3 John 13–15 (ESV)
Final Greetings
13 I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.
John gives Christ’s
blessing of peace and extends the greetings of all of Gaius’s friends in Ephesus. John withholds all that he might say about Diotrephes until he meets with Gaius face-to-face. Today, when called upon to tell the truth in any controversial situation,
you should exercise similar care and discretion. The peace with which the apostle John blesses Gaius is a peace that none can take away; it is peace not as the world gives, but only as Christ gives.
I pray: Heavenly Father, You called each one of us by name through Baptism into Your Son. Grant us the peace that passes all understanding, which is beyond the reach of men who put themselves first. Keep us in Christ’s
peace until the day when we have no more need for the Word of God on paper and in ink—for then we shall see Christ the Word face-to-face. Amen.
Edward
A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing
House, 2009), 2186.