The Spirit Works While We Look in the Mirror

We find the same revelation also in the Old Testament, in the Song of Solomon, where Christ (the Bridegroom) speaks to the Church (His bride) and says:

“You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.” (Song 4:7)

Here the flawless mirror reveals a flawless righteousness, which is ours in Christ.

Paul emphasises the need for Christians to look continually in the mirror of God’s Word.

“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.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

Paul, like James, is referring to the mirror of God’s Word. He tells us that this mirror reveals to us who believe, not our sins, which have been done away with in Christ never to be remembered anymore; but in their place it reveals the glories of the Lord, which He is waiting to impart to us by faith. Paul emphasises that it is while we are thus looking into the mirror and beholding there the glories of the Lord that the Spirit of God is able to work upon us and to transform us into the very image of those glories which we behold.

In this, as in so many other examples of Scripture, we see that the Spirit and the Word of God are always ordained to work together in harmony. It is while we look into the mirror of the Word of God that the Spirit works upon us and changes us into the likeness of what the mirror reveals. If we cease to look into the mirror of the Word, then the Spirit is no longer able to work in this way.