John Calvin Commentary Galatians 2:10

"only [they would] that we should remember the poor; which very thing I was also zealous to do." — Galatians 2:10 (ASV)

That we should remember the poor. It is evident that the fellow believers in Judea were suffering extreme poverty; otherwise, they would not have burdened other churches. This poverty might have arisen both from the various calamities that befell the whole nation and from the cruel rage of their own countrymen, by which they were stripped of their possessions every day. It was fitting that they should receive assistance from the Gentiles, who owed them the inestimable benefit of the gospel. Paul says that he was forward to do, and that he faithfully performed what the apostles had requested from him. Thus, he takes away from his adversaries a pretext that they were eager to seize.