‘I had many things to write to you, but I am unwilling to write them to you with ink and pen, but I hope shortly to see you, and we shall speak face to face.'
We saw the same idea in 2 John 1:12. John preferred face to face contact. He probably felt that long letters were too impersonal. Possibly both letters were written around the same time and went with Demetrius to the same area.
3 John 1:13, ‘Peace be to you. The friends salute you. Salute the friends by name.'
He finishes with a greeting of peace, a common ancient greeting among the Jews. ‘The friends' probably signifies ‘the brethren' at John's end with a hint that these are friendly towards Gaius even if Diotrephes is not, and the other ‘friends' at Gaius' end are presumably those who still retain friendly relations with John. John clearly felt that he could not pass on salutations to those who were opposing him, as it might have caused unnecessary nastiness. There is here an indication of his tact. To have used ‘brethren' of his own church would have emphasised the difference when he used ‘friends' of those at Gaius' end, and he did not want to do that, so he called his brethren ‘friends' as well. He may have had in mind John 15:13-15, ‘you are my friends if you do what I command you.' Diotrephes was definitely not ‘friendly'.