The three-source hypothesis is a candidate solution to the synoptic problem.

The hypothesis is named after the three documents it posits as sources, namely the sayings collection, the Gospel of Mark, and the Gospel of Matthew.

The sayings collection may be identified with Q, or with a subset of Q[1] if some (typically narrative-related) material normally assigned to Q is instead attributed to Matthew's creativity in conjunction with Luke's use of Matthew.

This theory has been advocated by Heinrich Julius Holtzmann,[2] Eduard Simons,[3] Hans Hinrich Wendt,[4] Edward Y. Hincks,[5] Robert Morgenthaler[6] and Robert H.

Linssen[8] proposes it as a variant by equating the sayings collection to the Gospel of Thomas, suggesting that Matthew and Luke worked together to write different gospels, each targeted at their own audience.