For he observes himself …: James now goes on to explain his point of comparison. He does this by using a connective for, which is often left untranslated. In Greek both the verbs observes and forgets are in the aorist tense. Scholars generally agree that the form of both verbs means that they describe things that usually and normally happen. For these kinds of repeated happenings, it is natural to use the present tense in English, as most translations have done. The verb observes is the same word as that used in verse 23. As explained there, it means an intense looking and so may be rendered as “They take a good look” (Good News Translation); it is not a momentary or hasty look, as the Revised English Bible rendering “glances” tends to suggest. Scholars who favor the sense of “a passing glance” do so because they see a contrast to the verb rendered as perseveres in the next verse. However, this Handbook recommends the former interpretation, that the person “looks at himself carefully.” Another possible rendering is “stare at himself.” Contemporary English Version uses that verb in the previous verse and then eliminates repetition of the action “looking at” here: “(23) … you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror (24) and forget what they look like….”

The verb goes away is in the perfect tense and therefore could be understood as saying someone has gone away and remains away. However, it does not seem necessary to see the author as making a deliberate shift in tense to stress the continuing state of being gone. The verb in fact may be taken as expressing an immediate sequel (so Adamson), meaning that as soon as the person goes away from the mirror, he immediately forgets what he looks like. The point the author tries to make is that the impression a person gets from the mirror is temporary and momentary.

The mere hearer of the word is like the person who goes away from the mirror and at once forgets what he was like. What this person forgets is the image seen in the mirror, namely, “what he looks like” (Barclay, New International Version), or “what they look like” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .