What does 3 John 1:14 mean?

John plans to personally visit Gaius and his congregation. This short note introduces what John wants to discuss in person (3 John 1:13). This explains why 3 John is so brief, and suggests its time frame. Third John would have been written when a church was more likely to be visited by a traveling teacher than an apostle. John was not yet on the island of Patmos, where he penned Revelation. This suggests some time around AD 80, after Domitian was emperor and John wrote his other letters. John had likely been to Gaius's church before and knew some of its members. The Greek phrase used here is stoma pro stoma, which makes no sense if translated literally into English as "mouth to mouth." Instead, it is better translated as "face to face," which is how John wants to discuss these issues with Gaius. Then, as now, there is a difference between remote conversations and personal contact.

Some translations move the final farewell phrase to a 15th verse. John also mentions peace in 2 John 1:3, and six times in the gospel of John (John 14:27 twice; John 16:33; John 20:19; John 20:21; John 20:26) and twice in Revelation (Revelation 1:4; Revelation 6:4).