1I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: 2preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. 3For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables. 5But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
6For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. 8From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.
9Be diligent to come to me soon, 10for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia. 11Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. 12But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come—and the books, especially the parchments. 14Alexander the coppersmith did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15Beware of him, for he greatly opposed our words.
16At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. 17But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
19Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus. 20Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick. 21Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.
22The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
Iconium (modern Konya in Turkey) is located on a high plateau in south-central Turkey. The city was considered to be in Phyrgia, according to the Spartan general and historian Xenophon (c. 428–354 B.C.; Anabasis 1.2.13-14, 19). An ideal climate made the city an agricultural center of wheat, apricots, and plums. It also had a choice location. Five roads emanated from Iconimum, connecting the city to Ephesus and Antioch and other cities in Asia Minor, establishing the city as a crossroads for trade in the region.
The origin of the city is not precisely known, except that the name Iconium is originally Phrygian, who derived from the people group originally called Bryges from Thrace, who emigrated to central-western Asia Minor. According to Herodotus, this people group migrated from Thrace through the Hellespont, as allies of Troy, into a opaquely-defined zone in central-western Asia Minor, where they came to be called Phrygians. The exact era of the original migration is not known, but is before the 12th century B.C.. The language of the Phrygians is similar to Greek, as Plato noted similarity of Greek and Phyrgian words in his Cratylus (401a); neo-Phrygian definitely utilizes the Greek script.
After the city was Hellenized upon the conquest by Alexander in 334 B.C., a legend emerged that the city began after a universal flood, where afterward Zeus and Athena took plots of mud, and breathed into them the breath of life, making them the "icons" (Greek eikon) of the gods, hence the name "Icon-ium." Passing on to the Seleucid hegemony from 312 B.C. until the Roman period in 65 B.C., the city was briefly renamed Claudiconium, after the Roman Emperor Claudius in A. D. 41, evidencing the strong Roman political orientation.
During the first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-14:21), Paul having first preached in Antioch Pisidia, was forced to depart from there, shaking the dust off his feet (Acts 13:51) because of their stark rejection of the Gospel. Proceeding to Iconium, Paul, as his modus operandi (Acts 13:15), entered the synagogue, and during the time of exhortation open to the floor, preached Christ, with the result that both Jews and Gentiles believed (Acts 14:1). Some believed in Iconium, but unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, dividing the city. When threatened with stoning by the unbelieving elements, which included rulers, Paul and Barnabas fled to cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe (Acts 14:2-6). Iconium-based unbelieving Jews followed Paul to Lystra, stoned him, dragged him out of the city, and left him for dead (Acts 14:19). After ministering in Lystra and Derbe, Paul and Barnabas came back the way they came, confirming the believers and appointing elders in Iconium (Acts 14:21b-23).
Having preached Christ and miraculously healed in Lystra (14.7-10), Iconium-based unbelieving Jews followed Paul to Lystra, stoned him, dragged him out of the city, and left him for dead (Acts 14.19).
After ministry in Lystra and Derbe, Paul and Barnabas came back the way they came, confirming the believers and appointing elders in Iconium (Acts 14.21b-23). Paul recounts in 2 Timothy 3.11 his "persecutions and sufferings," but affirms resolutely that the Lord delivered him "out of them all."
Interestingly in the post-Apostolic period, the 2nd-century apocryphal Acts of Paul claims fanciful, legendary reports about Paul and a virgin, Thecla, in Iconium. The apocryphal work is a religious romance, where Thecla, becomes a disciple of Paul, endures miraculous deliverances from both martyr's flames and wild animals, and follows Paul, who is mis-portrayed as an ascetic. The work is comically self-contradictory as Thecla, though a devoted disciple of Paul, must baptize herself, rather than be baptized by Paul who converted her.