You people who obey the words of the Lord, listen to what he says: “Your brothers hated you and turned against you because you followed me. Your brothers said, ‘Let the Lord be honored so we may see you rejoice,’ but they will be punished.
“People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed.
“But before all these things happen, people will arrest you and treat you cruelly. They will judge you in their synagogues and put you in jail and force you to stand before kings and governors, because you follow me.
I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done these works, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen what I have done, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
As I was going through your city, I saw the objects you worship. I found an altar that had these words written on it: to a god who is not known. You worship a god that you don’t know, and this is the God I am telling you about!
People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking and to do things they should not do.
The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children. The reason the people in the world do not know us is that they have not known him.