Have no fear of what you are to suffer. The devil indeed is going to put some of you in prison, that you may be tested; you will have a distressful ten days. Be faithful, though you have to die for it, and I will give you the crown of Life.
I know where you dwell, where Satan sits enthroned, and yet you adhere to my Name, you have not renounced your faith in me even during the days when my witness, my faithful Antipas, was martyred in your midst — where Satan dwells.
They withdrew from us, but they did not belong to us; had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but they withdrew to make it plain that they are none of us.
How much heavier, do you suppose, will be the punishment assigned to him who has spurned the Son of God, who has profaned the covenant-blood with which he was sanctified, who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
These men who are keen upon you getting circumcised are just men who want to make a grand display in the flesh — it is simply to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.