Romans 15.30b-Paul Requests Romans Fight Together With Him By Means Of Their Prayers On Behalf Of Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 15, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:30b-Paul Requests Romans Fight Together With Him By Means Of Their Prayers In The Presence Of The Father On Behalf Of Him
Lesson # 536
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:30.
Yesterday we began a study of Romans 15:30 by noting that Paul requests that the Roman believers pray for him on the basis of their common relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as well as on the basis of the divine-love produced by the Spirit.
This evening we will wrap up this verse by noting that Paul requested that the Romans fight together with him by means of their prayers in the presence of the Father on his behalf.
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.”
“To strive together” is the aorist middle infinitive form of the verb sunagonizomai (συναγωνίζομαι) (see-nah-go-knee-zoe-meh), which means “to fight along with” and is used with reference to intercessory prayer emphasizing with Paul’s readers that they must identify with him in prayer or in other words, in prayer, they were to assume his person as though they were in his place.
Romans 15:31 reveals that the Romans were to fight along with Paul in intercessory prayer for him so that he might be delivered from those in Judea who were disobedient to the gospel.
They were also to pray that his service on behalf of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem might be acceptable.
Romans 15:32 reveals that they were also to pray that he would by the will of the Father enter into their fellowship and be refreshed by their company.
He uses this word to describe prayer since he is well aware that Satan and the kingdom of darkness would like for him to be killed in Jerusalem and that the Jewish believers in Jerusalem would not find his service on their behalf acceptable and that he would not arrive in Rome and head for Spain after that (Ephesians 6:18-20; 2 Corinthians 1:10-11).
So in Romans 15:30, the verb sunagonizomai means “to fight together with” and is used with reference to intercessory prayer emphasizing with Paul’s readers that they must identify with him in prayer or in other words, in prayer, they were to assume his person as though they were in his place.
“With me” denotes that the Roman believers were to “accompany” Paul in prayer for himself.
“In your prayers to God” is composed of the preposition en (ἕν), “in” and the dative feminine plural form of the definite article ho (ὁ) (owe), “your” and the dative feminine plural form of the noun proseuche (προσευχή) (pro-sef-hee), “prayers” and the preposition pros (πρός) (proce), “to” and the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “to God.”
The noun proseuche refers to prayer in a general sense without reference to the content of the prayer and denotes speaking face to face or in the presence of the Father to offer up petitions, intercessory prayers, thanksgiving and to worship Him.
The noun is the object of the preposition en, which functions as a marker of means indicating that Paul is appealing to his readers to fight together with him “by means of” their intercessory prayers.
The articular construction of proseuche functions as a possessive pronoun and should be translated “your.”
“The God” is the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), which refers to the Father since the Scriptures teach that all prayer is to be addressed to the Father.
The articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise indicated by the context.
The preposition expresses a close personal intimacy with the Father in prayer.
The word expresses the concept of fellowship with Father in prayer.
Paul is commanding the Romans to fight together with him by means of their intercessory prayers “in the presence of” God the Father in prayer.
Prayer is a face to face audience with the Father.
“For me” is composed of the preposition huper (ὑπέρ) (ee-perr), “for” and the genitive first person singular form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), “me.”
The personal pronoun ego refers to the apostle Paul and is the object of the preposition huper, which functions as a marker of a participant who is benefited by an event.
This marks Paul as benefiting from the intercessory prayers of the Romans.
Romans 15:30, “Now, I appeal to each and every one of you spiritual brothers and sisters without exception on the basis of the common relationship we share with our Lord, namely Jesus, who is the Christ as well as on the basis of the divine-love, which is produced by the Spirit to fight together with me by means of your prayers in the presence of God the Father on behalf of me.” (My translation)
To summarize, this passage serves as a transition from the sixth paragraph in chapter fifteen to the seventh and final one.
In this verse, Paul appeals to the Romans as a spiritual brother and thus based upon the common relationship that they share with the Lord Jesus Christ to strive together with him in prayer for him.
He also appeals to them based upon the divine-love produced by the Spirit, which will enable them to intercede in prayer for him.
In verse 31, he requests 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 is not the only place in Paul’s writings where he requests that his readers enter into prayer on his behalf (2 Corinthians 1:8-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2).
Ephesians 6:19, “Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak – that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel.” (NET Bible)
Colossians 4:2, “Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time pray for us too, that God may open a door for the message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.” (NET Bible)