out.

I had heard some people say that RV1960 was the best Bible available in Spanish. I did not expect it to be perfect, but I never imagined it had these types of errors in it. Little did I know at the time that the error in Daniel 3:25 was just a small sample of the problems with this Bible. This horrible experience on the radio was the beginning of my search for a better Spanish Bible. I just simply could not accept that the RV1960 was the best thing available in Spanish.

I began to ask experienced pastors and missionaries about the issue, and I could not believe the answers I received. Most were comments of indifference and apathy. They simply did not care about textual purity in the Spanish Bible because they only used the English Bible. Other answers I received were just bizarre. One respected missionary who took trips to Mexico (but did not speak Spanish) told me that the Spanish people could not have a good Bible because they had chosen Catholicism over the truth and God had cursed their language. I stood there staring in disbelief as this “respected missionary” went on and on with his nonsensical (and frankly racist) opinion. He told me not to worry about it and just use the RV1960 like he does. Eventually I began to sense that the men I was asking advice from were getting upset with me for being so insistent with my questions and investigation.

Fast forward a few years and I was now married and ready to start deputation as an official missionary to Colombia. At this time, I still did not know what to do about the Spanish Bible situation. I was determined to wait to decide until I was more fluent in Spanish. A missionary friend of mine sent me some information about a newer Spanish Bible that could be the solution that I was looking for. This new version was called the Reina Valera Gomez (RVG). I quickly bought a copy of the RVG and the book God’s Bible in Spanish by Emanuel Rodriguez and began to investigate. I was thrilled to see that all the places that were wrong in the RV1960 were correct in the RVG! My heart was so thankful to have possibly found a solution to the problem of not having a good Bible in Spanish. Despite my excitement, I was determined to continue to investigate the issue. I decided to wait until after language school to make my decision on which Spanish Bible I would use, but I was now heavily leaning toward the RVG.

While on deputation, I was at a revival conference and standing in line for a meal with an older Spanish-speaking missionary. This brother was a director of a well-known Independent Baptist mission board. A man who was standing with us began to ask about which Spanish Bible version we use. The director explained that he and his missionaries use the RV1960 because that is what everyone uses and it is the best out there. I replied to the man that I was still investigating the issue, but I was leaning toward the RVG. Hearing this, the other missionary became visually upset. He took me aside and told me that he wanted to talk.

“You simply cannot use the RVG in your ministry,” he told me with a determined voice. “Everyone else is using the RV1960 and you will be isolating yourself and your ministry. You will cause all sorts of problems for yourself and for others.”

At the time I was only 24 years-old and very inexperienced in missions and the Spanish Bible issue, but I tried to respond the best I could. “Brother, I am going to use the Bible that is the most accurate to the text of the KJV. I want something that follows the Textus Receptus and the Hebrew Masoretic. I don’t want to use a Spanish Bible that reads like the corrupt English versions. I am not yet sure which Bible I will use, but it will be the one that is the most accurate and that does not contradict the KJV.”

The older missionary hunched forward and leaned in closer while also looking around him to make sure no one was listening to what he was about to say. “Brother Peter,” he said with a suspicious voice, “I am going to say something that I will deny to the grave if you ever repeat it.”

I felt uncomfortable without even knowing what he was going to say. My wife, who was sitting next me, also got an uncomfortable look on her face. “What are you talking about brother?” I asked.

“Brother, you can’t judge the Spanish Bible if it doesn’t read like the King James. The King James Bible has errors in it. You need to remember that before you judge the RV1960.” The older missionary sat back in his chair as if relieved that no one heard his “secret.”

I was shocked not just at what he said but how he said it. “No sir, I do not believe that the KJV has errors in it,” I replied.

The older missionary looked flustered and annoyed at my response. “How can you really believe that brother?” he asked.

“What are these supposed errors in the KJV?” I responded. “I think that if you want to claim the KJV has errors you should say what they are.”

