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
New Testament four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The word "gospel" derives from the Old English "gōd-spell" (rarely "godspel"), meaning "good news" or "glad tidings". The gospel was considered the "good news" of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, the central Christian message. Gospel is a calque (word-for-word translation) of the Greek word , "euangelion" ("eu-" "good", "-angelion" "message"). Since the 2nd century, the four narrative accounts of the life and work of Jesus Christ have been referred to as "The Gospel of