Athenagoras not only does not mention any Gospel, but singularly enough he never once introduces the
name of "Christ" into the works ascribed to him, and all the "words of the Lord" referred to are introduced simply by the indefinite "he says," [———], and without any indication whatever of a written source.(1) The only exception to this is an occasion on which he puts into the mouth of "the Logos" a saying which is not found in any of our Gospels. The first passage to which Canon Westcott alludes is the following, which we contrast with the supposed parallel in the Gospel:—
[———]
It is scarcely possible to imagine a greater difference in language conveying a similar idea than that which exists between Athenagoras and the first Gospel, and the parallel passage in Luke is in many respects still more distant. No echo of the words in Matthew has lingered in the ear of the writer, for he employs utterly different phraseology throughout, and nothing can be more certain
than the fact that there is not a linguistic trace in it of acquaintance with our Synoptics.
The next passage which is referred to is as follows:
[———]
The same idea is continued in the next chapter, in which the following passage occurs: