Albert Barnes Commentary James 1:23

"For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:" — James 1:23 (ASV)

For if any be, etc. The basis of the comparison in these verses is obvious. The apostle refers to what all people experience: the fact that we do not retain a distinct impression of ourselves after we have looked in a mirror. While actually looking in the mirror, we see all our features and can trace them distinctly; when we turn away, the image and the impression both vanish.

When looking in the mirror, we can see all the defects and blemishes of our appearance; if there is a scar, a deformity, or a feature of ugliness, it is distinctly in our minds. But when we turn away, that is "out of sight, and out of mind." When unseen, it causes no discomfort, and even if capable of correction, we make no effort to remove it.

So it is when we hear the word of God: it is like a mirror held up before us. In the perfect precepts of the law and the perfect requirements of the gospel, we see our own shortcomings and defects, and perhaps think that we will correct them. But we turn away immediately and forget it all.

If, however, we were doers of the word, we should endeavor to remove all those defects and blemishes in our moral character and to bring our whole souls into conformity with what the law and the gospel require. The phrase natural face (Greek: face of birth) means the face or appearance we have by virtue of our natural birth. The word glass here means mirror. Glass was not commonly used for mirrors among the ancients; instead, they were made of polished plates of metal. See Barnes on Isaiah 3:24 and Job 37:18.