13 I had many things to write unto thee, but I am unwilling to write them to thee with ink and pen: 14 but I hope shortly to see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be unto thee. The friends salute thee. Salute the friends by name.

As the aged apostle brings his letter to a close, just before writing his benediction of "peace," and before sending the greetings of Christian friends in Ephesus to the Christian friends of Gaius, he states how irksome and unsatisfactory it is for him to communicate "with ink and pen," and he expresses the hope of a coming visit when he can "speak face to face." It is these natural and human touches which make the last epistles of John so fascinating and full of life. Here we are not moving in the sphere of the supernatural and mysterious; there is no suggestion of miracle and marvel; but here we find men and women like ourselves, tempted by human weakness and faults, furthering the work of Christ by the exercise of hospitality, living in the power of a vital faith, laboring in love and "walking in the truth."