Aloof Love
When love looks more like an oak than a flower
To be aloof means to position oneself away from others, distant from their ability to influence you. We see an example of this in 1 Cor. 16:12. Paul had strongly urged Apollos to visit the Corinthians with the other brothers who had delivered this letter, but it was “not at all his will to come.” A strong statement. Apollos, will you go? No way, no how.
Then Paul adds a note of gracious diplomacy: he will come when he has opportunity.
Why so aloof Apollos?
You’ll remember that in the beginning of the letter, the first problem that Paul addressed was the divisions in the church. They were developing pecking orders and then quarreling over who was baptized by whom. I follow Paul . . . Well, I follow Apollos, 1:12. Oh yeah? Well I follow the great Peter! And then the original Jesus Juke: Well, I follow Jesus . . .
The Corinthians loved gifted speakers who would come to town and command a lot of money to hear them orate. The more money they could charge, the more the Corinthians respected them. And Apollos was right up there with the best of them.
Acts 18:24 describes him as gifted in the Scriptures and eloquent. He powerfully refuted the Jews in public and greatly encouraged the church. He was probably good-looking, too.
So they loved Apollos, and this love was reasonable. He taught them eloquently about the most important question in life - about God. But right at that moment (as C.S. Lewis taught us to see), when love is at its highest and purest, that is when the temptation is greatest to make it a god itself. And then that love becomes as anti-Christ as anything.
You see this when you hear Christians brag about their church, their pastor, or that they used to attend so-and-famous-so’s church. It’s trying to get awesomeness not by accomplishment but by association. Imagine bragging about an organization with a Roman torture device as its logo! Dave and his wife LOVED to casually name-drop John MacArthur, a respected and beloved pastor. “We were talking to John the other day, and . . .”, they would say. And I would reply, “John who? John the Baptist? You were talking to John the Baptist?”
But Apollos will have none of it. He won’t come only to serve as a prop to prop up their pride. After all, if “Christ crucified” teaches us anything, it’s that the way up is to go down.
So Apollos, like an oak, remains silent and immoveable, aloof to the Corinthians and their desire to use him. This too is love. It is not love to feed idolatry, whether in others or in yourself, and especially if you’re a pastor. Then and now, Apollos could have made lots of money. He could have made for himself a great name and ministry. He could have called it, oh, let’s say, “Insight for Living.” But in love, he remains silently aloof.
So then Paul is saying to the Corinthians and to you in your local church: your Chuck Swindoll is not coming. It’s up to you to do what God demands. God did not put your favorite preacher in your town, in your church, on your block. He put you there. And the challenges there will require of you the same kind of sturdy, courageous love.