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3Jn_1:13-14. The same thoughts as in 2Jn_1:12; even the expression is little different; this agreement is most naturally explained by the contemporaneousness of the two Epistles.
πολλὰ εἶχον γράψαι ] “I would have many things to write to thee, but …;” as in Act_25:22; comp. Winer, p. 253; VII. p. 265; A. Buttmann, p. 187 (de Wette); an ἄν is not omitted. Düsterdieck and Ebrard translate: “I had much to write,” unsuitably, because the apostle is not speaking of the past, but of the present.
Instead of paper (Second John), it is the κάλαμος , “the writing-reed,” that is mentioned as the writing material along with the ink.
On ἐλπίζω δὲ κ . τ . λ ., see ἐὰν ἔλθω , 3Jn_1:10.
3 John 1:15. εἰρήνη σοι ] The blessing at the end of the First Epistle of Peter runs similarly; comp. besides, Gal_6:16; Eph_6:23; 2Th_3:16 (also Rom_15:33; 2Co_13:11; 1Th_5:23; Heb_13:20).
ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ φίλοι κ . τ . λ .] It is in harmony with the character of the Epistle, as a private communication, that John does not send greetings from the whole Church, but from the special friends of Caius, and so also commissions him with greetings only to his (the apostle’s) φίλοι . The latter was the more natural, as indeed a part of the Church was at enmity with John.
On κατʼ ὄνομα , comp. Joh_10:3; it belongs to ἀσπάζου , and is = ὀνομαστί (see Meyer on this passage); the personal relationship is thereby emphasized, as Caius is to greet every one of the friends specially (by name).