An Explanation of the Archaic Spanish Word "salud"

By Pastor Steven L Anderson

October 06, 2010

Many proponents of the phony, modern, critical text Spanish version, the Reina Valera 1960, will criticize the older editions of the Reina Valera (1602, 1865, or 1909), by saying that "in the Romans Road, instead of saying that you'll be 'saved,' it says you'll be 'healthy!' " This is due to two things:

1. A misunderstanding of the word "salud"
2. The mistaken belief that the word "salud" is in the "Romans Road" plan of salvation

As I far as I can see, the "Romans Road" does not even contain the word "salud" (salvation), so I'm not sure where they are getting that information. Here is the "Romans Road" as I have always seen it my entire life:

Romans 3:10
Romans 3:23
Romans 5:12
Revelation 20:14,15
Romans 5:8
Romans 6:23
Romans 10:9
Romans 10:13

None of those verses contain the word "salud" in any Spanish version

All of these verses are correct in the RV1909 or RVG2010, but some are wrong in the 1960. For example, in Revelation 20:14,15, the word "infierno" is used in the old Spanish Bible, but in the 1960, "hades" is used, just like the NIV. Romans 5:8 in the 1960 changes "commendeth" (encarece) to "demonstrates" (muestra = shows) just like the NIV. The NIV changes Romans 10:9 to confess that "Jesus is Lord" instead of "confess the Lord Jesus." Again, the antigua version is right here, and the 1960 is wrong.

In sum, the 1960 is wrong in 4 of the Romans Road verses, while the 1909 and RVG2010 are right in 100% of them.

In regard to the word "salud," that word is correct in the 1909. The word "salud" is simply an old word for "salvation," much like the KJV is filled with "archaic" words. Let me help you understand the word "salud."

The letters "u" and "v" used to be exchanged in European languages. That is why our letter "w" is called "double u" even though it looks like 2 "v"s. In the original 1611 KJV, all "u"s are "v"s and vice versa (e.g. "saluation").

Here is Romans 1:16 from the KJV 1611.

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God vnto saluation, to euery one that beleeueth, to the Iew first, and also to the Greeke.

The verb for "to save" in Spanish is "salvar." Verbs in Spanish are made up of stem + ending.

Stem = salv
Ending = ar

Notice that the stem of "to save" is indentical to the first 4 letters of the word "salud." This is because in old Spanish "salud" was the noun of the verb "salvar."

S-A-L-V-A-R
S-A-L-U-D

In modern Spanish, the more common word is "salvacion," but "salud" is simply an older form. In today's Spanish, the word "salud" is usually only used to mean "health." That doesn't make it wrong; it's just an older translation. The KJV is also not written in today's English.

However, that is not relevant to the Romans Road since it does not even contain the word "salud." The Romans road contains the word for "saved" which is "salvo" which means "saved" and has NEVER meant "healthy." The word for "healthy" in Spanish is "saludable," and is nowhere to be found in the Bible anywhere near the Romans road in any Spanish version.

Beware of the phony RV 1960 version. It does NOT match up with the King James Bible or other Textus Receptus based European versions. The best version I have seen so far is the Reina Valera Gomez 2010.

(I win souls to Christ in Spanish out soul-winning almost every week in Phoenix, AZ, where I am pastor. I have read the New Testament cover-to-cover in the RV1960 once, the RV1909 twice, the RV1602 once, and the RV1977 once, so I actually know what I am talking about based on my own personal study, not just repeating something I heard.)

For more info on the RV1960, click here.