James 1:23

he is like unto a man The instance is chosen to illustrate the nature of the paralogismor fallacy by which the man deceived himself. It lies, as said above, in forgetting the self-knowledge which should form a premiss in his argument, and reasoning as if it did not exist.

beholding his natural face Literally, the face of his birth, that which he was born with. The latter word might seem at first almost superfluous, but it serves to point the spiritual interpretation. That which the man sees in the mirror of the Divine Word, is the revelation of himself, as he is by nature (comp. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25), weak, sinful, "double-minded." That revelation is meant to lead him to seek for supernatural strength to rise to the higher life. The word for "beholding" implies more than a passing glance, the man contemplatesthe reflection of his face (see Matthew 7:3; Luke 12:24).

in a glass Better, in a mirror. The word is the same as in 1 Corinthians 13:12. The mirrors in use among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans were of polished metal, and as these presented a less perfect image than our modern mirrors, to see through, i. e. by means of, a mirror had become among the later Rabbis, as well as with St Paul, a proverbial phrase for man's imperfect knowledge of divine things. Here, however, stress is laid on the fact that the mirror does supply, in some measure, the self-knowledge which the man could not attain without it. The sapiential books of the Apocrypha present two interesting illustrations drawn from the same source (Wis 7:26; Sir 12:11). It is possible, though it can hardly be insisted on, that there is an emphasis on a man'scasual way of looking at a mirror, and the more careful gaze supposed to be characteristic of a woman.