They are not merely to receive and hear the Word; they must also act upon it. Compare St. Paul's teaching in Romans 2:13, "For not the hearers ( ἀκροαταὶ) of a law are just before God, but the doers of a law shall be justified." ἀκροατής occurs nowhere else except in these passages. Deceiving your own selves ( παραλογίζειν); to lead astray by false reasonings; only here and in Colossians 2:4. Not uncommon in the LXX.
Illustration from life, showing the folly of being led astray. His natural face ( τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ); literally, the face of his birth. The expression is an unusual one, but there is no doubt of its meaning. In a glass; rather, in a mirror, ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ: cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12, δἰ ἐσόπτρου. The mirror of burnished brass.