Gospel of Thomas in the late 2nd century that "since there are four quarters of the earth ... it is fitting that the church should have four pillars ... the four Gospels" ("Against Heresies", 3.11.8), and then shortly thereafter made the first known quotation from a fourth gospel—the canonical version of the Gospel of John. The late 2nd-century Muratorian fragment also recognizes only the three synoptic gospels and John. Bible scholar Bruce Metzger wrote regarding the formation of the New Testament canon, "Although the fringes of the emerging canon remained unsettled for generations, a high degree of unanimity concerning the greater part of
Gospel of Thomas sayings represent "multiple attestations" and therefore are more likely to come from a historical Jesus than sayings that are only singly attested. The material in the comparison chart is from "Gospel Parallels" by B. H. Throckmorton, "The Five Gospels" by R. W. Funk, "The Gospel According to the Hebrews" by E. B. Nicholson and "The Hebrew Gospel and the Development of the Synoptic Tradition" by J. R. Edwards. Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Thomas is a non-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi