John’s Third Epistle

3 Jno. 13-15

Face to Face

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.

– 3 Jno. 13-15

“Final Greetings” at the end of a New Testament epistle follow a pattern, and we often find nothing that requires much comment. It is the close of a letter. The bulk of the teaching comes before the close. Thus, we generally spend little time with it.

But there is something here directly relevant to our time. John wrote to them “with pen and ink,” but with a predominant hope. He said, “I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.”

Do you see it? There is something here so relevant in our age. Let me re-translate or paraphrase into our age: “I had much to type to you in email and social media, but I would rather not … I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face!!”

An apostle is telling us, by implication, that personal face-to-face communication is better than written or digital. I hope our modern obsession with digital communication never replaces direct, personal, face-to-face communication. It is the preferred way to connect to people, bond, help, love and serve.

This concludes the series on 1st, 2nd & 3nd John.

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