18 No one has ever seen God. The Only-begotten Son,*"—this alternative has appealed to many evangelicals who see in it a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ. But if the God-part of the Christ was begotten in the womb of the virgin Mary, then He is not eternally preexistent; and in that event Christ could not be God the Son, one of the three persons of the Trinity. Notice the precision in Isaiah 9:6—"unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given." Jehovah the Son was given, not born. Notice further that the context is about the Incarnation, not the Son’s eternal preexistence. But in any case, why follow seven manuscripts of demonstrably inferior quality against 1,700 better ones? The original and therefore true reading is certainly "the only begotten Son". who exists in the bosom of the Father, He has interpreted Him.* shows us who the Father really is. As Jesus said to Philip, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).