📜WEB · Romans 15:30
What does Romans 15:30 mean?
"Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,"
— Romans 15:30 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in fleshly things.
When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain.
I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Good News of Christ.
Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,
that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;
that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.
Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Explanation
Romans 15:30 finds Paul near the end of his letter to the church in Rome, making a heartfelt personal appeal. In plain language, he is saying: "I am urgently asking you, fellow believers, on the basis of who Jesus Christ is and the love that the Holy Spirit produces, to join me in wrestling earnestly in prayer to God on my behalf." The word translated "strive together" carries the sense of intense effort, like athletes competing side by side or soldiers fighting together in battle. Paul isn't asking for a casual mention in passing prayers; he's asking the Roman believers to labor alongside him spiritually, even though he cannot be physically present with them.
To understand the context, remember that Paul wrote this letter around AD 57, likely from Corinth, to a church he had not yet visited but hoped to visit soon on his way to Spain (Romans 15:24, 28). Before he could go west, however, he needed to deliver a financial collection from the Gentile churches to the poor believers in Jerusalem (15:25-27). This was a delicate and even dangerous mission. Paul knew that unbelieving Jews in Judea were hostile to him, and he was uncertain how the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem would receive a gift from Gentile churches, given the tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers at the time (15:31). So this request for prayer comes right before he names his specific concerns: deliverance from unbelievers in Judea and acceptance of his ministry gift by the saints in Jerusalem.
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