Neither of these men had openly attached himself to the Saviour while he was living, although both believed on him. They knew that if they declared their faith they would be excluded from the Sanhedrim council, on account of the prejudice of the priests and elders toward Jesus. This would have cut them off from all power to aid or protect him by using their influence in the council. Several times they had shown the fallacy of the grounds of his condemnation, and protested against his arrest, and the council had broken up without accomplishing that for which it had been called together; for it was impossible to procure the condemnation of Jesus without the unanimous consent of the Sanhedrim. The object of the priests had finally been obtained by calling a secret council, to which Joseph and Nicodemus were not summoned. {3SP 175.1}

Ingen af disse mænd havde åbent sluttet sig til Frelseren, medens han levede, skønt de begge troede på ham. De vidste, at så snart som de erklærede sin tro på ham, ville man udelukke dem fra det store råd på grund af præsterne og de ældstes fordom mod Jesus. Dette ville havde afskåret dem fra enhver anledning til at hjælpe og beskytte ham; thi de kunne ikke da mere bruge sin indflydelse i rådet. Flere gange havde de vist, hvor uholdbare de beviser var, som man anførte for, at Jesus skulle fordømmes, og de gjorde også indvending imod, at man skulle gribe ham. På grund heraf måtte rådet bryde op uden at have forrettet det, man havde sammenkaldt det for; thi det var umuligt at fordømme Jesus, uden at hele det jødiske råd samtykkede deri. Præsterne havde dog omsider opnået sin hensigt ved at sammenkalde et hemmeligt råd, hvortil man ikke havde indbudt Josef og Nikodemus.