Romans 15.30a-Paul Requests Romans Pray For Him On The Basis Of Their Relationship With The Lord And The Divine Love Produced By The Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 14, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:30a-Paul Requests That Romans Pray For Him On The Basis Of Their Common Relationship With Lord Jesus Christ And The Divine Love Produced By The Spirit
Lesson # 535
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:30.
This evening we will study Romans 15:30, which begins the sixth and final paragraph of Romans chapter fifteen.
In this verse, Paul appeals to the Roman believers as a spiritual brother and their common relationship which they share together with the Lord Jesus Christ and on the basis of the divine-love produced by the Spirit to fight together with him by means of their prayers on behalf of him.
In verse 31, he identifies what he wants them to pray for, namely that he would be rescued from those who are disobedient to the gospel in Judea and that his service for the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem would prove acceptable to the Jewish believers in that city.
Then, in verse 32, he reveals another objective he wants them to pray for, namely that by the Father’s will he would enter into their company with joy and find refreshing rest in their company.
Romans 15:30, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me 31 that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints 32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
Let’s look at verse 30 in detail.
Romans 15:30, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”
Romans 15:30 marks a transition from the fifth paragraph in Romans 15:22-29 to the sixth and final paragraph of the chapter.
“I urge” is the first person singular present active indicative form of the verb parakaleo (παρακαλέω) (para-kah-leh-owe), which means “to appeal” since this word denotes asking earnestly for something on the basis of something.
Paul is appealing to the Roman believers on the basis of the common relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that he shares with them and on the basis of the divine-love produced by the Spirit to strive together with him in prayer for him.
“You” is a reference to Paul’s Gentile and Jewish Christian readers in Rome.
“Brethren” is the vocative masculine plural form of the noun adelphos (ἀδελφός)) (ah-thel-foce), which emphasizes with the Roman Christians that they are on equal footing with the apostle in that they are sons of God like him (cf. Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 3:26-28).
“Through our Lord Jesus Christ” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), “through” and the genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), “our” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun kurios (κύριος) (ker-dee-oce), “Lord” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) (yee-soose), “Jesus” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ.”
The noun kurios indicates the following: (1) Jesus of Nazareth’s equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.
In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42).
However in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).
The noun kurios is the object of the preposition dia, which functions as a marker of efficient cause indicating the basis for Paul’s appeal to his readers to strive together with him in prayer for himself.
In other words, Paul’s readers were to strive together with him in prayer for himself “on the basis of” the Lord Jesus Christ and specifically on the basis of the common relationship which they share together with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The proper name Iesous refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
The noun Christos is a technical word designating the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind who is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.
This prepositional phrase contains the figure of metonymy where the Lord Jesus Christ is put for the common relationship that Paul and his readers share with Him.
This indicates that they were to intercede in prayer for Paul on the basis of their common relationship with Christ that they share together.
This is indicated by the presence of the genitive plural form of the personal pronoun ego, “our.”
It does not refer to the authority of Christ since Paul could appeal to his readers to pray based upon his authority as an apostle.
Also, it does not refer to the death of Christ since this would only make sense if Paul was teaching to approach the Father in prayer for him based upon the merits of Christ’s death on the cross.
He is appealing to them on the basis of their common relationship that they share together with Christ or in other words, he is appealing to them to pray for him because they are spiritual brothers and sisters because they share this common relationship with Christ, which is indicated by Paul’s use of adelphos.
Romans 15:30, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”
“By the love of the Spirit” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), “by” and the articular genitive neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα) (pa-nev-mah), “of the Spirit.”
The noun agape means “divine-love” and is used with the Roman believers as the subject and Paul its object.
Divine love is produced by the Holy Spirit in the believer who responds by faith to the Spirit’s revelation in the Word of God as to God’s love for the Christian and expresses itself in obedience to the Spirit’s command in the Word of God to love one’s fellow human being.
This is the final time that the noun pneuma appears in the Roman epistle and once again, it is used here with reference to the Holy Spirit.
It functions as a “genitive of production” indicating that the divine-love needed to pray for Paul is “produced by” the Spirit in the Roman believers.
The noun agape is the object of the preposition dia, which again functions as a marker of efficient cause indicating the basis for Paul’s appeal to his readers to strive together with him in prayer for himself.
In other words, Paul’s readers were to strive together with him in prayer for himself “on the basis of” the divine-love produced by the Spirit in the believer.
Therefore, with this prepositional phrase, he is saying that based upon the divine-love that is produced by the Spirit Paul was appealing to his readers to strive together with him in prayer for himself.