Biblical Imagery
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Another common image by which the Bible speaks of itself is that of a mirror. This image is embedded in the corrective instruction of James 1:23–25: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer, this one will be blessed in what he does.” The “perfect law of liberty” is one way of referring to the Bible as the totality of God’s revealed truth.
True and accurate reflection
A good mirror gives a true and accurate reflection of the object it mirrors. When we see our “natural face” in the biblical mirror, the Bible gives us a true and accurate reflection of our spiritual condition prior to coming in faith to Christ and being born anew by the Holy Spirit.
The word picture of that condition does not mince words. Apart from Christ we are condemned, separated from God, without hope and dead in our trespasses.
The phrase “observing his natural face in a mirror” suggests more than a hasty glance. This wording speaks of a careful scrutiny, a prolonged gazing at the reflected image.
When we gaze into the Bible we see a potential image, the image of what we can become when our sins are forgiven and Christ comes to dwell in us by His Spirit.
The image of what we can become and, in fact, are destined to become is nothing short of the likeness of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 this amazing reversal of images is declared in these words: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
However, this wonderful transformation does not happen if we just glance into the mirror of God’s word and soon forget what we saw. The key is to continue in it and remember the image of what we can become. The blessing of Christlikeness occurs over time as we persist in beholding His likeness in the Bible.
To see ourselves
We must remember God’s word is a mirror in which to see ourselves, not a window through which to gaze upon others and criticize what we see in them. The mirror doesn’t give us permission to point fingers.
EDITOR’S NOTE – Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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