But be ye doers of [the] word and not hearers only, beguiling yourselves.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For if any man be a hearer of [the] word and not a doer, *he* is like to a man considering his natural face in a mirror
The picture James draws is of a man at a mirror: he looks, he sees, he walks away, and the face he saw leaves no trace on him. That is what hearing the word without obeying it does to a person. Has the Bible ever left a mark on you, or has it only reflected you for a moment?
The whole force of the picture lies in what a mirror cannot do.
When a man stands before a mirror, the mirror reflects his image for just as long as he stands there. But nothing takes root in the mirror. It reflects his face, yet the mirror itself feels no effect. It stays wholly unchanged, even if it reflects ten thousand things in turn on its face. The man leaves, his image vanishes, and all is forgotten. It is just like this if a man merely hears the Word without any thought of obeying it.
The sight in the mirror can be sharp and honest. It can also be gone in a moment.
He may have a very clear view of himself. He sees what he is like for a moment, and then forgets it all. He looks at himself and goes his way. The image has faded and gone... This is that glimpse of conviction by the truth that comes to souls. The light of God flashes over and through a man, and he has to see where his thoughts spring from and what his feelings are. But how soon it passes away, instead of entering in and staying within the soul! Only the power of the Spirit of God can engrave these things on the heart. Here the apostle is exposing the absence of an inward work, where the mind is cut off from the conscience.
If the man is the mirror-gazer, the Bible is the mirror. It does two things at once.
James uses the mirror as a symbol of the Word of God. It faithfully shows the man who looks into it what he is. What a merciful provision for us in our wilderness circumstances! When we come to the Word and lay ourselves open before it, it exposes every secret of the heart. It detects every impure motive. It shows up every bit of defilement in daily life, and shows it in its true character, as God sees it. The Word is both the detector and the cleanser of evil.
Forgetting is not always accidental. Sometimes the glimpse stings, and the man would rather not hold it.
He gets nothing more than a passing glance at his inward condition. He never really knows himself. Perhaps the brief glimpse angers him. He is not honest and does not want to know the truth about himself, so he turns away from it to forget... There is a story of a man who bought a Bible from a Bible Society agent. After a while he brought it back saying he did not want it: he did not like it. "Why?" asked the agent. "It kicks me," was the answer. Many are like that.
There is a quieter version of the same failure, where the reading is regular and the heart untouched.
Nothing is more dangerous than trapping believers into a merely formal reading of the revealed word. The conscience can be content that the word was heard, while the heart stays unmoved. So it all becomes powerless. Yet God has communicated His most solemn truths there. Reading them as a mere routine inflicts deep moral loss on the soul, and leads into a hardened state that lays one open to a thousand snares.
What the mirror shows you is meant to be dealt with, not shrugged off.
The Word is a mirror, revealing exactly what we are. That word should leave a lasting impression, so that we correct the faults it exposes instead of forgetting them.
The one who keeps looking gets something the glancer never gets.
The one who hears the Word, bows to it, and lets it act looks into the perfect law of liberty. He does not look into the law to be saved, or to produce holiness. He looks into "the law of liberty," the word of God, which has set us free. He looks into that and continues in it, and is blessed in his doing.
- Mirror. The Word shows you what you are — every secret, every motive, every defilement, as God sees it.
- Glance. A hearer only takes a passing look. Nothing takes root, and the image vanishes the moment he turns away.
- Forgetting. Some forget because the sight hurts and they will not face it. Others read as a routine that quiets the conscience and leaves the heart cold.
- Gaze. The blessed man keeps looking. He corrects what the mirror exposed instead of forgetting it.
- Doing. He looks not into a law that saves, but into the law of liberty — the word that has set him free — and he is blessed in his doing.
for he has considered himself and is gone away, and straightway he has forgotten what he was like.
The picture James draws is of a man at a mirror who sees himself clearly, walks off, and instantly loses the image. James uses it for the hearer who takes in God's word but does not act on it. Why does a true view of ourselves fade so fast?
A mirror gives back a perfect image while you stand in front of it, and holds nothing at all once you step away.
When a man stands before a mirror, it reflects his image for just as long as he stands there. But there is nothing implanted in the mirror. His face shows in it, but this has no inward effect on the mirror. The mirror stays completely unchanged, even if it reflects ten thousand things in turn on its face. The man leaves, his image vanishes, and all is forgotten. It is just like this if a man merely hears the Word without any thought of obeying it. He gazes into the Word and then goes away and forgets.
The failure is not in the mirror. What the man saw was true. It just never got past his eyes.
He may have the clearest possible view of himself. He sees what he is like for a moment, but he forgets it all just as fast… This is that glimpse of conviction by the truth that comes to souls. They are forced to see what drives their thoughts, and what their feelings are, when the light of God flashes over and through a man. But how soon it passes away, instead of entering in and staying within the soul! It is the power of the Spirit of God alone that can engrave these things on the heart. Here the apostle is exposing the lack of any inward work, where the mind is cut off from the conscience. He pictures it in the man who gets a glance in a mirror, and then all is gone the moment his back is turned.
The forgetting here is sometimes not weak memory but unwillingness. Some hurry away because they did not like what they saw.
He gets nothing more than a passing glance at his inward condition. He never really knows himself. The brief glimpse may even anger him. He is not honest and does not want to know the truth about himself, so he turns from it to forget… A man once bought a Bible from an agent of a Bible society. Soon he brought it back and said he did not want it: he did not like it. "Why?" asked the agent. "It kicks me" was the answer. Many are like that. They listen to teaching or read the word. As in a mirror, they see themselves for what they really are, and it shames them. It hurts them: they do not care to face the truth and make haste to forget it. This is a widespread and serious evil.
Bible reading can become a routine that leaves the conscience content because nothing changed.
No way is more dangerous than trapping believers into a merely formal reading of the revealed word. The conscience may be satisfied that it has heard the word, while the heart stays unmoved. Then everything becomes powerless. Yet in that word God has told us the most solemn truths, and they matter deeply to Himself as well as to us. So a careless reading of them inflicts deep moral loss on the soul. It leads into a hardened state that lays one open to a thousand snares.
The cure is a different relationship with the word. You keep coming back to it, and it becomes part of you.
Nature's looking-glass can never give a clear and lasting view of our true condition… The man who keeps turning to the word of God, and who lets that word speak to his heart and conscience, will be kept in the holy activities of the divine life.
The word does not stay outside the person, the way a rule does.
A graft becomes a real part of the plant it is put into. In the same way, the word becomes part of the Christian himself. It is not so with a law, which is always a commandment outside of us. That the word produces effects in us does not at all destroy its authority over us — an authority which is that of God.
- Mirror. God's word shows you what you are. But a mirror holds nothing and implants nothing, so the image goes when you go.
- Glance. The hearer really does see himself. The sight fails because his mind is cut off from his conscience. Only the Spirit engraves such things on the heart.
- Flight. Some forget on purpose: the glimpse hurts, so they turn away and make haste to forget.
- Formality. Reading can satisfy the conscience and leave the heart unmoved. That brings real loss and hardens the soul.
- Grafted. Keep turning to the word until it becomes part of you, like a graft in a plant. It is still God's authority over you, but now it works inside you.