Charles Ellicott 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)

He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.—The Apostle points grimly to an example of this self-deception. He (literally, this) is like to a man looking at his natural face in a mirror. Not a "glass," but a mirror of polished steel, such as is still used in the East. "His natural face," or the face of his birth—that is, the real appearance that the reflection of the Word of God, when properly looked into, will reveal to the inquirer.