It is significant that according to all four Gospels, Jesus warned his disciples against hypocrisy; even more significant that according to all four Gospels this warning failed. The disciples all deceived themselves into supposing that they were ready for the coming trial of faith. Jesus had been freed from fear of his adversaries, but they had not. Gethsemane proved that Jesus' early warning against self-deception had been entirely justified. It was not until after his crucifixion that the true state of their own hearts had been disclosed. Then they could better understand the relative weight of the two fears of which Jesus had spoken in Luke 12:4, 5. In this second volume [ACTS] Luke showed the delayed effects of Jesus' martyrdom. On trial before the same court that had convicted Jesus, those fearful disciples had become courageous enough to shout, "We must obey God rather than men"(Acts 5:29). In a very concrete way these friends of Jesus had demonstrated how the fear of God had become the beginning of their wisdom, and how that fear had given them a victory over their earlier self-deception.
- from page 43, New Testament Apocalyptic