Textual criticism matters! An example is John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (NRSV). In this verse, there are variants of a Greek phrase; so "God the only Son" is not the only option. Variants include:
(1) ho monogenēs huios (“the only begotten son”)
(2) monogenēs theos (“the begotten God”)
(3) ho monogenēs theos (“the only begotten God”)
(4) ho monogenēs (“the begotten one”)
Which one do you go for? Why?
I prefer option (1): ho monogenēs huios (“the only begotten son”)
1. This form of “the only begotten Son” goes well with 3:16 & 3:18.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (3:16).
”Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (3:18).
2. This form also fits the Johannine theology of Jesus's embodiment of the Logos (1:14; 3:16; 14:6).
-The Logos became flesh (1:14), which means Jesus embodies the Logos.
-Jesus as the Son of God was sent by God to do the work of God: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (3:16).
-“I am” sayings of Jesus as the description of Jesus’s work (for example, 14:6).
Regarding my view of Christology in John's Gospel, see my book Truth, Testimony, and Transformation.