John 1:18 — the only Son, or the only God?
John 1:18 is read as only-begotten Son or only-begotten God, depending on the reading. The sacred-name abbreviations ΘΣ and ΥΣ are one stroke apart.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The blind committee record has no rationale note for this crux and gives the pericope audit verdict as 'clean'. Its APB text at John 1:18 reads: No one has ever seen God; the unique God, who is at the father's side, has made him known.
The case for each reading.
If “only-begotten God”
Reading A is printed by Nestle-Aland 28 (NA28; critical edition, 2012) as μονογενὴς θεὸς. The apparatus line places NA28 with WH and Treg for that wording. Papyri 66 & 75 (P66 P75; manuscripts, c. A.D. 200) also read it; the packet identifies them as the two earliest witnesses to John's prologue. It further says that all modern critical editions print God, with the oldest papyri. The stated graphic issue is close: the sacred-name abbreviations ΘΣ and ΥΣ differ by one stroke. On this reading, the title in John 1:18 is the only-begotten God.
If “only-begotten Son”
Reading B is printed by Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform (RP; Byzantine majority edition, 2005) as ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός. In the apparatus line, RP stands with ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός against the wording printed by WH, Treg, and NA28. The packet also states that the Byzantine text and the vast majority of manuscripts read Son. That is substantial manuscript support for the Son reading. The same stated one-stroke contrast between the sacred-name abbreviations ΘΣ and ΥΣ explains why the two forms are especially close in the earliest manuscripts. On this reading, John 1:18 uses the title only-begotten Son.
The short apparatus records support for both readings but does not resolve the question by itself. What changes is the title in John 1:18: only-begotten God or only-begotten Son. What does not change in the supplied APB text is that no one has ever seen God and that the one at the father's side has made him known.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.