Despite my efforts, I was never able to get this brother to give me even one legitimate example of the KJV’s supposed errors. The conversation went back and forth for a few more minutes as we argued about the reliability of the KJV. At one point, I asked him why he used the RV1960 in Spanish. His response was enlightening.  

“Well, when I arrived on the mission field years ago, someone game me the RV1960 and God blessed my ministry. That is the Bible I have always used.”

This answer told me that he really didn’t have any textual convictions about the Spanish Bible. At some point the older missionary realized his arguments were not convincing me so he did a classic RV1960 “appeal to authority.”

“Brother Putney you need to go read Calvin George. He writes all kinds of stuff that defends the RV1960 and he will set you straight on all this,” he said.

I didn’t know who Calvin George was at that moment, but I agreed that I would look up and read his information on the Spanish Bible issue. Our conversation ended and I left the table feeling horribly discouraged. This missionary was someone I looked up to, yet he had told me that he would literally lie if I repeated what he really believed to anyone. I knew this was because he was supported by King James churches. It was blatant dishonesty. I was confused and disgusted by what he had said. Little did I know at the time that this missionary was not alone in his liberal beliefs regarding textual purity and Bible versions, nor was he alone in his willingness to be dishonest about it.

When I returned to the motorhome we were living in while on deputation, I immediately went to my computer to look for the resources of Calvin George on the Spanish Bible. A quick google search directed me to his website and an abundant library of articles on the Spanish Bible. I quickly found one that seemed relevant to textual purity and the RV1960 and began to read. It took me all of five minutes to realize that this teacher was your typical liberal modern textual critic who did not believe in the perfect preservation of the Scriptures. Here is a small sampling of what one finds on his website:

we must be realistic and transparent with what has indeed been preserved for us, which provides adequate, wonderful, trustworthy certainty, even though it may not meet the threshold of absolute certainty in every non-doctrinal technicality as in the original autographs.”[1]

Yes, I recognize that there are some critical readings in RV1960[2]

Calvin George is not bothered by the RV1960 using the Critical Text and reading like corrupt modern Bible versions. He does not believe in the perfect preservation of the Scriptures. I might as well have been reading Norman Geisler, Mark Ward, or James White.

I shut down my computer and marveled at the fact that a missionary that I respected sent me to this website. How was it possible that these men I respected so much were so weak when it comes to textual purity? How could they hide so knowingly what they really believed from their supporting churches who take a firm stand on the King James Bible?

Little did I know that I had officially entered the complicated and discouraging world of “the Spanish Bible issue.” What I would learn over the next decade is that this missionary simply represented a much larger problem that exists amongst our Fundamental Baptist Spanish ministries. A complete and total lack of understanding regarding the Doctrine of the Preservation of the Scriptures, manuscript evidence, and bibliology. When new missionaries enter this world, they are handed a Critical Text Spanish Bible that reads like the American Standard Version. If anyone begins to question this, they are painted as the bad guys and often excommunicated. If American missionaries or pastors say anything about it, they are called racists (I am not exaggerating). Independent Fundamental Baptist Spanish pastors often stand up in their pulpits and tell their congregations that the Bible does indeed have errors in it. No Bible version can be perfect, and all have errors so just have faith in God. New believers are not fed from the sincere milk of the word but rather a corrupted milk. The number of problems that this has created is great.

For this reason, I am thankful for the RVG Bible and the RVG Bible Society that has presented the solution to this great problem. For those who are seeking the truth regarding the Spanish Bible issue, the website rvgbiblia.com is a great resource with hundreds of articles, books, videos, and comparison charts. My prayer is that every year more and more Christians will awake to this problem and will take a stand for textual purity not just in English but in the Spanish language as well.

^[1] Calvin George, https://en.literaturabautista.com/differences-involving-divine-names-in-the-reina-valera (emphasis mine)

^[2] https://www.literaturabautista.com/critica-de-ensenanza-de-peter-putney-sobre-la-preservacion-en-su-libro-ni-una-jota-ni-una-tilde/