Acts 19:22

So he sent into Macedonia No doubt, that the contributions of the churches might be in readiness, and that there should be no gatherings when Paul himself came, as he says to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:2).

two of them that ministered unto him The verb is that from which the noun "deacon" is derived, and at first the chief duties of these ministers were in regard of the alms of the churches.

Timotheus and Erastus The former had laboured in Macedonia and in Greece when St Paul was there before; the latter is mentioned (2 Timothy 4:20) as having stayed at Corinth, at the later period when the second Epistle to Timothy was written. He can hardly be the same person as Erastus the chamberlain of the city of Corinth spoken of in Romans 16:23.

but he himself stayed in Asia for a season We may perhaps infer from this that St Paul did not remain constantly at Ephesus, at all events when the congregation there became firmly established, out making that city his head-quarters, went but into other districts of the province of proconsular Asia.