James 4,1-4 in the Light of the Jewish Two Ways Tradition 3,1-6 The close resemblances between the different versions of the Two Ways (including Did 1–6, Barn 18–20 and the Doctrina Aposto- lorum) (1) are generally explained in modern research by their — direct or indirect — dependence upon an earlier Jewish Two Ways document which is no longer known to us. The late David Flusser and I recently attempted to reconstruct this original teaching. Because this source was in Greek, the document may also be called the Greek Two Ways (2). For our purpose, it is important to establish that this (hypothetical) version generally reflects the precise wording of the Two Ways in the Didache, except for the Christianised sections, 1,3b–2,1 and 6,2-3 (3). In this paper, therefore, the Christian Didache will be followed excluding those parts and details differing from the hypothesized Greek Two Ways. In the first century of our era, the doctrine of the Two Ways was employed within Christian circles in pre-baptismal instruction (4). This is explicitly stated in Did 7,1 in a verse that follows right after the rendering of the Two Ways section: “Concerning baptism, baptize as follows: after having previously said these things (tau'ta pavnta (1) There are also later recensions of the Two Ways tradition which include church orders, letters, and monastic writings. These recensions are represented by the Apostolic Church Order, the Epitome of the Canons of the Holy Apostles, the Life of Shenoute, the Ps. Athanasian Syntagma Doctrinae, and the Fides CCCXVIII Patrum. (2) For the above information and a reconstruction of the Greek Two Ways (GTW), see H. VAN DE SANDT – D. FLUSSER, The Didache. Its Jewish Sources and its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity (CRI III/5; Assen – Minneapolis 2002) 112-139. (3) In the Letter of Barnabas and the Doctrina Apostolorum there are no passages that parallel the materials in Did 1,3a–2,1 and Did 6,2-3. For further details on the establishment of an earlier form of the Two Ways and its versions in early Christian literature, see VAN DE SANDT – FLUSSER, The Didache, 55-80; 238- 270. (4) By this I do not mean, however, that the use of the Two Ways teaching was solely restricted to catechetical instruction prior to baptism. That it was used otherwise as well is shown by its insertion into the Letter of Barnabas, which was written to baptized Christians.