On the other hand, the apostle declares, 'The world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Abraham was a wanderer, a sojourner, who lived in a land he could not possess. Paul is saying that those who embrace the cross of Christ, and then live on that basis, find that the world is cut off from them and they from the world. And aliens may very well be persecuted. We must be willing to live in a different way than the world lives, and not try to immerse our religion in worldliness.
Alienation is the precursor to persecution.
If you want to avoid persecution, the surest way to succeed is not to be different than everybody else- to avoid being an alien, in other words. Paul goes on to talk further of those who want to make a good showing in the flesh. He shows them up and scores them by saying that they themselves don't keep the law anyway. All the enthusiasm for morality of those who have been circumcised has a dark side to it. They don't keep the law.