Parallel passage: Luke 12:2-9, where it follows the warning against the leaven of the Pharisees. A similar saying to Luke 12:26 (parallel passage: Luke 12:2) is also found in Mark 4:22 (parallel passage: Luke 8:17).
Though the two sayings are probably distinct, yet it is very possible that one may have been modified from the other in being reported. Fear them not therefore. These words are in Matthew only. Therefore.
Since the Master bore such treatment. For. Hardly—Fear them not, for your secret disloyalty wilt one day be known; but—Fear them not so as to conceal your faith and principles, for these are of supreme importance; inner character is everything.
This connexion seems to be more close than to read into the words a reference to the ultimate success of the gospel or to the unreality of those things that now terrify you. There is nothing. Even your own relation to me (cf.
verse 32). Covered, that shall not be revealed; uncovered. The cloak over it shall be drawn back. And hid, that shall not be known. It shall not only be stripped of its disguise, but also itself be brought out to light and its true character perceived.