The first part of this article investigates the relationship between the origins of the Jesus tradition and the two-source hypothesis. As more recent investigations have shown, there is no direct connection between the earliest synoptic sources and the beginnings of the Jesus tradition. Moreover, a division between sayings and narratives, although plausible with regard to the overall process of transmission, cannot be applied to Q and Mark. Therefore, the two-source hypothesis needs to be revisited. In the second part vestiges of the earliest sayings tradition are analysed with special regard to the Pauline writings. Paul does not distinguish between sayings of the exalted κυριος and the pre-Easter Jesus. In addition, in several writings the transmission of ‘synoptic’ sayings without attribution to Jesus can be detected. This latter tendency is demonstrated with regard to Rom 12.14–21, but can also be observed e. g. in James and the Didache. Both aspects reveal that the sayings tradition by itself is not orientated biographically, but leads to parenesis (as e. g. in 1 Clement 13) or to the concept of the ‘hidden sayings of the living Jesus’ in the Gospel of Thomas. The third part asks about the relationship of the sayings tradition to the earliest narratives about Jesus. It is argued that for the sake of historical memory of Jesus the sayings tradition had – and has – to be incorporated into narratives. More recent approaches to the historical Jesus via Q or the sayings tradition in general have therefore to be replaced by a more balanced perspective which relates the sayings tradition to the data gained from the narrative tradition.