See what great love the Father has given us: We’re even called children of God! And that’s what we really are. The world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.
Remember that you used to be separated from Christ. You weren’t considered to be citizens of Israel, and so you didn’t have a share in what the covenants promised. You were without hope and without God in the world.
All of these people were still living by faith when they died. They didn’t receive the things God had promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a long way off. They admitted that they were outsiders and strangers on earth.
It’s enough for students to be like their teachers and for slaves to be like their masters. If the head of the household has been called Beelzebul, the prince of demons, what should the others who live in the house expect to be called?
Dear friends, in this world you’re outsiders who are living away from their land. So don’t give in to your wrong desires, which fight against your soul.