Romans 15:30

παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς. In spite of the confident tone of Romans 15:29, Paul is very conscious of the uncertainties and perils which lie ahead of him, and with the δὲ he turns to this aspect of his situation. ἀδελφοὶ (which W. H. bracket) is an appeal to their Christian sympathy. διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ. For διὰ in this sense see Romans 12:1. The Romans and Paul were alike servants of this Lord, and His name was a motive to the Romans to sympathise with Paul in all that he had to encounter in Christ's service. διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ πνεύματος, the love wrought in Christian hearts by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22) is another motive of the same kind. συναγωνίσασθαί μοι, ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς. συναγωνίζομαι is found here only in the N.T., but ἀγὼν and ἀγωνίζομαι in a spiritual sense are found in each of the groups into which the Pauline epistles are usually divided. What Paul asks is that they should join him in striving with all their might in wrestling as it were against the hostile forces which would frustrate his apostolic work. Cf. Just. Mart., Apol., ii., 13: καὶ εὐχόμενος καὶ παμμάχως ἀγωνιζόμενος. ἀγωνία in Luke 22:44 seems to denote awful fear rather than intense striving. πρὸς τὸν θεόν is not otiose: Paul felt how much it was worth to have God appealed to on his behalf.