‘Now I plead with you, brothers and sisters, 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 Judaea, and that my ministration which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,'
This plea, in the context of the whole letter, makes clear (as do the details in chapter 16) that there is no outstanding leading figure in the church at Rome at this time. Here he addresses his plea to ‘adelphoi' (brothers and sisters) which may indicate the plurality of bishops and deacons, or simply the church as a whole. There would in fact be no single overall Bishop in Rome for another hundred years, something confirmed by the opening words in the letter of Clement dating around 95 AD.
He pleads with them ‘by our LORD Jesus Christ and by the love shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit' (Romans 5:5) that they strive together (the word is a strong one - ‘agonise together') in their prayers for God to him as he seeks to fulfil his ministry in Jerusalem. Possibly he is aware of evil spiritual forces at work. He is concerned about two things, firstly to be delivered from his antagonists (‘those who are disobedient' i.e. disobedient to the Messiah) in Judaea, and secondly to present the gift of the Gentile churches to the church in Jerusalem in a way which will be acceptable to them. There were still elements in the Jerusalem church who were suspicious of the liberties offered to the Gentiles. As we know, the former fear would be realised, whilst his ministry to the saints would on the whole be successful.