Then the disciples, every man according to his ability. — Literally, as each man prospered. It is obviously implied that the collection was made at once, as a provision against the famine, in consequence of the prophecy, before the famine itself came. We may well believe that Saul and Barnabas were active in stirring up the Gentiles to this work of charity. It was the beginning of that collection for the “poor saints at Jerusalem” which was afterwards so prominent in the Apostle’s labours (Acts 24:17; Romans 15:25-26; 1 Corinthians 16:1; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15; Galatians 2:10), and which he regarded as a bond of union between the Jewish and Gentile sections of the Church. It is probable that the generous devotion and liberality of the converts of Jerusalem in the glow of their first love had left them more exposed than most others to the pressure of poverty, and that when the famine came it found them to a great extent dependent on the help of other churches.
Determined to send relief. — The Greek gives the more specific to send as a ministration, the half-technical word which St. Paul uses in Romans 15:31; 2 Corinthians 9:1.