He did persuade his disciples

And how is it not an outright lie, what the Jew in Celsus says, that he “persuaded no one while he lived, not even his own disciples, and was punished and endured such things”? For where did the envy that the chief priests, elders and scribes of the Jews stirred up against him come from (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10), if not from the crowds who were persuaded to follow him even into desert places (Matthew 14:13)? They were held not only by the coherent order of his words, for he always spoke in a way that suited his hearers, but also by his mighty works, by which he astonished those who did not believe through the coherence of his word.

And how is it not an outright lie that he did not persuade even his own disciples? At that time they did suffer a human weakness out of cowardice, for their courage had not yet been sharpened; but they did not cast off the judgment they had formed about him as the Christ. For Peter, after his denial, realizing into what evil he had fallen, “went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75; Luke 22:62). And the rest, stricken with despondency over him (for they still admired him), were confirmed through his appearing, so that they believed still more, and more firmly than before, that he was the Son of God.