Acts 11:29

Then the disciples. That is, the church of Antioch.

According to his ability. Literally, “as each prospered.” Apparently the collection was made, in consequence of the prophecy, before the famine itself came. Undoubtedly Saul and Barnabas were active in stirring up the Gentiles to support this charity. It was the first of those collections for the “poor saints ... at Jerusalem” (Rom. 15:25, 26) that were afterward so prominent in Paul’s labors (cf. Acts 24:17; 1 Cor. 16:1; 2 Cor. 9; Gal. 2:10), and that the apostle regarded as a bond of union between the Jewish and the Gentile sections of the church. The liberality of the converts in Jerusalem in the glory of their first love (Acts 2:45), together with their subsequent persecution (ch. 8:1), probably had left them more exposed than most others to the pressure of poverty. Thus when the famine came it may have found them to a great extent dependent on the help of churches located in areas not affected by the famine. The church at Antioch set a worthy example for other churches.