What Does Romans 15:30 Mean in the King James?
Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The prayer Paul asks for is itself a shared struggle, with love as its force.
THE MEANING
Prayer here joins one person to another in the pressure they face. Love belonging to the Spirit holds that shared struggle before God, while the request remains personal: “for me.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that prayer for someone is detached from their struggle: here, intercession means entering that struggle together.
THE ROOT
συναγωνίσασθαι
synagōnisasthai
GROWS FROM
ἀγών
ἀγών (agōn) means a contest or struggle; it is the root-family behind words for contending and striving.
“strive together” in this verse is synagōnisasthai. The verb joins συν- (syn, “together”) to the contest-family: the prayer is pictured as entering the strain beside Paul. The image makes prayer a shared undertaking, not simply words spoken on someone’s behalf.
ALSO GROWS
agōnizomai: to contend or strive
ἀγωνίζομαι
This verb shares the ἀγων- (agōn-) root and carries the contest-like effort present in the verse.
agōnia: anguish or intense struggle
ἀγωνία
This related word shows the same root reaching into the felt strain of a struggle.
synagōnizomai: to strive together or alongside
συναγωνίζομαι
This compound adds συν- (syn, “together”) to the same root-family, as the verse does.
ἀγάπης
agapēs
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
The stem ἀγαπ- (agap-) belongs to the Greek word-family for love; ἀγάπη (agapē) means love.
The Spirit is joined directly to the love that frames this request. The shared struggle is held within love, so exertion is not the whole picture: the relationship around it matters too.
ALSO GROWS
agapaō: to love
ἀγαπάω
This verb shares the ἀγαπ- stem and shows love as something expressed in action.
agapētos: beloved or dearly loved
ἀγαπητός
This related word carries the same love-family into the experience of being loved.
παρακαλῶ
parakalō
GROWS FROM
καλ-
The stem καλ- (kal-) carries the idea of calling; καλέω (kaleō) means to call or summon.
“beseech” in this verse is parakalō. παρακαλῶ (parakalō, “I appeal” or “I urge”) combines παρά (para, “beside”) with the calling-family. Paul’s appeal carries the sense of calling others near, which echoes the verse’s language of striving together.
ALSO GROWS
kaleō: to call or summon
καλέω
This is the calling verb whose stem appears within παρακαλῶ.
paraklēsis: appeal, exhortation, or encouragement
παράκλησις
This related word shares the παράκλη- (paraklē-) family and shows how a call can become an appeal or encouragement.
paraklētos: helper, advocate, or one called to another’s side
παράκλητος
This word shares the calling-family and extends its image toward presence beside someone.
THE PATTERN
Intercession turns another person’s burden into a shared act of presence before God.
But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.THE THREAD
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.“Labouring fervently” translates ἀγωνιζόμενος (agōnizomenos, “striving”), from the same ἀγών (agōn, “contest or struggle”) root-family as Romans’ “strive together.” Colossians pictures that striving in prayer for others; Romans asks for that same struggle to be shared.
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