<p>1:23 <i>For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like to a man seeing his natural face in a mirror</i>- Hearing the word but not doing it is a sermon on the mount allusion- those who <i>heard</i> those sayings but did not <i>do </i>them were likened to the man building his house on the sand (Mt. 7:26). In the same way as he <i>thought</i> that he was building and was doubtless quite pleased at his progress, so the man who glanced in the mirror thought all was well with his spiritual development. The acquiring of knowledge ('hearing') can give the impression that we are progressing; but practice ('doing') is the real foundation. It is sad that the ever deepening level of the church&rsquo;s Bible scholarship is not always matched by such 'doing'. Hearing the word is likened to glancing in a mirror and then going on with life, immediately forgetting that vision. Like the quick glance at the mirror, straighten the tie, brush the hair, off to the office. Maybe this equates with the sleepy, half awake doing of the readings in the morning and then off into the day with not a further thought about our real spiritual figure.</p><p>&quot;Beholding&quot; means 'observing fully'- the man's mistake was in his immediate forgetting of the image he saw. Thus he was a very careful hearer- because it is not always that we apply ourselves so much to the word that it is as if we are staring into our own face, observing fully our real spiritual self. In the previous analogy, here is someone who got up, washed, dressed and did his readings at the table with a concordance, and was really helped in those minutes to examine himself. But Bible study was only part of his life- he &quot;immediately forgot&quot;. Surely none of us can feel complacent at this challenge of James?</p><p>Notice how the word is likened to a mirror- our study of it should always lead to some form of self-examination and assessment as we compare ourselves against the deep things of the Spirit. Thus our studies should revolve around the application of the word to our moment by moment spiritual lives, rather than the mental gymnastics with Scripture at one extreme and empty platitudes at the other, which seem to characterize so much of our communal Bible study. The idea of the word being represented by a mirror occurs again in 1 Cor. 13:8-12. Verse 8 describes the withdrawal of the miraculous spirit gifts, and their replacement by the completed word- &quot;that which is perfect&quot;, v.10 (cp. 2 Tim. 3:16,17). Paul then contrasts the dispensation of the Spirit gifts and the word: &quot;Now we see through (look into) a glass, darkly; but then face to face&quot;. Thus the dispensation of the word would enable him to see a clear reflection of himself- &quot;Then shall I know (myself) even as also I am known&quot; (1 Cor. 13:12). The implication of these few words are tremendous- through using the completed word to examine ourselves, it is possible for us to see ourselves as God sees us- to know ourselves even as God knows us. Paul expresses his lack of full knowledge in 1 Cor. 4:4: &quot;I know nothing by myself (therefore) am I not hereby justified&quot;. The context is Paul's countering of the Corinthians who claimed to have examined and judged him. Paul is saying that he is not qualified to fully examine and judge himself, so therefore cannot comment. But now, with the completed revelation compared with the partial understanding of only some facets of God's revelation to man given by the ministry of the miraculous gifts (1 Cor. 13:9), we are able to achieve a fuller self-examination. James' description of the word as the &quot;perfect law&quot; (1:25) strengthens the impression that he is consciously alluding to 1 Cor. 13 (cp. &quot;that which is perfect&quot; concerning the completed word); as if he is preparing his readers for how they should use the completed word which he, like Paul, knew in advance would soon be available.</p><p>The word enables us to 'behold' ('Observe fully') our &quot;natural face&quot;. &quot;Natural&quot; is from the Greek <i>gennas</i>- to regenerate, conceive, gender, beget. This must connect with the concept of v.17,18 and the parallel 1 Peter 1:23- we are conceived by the word entering us, through God&rsquo;s initiative through the Spirit. The man James is speaking of looked at his &quot;natural face&quot;. This could imply at least two things- he examines the state of spiritual regeneration he has reached from the word; or he looks back to his initial spiritual birth, how he was at his first 'genesis' by the word of the Kingdom when it developed within him for the first time. The same idea is picked up in 3:6; the tongue &quot;defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell&quot;. Our thoughts lead to the words of the tongue. Thus ultimately an undisciplined mind &quot;sets on fire the course of nature&quot;- unless our thoughts are restrained by the word, our 'genesis' (&quot;nature&quot;) so far developed by the word, and our initial spiritual strength developed by the word of the Gospel, will be destroyed, &quot;set on fire&quot;. Strong interprets &quot;course&quot; as meaning 'A circuit of effects'- the circuit of effects due to our 'genesis' (&quot;nature&quot;) will be destroyed or broken unless we make a conscious effort to control the mind. We have seen that the 'genesis' is a result of the action of the word on a man's heart. This creates a 'circuit of effects'- hence 3:6 AVmg. speaks of the &quot;wheel of nature&quot; (the 'genesis') in the sense of something continuous. Surely the implication is that once the word starts to take effect, it initiates a circular, upwards spiral of spirituality- spiritual strength leading to spiritual strength, a certain level of appreciation of the word steadily leading to a higher level. However, this &quot;course of nature&quot; can be broken by not making a conscious effort to control the mind and the words which follow from it (in the context of James 3:6), and of not making the effort to <i>continue</i> beholding our &quot;natural face&quot; in the mirror of the word, and letting the word act on the results of our self-examination.</p><p>That the word should lead to an ever-increasing level of self-examination and recognition of the urgency of our need to spiritually improve is also hinted at in 1 Jn.1:10: &quot;If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us&quot;- implying that the more the word is in us, the more we recognize the degree to which we have sinned. But notice it is not just a reading of the word that results in this- seeing that the Jews to whom Paul partly wrote Romans, for all their Bible knowledge and ability to assimilate the detailed Old Testament allusions Paul makes in Romans, were of the opinion they could &quot;continue in sin that grace may abound&quot; (Rom. 6:1)- i.e. they reasoned that whatever they did was automatically blotted out by reason of being in Christ (and Jewish?). &quot;We make Him (God) a liar&quot; must refer back to the serpent in Eden, who also lacked the word of God in him, thus effectively leading him to the conclusion that Adam and Eve could not sin, even if they consciously disobeyed the commandments. Saying we have not sinned is equivalent to saying that we do not need Christ- both statements make God a liar (1 Jn. 1:10 cp. 5:10); which again was the implication of the serpent reasoning. Paul picks this point up in 2 Cor. 11:3, where he connects the reasoning of the serpent with that of the Judaizers, who also argued that Christ was not vital for salvation. Eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge made Adam and Eve aware of their sin- as does eating of the word of knowledge in our day. Jn. 15:22; Lk. 12:47,48 and many other passages clearly teach that the more knowledge of the word a man has, the more aware he is of his sins, and therefore the more answerable to judgement.</p>