Greek word · G2734

κατοπτρίζω

katoptrizō

to reflect

The word comes from katoptron, "mirror". In the active voice it means "to show as in a mirror, reflect". In the middle voice, which is the form here, it usually means "to look at oneself in a mirror" and, by extension, "to look at something as in a mirror". It occurs only here in the New Testament.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 22, 2026

What it means

κατοπτρίζω

(κάτοπτρον, a mirror),

to show as in a mirror. Mid., to see oneself mirrored (see MM, Exp., xv); with accusative of thing(s) (R, txt., but see mg.), to reflect as a mirror: 2 Corinthians 3:18 (cf. Abbott, Essays, 94).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Corinthians 3:18

Range of meaning: The word comes from katoptron, "mirror". In the active voice it means "to show as in a mirror, reflect". In the middle voice, which is the form here, it usually means "to look at oneself in a mirror" and, by extension, "to look at something as in a mirror". It occurs only here in the New Testament.
Against the English: KJV "beholding as in a glass", NASB and WEB "as in a mirror", ESV "beholding", and NIV 2011 "contemplate" all take the "seeing" sense. BSB and NIV 1984 have "reflect", and NLT has "see and reflect". These are two different pictures: looking at a mirror, or being a mirror.
Used elsewhere in the period: Philo (Allegorical Interpretation 3.101) has Moses pray that he might not "behold your form mirrored (katoptrisaimēn) in anything other than in you yourself, O God". That is a close Jewish parallel using the middle voice with the sense "behold as in a mirror". BDAG favors "look at something as in a mirror, contemplate". Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 calls divine Wisdom "a spotless mirror of God's working and an image (eikōn) of his goodness", putting mirror and image together as Paul does.

Where it appears

2 Corinthians · 1

2 Corinthians 3:18 κατοπτριζόμενοι, beholding as in a mirror,

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Here: A present participle, which describes ongoing action. It most likely means "gazing at, as in a mirror": seeing God's glory indirectly but really, as it shows in Christ. Some take it as "reflecting". See the debates below.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.