This paper addresses the exegetical impasse regarding κατοπτριζόμενοι in 2 Corinthians 3:18. While some (e.g., Belleville, Wright) take this to mean “reflect,” the majority rightly affirm the more traditional “behold as in a mirror.” However, this begs the question of precisely what sort of looking Paul envisions. Proposals focused on possible backgrounds—e.g., Zosimus’s magical mirror of divination, a scene from the Great Frieze of Pompeii’s Villa of the Dionysian Mysteries in which a satyr looks intently into a bowl and whose face us thereby morphed into the mask he sees through it, Wisdom of Solomon 7:25–26, Ezekiel’s vision by the canal of Chebar, rabbinic comment on Numbers 12:6–8 in conversation with Exodus and Philo—have failed to win broad support. More promising is Jane Heath’s recent analysis of Paul’s suffering body as the actual mirror implied by κατοπτριζόμενοι, i.e., his own “necrotic flesh” presented as a visible sign in which one can see the life-giving death of Christ and so be transformed into Christ’s image. However, her insightful reading is burdened by difficulties both with respect to 2 Cor 2–4 as well as the Exodus imagery on which her contentions are partially based. Careful use of Cognitive Linguistics provides a promising path forward. By reading 3:18 in light of embedded metaphorical patterns in Pauline discourse, this paper seeks to clarify not only the meaning of κατοπτριζόμενοι as a form of intentional cognitive engagement, but also why this particular word is uniquely suited to the sort of “gazing” Paul seeks. In short, Paul employs visual language because the object of attention is genuinely *present* to noetically engaged beholders, but he uses a term referring to *indirect* looking because Christ’s presence is mediated by apostolic proclamation. It is by deliberatively meditating on Christ as (pneumatically) present in and through gospel proclamation that members of the Corinthian churches may “see” Christ and thus learn to properly evaluate Paul’s apostolic ministry (and much else besides). This has both exegetical payoff in terms of understanding this text, as well as theological-practical benefit in drawing attention to the under-appreciated theme of “metacognition” in Paul’s apostolic ministry.