James 1:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

From the ordinary mirror the Apostle turns his discourse to the noetic mirror, without drawing anything out from the example he presented in brief words.

He ought to have said this: "Whoever hears the law and does not fulfill it is like a man considering his face in a mirror.

Just as that man looked at himself, went away, and at once forgot what he was like, so also this man saw from the law of Moses why he was created.

He saw that he was created for the glory of God and for life according to the image of the God who created him. Yet he fulfilled nothing of what he saw.

He acted exactly like the man who looked in the mirror. He ought to have made use of what he saw, but, like that man, he did not make use of it."

The Apostle does not act in this way without purpose, in leaving something unspoken. He concentrates the listener and makes him listen with attention, not in passing.

For blessed are not such hearers, but those who join work to hearing. The Pharisees also were hearers. Yet because they were not doers, they were not blessed.

"Deceiving yourselves" means deceiving themselves, and counting their own salvation as nothing.

Afterward, forgetting the grace we received, we ceased to abide in this contemplation through action and good works.

For whoever gives himself wholly to wicked works no longer remembers how he has been benefitted by God, both through creation and through re-creation.

If he remembered that he had been born from above, justified, and numbered among the sons of God, according to David, he would not give himself to wicked works that drive away the grace of God.

See, beloved, how the divine James lifts his discourse from this customary and sensible mirror to the noetic mirror. He speaks, as it were, in this way.

The one who only hears the law and does not fulfill it is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror. He saw that his face was comely, went away, and forgot what his face was like.

So also the man who looks through the old law of Moses understands the work completed by God. That is, he understands that he has the glory of God and the image and likeness of the Creator.

Yet he does not do in deeds what he saw. He does not perform those works that serve the glory of God and the restoration of what is according to His image.

Such a man completely forgets that he was created according to the image of God and that he exists for the glory of God.

Thus those who only hear the law are not righteous. Rather, those are righteous who join hearing to works, as the great Paul said: "It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Rom 2:13).

So also the Pharisees were hearers of the law. Yet because they were not doers, they were not righteous.

Saint Mitrophan says plainly that those deceive themselves who listen and are instructed with a good disposition, yet do not apply even a little care to action.

In this way they bring harm and damage upon themselves, and not upon someone else. They are like seed cast into the earth and left in neglect, useless and unfit for harvest.

Concerning such people the prophet Hosea said, "They sowed what was destroyed by the wind, and their ruin shall receive it. It has no stalk capable of producing meal" (Hos 8:7).

Just as those who hear the divine law but do not practice it deceive themselves, so also those deceive themselves who teach others the divine laws but do not show trustworthy works confirming what is said by virtue.

David also spoke of such people: "But to the sinner God said, Why do you declare My statutes, and take My covenant in your mouth? Yet you hated instruction, and cast My words behind you" (Ps 49:16-17).

"From the ordinary mirror the Apostle turns his discourse to the noetic mirror, without drawing anything out from the example he presented in brief words.

If speaking more fully, he would have said this: Whoever hears the law and does not fulfill it is like a man considering his face in a mirror.

Just as that man looked at himself, went away, and at once forgot what he was like, so also this man saw from the law of Moses why he was created.

Namely, he was created for the glory of God and for life according to the image of the God who created him. Yet he fulfilled nothing of what he saw.

He acted exactly like the man who looked in the mirror. He ought to have made use of what he saw, but, like that man, he did not make use of it.

The Apostle does not act so without purpose, leaving something unspoken. He concentrates the listener and makes him listen to this with attention, not in passing.

For blessed are not such hearers, but those who join work to hearing" (Theophylact).

The word of truth is saving only for the one who does not merely hear it, but looks into it and abides in it. Such a man is blessed because he is a doer.

All his activity is conformed to the word of truth he hears. It grows in him and bears fruit. By it all man's activity is directed, enlivened, elevated, and sanctified.

The Apostle Paul also says, "It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law" (Rom 2:13).

"The truth will make you free" (Jn 8:32), says Jesus Christ, exhorting men to receive His teaching and fulfill it.

Therefore the law of the Lord is often presented as the law of freedom and of the Spirit of life (see Rom 8:2). Blessedness is promised for fulfilling it (see Mt 7:24), just as it was promised in the Old Testament (see Ps 1:2).

The hearers and non-doers of the Gospel word truly resemble such people. As the word of truth, it showed them the moral uncleanness within them, with the fidelity of a good mirror.

They took this only as information. At first, under the influence of the first impression, they thought about cleansing themselves.

Yet soon they forgot what the mirror of truth had reminded them of. They continued living in their former moral uncleanness. The word of truth, which convicted them of sin, brought them no benefit.