James 4,1-4 in the Light of the Jewish Two Ways Tradition 3,1-6 45 refers to the human spirit by which he has revitalized mankind. Jas 4,5 serves as a warning that if someone turns to the aims and values of the world, God’s jealousy would be aroused. Yet in that situation God gives grace to the repentant. The quotation from Prov 3,34 (LXX) in 4,6 confirms that he “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. Turning now to the first chapter of James’ letter, it is important to notice first that the brief passages dedicated to various subject matters in Jas 1 serve to introduce the major themes subsequently expanded in the body of the letter. Sometimes it is even suggested that the opening chapter is the key to understanding the letter in its entirety. According to Luke T. Johnson, the chapter is “something of an epitome of the work as a whole” (24). To be more specific with respect to our section, the contrast between God as the giver of gifts (of wisdom) and man’s wicked desire (without wisdom) in 3,13–4,6 is introduced in 1,13-21. On the one hand, comprehension of the positive definition of wisdom in 3,13.17-18 emerges from the background in 1,16-18, while on the other hand the origin of strife located in the human pursuit of pleasure in 4,1-6 is reflected in the relationship between desire, sin, and death in 1,13-15.19-21 (25). Jas 1,13-15 rejects the idea of God’s responsibility for the interior peirasmo". It deepens the concept of peirasmov" by narrowing its focus v from external circumstances, for example persecutions, to internal measurement, that is the difficulties of life itself including pressures, dangers and vicissitudes in general. The human reaction to this internal temptation is to blame God for the enticement to sin (26). In fact, however, it is the human ejpiqumiva that is actually responsible and this internal force puts the individual on the path of death. In 1,14-15 James champions man’s accountability for sin and returns to this theme later in 4,1-4 where he makes this suggested criticism more concrete. The passage in 1,16-18 gives a positive counterbalance to the negative statements in 1,13-15. In vv. 17-18, James removes God (24) JOHNSON, The Letter of James, 174-175. Many other scholars “are convinced that ch. 1 holds the key to the letter’s structure”; see TAYLOR, “Recent Scholarship”, 112. We established above that James is a “redacted work”, composed of traditional materials. This does necessarily imply, however, that the employment of these traditions lacks a coherent structure or literary design. (25) Cf. JACKSON-MCCABE, Logos and Law, 206-208. (26) HARTIN, James, 104; DAVIDS, The Epistle of James, 83-85; MOO, The Epistle of James, 71-72.