Only Begotten Q

Only Begotten

Can someone from the translation team please explain this discrepancy? The Legacy Standard Bible has John 1:14 as the following:

> And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

However, you'll see in the photo below from John MacArthur's notes in the NASB MacArthur Study Bible where he states "only begotten" is a mistranslation of the Greek word.

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JMac wrote that before Charles Irons published his very important research defending “only begotten” as the best translation. We followed Irons’ argument, but still placed the alternate translation “unique” in a footnote. (1)

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/lets-go-back-to-only-begotten (2) 

Note that the Greek word for only begotten has not been translated that way in other places it occurs in Greek, but at least the LSB has a translator’s note (Luke 7:12 for example).

 This is a good example of translational nuance per author- John uses the word differently from how Luke does, or the author of Hebrews (Luke recording a Paul sermon?? 😉). The point is not to gloss the word the same way everywhere, but to get the authorial intent of the particular author in their use of it.

John MacArthur is clearly tied to the LSB but he wasn't on the translation committee, though Abner Chou did consulted with him on some matters. Occam's Razor would suggest that they disagreed with MacArthur's take...and that's okay. Scholars disagree.

Here's a link on how Pastor John thinks about this now: https://www.gty.org/library/articles/A235/reexamining-the-eternal-sonship-of-christ

Excerpt: 

"Most theologians...employ the term 'eternal generation.' I'm not fond of the expression. In Spurgeon's words, it is 'a term that does not convey to us any great meaning; it simply covers up our ignorance.' And yet the concept itself, I am now convinced, is biblical. Scripture refers to Christ as 'the only begotten of the Father' (John 1:14; cf. v. 18; 3:16, 18; Heb. 11:17). The Greek word translated "only begotten" is monogenes. The thrust of its meaning has to do with Christ's utter uniqueness. Literally, it may be rendered "one of a kind"—and yet it also clearly signifies that He is of the very same essence as the Father. This, I believe, is the very heart of what is meant by the expression 'only begotten.'"

Footnotes:

(1) Will Varner comment on LSB question. 

(2) TGC had good material until the group embraced wokism. We do not advise using their site as a resource for anything after 2019 (when they began their unbiblical views on racism, and in 2020 on lgbt). They are an unreliable source of information today.